USA Holiday 2, September 18 (Canyonero)

Only in Las Vegas for two days, so made a tour booking for the Grand Canyon for the first - not ideal to have to get up early in the morning already. It seems the tour company only make a few hotel pickups for the tour, so we had to walk "not far" to another hotel. Each block is actually a huge walk on the strip, but luckily the outside temperature was only hot and not crazy hot for the moment (40 degrees celcius was the maximum for that weekend).

Before getting to the canyon we stopped off at Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. A bit surprising to see how low the water is getting, not sure what they've got planned to deal with that. The construction was pretty impressive, and they've got a new bridge being built all the way over the top too. Total travel time to get there was a least a few hours, with not a lot to see along the way at times. The last few kilometres was bumpy as hell, something about them not being allowed to replace the stones with a proper surface because some guy with a dude ranch wants to keep it authentic. Here's an idea, that guy can get stuffed and get his own road.

Lake Mead.

Hoover Dam.

It was hot as hell by the time we arrived, I think I even got sunburn through the windows of the bus. It did not help that my hat and sunglasses were in my missing luggage too. Within the site they have dedicated shuttle buses taking you between the two sites you can explore. The first one is the main viewing and photo point where you can also do a "skywalk" if you want, while the second site you can walk around a little more. It is quite limited though, as they wouldn't want people to go away too far and get lost or dehydrated. I spent most of my time trying to jump between one piece of shade and the next.

The Grant Canyon.

SKY WALK WITH ME.

It's very bright, and shiny.

Second drop off point.

Yarra River looks clean by comparison.

 

The dam is running low. A desalination plant is what they need...

Supposedly they are built like this on purpose.

Some kind of sheep with horns.

It was evening by the time the tour returned to downtown, just enough time for a few hours of adventure on the strip. Walked up past Bally's first - not much to see there but I just like the name - and just in time for one of the Bellagio Fountain water shows (possibly why the dam is running low). The show was done pretty well, and lasts for a few minutes.

The camera went into standby at the worst possible time.

A warm welcome at Mandalay Bay.

Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

Bellagio Fountains.

Next went through Caesars Palace and the Forums Shops At Caesars Palace to find something to eat. It can be quite tough to navigate through these hotel/casinos at first but I guess there is a common approach. Hotel and Cashier desks would be somewhere near the front. Then you're forced to go through all of the slot machines. More slot machines and card tables will follow that, and further towards the back you'll eventually find the shops and any of the free attractions on offer by that casino.

The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.

After having some food and getting back on to the street I was amazed at how much alcohol was around - how much there was on sale, how many people were walking the street with it, and the sizes of all the novelty cups you could get. I went early on a Lemon Margarita, just getting a large cup which was like 32 oz, before later coming across 50 oz ones and even some big football shaped souvenir mug that was like 80 oz :( Most of these alcohol drinks/cocktails are served from those slurpee machine things, which is convenient and adds to the fun.

Stopped next outside The Mirage which has a volcano display. For the most part it was just coloured water coming out of a "volcano" that was shaped nothing like a volcano, but they added in some flames to the end, and flames make everything better. Flamingo habitat across the road at the hotel of the same name. Not sure what the deal is here, but they have this 24 hour habitat and there are pink flamingos wandering around in there.

The Mirage Volcano.

Flamingo Habitat.

Went in to the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood hotel, which is just a basic shopping mall but had a few sports bars and stuff, so should come in handy for some Sunday football tomorrow. Next door is a Sega-based arcade which has nothing interesting and a Coca-Cola and M & M themed stores. The Coca-Cola one was neat, and actually had all kinds of cool stuff to buy. They also had this product sampler you could get, that has like 15 different past and present cola from around the world. I didn't get it as I've heard most of them are strange colours and don't taste very good, but thinking back I should have at least tried the infamous New Coke.

Treasure Island.

New York, New York !

Got back to the hotel to find my luggage had arrived!