robbo and leeazaa’s travel adventures

We got to the Las Vegas airport pretty early this morning so we had some time to kill. Luckily for us they have recently introduced free WIFI so we can geek it up pre-flight.

It’s funny that the airport here actually has slot machines, in fact convenience stores and petrol stations also have slot machines. I never thought anyone would actually use one in a convenience store, but we’ve seen the odd gambler hitting the slots at the old 7-11 Casino….pretty sad if you ask me.

Another thing I’ve discovered here is my love for post-mix Dr Pepper in the diabetes causing ‘Super Gulp’, 2 Litre cups. Not everywhere has Dr Pepper here, but I noticed today when I got desperate for some that Pibb Xtra is essentially the same thing.

Now I never need go 20 minutes without a Dr Pepper tasting beverage again…

Rob

Tags: food, las vegas

Today was a big day for us as we decided to splash out and go for a flight tour of the Grand Canyon. Much like a Vegas casino, the tour is HUGE and well worth seeing. First up was a 45 minute flight in a two prop plane which was pretty cool. The views from a smaller plane are amazing since you fly at a much lower altitude however the trade off is that if a large size bird farts somewhere in front of the airplane then you are going to feel a jolt of turbulence. Maybe not quite so bad, but you get that picture. Speaking of which, here’s a couple from the flight.

Preflight check

nice and cosy, no free booze though

Me and Princess Leia

We flew over Hoover damn on the way there and got a few in flight pics.

Inflight pic of Hoover dam

After we touched down in Arizona, we boarded a bus and were driven to the Skywalk lookout at Eagle point. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take cameras on the Skywalk which sucked since it has the potential for some really great photos. Instead you have to pay $30 for them to take photos for you doing stupid poses, naturally we didn’t bother. Stepping out on the Skywalk felt really unnatural, not that I’m afraid of heights but walking over 1 inch thick plate glass didn’t feel all that safe to me.

The eagle watching over the canyon

After the Skywalk we waited for the bus to take us to the next stop, ‘Guano Point’. As we were waiting we overheard a tourguide mention that the Teepee we were waiting next to was a traditionally made Teepee. I figured as much after seeing that it was stacked full of traditional propane tanks and traditional slabs of bottled water.

Fortunately for us, Guano Point was alot more open for photos and exploring. In fact, they didn’t even bother with guard rails and we were only warned by the bus driver to stay a body length away from the edge. However I got the feeling it was only a recommendation. We got some great shots here, the view was awesome. The Grand Canyon is definitely a must-see in America, a big hole in the ground might sound boring but it is actually very spectacular, beautiful and mesmerizing. Words cannot describe it – and photos don’t really do it justice either. But here are some anyway:

Grand Tourists

After that we took the bus back to the terminal and the plane back to Vegas and stopped by the casino next door for some $1 pints of microbrew for dinner and a final hit of the pokies.

This day really wraps up our Vegas trip nicely, looking forward to seeing Uncle Bob tomorrow and San Antonio / Kerrville. Can’t wait to see what Texas has instore for us.

Tags: grand canyon, las vegas

It’s incredibly hot here in Vegas – 41 degrees every day. So that gives us even more excuse to go into the casino’s and enjoy their ice-cool air conditioning as we are walking along the footpaths.

Today we started off the day at Denny’s. Wow that place is a 24 hour breakfast heaven. I don’t know why they don’t have such a thing in Australia – it would rake in the money! $6.99 for 2 plates worth of breakfast goodness – what more could you want!

After  we had stuffed ourselves silly, we explored a few more casino’s and gambled a bit more. Hey it’s Vegas afterall! Not a good gambling day for us today, I think we ended up losing more than we won. I did manage to win 2,500 credits on a pokey machine -which is absolutely humungous! Unfortunately, it was a 1c machine so it ended up being only $25. Doh! If only I had been on a 25c or $1 machine at the time!!!

striking a pose

the half size eiffel tower

One thing we didn’t realise about the Casino’s here is that smoking is allowed inside all of them. Makes them feel a little more seedy – as if the 40+ year old waitresses in skimpy outfits weren’t bad enough. Definitely can notice the smell on your clothes and dry throat if your in a casino for too long.

To get away from the heat and smoke, we went and saw The Dark Knight movie at one of the local cinema’s. We both thought it was pretty cool.  Heath Ledger really is good in it – you really hardly notice it’s him because he is so much in character. So if you haven’t seen it, you should, even if you don’t like Batman (I don’t!).

To round out the day, we watched the Bellagio fountain display which runs every 15 minutes after dark. I think we need to get a bit closer next time, but it’s definitely quite spectacular.

Tomorrow we will be watching the Rugby sometime (carn the Wallabies!!!) and then checking out the remaining casinos. On Sunday we have a light airplane and skywalk tour of the Grand Canyon booked. Should be awesome!!

Then on Monday we head off to San Antonio to stay with Uncle Bob (is it weird if I call you that???). We are definitely looking forward to seeing some of countryside America and getting into a home environment again.

Leeane

Tags: las vegas

There hasn’t been a post here in a few days and the truth is that we have both come down with something….Vegas Fever. This condition is usually brought on by dazzling, seizure inducing colours, free booze and the chorus of little melodies that churn out of every slot machine 24 hours a day. The symptoms are actually quite enjoyable and we’ve been wandering the strip every day so far exploring all the casinos and the multitude of over-priced shops littered everywhere and of course, enjoying the free booze when we can.

The casinos are amazing, my personal favourite style of casino is what I like to call, ‘the outside-inside’. It’s where the corridors snake around, lined with shop fronts that look like separate buildings and the entire roof is painted skyblue and cloudy. Stunning.

Leeane in Pseudo-Tuscany

Me in Pseudo Tuscany

Of course at the end of the winding corridors they all suspiciously end up at the casino. You can’t help but feel obliged to stick a buck into a slot to pay for what you have just seen. Word of caution though, don’t take photos of the pokey machines or you end up with a big-ass security guard waltzing up to you and telling you off. Luckily before he decided to belt me I was able to show him the innocent photos we took, which seemed to put him at ease. Even still, he said ‘a little less of the gaming machines in future photos’. Fair enough, at least we got a couple.

ching ching

Spending her hard-earned.

It’s true what they say about the strip at night, I’m sure there’s enough electricity being consumed to fuel a medium sized island nation for a year, it’s worth every megawatt though. The hotels look especially good at night with the Nevada hills in the background.

The strip at dusk

New York New York Casino is based on the NY skyline, quite remarkable. We are going to check it out tonight.

new york new york

OK, now some of the not-so-great. At night, when the walkways are crammed to capacity they are flanked by guys ( and occasionally girls ) in ‘GIRLS! DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR’ t-shirts handing out stiff little flyers to every bloke they see. The funniest thing about it is that they don’t just hand out the flyers, they click them together to get your attention first, then thrust them out in front of you as you walk by. When you walk along a footpath lined one either side with 20 or so of these guys it sounds like walking through a plague of chirping cicadas.

A downside to having porn thrust in your face every 5 seconds ( if it is a downside at all ) is that the flyers are littered everywhere on the ground as you walk along, especially off the main strip. Other than that though, the place is alot cleaner on the surface than what I expected. Beneath the surface though, who knows…

i forget the name of this one

Outside of one of the casinos

Mum in case you were wondering if I’ve lost everything and your house now belongs to the casino, don’t worry we actually won yesterday and we are up about $150.

Tags: las vegas