USA 09/10 – Las Vegas Day 3 – New Year’s Eve

Today we slept in. Well… sort of. We had informed Ed last night that we would not be setting an alarm, and that he could call us at 9:30am if he had not heard from us at this point. At 9:15, the phone rang and scared the living daylights out of both of us (with two phones, one either side of the bed, set to full ringer volume). After the mildly rude awakening, and some stern words exchanged, we got ready and went down to the Miracle Mile shops for breakfast. We had seen a breakfast deal – $3.99 – the first day we arrived, and so decided to go check it out in more detail.

We ended up at a regular priced restaurant (the mexican breakfast wasn’t quite what we were looking for), and pigged out. This is a dangerous country for weight gain, let me tell you that. After breakfast, we headed towards New York New York, and the rollercoaster that runs around the outside of this hotel. On previous trips to Vegas (ie 7 years ago) we had looked at this ride, but never actually given it a shot. Pip and I decided to give it a shot, and so lined up (Disneyland anyone?) with masses of other people. The queue took about 20 minutes to move through, but it was well worth the wait.

From here we made our way to the MGM Grand to see the lion habitat, but unfortunately the lions were all asleep. We walked north along the Strip from the MGM towards the Coca-Cola shop and M&M’s World, our real focus for today. We went to the Coke shop first, however, as Ed was thirsty so this seemed the most logical. We did find a drink, but didn’t find the Coke fountains that we had seen on a previous visit to Vegas many years ago – which was most disappointing. We didn’t spend too long here, but instead headed for M&M’s World – 4 levels of shopping for M&M’s merchandise. For most people this probably wouldn’t be the most exciting thing, but Pip is a big M&M’s fan so it seemed perfect. We did end up with a bag of M&M’s in every colour produced, but not a whole lot else.

We left M&M’s world and headed out onto the Strip again. back towards our hotel. Because of our relatively later breakfast, we decided to skip lunch. We were going to have an early dinner before a show at 7pm, so this seemed fine. We spent a short time back at the rooms, then headed out again to make our way towards the Venetian hotel for dinner. Ed had found a restaurant in his book on Vegas, and so we were determined to find the canal that ran through that hotel at the same time as finding this restaurant. With more luck than the other night (we walked through three casinos looking for the canal before we gave up), we found the restaurant and got a table without too much trouble. The food here at Postrio (an offshoot of the reputable Wolfgang Puck’s line) was incredible – highly recommended for anybody who travels where Wolfgang Puck has establishments.

After our meal, we made our way down to the Blue Man Group theatre in the Venetian – the show which we knew very little about, but I had seen some acts by this group on the TV show “Las Vegas” of all things. Once inside the 1,700 person theatre (we’re talking inside the casino here), we waited for the show to start while reading some very entertaining messages across the scrolling message boards. Such messages included things like: “please turn off all electronic devices including cell phones, pagers, and personal fax machines”, “please no photography. If you do not obey this instruction, we will have to use the ejector mechanism located in your seat” and so on.

The show itself was incredible – very very entertaining, but very hard to explain at the same time. They played lots of percussion and music on big pipes, large drums and other things which was great, accompanied by a very talented band. There was lots of physical comedy, audience interaction and a whole heap of recycled paper. Following the show, we had our programme signed by one of the Blue Men, then made our was slowly back to the hotel. Because it was New Year’s Eve, the Strip was ridiculously busy and it took us nearly 45 minutes to walk the distance between the Venetian and Planet Hollywood.

After this experience, we decided not to spend any longer than required out on the Strip. We relaxed for a while before heading to the casino to put a few dollars on some machines (mostly unsuccessful), then returned to our rooms in time to watch the fireworks along the Strip. We counted down into the new year with the TV broadcast of the fireworks that were outside the window (go figure), and had some company from those back home via Skype.

All in all, compared to a few others, today was a very uneventful (but good) day!

Hope everyone is well back home and that 2010 has been a blast so far! Make sure to check out the gallery and the video mash-up below!

