February 27:

It was goodbye to Los Angeles from us this morning & goodbye to Rick & Sharron. We've enjoyed LA & seen some pretty cool things but Vegas is only 6 hours away & I'm way too excited to reminisce!
We hopped on the greyhound with some of the local freaks around 10am. The drive was so strange, the city seemed to end so suddenly & all that was left was desert. A few snow-capped mountains as a backdrop set the scene nicely for the initial sighting of Las Vegas. Or so we thought.....it was actually just a few neon advertising billboards! From a distance it appeared otherwise.
41 miles later, we hit Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as 'The Strip'. It was majestic, so many amazing sights everywhere you look. We were dropped at the greyhound station where we grabbed an unofficial taxi to our hotel, 'Gold Coast'.
Walking through the lobby of the hotel was the moment when I felt I was in Vegas! The casino went on forever! An 84,000 square feet casino & were not even on 'The Strip'! It was nuts, 1,000's of people gambling, drinking, smoking, yes smoking indoors is permitted all over Vegas & restaurants eveywhere.
Our room was really good, the bathroom a little dated but clean & comfortable. On the 6th floor we were far enough away to not hear all the comotion downstairs. We did check out the casino, the bingo hall & went to bed around 1am ready for a action packed day tomorrow. No winnings unforunately, but only a few dollars down.

February 28:

We caught the free shuttle bus outside our hotel, to the strip. It dropped us at Bally's Resort & Casino. A convenient location to explore the big places we wanted to see & get a few photos. Unfortunately photos aren't allowed in most casinos so we only got the exteriors. Trust me, they are cool enough.
We trekked miles this afternoon, starting at Paris, Planet Hollywood, MGM Grand, New York New York, Excalibur & Tropicana including the shopping malls at Planet Hollywood & Paris. We decided to book a show, so wandered to the MGM Grand to see about the Cirque de Soleil show, 'Ka'. A snip at $80 each, this gave us a seat in the back 3 rows! Not cheap.
We dragged our aching feet back to Bally's to jump on the shuttle back to our hotel, where we showered & smartened up for the show tonight.
The Strip looked so different at night, light shows & fountain shows leave the whole road glowing. We checked out the Bellagio fountain show (the one from Oceans Eleven), it was superb, then looked around the casino too. The casinos in Bellagio, MGM, New York New York & some of the other big names, are over 100,000 square feet. It's so easy to get lost & the lighting is so low it feels like night time all day long.
We got into Coyote Ugly, a bar based on the film, in New York New York. It was full of letchy Americans who clearly haven't seen a woman before. We discovered a bit later that the Nascar 500 was in town for the weekend & that explains the crowds of men!
We crossed the bridge to MGM ready for the show. What a show it was. We can't decide how to put it into words, how about $80 is a bargain! There must have been some serious investment in this thing, to make it as good as it is. The acrobats make no mistakes at all, the stage is on a hydraulic, fully rotating, pivoting, tilting & lifting system. The cast interact with the crowd a bit as well, especially before curtains up. It had us both engrossed for 90 mins & they deservedly received a standing ovation. If you're going to Vegas, check out 'Ka', it rocked.

March 1:

After an amazing day yesterday, we didn't know if we'd be able to top it. I checked my email & found out that Rick & Sharron were arriving in Las Vegas this afternoon, which was good news. We didn't wake up until midday (you lose all sense of time in this place) & headed down to the strip to get some lunch & see some more hotels & casinos at the other end of the strip. Starting at Flamingos, Imperial, Harrah's, Casino Royale, The Venetian, The Wynn, The Riviera, The Sahara & finally right at the end, The Stratosphere to meet Rick & Sharron.
We had a couple drinks & a catch up in the bar downstairs, before taking the elevator 112 floors up to the observation deck. The views are so good from here, all the way down the strip & beyond to the darkness of the desert. Then we went one more storey up to the outdoor viewing deck & the 3 rides that sit on top - Xscream, Big Shot & Insanity, truely appropriate names!
The first ride was big shot, a straight up straight down roller coaster that travels along the pole that gives the Stratosphere it's extra height. Almost 1,000ft above the ground being launched up & pulled down is quite frightening! Turns out the other 2 are worse! Xscream was next, an 8 seater rollercoaster on a straight track only 50ft long. The cart moves along the track to the end, which is overhanging the side of the building, 113 floors up remember. Then when you least expect it, the track drops about 20ft so you're facing down towards the ground. It repeats itself a couple times too.
Insanity, that was the worst. A bit like the teacups at Alton Towers except there's no floor & it spins over the side of the building at high speeds. We were seriously shaken up by this one & Sharron (who was too chicken to go on) told me I screamed like a girl. I told her she would too if she went through what I did!
We all walked back along the strip afterwards, checking out a few casinos, having a flutter here & there. Grabbed a bite to eat at the Nascar Cafe in Sahara Casino. I say a bite, I had a 1 pound burger, Rick had a 1 pound BLT & the girls meals were pretty large too. The best part was the drink. They have a 1.5 gallon option which we were only too happy to try. It comes in a tube which they tap & place in the middle of the table. It's 12 pints!
As we left, a guy, no bigger than a standard English person, was tucking into a 6 pound burrito! If he finished it he got it complimentary, with a place in the hall of fame & some other prizes. What made it more crazy was that he emptied a whole bottle of his own hot sauce all over it before starting! Nutter.
We left Rick & Sharron to explore for themselves after Caesars Palace. That place was nuts, so OTT!

March 2:

Today we changed hotels, we wanted one night on the strip right in the thick of it. We chose a spa suite in the 'Monte Carlo'. I have never been in such an amazing hotel room & to have this kind of luxury after this year was so good.
We had a full size jacuzzi in our lounge/bedroom/kitchen! Over 750 square feet of pure luxury. The hotel was beautiful & the casino was grand. We won a few dollars on the afternoon on Monopoly, Carly's favourite, grabbed a snack before meeting up with Rick & Sharron for our last night.
It wasn't too eventful, we had some asian food, then sat drinking in the casino. Carly had an early night & I took the other two to see the rest of the strip. A little souvenir shopping & some chocolate shopping before calling it a night!