Greetings from Springdale, Utah

Where I am still recovering from the fact that timezones were crossed without knowing it and have been operating one hour behind for the whole day! Strangely enough getting to Utah was driving through Nevada then a teeny bit of Arizona to plonk out at Utah on central time.

So checked out Zion National Park today (and more tomorrow), pics later as had to madly do laundry as confusion of timezones stuffed things up a little.

But for the rundown of Vegas which I pre-typed… (pics now added at the bottom)

Vegas as expected, had a complete lack of free internet. The hotel had a rate of $11.99 (USD) per day! This would have been the same at a number of hotels on The Strip as in Vegas it seems that two hotel groups own pretty much all the hotels.

Day 1

Left Anaheim early to avoid traffic and the heat driving out to Vegas. As we arrived in Vegas mid morning and we couldn’t check in yet, we headed straight for one of the outlet malls. And here began the shopping expedition of the next 3 days (or part thereof)…

Checked into the hotel in the afternoon and then walked the strip north checking out the casinos. After dinner we tried to catch the Treasure Island show but the wind was to great and it got canned. So headed back south down the strip to take photos, check out more casinos and shopping some more. I think the length of the strip was underestimated and by the time bedtime came it was after 1am.

Day 2

Headed out to Red Rock Canyon this morning. It’s a State Park with a one way trail through the canyon wth stop points to park and join trails, take photos etc. Didn’t do any of the trails here as the weather was quite hot – around 40 degrees celisus each day! – so took photos and stuff. Red Rock was pretty awesome, and if there was more time would’ve been an awesome place for a sunrise/sunset. Along the way to Red Rock a Walmart superstore (even bigger) was spotted and this was visited on the way back along with another outlet mall.

This evening was the highlight night in Vegas – a feast at ‘The Buffet’ at the Bellagio then to watch O by Cirque du Soleil. The buffet was completely awesome, it was about $38 USD p/p as Fri/Sat nights cost more, but it was well worth. The tenderest roast turkey, lamb chops, prime rib you will have ever tasted, peeled prawns, smoked salmon, raw salmon/tuna, sushi, pre-opened crab leg not to mention the deserts and everything else! When compared to the prices of normal meals in Vegas, it wasn’t that pricey as a decent meal seemed to cost $17-$30 USD. And once you added drinks you soon almost reach the cost of the buffet. So nice was it that will be heading back to it on the one night in Vegas before flying out to San Francisco.

Caught the Bellagio fountain show before heading to O. O was impressive and is to hard to detail here, but it was a water based show and it was worth it just for the setup alone. Imagine a stage, which is also a pool and the top moves as needed to make it just floor, shallow, deep. There was high diving, acrobatics, syncronised swimming, dancing, fire twirling…

Day 3

The laid back day in Vegas which still was quite full. Checked out some other casinos, shopped some more then tried to pack all the stuff bought. Forgot to mention that a second luggage was bought back on Day 1 in Vegas… Tried to catch Treasure Island again tonight, but a storm front overhead brought even stronger wind and it got canned again. Will try again next Fri night and if it doesn’t happen it wasn’t meant to be. Heard a man there tonight say last time he was in Vegas he tried 3 nights in a row and it got canned ‘cos of the wind (pyrotechnics are used).

So all in all, Vegas is a pretty awesome place. The weather was crazy hot, but with shopping and all the tacky yet awesome casino experiences it was a place I really enjoyed.

And Mum (or anyone wondering)… the shopping rundown is something like:

2 pairs jeans, 2 pairs shoes, 3 jumpers, 2 polo shirts, 5 t-shirts, 1 pair shorts, all the stuff from Disneyland (tater, mug, Mickey stuff) and magnets (yep I remembered them). That said, not all the stuff is for myself…

Welcome to Las Vegas…

Paris casino/hotel

Fountains at the Bellagio

m&m’s at m&m’s world

Red Rock canyon – photos of the red portion of canyon on a different camera so this for now…