USA 09/10 – Las Vegas Day 2 – The Grand Canyon

Our second day in Vegas started earlier than any day should ever start – 4:30am we were awake. We had to be ready to go on our Grand Canyon tour at 5:30am, and so got up early enough to grab a quick breakfast at Starbucks (24 hours in the hotel casino). When Ed met us in the lobby at 5:25am, we headed outside to meet the bus driver. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the nicest of fellows and was already upset because “you should always be 10 minutes early for a tour”… why, then, don’t they just tell us a time that is 10 minutes earlier, and only get there 10 minutes after?!

We saw some new areas of the Strip while we ducked from hotel to hotel to pick people up, then made the 25 minute journey out of town to Boulder City, where we would board a plane to the Grand Canyon. It was only our second day in Vegas, but this bus driver made it very clear that not only do the women have no shame, but neither do people asking for tips. I’m more than happy to give someone a tip out of good faith, but when they tell you that you should give them one, or blatantly ask for it, then I’m not the greatest fan.

A short wait later and we were out on the tarmac (freezing cold, mind you – we were wearing jeans, and jumpers; but not prepared for this kind of cold) on the way to our 10-seat (or maybe 8?) Cessna Caravan where Ed was selected to be the co-pilot (oh god…). The flight was smooth, and very scenic, and certainly made for quick access to the Grand Canyon West Rim. We arrived at the West Rim about 30 minutes later, and soon after headed back out (into the freezing cold again) to board our helicopter flight to the base of the canyon. Pip decided to keep warm by jumping up and down, conducting a Grand Canyon aerobics class. After a few minutes wait, the helicopter arrived and we were on the way down to the base of the canyon.

It wasn’t a long trip down, but it was certainly picturesque – even if the sun was hiding behind the relatively high cloud. A short walk to the riverbed and we met our boat driver, who took us on a nice, yet quick, trip up the river. We did learn that the water in the river flows at about 12 miles an hour, and can get considerably deep and wide in parts of the canyon. For whatever reason it seemed warmer at the bottom when compared with up top, and the boat driver reported that the difference was 6 degrees. A few photo opportunities later, and some driving time for each passenger, we turned around and headed back to the riverbank. After this, and the return walk to the helicopter landing site at the base of the canyon, we soon left for the airport at the top of the canyon.

Upon returning to the airport, we were informed by our plane pilot that we had to be back from the short bus tours by 10:40am in order to make our return flight. This didn’t leave much time for lunch (which came included in the tour), but we thought we just get it at whatever time happened to be right then eat what we could). We first headed to the Grand Canyon Skywalk – a glass-bottomed walkway that extends out over the canyon. While we didn’t actually go on the Skywalk, we went to the Skywalk shop so that Pip could buy something to keep her warm. By this stage, it was so cold outside that it was actually snowing (we definitely weren’t dressed for snow). She ended up with a beanie, gloves, scarf and a mug of hot chocolate for $25! A comment made by the salesperson, however, was somewhat scary – it was along the lines that “the last time it snowed up here, it took me 9 hours to get home”.

Dressed and ready (a little warmer), we caught the bus to the second stop – Guano Point – where the Hualapai (native indian tribe) Buffet was available. It was before 10am, but we still ate enough for it to be lunch (however, we had woken up at 4:30am, so technically it could have been lunch!). Unfortunately, seating was outside, so we ate our lunch while freezing to death in the snow and wind. Because of the weather, we chose not to stay long and after a quick walk around the viewing areas, we caught the bus back to the airport terminal so that we were well ahead of our 10:40am deadline.

The snow that had started earlier had continued, and looked set to continue well into the afternoon. There was so much fog about the place that anybody who had not already seen the canyon was certainly not going to be able to see it today. It was at this point that we were informed that the planes were no longer flying, and hence there was no way (other than road) for us to get out of here. All of the helicopter tours had now been cancelled, except for those flying directly to Las Vegas which were still going out. The only reason we had chosen this air tour was so that we didn’t waste a whole day getting to and from the canyon; but it now looked like that was precisely what we were going to be doing. It was a three hour wait for the bus to get to us from Boulder City, and then a three hour return journey – oh great.

