Hi everyone,

Tuesday the 20th
On Tuesday we left Los Angeles to drive to Las Vegas. We arrived later then we thought as we were delayed by a couple of factors. The first being that we spent more time then we thought in the Citadell outlet shopping centre, Oops! We bought so much stuff that we had to stop off at a K-Mart to buy another suitcase! Emily bought 2 pairs of converse shoes for $30 and Leanne got a Guess bag for $75!
The second factor was that we got caught in a massive traffic jam on the freeway out of Los Angeles when a truck rolled over.
The first hour of the journey through the hills surrounding LA is suprisingly picturesque but it flattens out and is a fairly straight and boring drive after that.
We reached Las Vegas at 8.30 at night and it was a bit hairy driving down the strip and trying to find our accomodation. There is just so much going on around you and flashing lights that distract you.

Wednesday the 21st (Happy Birthday Leanne)
On Wednesday we walked down the strip. It is suprisingly sleazy even during daylight hours. There are people trying to hand out pamphelts advertising strip clubs and brothels and they dont seem to be worried if you have small children in tow.
We went in a shop totally dedicated to M&M's and M&M's merchandise, believe it or not it is 4 stories tall!!!!
After that we walked down to the Venitian hotel complex where Madame Tussauds wax museum is. We took lots of photos with people like: Barack Obama, Beyonce, Frank Sinatra, Harrison Ford and Cameron Diaz. The wax figures are very life like and Emily wouldnt stand close to some of them!!
These hotels/casino complexs' are amazing, the Venitian has a full Venitian canal running through it with gondolas and Caesers Palace is full of enormous roman statues and architecture. The MGM Casino has a full lion exhibit and the lions seem to be very playful unlike the ones at Adelaide Zoo.
The Caesers Palace shopping precint is full of stores like: Dolce and Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Guess and Pandora.

Today we are going to the Grand Canyon and we will update you with pictures of the canyon and vegas in a few days.

From Josh, Emily and Carl.