Day 178 Wednesday 3rd March 2010

Johno says

Today we were moving on from LA to Vegas via an early morning Greyhound bus. The Greyhound buses in USA were a fair amount less comfortable than the Australian version and the nature of the clientele were a bit different, we are definitely starting to get the feeling that the USA is just full of random crazy strange types that you probably wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley at night. We arrived into Vegas early afternoon to Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, it was so surreal on the approach as the remote desert feeling like you are a million miles from any where then suddenly in this huge city of luxury hotels and casino's and bright lights… instantly we were all in ore of the sights and sounds of Vegas - it actually grabs you and you don't want to blink as you are afraid you will miss something (and you probably would!). The ants in the pants were too much for me so we ducked out and charged for the nearest slot machine, after an unsuccessful first attempt realizing that majority of the machine don't take coins I finally made our first gamble courtesy of Liam passing over a dollar note to insert in the slot. Our first impressions were that this is going to be a dangerous few days in Vegas, with gambling in every corner of everywhere you go, oh yeah - and the casino's offer you free drinks to keep gambling. The evening was spent walking along the old street spotting the largest screen in the world, then we made our way to Main Street Station Hotel to have a monster of a buffet for $10.99 - it was a feast, I believe I had 3 deserts!! There was a funny scene at the restaurant where Liam had mistakenly thought a random customer was a member of staff and asked for the location of the toilet, I followed this by sarcastically asking for the toilet very slowly, and all this time Stacey in the background had been semi choking on a bit of dinner (hence the reason for needing the toilet!). We made our way back to the hotel and started roaming the strip getting on as far as The Mirage, covering Treasure Island and the Venetian. Before we knew it, it was the early hours and we made our way to bed, it is difficult because you know the MGM, Luxor, Caesars Palace, Excalibur, Bellagio, Palazzo, New York New York and more were waiting still out there waiting to be explored…..

Day 179 Thursday 4th March 2010

Stacey says
What happens in Vegas, unfortunately stays in Vegas…… ;-)

We said today would be our big night out with gambling and drinking, but first of all we had our big trip to the Grand Canyon. We got picked up and taken to the airport for 1.30pm, where we got arranged into our groups for the helicopter. It was mine and Liam's first time in a helicopter so we were pretty excited, we headed out and got buckled into our seats, there were 6 of us in including our pilot. It was a lot smoother than I imagined it to be, so I relaxed and enjoyed it! The sight over the top of Vegas was impressive, then we headed for 45 minutes towards the Canyon. We flew over the Hoover Dam, over the Boulders, Colorado River, which was very green looking from all of the Limestone, the view was perfectly clear, it was stunning, we could see all the way over to the mountains of Utah, so the pilot told us! It had been snowing that morning, which was hard to imagine, as everyone was looking very green, which had only happened over the last 3 days or so for Spring. We were then hovering over the Canyon, and she lowered it down, we could see the Sky Tower viewing bridge where people drive to for the tours, but we flew right down and landed in the Canyon. The pilot said that we were in P people law zone, they claimed this land a couple of hundred years ago and have all rights to it. We all got out of the chopper and took a little walk around admiring the views, the mountains were about a mile high, and the river was so still and calm. We had some champagne and lunch too! Half an hour later we got moving again, our pilot wanted to take us over the to Ring of Fire, which is an area of red coloured mountains, naturally formed, also the mountains around here looked just like waves rolling into the beach, the way there we formed, all the tectonics plates pushing upwards together, it was 'neat stuff'. We also so a couple of small towns in the mountains, which the people can only fly to, so only for the very elite! Shmancy! We then cruised back for about 40 minutes, all the lights of Vegas were coming on at this point, so it looked even more impressive flying back in! On arriving back in our hotel, we decided to play a few slot machines and have a few drinks. Again Liam managed to win some money - he is unstoppable. It was soon 9pm so we went to get freshened up and headed out to some other casinos on the strip, we headed first to the Stratosphere, Steve and Liam went on the three rides which included dangling off the side of the hotel, dangling and spinning off the side of the hotel and shooting up into the air on top of the hotel, which they thought was brilliant. On our way out, there were some Reel Awards, there were so many star look alikes - it was surreal, Obama was talking to Steve within a minute of being there. We then made our way to Caesars Palace. Then walking back popping into a few bars and casinos, gambling some more, before I knew it, it was 5am and I was first to head to bed! Steve second at 8am, Liam staggering in at 12.30 midday!

Day 180 Friday 5th March 2010

Stacey says

Our room door was opened and the lady shouted "housekeeping?!" Liam shouted a "nooooooo" she said it again, so then Steve and Liam shouted in chorus "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" poor woman! So we all stayed in bed until about 3pm. Well Liam stayed about, I think he went down for a little dabble on the slot machines, but Steve and I headed on down to an outlet store, for some long awaited shopping. Steve buying himself 3 pairs of jeans, and I had a successful shop too. Ahhhhh fresh clothes! We then just went to our hotels' buffet for dinner, it was a big disappointment, no where near as nice as our last one and was more pricy. Rubbish! We discussed that we are looking forward to some normality in San Fran, Vegas is just something else, everything is constantly going, everywhere is just huge and grand and millions of machines everywhere, it really is over whelming after a few days!

Day 181 Saturday 6th March 2010

Johno says

Team America all woke up early and definitely more energetic to get shopping today. There was a premium outlet centre near the old strip at Charleston so we decided to head out there for the morning to see if we could pick up some bargain clothing. It wasn't as cheap as we thought it might be with the pound so not helping us out but it was still cheap for us to buy our new wardrobes of Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, Stace filled an impressive three large bag of clothes and seemed to glow from all the retail therapy - it has been a long six months in the same clothes!! We arrived back at the hotel late afternoon and then cracked on to visit some of the last remaining hotels down the strip, on the way we finally see the Treasure Island sirens show which wasn't too impressive after such a wait. We then walked down to the infamous Ballagio Hotel and Casino for our last evening meal, costing a lumpy 40 dollars we had an absolute feast of a meal with Sushi and other seafood being part of the buffet selection - it was so filling we couldn't hardly breathe afterwards - Liam and I actually managed three plates for the main course - ouch! After the meal a decent walk was needed but first we saw the Ballagio dancing fountain show which was brilliant and looked like more of a firework show than water fountains. We crossed over to the MGM and then looked around New York New York which had a great vibe to it with loud music pumping out amongst the usual casino tables and slot machines. We jumped on the deuce bus back home speaking to some locals, by the time we finished a final bet on the roulette table on the way through our hotel it was the early hours of the morning - time definitely goes quickly out here… time to move on from this crazy place.

Day 182 Sunday 7th March 2010

Stacey says

Not wanting to move from my bed this morning, we had to check out for 11, we collected our car, which we will have for the next two days. We were glad to make our final 1 mile walk out of the casino, the guys were a little wary about what driving on the wrong side of the road would be like, but Liam went first and took us through 3 or 4 hours worth of driving with hardly any troubles! We stopped for some food at the town of fast food joints, so we had some Jack in a Box food, just another place selling burgers. I couldn't eat anything today after yesterdays gorge, I never want to eat again. Steve took over the driving from here, he was cruising along pretty comfortably too, we were driving into a sunset, which looked gorgeous, a long orangey red horizon. We then pulled into a motel as it was not any fun driving in the dark. The guys went for a beer at the local to check out what happens in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday evening.