We arrived in Las Vegas on Friday evening after our long drive through the desert from Death Valley.

We found our hostel, at the top end of the strip between the big fancy casinos and the old Vegas downtown, a great location. The hostel was in what seemed to be an old motel which had been turned into a hostel and our private room was just like a motel room but with bunk beds instead of the usual monstrous double bed.

Tired out after our drive, we napped for a few hours, then decided to head out for some food, getting dinner at midnight, which for some reason felt appropriate in Vegas.

Next we got a 24 hour ticket for 'The Deuce', the bus which runs all the way up and down the strip, 24 hours a day. We rode the bus the full length of the strip to Mandalay Bay, the most southerly of the big hotel-casinos. We got off the bus and spent the next few hours wandering up the strip, in and out of the casinos, trying to take in all the sights around us. Everything was how I imagined it, with people filling the streets and casinos, all out for a good time with drinks in hand, and neon lights and huge over the top themed casinos everywhere.

Eventually we caught the bus back to the hostel and got to bed around 4am.

The next day was my birthday, and I had two things I really wanted to do, which I'd wanted to do for a long time. Once we were up and about, around midday, we went for some breakfast before driving about an hour to the east of Las Vegas on the neverending, huge freeways which ring the city and run right through the middle of it. Eventually we reached our destination, the Hoover Dam. I've always had a bit of a thing for big civil engineering structures, especially dams, so visiting this one was incredible.

Built in the 1930s, the dam spans the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona, creating the huge Lake Mead. At over 700 ft tall it is amazing to behold, but apart from its size the best thing about it is the art deco design, one of my favourite architectural styles, with smoothly rounded edges on the streamlined square towers emerging from the dam faces, and elegantly decorated doorways and fixtures.

We spent some time walking across the dam and admiring it as well as the huge overflow spillway with its massive circular tunnel to divert overflowing water. Lucy entertained everyone in the area by suffering a fit of hiccups, which echoed around the canyon and the overflow tunnel until I tried to film her, the stage fright cutting of the hiccups as quickly as they had started.

Once we had spent some time on the dam, we drove across it, on what used to be the main route between Arizona and Nevada at that point. However, the road now just loops around on the Arizona side of the dam, since the recent construction of the magnificent Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge which spans the canyon just 500m downstream from the Hoover Dam.

We made our way up to and halfway out on this other marvel of engineering to get the best view of the dam, from 880 ft up. After taking some more photos, we got back in the car and made our way back to Vegas.

Our next stop was southwest of the strip at the Las Vegas Gun Range and Firearms Center where I hoped to fulfill another long-term wish, to fire a .44 Desert Eagle pistol, one of the most powerful handguns available.

We got to the store and filled in our waiver forms before looking around the shop and rack upon rack of shotguns and rifles, cabinets filled with every type of pistol, and walls lined with fully automatic assault rifles and submachine guns. I had seen so many of the weapons in films and computer games, but to see them all in the flesh and available for people just to buy over the counter was quite strange.

We killed some more time by playing around with the replica guns in the waiting area before our time came to pick our packages. I decided to go for a package which let me fire 2 magazines of ammo from a machine gun and 6 rounds from the .44 Desert Eagle, while Lucy went for a package of 2 magazines for a machine gun and 2 magazines for a less powerful pistol. I chose the MP5 submachine gun as it's such a widely used gun, and I wanted to know what it was like to fire. Lucy decided to try it as well, and the guy in the store also recommended a Beretta 9mm pistol for her to use.

We got talking to the guy behind the counter and it turned out his family were from Scotland, so after chatting for a bit I asked cheekily if I could get a couple of extra rounds for the Desert Eagle, and he slipped in a couple of extra bullets. Then it was our turn to go through to the range. We put on our ear defenders and safety glasses before following one of the staff members through to the firing range, where we were shown the basics of using the MP5 and given some general safety tips.

I was first to try out the MP5 and, after clipping up my target sheet, I decided to use the first magazine in a few short bursts which I did, hitting the target with reasonable accuracy. The power of the gun was impressive, though very much as I imagined, but it was incredible to fire a fully automatic weapon after seeing it done so many times in films and on TV. With my 2nd magazine I decided just to let it rip and use it all up in one go. Without looking down the sight I pulled the trigger and leant into the gun as it tore through the magazine in a matter of seconds, before annoyingly jamming with a few rounds still left to go. After firing off the last couple of rounds, it was Lucy's turn.

She looked hilarious with the gun up against her shoulder, and even more hilarious trying to close her left eye to aim down the sight, which she couldn't do. After swapping the gun to her left side and with the gun store guy holding a steadying hand on her back, she squeezed off the first few rounds, visibly jolting backwards with every round. As she became more comfortable she fired off the rest of her 2 magazines of bullets, the empty casings flying all over the place as she blasted the paper target.

Then it was my turn to fire the Desert Eagle so, after hanging up the smaller man-shaped target and being given a quick lesson on how to fire, I lined up my sights on the target, quite intimidated by the massive weight of the pistol and its reputation for power. The first squeeze of the trigger brought the most ridiculous thunderous blast, accompanied by a massive kickback as it fired and a string of expletives from me as I beheld the power of the hand cannon. Feeling a bit more comfortable, I fired off the rest of my 8 rounds, still only managing to hit the target about 3 times as I tried to deal with the power of the pistol.

