The bright lights of Vegas have welcomed us along with a multitude of people that make up the 50+ million who visit here each year. Our first night we were talked into getting cheap tickets to Lance Burton ($10 instead of $75), in order to get them we had to attend a 2 hour seminar at a new resort opening up down the strip (Also owned by the MGM corporation who own the Excalibur where we are staying, Luxor and New York New York next door). To qualify for the presentation we needed to be married and living together, which we pulled off quite easily.
We attended the "2 hour" time share presentation, as a newly married couple, apparenlty we were married January 20th and are on a 6 month honeymoon. We went with the intention of staying out of the spotlight and sinking into the corner of the room. This was made incredibly hard when Junior was called up to write on the whiteboard and explain to the group our reason for visiting/travelling. Our Hungarian host was extremely nice to the 2 of us until Junior told her that we were not interested in buying a time share for $33 grand that day, I said I'd think about it, discuss it with family and get back to her. Well this chick did a complete flip from nice to bitch in 3 seconds. 2 hours turned to 4 as we waited for our "free" tickets to Lance, we also recieved $100 in casino gambling chips (which Junior has sinced turned into $200 ) and a 2 night vacation at their resort in Orlando. As we waited in the booth for our consultant to get our free stuff Nat decided she would let them kow what she thought of them by opening up a game of "Battle of the Trouser Trumpets!!" The chick gave us a weird look as she reentered the booth and found us almost in tears of laughter. All in all the pros outweighed the cons but we have learnt that nothing is free in Vegas.
Yesterday we did the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon tour, leaving at 6.15am from our hotel and returning at 7pm. Very expensive for a 8 hour bus trip and about 4 hours of sightseeing. Apparently, breakfast was complimentary along with lunch. Breakfast was a Danish (Americans!!!) and juice box and Nat didn't touch her lunch. Hoover Dam has enough cement to build a 1 foot walkway around the equator, other than that I didn't think much of it (They have a bunker that the US army overlook the Dam from??? Why, we don't know)! All in all Nat wasn't overly impressed with the Dam, Grand Canyon or the tour. I had a different experience, it was awe inspiring standing at the edge of a 4000 foot drop that spans 247 miles. The feeling of adrenalin, fear (you can't help but feel your legs shake) and amazement as you stand a foot from the edge of a 4000 foot sheer drop was incredible.
The Hualapai Indians basically own the West Rim of the Canyon that we visited and can do as they like. No one is allowed to take cameras onto the skywalk, they charge $25 US to walk on and another $15 for one of the Indians to take a photo of you. They have their own police on the property and it sounds as if most Americans walk on egg shells around them.
Once again we met more Aussies (see the pics, unfortunately I can't load them at this cafe so will have to wait until San Francisco) and Nat is still yet to see/meet a celebrity. Other than that things are going pretty well, we haven't wanted to kill each other yet despite a few hurdles.
Junior signing off
