Well, we aren’t exactly dead yet but we did feel like it after we landed back at Gatwick last week! Our holiday got off to a good start as the flight time was brought forward by half an hour so after check-in at Gatwick at 7am, we were all set to get on the plane. It was a relatively unexciting 10hr flight direct from here to Vegas, and we were very glad to get off the plane at the other end. During the flight, we’d been over this rather large bit of ice and snow which freaked out my friend Gill as she’d packed for warm weather and wasn’t expecting to be seeing wintry conditions!
After making our way out of the airport, we found that our holiday co-ordinator had organised limos to take us to our hotel, along with a quantity of champagne to get things off to a good start. We stayed at the Bellagio which was a beautiful hotel and by far the least tacky of the lot! Once we’d checked in and got settled, some of us went out for a walk to stretch our legs after the long flight. We had a wander through Caesar’s Palace and then came back to our hotel for a welcome drinks party with the rest of our tour group as there were 24 of us in total.
On our first full day, we went on a trolley-bus tour around the sights, including the infamous sign. In the afternoon, we did a bit more walking and hotel-visiting, stopping off at the Venetian for a giggle at the fake Gondolas and a ‘river’ that smelled suspiciously of chlorine! In the evening we went back to the Bellagio for dinner and went to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O”.
The next day we headed out to the Grand Canyon for a few days of white-water rafting down the river - the weather was perfect, it was sunny and warm during the day but freezing at night so we were glad to our warm beds! The tour company had motorised rafts so all we had to do was sit in them and admire the breathtaking scenery. We stopped at various locations during the day for short walks and wildlife-spotting. Sadly I didn’t have my camera during that bit of the trip because I was quite sure my natural clumsiness and the presence of so much water would spell disaster!
After the rafting experience, we went back to Vegas for a few more days during which time three of us decided that we ought to see the canyon from the top since we’d already seen it from the bottom. Off we went on a full-day coach trip down some very dusty roads to the west rim where our first stop was the Skywalk - it was a strange and surreal experience, to be standing on several layers of glass over a 4,000ft drop! Most amusing was the whole business of watching other people inching their way around the edge of the bridge clutching the rails, and then finding they’d got to cross the clear glass part to get round the official photographer. I know people have problems with heights, but I was still amused by it all. Gill wasn’t too bad on the bridge although she was grumbling afterwards that she just about coped with it, 'im indoors didn’t like it much at all, and I was practically tap-dancing over it! We stopped to have one official photo taken about a third of the way round, then Gill had one taken of herself on the other side, by which time 'im indoors had said he wanted to get off the bridge so we’d headed round it to the far side when she caught up with us.
Our next stop of the day was at Guano Point where we had lunch, and wandered about on the rocks trying to look down but not look down at the same time! The views were spectacular, especially the view right down to the river at the bottom where we’d been rafting just a few days before.
The rest of the holiday passed far too quickly and was a mixture of wandering in and out of hotels, gambling a bit, drinking plenty of excellent cocktails and seeing more shows. By the time we got home on Wednesday last week, I was ready for a break to get over my break!
The rest of my photos are here but they’re mostly from the day trip to the canyon.
