Viva Las Vegas

After travelling back 16 hours in time we landed in LA, picked up the hire car and headed in the direction of Las Vegas.

Not long after arriving in America we actually started to miss Japan as almost straight away we started to see America in a slightly different light.  We stopped at a store to get some supplies and we realised that there were more chavs in one store than we had seen in all of Japan!  People just generally looked quite scruffy and appeared to have no class at all.

As well as this, the size of the people was even more pronounced.  Having flown in from a place where the general population are tiny, it was a bit of a culture shock to see your "average" person pretty badly overweight and others so massive that they scoot around Walmart in electric wheelchairs as they can't be bothered to get any exercise.

Now none of this is new to us, but maybe our views on the US has changed a little.  Anyway, our goal was always to finish our American road trip so we'll put some of the annoyances aside and get on with it. 

After a nights rest we arrived in Vegas .... bright light city.  

We were jet lagged so we caught up on a little bit of sleep in the daytime and hit the streets of Vegas at night, when it all comes to life.  I turned into a bit of a slot jockey, but actually we both found a machine we loved called 'catch the big one'!  We were doing some virtual fishing - I happened to break even but Rob lost (no Rob didn't really lose as there is no skill involved) - can you imagine - Rob losing?!  We watched the fountains at the Bellagio, checked out some places on 'The Strip' and ate lots at our hotel buffet.  We were both complete amateurs when compared to the remorseless eating machine that sat a few tables away - a huge American woman that could seriously pack it away - she had about 4 dinner plates loaded up and that was just the start.  Talk about a gorgefest!

The Bellagio

The Bellagio fountains

View from the stratosphere tower

The Strip

The Bellagio & Caesars Palace

The Strip

We also got tickets to the show 'Jubilee' which is a traditional Las Vegas show with all the glitz, glamour and scantily clad showgirls (Rob didn't complain about that part!).  We grabbed a beer and took our seats in the booth.  We were soon joined by a Japanese couple who flew in a couple of days ago from the east coast of America and were apparently suffering massive jet lag (really?!), so for most of the show Mrs Japanese decided to sleep - they were a right laugh!  The show itself was really good - the "costumes" (well head pieces really) that the female dancers wore were incredible and must have weighed a ton.  The men in the show were a bit older not that that's a bad thing, the bad bit was that none of them could really dance so I did have a bit of a giggle.  Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos to share with you - stupid rules!

So the rest of the stuff we did in Vegas we can't really share as we all know ..... what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. ;-)

After Vegas we headed to Death Valley National Park.  We were there a few years ago and it was absolutely roasting back then with temperatures in the 40's, but this time it was much more bearable in the mid 20's.  We decided to camp here (well sleep in the car) as accommodation was sooooo expensive, so we found our little camping spot and booked ourselves in for 2 nights.

Us at artists palette

Artists palette

Dantes view

Sand dunes

Stone kilns

Zabriski point

As well as being baking hot, Death Valley has the coolest bumpy roads, you know the bumps that make your stomach flip, like a humped back bridge.  Rob did a grand job of taking a bump at speed (only a little tiny bit over the limit ;-) and it actually felt like all 4 wheels left the ground , my stomach definitely flipped on that one!

We enjoyed Death Valley and spent long enough there so decided to head for the west coast and drive California's Big Sur.