Our flight from Sydney to Los Angeles was as long and boring as we expected... Cattle class is very cramped and as I had a window seat I had to get Sue and the guy in the aisle seat to get up each time I wanted to take a stretch or go to the toilet. The service was great - lots of meals and drinks - but the 13 hours seemed to take for ever!!!
Our first glimpes of LA were spoilt by the early morning smog, but we could see it was a huge city and looked very dry.
It only took half an hour to get through customs. The very serious officers took fingerprint and eyeball scans, asked a few questions and then we were finally in the USA.
From there it was off to the domestic terminal to check in for the next leg to Vegas. Boy, what a shock. The queue was out the door and up the pavement about 150 metres!!!! It took us the best part of an hour and a half to finally get to the security gate and pass the screening! The security staff were a bit over the top - very abrupt and not a happy bunch. Lots of people were missing flights because of the delays and there were people rushing everywhere! What an experience!
 We finally made it through and then had a bit of a wait for our flight. We spent our first US dollars on a drink and then caught the shuttle over to the American Airlines terminal. Planes were going all ways and we drove down a two lane highway between the runways, dodging trucks and service vehicles and then squeezing between planes to get to the holding gates. Wow!
It took only an hour and a bit to get to Las Vegas, flying over Death Valley and the huge mountains to the east of LA. Very dry and arid region with only a few small towns along the highway and not much else. The approach into Vegas showed us the outlying suburbs - all new and very nicely laid out. Saw the huge lake formed by the Hoover Dam as well.
Disembarking in Vegas we found out just what summer is like in this region. BLOODY HOT! It was 108 degrees in the old scale! That's over 42C! and with a hot wind blowing. We caught a shuttle into the city and dropped off a few tourists at various hotels. Vegas is just so big and glitzy! The hotels are enormous and so flash with people everywhere!
Our hotel, the Luxor is a huge glass pryamid, with a huge foyer and we had quite a wait before we could check in. Our room is large with two double beds and thankfully an efficient and quiet air-con unit which has not been turned off! We were pretty b*****ed and got our heads down for a bit of a sleep before heading down to the bar for a drink and then we went for a long walk down the strip to check out the sights. 
                                                                                                       
Everything about Vegas is BIG! Las Vegas Boulevade is 5 lanes each way with numerous overpasses for pedestrians (all connected by esculators) and the neon signs and lights are just out there. We were totally overwhelmed by it all - the hordes of people coming out to go gambling or dining or just partying - the different tourists from any country you can think of! Just an amazing place to visit!
       
We had a bite to eat and then headed back to the hotel to try and catch up on lost sleep.