Last of Las Vegas

Well we've only one more night here in Los Alamos - tomorrow we're all spending the day (and night) in Albuquerque. This suits really well as if we'd stayed in Los Alamos tomorrow night we'd have had an early early start on Saturday to get back to Albuquerque, return the hire car and check in for our fight to Houston - then on to Cancun.

We've had a lovely time here with the family - will give details and pictures in my next post. Meantime here's the tail end of our Vegas stay.

Love to y'all
Z xx



Livy - just for you - This was a piece of Key Lime Pie - something I'd heard of often but had never tasted so Bloss and I shared a piece and it was delish! Another thing I tried - again because I'd heard so much about it was Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia icecream - and it lived up to everything I'd heard about it. Bloss tried the lemon meringue pie ice cream and reckoned it was tops too.




This is the Hoover dam. We had a day trip to the Grand Canyon and the dam. It was a very big day - up at 5am, picked up at 6.20am and finally got back to the hotel around 11.30pm that night. But nonetheless so glad we went - it's just one of those must see places.



Bloss posing with the Grand Canyon as a backdrop



This gives some idea of the vastness - see the group of people out on the outcrop looking like ants.

Liked this one of me so much I've made it my new profile picture - after doing a few creative things in Paint Shop! This is by the flamingo pool at the Flamingo resort.



This one was taken on the afternoon of my birthday. Bloss wanted to get some shoes from a company called Zappo who specialise in internet trading in the US. He has kind of large hooves and finds it difficult to get anything exciting in Australia. However Zappos aren't really interested in dealing internationally so we had to provide all sorts of information via email to try and get these shoes delivered to SIL's place. But it just became harder and harder - photocopies of this, that and the other and they couldn't accept them sent via email. Anyway I discovered they had a shop in Las Vegas so we spent $30 getting a cab there - thinking he could buy shoes off the shelf and we could cancel the online order. But there was hardly any shoes in his size, so I then tried to organise something with the shop staff who after a lot of time and effort scanned the necessary docs and faxed them off. All of this took absolutely ages and Bloss was beginning to feel guilty about how I was spending my birthday. Then to top it off the place was miles from anywhere and we had to wait bloody ages for a cab. So Bloss asked me to pose for a birthday picture - I'm trying to show my exasperation here!




But the day got better! We then went to Times Square Bar where I had a long cool margarita and then at night we went to see Earth Wind and Fire who were on at the Las Vegas Hilton. The above is in the bar having a drink before the show.



Just one shot of the band - a fantastic concert - they were on stage for two hours non stop and the energy and music were unreal.

Bloss posing with the flamingos at Flamingo



On Saturday night we headed off the Strip to Downtown Vegas and the Fremont Experience. This is the Hand of Faith gold nugget, and I think if you click on the picture below, you'll get the details. It weighs 61lbs 11 ozs.



When downtown Vegas became very quiet a few years ago because everyone was going to the flashier glitzier Strip, they came up with the Fremont Experience. It's very hard to describe but it's a ceiling curved canopy about four blocks long with something like 6.1million lights, controlled by 79 PCs and hundreds of speakers.

So imagine watching all these pictures happening above your head with God Bless America blasting out. Goose bump stuff! This is just one shot - but the pictures keep changing - it's surreal.

As I mentioned in my photoless post we also went to Mamma Mia. I absolutely loved this - all those songs from my youth and a beautiful love story too. Once again I was teary - a sure sign of how much I enjoyed it.



On our last day in Vegas we went shoe shopping again for Bloss. He got one pair in
San Francisco which were Skechers brand and he finds them incredibly comfortable. On Saturday night on the bus on the way back from Downtown I spotted a Skechers shop, so on Sunday we walked all the way there (and back). He got three more pairs and I got a free pair of little lace up flatties - so were quite happy with that. On the way back we stopped for a cocktail - it was a hot and steamy day so they tasted wonderful.



Outside the shoe shop was this litle beauty and Bloss thought I might like to look like I'd taken possession of it!! Only trouble is the photo is a tad out of focus.

So how's the weight going do you suppose? Well so far nothing feels tight - so that's always a good thing! We've still been having only two meals most days but they're not always very healthy ones and of course being on holiday there's lots of alcohol - beer and wine! In fact drinking a Fat Tire beer as I write this. However we have done lots and lots of walking. Covered 47kms in San Francisco and over 60kms in Las Vegas - so I hope that's helping. Bloss is not recognised for his interest in exercise but being very tall and a smoker for many years, suffers from poor circulation in his legs, and generally aches when he wakes in the morning. However he's been amazed at how much better he feels these days after I've made him walk 8 or 10 kms and I've nearly got him to commit to a regular walking programme when we get back.

Sooo much tell - so little time

Hi possums, Not a proper post -- more of an explanation. Just keep scrolling down and if you start from the post with the photos missing and work upwards hoepfully it will all make sense. That brings me up to date with my last post. We're at Los Alamos now - surrounded by gorgeous grandsons. I'll try and do another post in the next day or so to bring you up to date with the rest of our Las Vegas trip. My dramas with pictures were two fold. For some reason Blogger wouldn't let me import pictures - think that was the internet connection at the hotel. Picasa appeared to let me import four at a time but then referenced them to 'local host' so no-one could see them. But I was posting four at a time to Blogger then cutting and pasting them into my text post - this meant I was leaving behind the little Picasa logo which obviously contains all the bits that make it work. So with a bit of luck I won't have the problem again. Talk soon Love Z xx

Fountains of Bellagio - Andrea Bocelli

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did

On a roll now!

