July 29th - August 2nd 2007, Las Vegas
To get to Las Vegas we had to first fly to Chicago and get a connecting flight. The flight times suggested the trip from Chicago to Vegas would only take about 2 hours which was good news after the long flight from London.
Sadly we failed to take into account America has "Time Zones" so it actually took nearly twice along to get there as we thought. We also had a delay whilst they fixed something on the connecting flight. So there we were knackered, facing another 4 hour flight, sitting on a plane that's cabin lights kept going on and off just like they do when someone tries to start a car with a flat battery.
Anyway all was well in the end and, after a short taxi ride, we checked in to our Las Vegas hotel, the Luxor.
Our Hotel
We stayed in the Egyptian themed Luxor hotel. It was a huge glass pyramid complete with a Sphinx and other Egyptian paraphernalia (like a Hummer! two Starbucks coffee shops, a shopping mall and a 3D cinema - check your history, ancient Egypt had all these things - honest)
It also had an enormous light at the top that at night sent a huge beam of light into the sky.
"The Strip"
The Strip is the name for the 4 mile long Las Vegas Boulevard where all the hotels and casinos are. Our hotel was at the southern most end of The Strip
Each the hotel has a different theme to hide the fact that in reality they are all the same, just huge casinos.
Some hotels were so impressive inside that it was hard to tell you were actually indoors.
The Hoover Dam
We booked a day trip with Pink Jeep Tours to see the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and go on the newly opened Sky Walk.
The Pink Jeep picked us up and along with our guide (Don) we spent a really great day with an American family doing the same trip. (Edith, Rich Snr and Rich Jnr. Hello to you all)
The Dam is so big that the road goes straight over the top of it.
On the way to the Canyon we stopped for a break at a tiny town called Dolan Springs. It was exactly how you imagine a crappy American town in the middle of nowhere to look like. Think of the movie "Deliverance" and you aren't far off.
We were doing what the Pink Jeep guys called a "Fly and Float". We would go by helicopter down to the Canyon floor, then have a boat ride on the Colorado river, before returning back to the top by helicopter.
We were warned that it gets hot at the bottom of the Canyon, typically 10°C hotter than at the top. They weren't kidding, it was well over 110°C down there, but wow! what an amazing sight.
The guy driving the boat told us that on average the Colorado is only 8ft deep and is slowly getting shallower because of the demand for more and more water from Las Vegas.
The Sky Walk
Imagine a horse shoe shaped glass walk way that sticks out over the Canyon and your are pretty much there. The floor is glass so you can see straight down to the Canyon floor. Mighty impressive seeing as its 4000 feet below you.
Sadly because people keep dropping their cameras and stuff over the edge you cant take anything on with you, no cameras, phones, bags, nothing. So no photos looking straight down, instead you had to pass through an airport like security process to make sure you weren't sneaking anything on with you. Not in anyway what so ever was this to stop you taking your own photos rather then using the Sky Walks official photographer, no, no, not at all!
Don did have an alternative idea and he took the photo below of us on the Sky Walk. (We are the ones waving)
Photo courtesy of Don the Pink Jeep Guide
Vegas at Night
We did a second helicopter trip this time over Vegas at night. The flight was amazing taking in the whole of "The Strip". Sadly due to camera ineptness Kev managed to successfully blur every photo he took from the air. So here are some photos of Las Vegas at night taken from the ground.
Having spent 4 nights in Las Vegas we flew on to Los Angeles