After 4 hours driving from Palm Springs, we made it to Vegas!! We drove right through the Mojabe Desert and really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Our hotel complex in Vegas was low-key (by Vegas standards!), yet we still had a massive suite which felt like luxury after the hostels we have been in.

As we arrived on a Saturday, we got ready and hit the town! Dave found a casino called Ellis Island around the corner from us which was also a micro-brewery - the lagers were $2 a pint and no surprises, we were there quite a bit over the 5 days. We then went to the strip - it was really surreal, people just walking on the streets and in the casinos with alcohol bought from local off-licenses. After a while walking around the Bellagio and Caesars Palace, we headed back to Ellis Island before going to the casino at our place for Dave's first betting experience in Vegas (he lost!)

On Sunday, we decided to wander round some more of the casinos - each one had their own attraction to draw you in. Dave found a flyer on the floor for a night with A$AP Rocky at a swanky Vegas nightclub - 1OAK at the Mirage. We got our names on the guest list (boys had to pay, girls didn't and got free drinks vouchers!) We headed back to our hotel to watch the Superbowl - we had no idea what was happening but the atmosphere was electric. We hit the nightclub at 11.30pm. We had a great night - A$AP Rocky came on about 2am and did a few tracks.

Monday was a bit of a right off for me - those free drinks were strong vodkas! That night, we went down Fremont Street in Downtown Vegas - we went to some old school casinos from back in the 40s including the Golden Nugget. We then stopped off at the Strip and found the Casino Royale which did $1 beers!! Dave did some more gambling (and lost!) so we headed back to Ellis Island for a nightcap.

On Tuesday, we visited a few more casinos and had a pretty chilled day as we had an early morning the following day, when we visited the Grand Canyon! We went with a tour company and visited the Hoover Dam first of all- a dam built to create a lake and hydro-electric power. After a 4 hour drive, we got to the Grand Canyon - it was just stunning. We did a trek that visited various view points and every view seemed so different - particularly as the sun moved.

The next day we had our longest drive in America (437 miles) to Oakhurst, close to Yosemite National Park. It took us 7 hours in total and it was really interesting to see the landscape changing around us from desert to vast agriculture, passing numerous vineyards and finally up to the hills… The weather near Yosemite wasn't on our side, having snowed heavily the night we got there. Still, we drove to the park and took in some amazing sights - it was so green, compared to the Canyon. We also went to see Bass Lake, from one of Dave's fave childhood films, The Great Outdoors. It was quite clearly not their peak season (being winter) but it was fab to explore the lake in isolation to any other tourists!

It still feels like an amazing holiday at the moment and hasn't sunk in that we are away for so long… That will probably come when we leave America as it's so easy over here. We are also still enjoying the food - trying to eat healthily where we can but it's hard, so we have been sharing meals a lot! We've had some amazing burgers and Dave managed to eat a half rack of ribs, half a chicken, sweet potato waffles and green beans the other night!

Amie xx