We arrived in Vegas on Friday, got to our hotel and into our room. To get from the Check-In desk to our room, we had to walk past hundreds of poker machines (aka slot machines), a number of Craps Tables, three Bars, a hamburger joint and a coffee bar which was closed. In it’s favour, it wasn’t Starbucks!

Our room was on the 17^th floor of the “Royal Tower” of the Excalibur Hotel, which is in the MGM stable of hotels. The front part of the hotel, where the casino is, looks like someone drew a comic book castle, after smoking some funny cigarettes! What else can we say about it? The shops and eateries were incredibly overpriced and everything was oversized! There was an Italian restaurant that request a mortgage be taken out before eating there, a Buffet that only opened for Breakfast and Lunch and a variety of over-priced outlets of highly processed fast food.

On our first afternoon, we went for a walk and just couldn’t believe our eyes! Maybe we have turned into “country cousins” but we were just gobsmacked at how people were dressed. There were a lot of people who were drinking alcohol on the streets, which surprised us – we didn’t think you could do that in the USA.

Saturday morning found us heading out on our first pre-booked adventure – a raft ride down the Colorado River, from Hoover Dam. Thankfully, it was a small group of Yanks, Indians, Mexicans and Aussies. We drove out through Boulder City to just the other side of the Hoover Dam wall, where we boarded a raft – actually more of a pontoon on floats, and spent the day chugging about 10 miles downriver.

At that part, the river is the border between Nevada and Arizona. We saw Big Horn sheep on the crags high above the river, we heard about the building of the dam and the subsequent building of the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which was completed in 2010. Apparently the Hoover Dam, which was built between 1931-36, has the honour of being completed ahead of schedule and below budget! It’s also probably the last government project to achieve that since then!

The weather was sunny, but also windy and the water temperature was closely related to ice-cubes, so we didn’t go swimming! And we were also warned that the next day, Sunday, was going to be windier and colder. This did not bode well, as we had arranged a trip to the Grand Canyon which would involve a small plane and a helicopter but, when we got up on Sunday morning, we hadn’t received any word about any cancellations so we went downstairs to wait to get be picked up, and waited, and waited… Then we rang the Company that was running the trip they said “Yes we cancelled that trip yesterday.” When were we going to be told? Stunned silence…

Thankfully, we had a spare day up our sleeves and they could move our booking forward two days. Hmm, what to do on a Sunday? We discovered a 24-hour bus pass and rode down to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign for some photos and a geocache, and then got back on the bus and headed down to the Las Vegas South Outlet Shops.

Well, Nick had a ball!!! There was a Columbia shop, so he managed to get a spray jacket to replace the one at home (because it was at home and not in his suitcase), a couple of new travel shirts and a new polo shirt, in case he wants to look smart! MJ managed to pick up a couple of travel t-shirts and then we found a Levi store, so Nick bought himself 2 pairs of Levi jeans. All in all, he was a happy-chappy!

Monday was another Big Tick Day – a day trip out to Death Valley. Our tour guide was full of knowledge and had lots of stories about how Las Vegas began, how the New York Mafia got involved through to Howard Hughes. We also learnt about some of the characters that were involved in Death Valley, its history of Borax mining and the impact US President Calvin Coolidge’s comment about “the chief business of the American people is business” has had on America.

We were taken to see Dante’s View which overlooks the Badwater. We were told that on a really clear day, you can see the highest point, Mt Whitney (4421m) and the lowest point (-85m) at the same time. Well, it was a really clear day last Monday and we could see Mt Whitney, but it was a tiny little speck and didn’t photograph very well, so you will have to take our word for it!

Apparently Death Valley was used for some location shots in the Star Wars movies. Standing at the top of Dante’s View, you could overlook Mos Eisley. When Star Wars was first filmed, Death Valley was only a National Monument, so getting permission to film was apparently a lot easier than it is now that Death Valley has become a National Park. However, it was explained to us, that they had found some snippets of footage of Death Valley/Mos Eisley that had been left on the cutting room floor, so with some judicious editing, they were used in The Mandalorian!

We were taken to Furnace Creek, to visit the Visitor’s Centre, have a look at stuff that was on display from the days of Borax mining and have lunch.  On this day, our group included a French couple, a couple from Miami and a lady from Iowa, and we all had a blast, with our Guide Charles.  We went down to the Devil’s Golf Course, which was underwater – which is seen as a “Once in a 100 years Event”.  Apparently, there is an underground river down there (80 meters below sea-level) and when the river is over full, water seeps above ground and it can’t drain away as it’s the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere.

We then went to see the Artist’s Palette which is an area which shows a variety of different colors due to minerals colouring the surrounding rock. And then final stop was Point Zabriskie, another high point with amazing views across the landscape.

Our last day in Las Vegas saw us heading out to the Grand Canyon in a 21-seater Twin Otter light aircraft. On arrival at the Grand Canyon, we transferred to a Helicopter and descended to the bottom of the Canyon, for a short raft ride (about 1 mile) out and back on the Colorado River. Then it was back up to the top and we went out to Eagle Point and Guano Point for some more amazing views of the Canyon.

The scenery on both Monday and Tuesday was absolutely stunning and I am not able to give it full justice in my descriptions. We took copious photos, some of which we will include in the blog, but they just don’t do justice to the beauty! All I will say is – if you get a chance to visit either of both locations, do so because you will be knocked out of your little socks!

Wednesday morning found us fully packed and heading back to the airport. We were flying to New Orleans via Dallas-Fort Worth – don’t you just love the American system of Hubs! Cause I don’t!!

And I’m pleased to say that no gambling, involving money, took place during our visit to “Sin City”!