Viva Las Vegas! - Blogabond

Vegas was every bit as awful as we expected, but there's something about the place that makes you kinda like it! It's busy, brash, over the top, hot, loud and Bright, but it's got something about it! You certainly don't need more than a couple of days there - you'd go insane and completely lose touch with reality!! And despite it being absolutely scorching hot don't expect us to have a sun tan! Vegas is designed to keep you inside your hotel and give you no reason to actually go out into the open air!

There were people gambling at all hours of the day and night, and people who looked like they hadn't left the chair in front of their slot machine for years, decades.

Venice!

We visited most of the major hotels - including Caeser's Palace, the Ballagio, the Luxor, the MGM Grand, and the Venetian. Helen had seen Bruce Forsyth on a programme once on a gondola ride at the Venetian so she of course had to have a go!

Gondola Ride

We put $1 in a machine and got 50c back!! That was the extent of our gambling!! We were so proud going to the cashier to claim our 50c winnings!!!

There are no pictures of "Barnaby does Vegas" - he stayed in the hotel room as it wasn't felt appropriate for a teddy bear from Year 1 to be in the gambling Mecca of the universe!!!!!

Left Vegas and headed for Death Valley. Drove through Death Valley - the lowest point in the USA and one of the hottest places on Earth.

Death Valley

The temperature reading on the dash board reached 104F, about 40c?? Bizarre landscape - very dry, very sandy, very low and flat, but then mountains suddenly rise from no where and the whole place is covered in volcanic rock.

We're now in Mammoth Lakes, California. There's some snow left on the mountains but we've been told it's not great so we're going to give it a miss. The road to Yosemite is still closed for the Winter though so we're trying to find a divert round it and get to Lake Tahoe today.

Have added pictures to the Grand Canyon entry.

written by

helenandpaul on May 8, 2008 from Mammoth Lakes, United States

from the travel blog: The good ol' US of A, and a bit of Mexico thrown in for good measure!

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Oh you got to respect the crazy of being part of what makes Las Vegas as interesting as it is. Everyone plays a part, it is what you make of it, nothing more!

written by Jim B on May 8, 2008

Hi Paul&Hel,

Please tell me you also did the BigShot on the Strotospher Tower. Which give's a 4G boost.

Loving your blog's

Have Fun!

Kind regards from Amsterdam,

Kristian

written by Kristian D. Kossen on May 12, 2008

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