Las Vegas

Wow - I don't think we could have picked anywhere more different to go to in Nth America from Whistler to Vegas! It's a city of extravagence - a lot of it tacky, but because it's Vegas, you just take it and love it for what it is.

We were lucky enough to fly right over the Grand Canyon on our way in to Vegas which was awesome - no need to pay for an expensive day trip out that way - yeay!

We stayed in a 3 star hotel on the main strip - average hotel but awesome location so it didn't matter. The best thing about being located on the heart of the strip is that all the beautiful & extravagent 5 star hotels that one dreams about being rich enough to stay in are free to cruise around in and anyone can go in and play there, stroll the shops (Every top designer you can think of has shops there...), and eat at their restaurants / drink at their bars. We went to Bellagio one day (the hotel featured in Ocean's Eleven with the water fountains that move in simultation with music - SO beautfiul - and took photos of us pretending to be the noble King & Queen of Bellagio).

We didn't actually gamble a single cent when we were there - instead, we spent our money on good food & wine, catching some shows, & doing a wee bit of shopping.

We saw Cirque de Soleil the first night (Zumanity), "Fantasty" the second (a sort-of topless muscial - don't ask - we "won" the tickets through a dodgy time-share scam thing), and saw Phantom of the Opera on the 3rd night. Can I just say that Zumanity was absolutely amazing - truely ruely - unbelievable what some human beings can do. Fantasy was average - I think anyone with boobs gets a bit over seeing other boobs within a few minutes... I dare say Rowan would have a slightly different review of the evening... - Phantom was absolutely phenomenal - SO beautiful, absolutely exquisite - I was still crying 5 minutes after the show as we were strolling through the shops! Ahhh - getting a bit emotional in my old age.

All in all, Vegas was fun - worth seeing once - not sure if we will go back, but def glad we went & checked it out.