Sunset

Sunglasses in the swimming pool

It has been quite an experience seeing the sights of Vegas. One of the most amazing things is the fountain display outside the Bellagio. There's a huge lake (easily 300m across), all still, and then suddenly every 15 minutes these amazing displays start. They're choreographed to the music and the water is shot so high into the air at some points that it sounds like there are fireworks going off. It was absolutely beautiful.

We went to the Luxor (the giant pyramid with the massive light beam shooting upwards from it's tip) to go to a Titanic exhibition. It was a really powerful exhibition - hundreds of artifacts from the ship and people's possessions. There were even some perfume vials which one of the passengers was carrying which still give off some scent today. It was also displaying what they call the 'Big piece' from the ship - a 15 ton slab of the hull.

We've been spending some time people watching at the hotel pool, which is a super swish affair. There's one pool which everyone can go to and one entitled the 'European pool' which is for over 21s only - due to the mixture of cocktails, gambling and optional bikini tops....The pool itself seems to mainly be for swanning around in, sipping a drink - everyone goes in wearing shades.

The hotel buffet also deserves a mention, it was unbelieveable. I think I had a bit of every cuisine going, including sushi, steak, scallops, salmon, gnocchi...we needed a brief lie down afterwards!

Off to the airport tomorrow morning to catch a short flight to LA and pick up another car. Fingers crossed for a Mustang....

Las Vegas

If one thing is for sure, this is a crazy place.

Went to see the Cirque de Soleil last night, an amazing show. The acrobatic and aerobatic feats were truly spectacular- they didn't let us take cameras in so no photos unfortunately!

A lot of the hotels run shows in the evening on their street front- the Treasure island show was great, with music, fireworks, flames, explosions, a highly developed plot... and girls in bikinis.

The queues for clubs, bars etc on a Monday night are equally spectacular, i'm having to tell Christina to stop gauping at the girls in their outfits.

Viva Las Vegas! (don't touch the mini bar)

We went to see the Hoover Dam en route to Las Vegas, and as you can imagine, it's pretty darn high. Suffice to say, looking over the edge made me feel rather queasy and hold tightly onto my hat! There's a new road, nearly finished, which includes this amazing bridge over the dam - pretty much the view you'd get from a helicopter. driving into Vegas was a little bit hairy - I was quite glad to return our car and return to being a pedestrian for a while!

The hotel we're staying at, the Encore, is pretty amazing. We're in a room on the 59th floor - the planes coming in towards the airport seem to be flying past at roughly the same altitude! It's almost hard to know where to start in Vegas - there are literally hundreds of restaurants, bars, pools, shows, you name it - not to mention a gazillion slot machines! It certainly is a place where money makes the world go round - I think you could literally get anything you wanted here, for the right price. We have to tiptoe round the mini bar - $10 for some gum drops and it goes up from there! If you move anything for more than 60 seconds it's automatically charged to your room bill...ouch.

We're off to see a Cirque du Soleil show tonight at the Treasure Island hotel which should be great. Also quite liking the sound of some crazy rides on the top of the Stratosphere (tallest building in the state). They have some sort of rollercoaster which dangles you off the edge, about 1000m above the Strip! Maybe a strong cocktail first...

Driving under the influence

First encounter with US officials yesterday as we hit a DUI checkpoint. I've seen the USA Police Camera Action programmes, and I was waiting to watch Christina complete the sobriety test (standing on one leg with eyes closed, walking in a straight line etc). She can't stand on one leg at the best of times!

But it appears the test involves only two questions; 'Good evening ma'am, have you been drinking this evening?' and 'Is there any alcohol in the vehicle?'- I must be missing something.

Tonight we ordered a couple of Coronas to go with dinner, but not so fast! We were ID'd, and we had Christina's driving licence with us but not mine. It was looking a bit ropey for a minute but Christina smiled sweetly and eventually the waiter relented, good to know we don't look a day over 21.

Spent the day exploring the awesome Zion Canyon - well, we went to the most exciting bit, 'the Narrows'. The river has cut a gorge through the sandstone and there is no path, you have to wade up through the river. Either side are shear rock faces 500m high, and the gorge is only 5metres wide in places. The stream was fairly low, but when there's been more rain you have to swim some sections to make it through! Really beautiful, and a lot of fun.

Like a lion, in Zion

We arrived at Zion National Park this afternoon, back into Utah after a brief detour into Arizona. This is the last park we've visiting before exchanging the great outdoors for the bright lights of Vegas. We went out for a hike (as they call it here) in the evening. It was 98F as we set off a little after 6pm! It was a stunning walk up to a pool at the base of some absolutely huge cliffs, and back down again to the river.

I thought I'd share a few of my favourite American words so far:

Ma'am (which they call me all the time - how cool is that?)

Restroom (for a loo - I think it's quite sweet that they call it that, like you're just taking a rejuvenating break from your day)

Fro-yo (for frozen yoghurt, mainly I like the word because fro-yo is so tasty)

Trailhead (for the start of a walk, it just sounds quite dramatic)

Sem-i (for a reallllly huge lorry)

Arugula (what they call rocket, as in the salad leaf. That really confused me at first!)

See you tomorrow...

Grand Canyon!

Well we finally made it to the edge of the Grand Canyon. The information leaflet in the room admits very earnestly (and not in usual American style!) that it is not the deepest canyon in the world. But there is only one Grand Canyon..

We managed to get a room at the Canyon lodge, a beautiful 1930's building- i get the feeling they took off the animal heads when they realised it wasn't very PC anymore! The dining room is worth a trip in itself, with 4m high windows along the panorama. Off to the Saloon to watch the sunset with a bourbon later, i think Christina wanted a Pinot Grigio.

We've spent the day strolling around the North Rim and all its trails. The place is spectacular at every turn. It really helps that the temperature is in the mid-80s rather than the 100s. We're off to Zion National Park in the morning where it will be back up there. And we've cracked the 1000mile barrier in the reasonably priced car, probably another 500miles to add yet!