With no other option available to us, we decided to try and waste the time be seeing the only thing still left to see (we’d already exhausted the, um, extensive gift shop shopping) – the Hualapai Ranch. This was a small Western town set up for visitors to stay overnight in small cabins, but it did have a warm dining hall where we camped at a table for an hour or so. Once we got bored here, and flushed out by the mass of visitors arriving to do the same, we returned to the airport to check on the status of the bus. By this point, nearly two hours in to our wait, the bus had not get crossed the Hoover Dam – at least 1.5 hours out from our location. Anger was growing amongst the crowd in the terminal who had been stranded here with nothing to do, and finally the tour company decided to allow us to use one of the busses sitting at the terminal in order to go down the hill and meet our bus at the bottom in order to save some time. We’re not sure why this didn’t happen hours before, but nonetheless.

We set off in the most disgusting yellow school bus ever known to man – clearly made for children with a lack of any useable leg room. 30 minutes later and we were finally at the base of the mountains around the canyon, ready to transfer to our tour bus. We did so, and prepared for the remaining hours of driving that lay ahead of us. We finally set off (after waiting for a few stragglers), and headed for the Hoover Dam. An hour into the drive, however, we met one of the worst traffic jams ever… it was nearly 6 miles of traffic, lined up to cross the Hoover Dam, moving at no more than 2 miles an hour.

Unfortunately our driver did not inform us of an alternate route until we had been sitting here for over an hour… good going bucko. Although the traffic moved at times, those who had jumped out of their cars to get some fresh air walked much faster than the traffic, and some that passed us early on were not seen again at any stage while we were waiting. We were stuck in this traffic for almost three hours, and the uncomfortable seats on the bus (made only as a transfer bus, not a long-haul vehicle) made the waiting worse.

We finally cleared the traffic after the sun had set, and saw the Hoover Dam by night (ie, not really at all). An hour later, and we were finally home – grumpy, tired, and wishing our day back. Returning to our hotel room, we discovered that the key for Pip and my room no longer worked, and so after spending seven hours trying to get home, we couldn’t get in! Security blamed the malfunction on the way the keys were stored (if they rub together, sometimes they stop working), but in reality they had been in two separate locations all day, so more likely it was a system error that someone had made.

After a bit of time relaxing, (and after Ed had managed to convince the hotel to give us a free meal at one of the restaurants for the trouble caused), we had dinner at the Spice Market Buffet then played a few dollars on the machines at the casino. Having no luck here, we returned to the rooms to get some much needed rest. We simply hoped that tomorrow would come and go with no problems/arguments/major annoyances!

We took lots of photos today, so check the full gallery out here – alternatively, watch the streamlined version in the photo mash-up below!

USA 09/10 – LA to Las Vegas

Today started even earlier than yesterday (a trend that we hope stops very soon), with breakfast at 6:20am. The bus to Las Vegas was due to pick us up at 7:30am, which although wasn’t the most pleasant thing to look forward to, in hindsight it was a very lucky move considering the current air restrictions that have picked up over the past few days. We finished breakfast, checked out, and waited for the bus (which turned out to be a shuttle to the real bus) all in good time.

When the shuttle arrived, we puzzle for a few minutes over how we were going to fit in our 4 bags and ski bag, but after a few attempts by the driver everything was set and we were on our way to pick up the remaining passengers. The irony here? The remaining passengers (and bus terminal) were in Anaheim; the real Anaheim; where we had been not even 7 hours prior. (Oh, and it’s much faster getting to Anaheim if you go with someone who knows where they’re going!) The transfer to the actual Las Vegas bus was painless, although it was a full bus from here. Pip was sent as the advanced party member to grab some seats, and managed to do so in the 3rd and 4th rows of the bus. Just before 9am, we hit the road – heading out of town, and towards the desert oasis that is Las Vegas.

We were soon out of the metropolis that is LA, but the sprawl seemed to go on for miles – into, over and beyond the hills surrounding the city. As we finally pulled out towards the Mojave Desert, the scenery changed from lush green to dusty brown – but it was certainly great scenery nonetheless. The hills and mountains created out here (some snow covered) are evidence of some serious fault-line activity, but certainly change the old fictional view that deserts are sandy, flat, and have lots of cacti.

