Spent five days in Vegas with Jim and Jade and had a great time (except for one moment of MADNESS!!) Stayed at the New York New York Hotel which is on the main Strip and has its own rollercoaster straight outside the room window...this is where double glazing and me being deaf came into their own!!

The highlights of Vegas were the shows, the gambling and the Grand Canyon

Saw one of the magic shows...Lance Burton has been doing Vegas for 14 yeasr and has his own dedicated theatre. Really enjoyed the show and have no idea how he does many of the tricks...When you are so close to the action it is hard to understand how someone can vanish in front of your very eyes when you think you have all possible exits covered. He was very good at what he does but he is a bit of a smarmy American type which is a bit off putting.

Also went to see Love which is a show based on The Beatles performed by Cirque Du Soleil. I loved this show. The music brought back loads of memories from my younger days and many of the tracks seemed to be special recordings...not the standard versions from albums. To accompany the music was a fantastic acrobatic performance for which Cirque Du Soleil are famed. I found it quite an emotional experience and I dont think that was solely down to the extra strong cocktails they served up!! If anyone is in Vegas I would recommend going to see Love.

The Grand Canyon really was awsome (an over used word by people during my trip, but valid here). It is truely vast and we were able to fly, helicopter and walk around this massive canyon in the middle on nowhere...We debated whether massive can be used for something which is a hole and therefore has no mass...but I am going to stick my neck out and go with it!!

The Canyon was apparently created through erosion by the Colorado River over the last 6 million years...Are you having that Dad?? No me neither!!

At its widest point it is 18 miles across and over a mile deep. We headed to the South rim which is where the canyon is grandest. I would have loved to have spent a few days there going down to the canyon floor and exploring the vast area...May be next time. We climbed out on some rocky peninsulars which jutted out into the huge canyon. It is strange how your legs want to give way and start shaking even though you have about 6 feet of rock either side to play with...One slip though and you had another freefall on your hands...this time without a parachute!!

When in Vegas you have to have a gamble and myself and Jim had spent many hours prior to the holiday fine tuning our 'system' to beat the bankers. We had some great fun at a number of the casinos, the Pleasure Pit at Planet Hollywood was how all casinos should be!! We had some good sessions and some bad ones. We mostly stuck to Blackjack as we had an 'unbeatable system' 8-) though I did try my hand at Craps...It is not called that for nothing!!

Actually I enjoyed playing Craps, I just couldn't win at it! It does get everybody going...you can have a dozen or so people around the table all betting on your next throw...get a 7 and everyone loses their money...get a 10 and we all win...it does get exciting and pretty vocal with all the Americans "Whoopin an a Hollerin". Apparently there is one bet on the Craps table where there is no house edge...you get odds which truely reflect the chance of the bet coming in (which doesnt happen ofter in a casino)...I still managed to lose pretty much every time though!!

Whether I won or lost overall in Vegas must be kept a secret...Though I will give you a clue by quoting a few lines of 'If' by Rudyard Kipling...

"If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, (I think he meant one spin of the roulette wheel)
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss"

Therefore my lips are sealed!! 8-(

Anyway, I had a great time, loved the winning, hated the losing, but had a whole lot of fun along the way!! Maybe need to refine our system for next time!! 8-)