Las Vegas & Grand Canyon



Excalibur Hotel & Casino



Late on Friday night we arrived in Vegas! As soon as the flight landed and the air hostess welcomed us to Las Vegas, everyone was cheering and clapping. Pretty clear that everyone had come for a fun weekend! Our hotel, Excalibur, was massive! It was not only a hotel, but a casino. Facilities included pool, spa, gym, wedding chapel, food court, tourist shops, a few shows, and even a room with about 20 screens and big comfy chairs to watch sports. The entire place was castle-themed. Kinda tacky, but it was well worth the money! All the hotels/casinos seem to be themed; we were between a New York one, and an Egyptian one!



My $1 gamble!!



On Friday night we went down to the casino, and explored all of the various bars, and casinos. I gambled $1! And lost!



The strip



The following day we had an incredible sleep in (each in our own massive bed- with no strangers in the room, sooo good compared to the hostels!) and then I went for a stroll along the strip. During the day it’s full of people promoting cheap show tickets, people dressed up as Elvis/MJ/various cartoon characters. It’s incredibly hot, too. About 40 degrees. I found heaven: M&M world! It’s incredible! They have every kind of m&m you could possibly imagine (I bought some coconut ones, peanut butter ones, almond ones, and lots of purple ones!!!). They also have heaps of merchandise.

Welcome to Las Vegas

Later in the afternoon we went to the gym (exercising off all the huge meals) and chilled out by the pool. In the evening we went down to the strip- which is quite different at night! Everything is lit up, and there’s a lot less show advertising, more “naughty” type promotions! We saw the Bellagio fountain show, which was cool.. But the one in Dubai is better :) We then walked down to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign- which is not only a long walk, but really hard to photograph well at night! Anyway we had an early night because....



Hoover Dam



We got up stupidly early this morning for our Grand Canyon Tour! First stop was Hoover Dam, the largest man made reservoir in the world. Pretty cool.

Then off to the West rim of the Grand Canyon. The West rim is the closest one to Vegas, therefore you can spend a bit longer there. There was 3 different areas; two viewpoints, and one very touristy “Western” area. The viewpoints are incredible, you see completely different views from each place you stand. At the first viewpoint, there was lots of information about the tribe who own the land, and how they used to live. At the second viewpoint we climbed a hill (in crazy heat!) to find 360 degree views. AMAZING. 

First viewpoint



Second viewpoint