Our first and only stop on this journey was at Barstow, a small town on the main route from LA to Vegas. This was a popular stop for many of the tour groups, and so people were everywhere to be seen (however, nothing compared to yesterday’s crowds). As it was only 11:00am, lunch seemed a little too distant to commit to serious eating here, so we snacked on some healthy McDonald’s fries (see image below). It also seems that the Panda craze back home has taken even the most remote areas by storm – however, these guys seem more interested in serving Panda…

Back on the road, it didn’t take long to hit the border and leave California, entering into the state of Nevada. While the trip from here contained nothing worthy of me describing to you in words, we did see two things – an interesting street name for starters, and also the world’s biggest thermometer (a ploy to put Baker, NV on the map). Interesting fun fact: lotteries are banned by law in the state of Nevada. Maybe there’s too much fun to be had in winning at the casinos?

As we pulled into Las Vegas at around 1:30pm, we were almost ready for some lunch, a nice relaxing afternoon and evening, and some good time to sleep. Unfortunately, the bus service did not drop us at our hotel, and so we had to round up taxi to take us, our 4 bags, and a ski bag down the Strip to our hotel. It didn’t appear that van-style taxis were that common in Las Vegas, so Pip arranged (or tried to arrange) for one to meet us at Harrah’s – where we were waiting. A taxi did turn up not long after, and although he seemingly didn’t want to take us (winding up his windows as Pip walked towards him), ended up agreeing to earn some money.

The experience we had with this driver was the craziest so far – he was a true red-neck American with nothing but criticism for the United States government (actually, any government anywhere), or anyone who was operating a business in an efficient and economical manner. We listened to his tirade for the 10 minutes it took us to get to our hotel, and feared that one wrong word would lead to him spraying some bullets around the taxi. Regardless, after a big day of travel we were finally at the hotel and ready to relax.

Ed went to check in while Pip and I waited with the mountain of bags, but when he hadn’t returned 15 minutes later and we could tell there were raised voices, we knew something was up. A little more waiting and Ed was finally back with us; but with only one hotel room available of the two that should have been arranged. While we walked to the first room, we heard the full story – that the group who had booked the hotel, HotelClub.com.au (according to the hotel staff) had only send through confirmation of one room, and not for the second; even though Ed had paid for, and confirmed, both rooms. Upon reaching the room, Ed made a number of phone calls (at least one of them ending in a hang-up) and heard that it was the hotel’s fault (ie, the complete opposite), and that there were no other rooms available for the next four nights (according to HotelClub).

This continued for a number of hours, and while Ed continued to make phone calls Pip and I explored the hotel a little and the shopping that was nearby – the Miracle Mile as it’s known (possibly because there’s a mile-worth of shops). We walked through a number of gaming areas on the way there and back, and realised just how little shame anyone has in Vegas – card dealers wearing nothing but lingerie, scantily clad pole-dancers in front of poker tables (do I need to go on?). By the time we returned to the room, Ed had rustled up another room (after proving to HotelClub that there were rooms available, just not the cheapest ones), and we were finally settled in. A short time later, we hit the Strip in search of food – hoping for Italian, but really happy with many things.

We walked North along the Strip, walking through hotel/casino after hotel/casino. Along the way we stopped to look at the flamingos at the Flamingo, the canal and gondolas at the Venetian, and various other sights along this part of town. I should admit that although we attempted to see the indoors part of the canal at the Venetian (and did see it, outside), we failed to find it and ended up three casinos further North. Luckily this did find us our dinner venue, Lavo, which was a nice upmarket Italian restaurant. Amongst other things we experienced here, one was the toilet attendant looking for tips in the male toilet – what a CV that boy would have!

After dinner we walked the reverse side of the Strip, stopping to watch the volcano erupt at the Mirage, ducking into Caesars Palace to thaw out, and then stopping again to see the fountains at the Bellagio. Crowds were fairly thick in places around the free entertainment (reminiscent of Disneyland), but we pushed our way through and made good time back to the hotel. The distance walked was quite significant, and by this stage we were in need of desert; Pip suggested ice cream, and we made our way to the nearest store to satisfy this craving (luckily out of the cold by now). We crashed soon after, and remembered that although the wake-ups had been consistently getting earlier and earlier, tomorrow’s was set to be the worst yet – 4:30am to head out on a Grand Canyon tour.

Check out some of the photos here, and at least watch the photo mash-up included below!