Once I was finished, it was Lucy's turn with the Beretta and again she was quite hesitant at first, taking her time with the first few bullets but became more comfortable, firing more regularly and hitting the target with alarming accuracy. As she was firing through her last magazine, the attendant helping us, who we had been chatting away to, said he would let me have a go with the Beretta as well. After nipping away to get a couple more magazines of bullets, he returned and I hung up another target before firing the much more manageable Beretta. With the second magazine, the guy even let me drop out the empty clip and load the new one before firing, something they don't normally let the customers do.

All in all we had a great time at the gun range, and I was buzzing for quite some time afterwards, as we drove back to the hostel with our hole-strewn target sheets. Once back at the hostel I lay down for a rest but ended up falling asleep for an hour or so, before waking up around 8 pm.

I knew that the hostel organised nights out most nights of the week, so once I was up and about I headed out to the picnic table in the courtyard where a few other folk were already sitting around chatting. I got talking to everyone and had a couple of beers before waking Lucy up around 9 as she was still sleeping. After a few more drinks at the picnic table, it was time to head out so we all piled into the back of the hostel's van, managing to squeeze 20 people into the van on an inflatable mattress, and headed down towards the strip.

Riding in the van was hilarious, with everyone crammed in the back, tossing around a basketball and drinking. The highlight was hearing Average White Band's 'Pick up the Pieces' on the stereo, making it feel like a proper night out. Eventually we made it into the huge car park at the Venetian, after security checking in the back of the van and inexplicably waving us on, and piled out into the car park. Before heading into the bar we were heading for, we had the music cranked up on the van stereo and everyone was singing along to Kelly Clarkson and Black Eyed Peas at full volume whilst kicking around a football, until about 5 security guards turned up on bikes and moved us on.

From there we went to a bar between the Palazzo and Venetian where girls drank for free, and had a few drinks before moving on. I also managed to get a couple of free drinks from the bar because it was my birthday. After finding our way back to the van and piling in again, we hit the road, although I had no idea where we were heading.

Eventually we emerged from the van in another multi-storey car park somewhere, and made our way through a hotel to a swanky club where we had been put on the guest list and got in for free. The club seemed like a lot of fun, however by the time we got in and got to the bar I was so thirsty, but wasn't willing to pay the $9 they were asking for bottled water so we left. Lucy and I, along with Rachel, a girl we had met from the hostel, decided to head out to the strip. After making our way out to the hotel reception we asked how to get there, only to be given a confused look and told we were in the Hard Rock hotel, miles away from the strip. We managed to get a cab though and headed to the strip to see where the rest of the night would take us.

That turned out to be for some fast food and a few unsuccessful shots on some slot machines before we realised we'd had enough of a night out and caught the bus back to the hostel, having had a rather interesting but fun night.

The following day we had a long lie after our exploits the night before, only getting up in the afternoon. After an interesting attempt to cut my hair with some borrowed hair clippers, resulting in the back being cut a little bit shorter than I would have liked, we drove about 10 miles for Lucy to receive some beauty treatments, as much of a disaster as my haircut. Our spirits rather low and our bank balance heading the same way, we drove back to the hostel and I ended up falling asleep for an hour or so while Lucy read.

By the time I got up it was getting dark so we decided to go for a cruise down the strip. As we were leaving our room we bumped into Rachel and invited her to join us. We drove all the way down the strip to Mandalay Bay before doing a U turn and heading back up. It was fun seeing the town liven up again in the evening with everything lit up. On the way back to the hostel we stopped off at Bonanza, allegedly the world's largest gift store, and browsed through the aisles and aisles of tat before picking up a few choice souvenirs.

Once back at the hostel we decided to head back out to watch the famous fountains at the Bellagio. After sitting on the Deuce for the best part of half an hour, we got tired of stopping at all the traffic lights so got off and walked the rest of the way down to the Bellagio, just arriving as the fountains display started, set to Andrea Bocelli's 'Time to Say Goodybe', a favourite of Lucy's and a very fitting piece of music for the impressive fountain display.

We decided to hang around for the next show ten minutes later which was different but almost as impressive, before wandering up the strip, in and out of some of the casinos we hadn't visited. Eventually our hunger got the better of us so we stopped of in the small but packed O'Sheas Irish themed casino, which had a food court, not to mention a huge beer pong area.

After eating, it was nearly 2am so Rachel decided to call it a night as she was heading to the Grand Canyon at 6am, whereas Lucy and I headed back onto the bus, this time bound for the old Downtown area around Fremont Street.

Fremont Street had a completely different feel to the strip. You could tell it had its heyday years ago but had obviously undergone some attempts at rejuvenation with the 'Fremont Street Experience', a canopy over part of the street with a big lightshow. However, the characters in Fremont were that little bit more seedy than those on the strip, but that only made it more interesting.

We headed for the El Cortez, a hotel we had considered staying at before booking our hostel, to check out the casino. Instead of the flashy brightly lit and modern casino floors of the strip's casinos, the El Cortez's style was very much from the 1970s with more dingy lighting and a very brown pallette. It should have seemed tacky but to me was just full of character. We played some slots for a while, winning far more than we had on the strip, before catching a bus back to the hostel before our 24 hour tickets ran out.

Once back at the hostel we headed to bed to get ready for a day of driving onto our next destination.