Sensory assault

So we left the beauty and peaceful surroundings of the Grand Canyon yesterday and set off for Las Vegas. It was just over a 4 hour journey through the desert. As we passed the Hoover Dam on the way we stopped off. We had a tour of the power plant. It’s so vast it is on both sides of the state line- we visited the Nevada side – the turbines are numbered N1 etc – no prizes for guessing what the Arizona ones are numbered

We then drove on to Vegas. We knew it would be hot as the Hoover dam was scorching and the windows of the car were hot to touch from the inside, with the air conditioning on. Well it was 106F when we arrived at 17:00!

The contrast to the Grand Canyon was immense – noise, lights, action absolutely everywhere. These aren’t hotels, these are resorts. Just look at the New York New York – its the Manhattan skyline and is massive, it has 1000s of rooms. Apparently more people have walked its Brooklyn Bridge in Vegas than have walked the real one in Manhattan

We went into the MGM, which is next to our hotel, and got lost! To be honest this one was so dark apart from the flashing lights of the slot machines that it did my head in, especially as you are allowed to smoke in the casino.We are in a smaller hotel, not small but smaller, which is bright and light and airy – much better. I’m still amazed to see people at the casino, even when we come down for breakfast – they have it bad!

We are on the 16th floor and the lifts are on the outside so we have a great view. To see a view of the strip from the lifts of our hotel click here. Sorry about the cheesy lift musac!
As the night is cooler, we walked along the strip and finally I took some photos at night. I’ve been good so far this holiday not lugging my camera absolutely everywhere but hubby said I was allowed to bring it out at night in Vegas!

Today we went on an open top bus ride as it was cooler at 105F! We’ve seen a circus show at Circus Circus, one of the original hotels. We’ve also seen the drive-thru wedding chapels were various famous people have tied the knot, on more than one occasion. Look up the Stratosphere on the Internet – jumping off it is the soft option, check out “The Claw” or “The Octopus”. We also saw someone famous arrive at the airport

Tomorrow we’ll just wander around and go into these big hotels – I’m dying to go inside the Luxor, New York New York and the Venetian for a gondolier ride. We have a show booked at the Bellagio tomorrow night and then that will be it

We have all Sunday as we have a night flight home, but after just under 3 weeks all good things have to come to an end. As I’m currently at a net loss of $1 on the slot machines (which I don’t understand) I’m sure on Sunday I have plenty of time to lose my last remaining dollars

I’ve uploaded some videos – recheck the posts from Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. There are 4 in total including the one on this page. Have to say I’m really impressed with this iPad!