This is the dancing fountains at the Bellagio with Caesar's Palace in the background



Bloss took this brilliant shot of the fountains at night - I'll try and post a link to You Tube where there are some fabulous videos. The fountains dance to different pieces of music but my favourite was Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman - Time to Say Goodbye. I was in tears - but then I'm such a sook.



Relaxed - and wearing my birthday jewellery from S - just waiting for Menopause the Musical to start - this was at the Las Vegas Hilton



This is inside the Venetian - note the blue sky ceiling and the gondolas - complete with gondoliers singing - awesome!

More photos

At the front of the Mirage



Inside New York New York - unreal just like wandering around downtown New York - this is me outside the Times Square Bar - which had the duelling pianists gettting right down and boogying!



A view of Paris Las Vegas


A front view of Caesar's Palace

Photos at Last

This is me by near the Golden Gate Bridge



The caricature we had done



Last night in San Francisco - Bloss with the crisped complexion!



Bloss looking down one of the streets in Caesar' Palace

Think I might have worked out what the problem was - I was trying to be too clever I think with my cutting and pasting.

So I'll now just post the pics four at a time and see how we go.

Love

Z xx

Think this might work

This is Livy's picture I referred to in the last post

Eventually from Vegas

This is a post which I did last week but I haven't been able to get the photos to upload. Hopefully they'll come through now. I'll try and do another more up to date post later today. And thanks everyone for your lovely birthday wishes.   This is specially for Livvy who wanted to know more about the food we were having. And you know what - and this has been quite amazing for me - finally, I think for the first time in my life I haven't been super interested. It's no longer the focus of my existence - hallelujah that only took 50 years!! Having said that we've still had some lovely meals but what has been a revelation is the type of food and the sizes of portions here - and my goodness there's an awful lot of people showing the results of those portions. I've still had lots of little treats here and there but at the same time I haven't used the fact that I'm on holiday as a licence to stuff my face. Anyway back to the picture above - the breakfasts here all seem to have this strange mix of sweet and savoury - strawberry pancakes or waffles or French toast with bacon eggs and hash browns! Anyway on our last morning in San Francisco I had the above - French toast stuffed with cream cheese, apple and cinnamon and whipped cream on top. Absolutely yummo but a strange thing to eat for breakfast for me anyway. Went back to my bowl of fresh fruit again the next day. We've actually been making do with two meals a day - having a reasonable breakfast (often quite late in the morning - we are on holiday after all), then maybe an ice cream or gelato late afternoon, then dinner at night - but still just have one course. Course there's lots of wine drinking going on with this! We had an open topped bus tour over the Golden Gate bridge - far out it was windy but magnificent views There were markets on with lots of caricture artists around. I've always wanted to have this done and talked Bloss into to coming into the picture with me. Here's the end result - think he's actually made me quite glam and it's not a bad likeness of Bloss. The artist did me first then got Bloss to sit and added him into the picture. The 'summer of fun' and the Love Boat were the artist's own little add ons We got so sun burnt in San Francisco - had't expected it to be that warm - actually it was the wind that was the problem. My moisturiser has SP30 but Bloss doesn't use such stuff so ended up with a crisped face! Now we have some random shots of Las Vegas - this is the Paris Las Vegas     Me taken at the front of The Mirage   This one is taken from the Bellagio looking towards Caesar's Palace. The water you can see is the dancing fountains of the Bellagio - we got there just as the show was almost over but it was absolutely incredible - no photo could capture how spectacular it was.   We're staying at the Monte Carlo resort - me at the front entrance.   Caesar's Palace is just unreal - it's huge! Here's Bloss looking up one of the streets of the Forum shopping area The ceiling is painted like it's daylight - hopefully you can see the blue - the sensation is quite bizarre.   This is taken at the front of the Mirage resort   And this one is looking at the front of Caesar's Palace. Well we got here yesterday - no problems. The Monte Carlo is massive - 3200 rooms! But very comfortable. Have to pay for internet though so you might not hear from me too much. The temperatures are very high - about 105F (39'ish) during the day - makes it bloody hot when you're walking the Strip! Watching the progress of hurricane Dean with some trepidation - we're not due to go to Cancun for a couple of weeks but if it carries on it's present course with it's current intensity there might not be a resort there for us to go to! We're just sussing out trips to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam for later in the week and deciding which shows we'll go to - Celine Dion is here, as is Mama Mia and Menopause the Musical and Toni Braxton so lot's to choose from. OK y'all- time for a wine now I think - will be back again when I can. Love Z xx

'Lo from Las Vegas

A very quick hello. I have a post all written around some photos which I can't seem to upload to Blogger - think it might have something to do with the internet connection in the hotel - which incidentally I have to pay for - hence why I've been so quiet. Big day today - my 52nd bithday. Will tell more when I have time. But have been to some great shows - Menopause the Musical (loved it - so funny and clever, Mamma Mia - absolutely fantastic and tonight for my birthday Bloss is taking me to Earth, Wind and Fire. No more time so love to everyone - be back soon I hope. Next stop is stepsons and family and since he'a computer boffin, hopefully I'll have a good internet connection. Ciao babes Z xxxx

The Rock, The Raisins and the Blues

So our days in San Francisco are numbered - only one more full day to go then we're off to Las Vegas. This certainly isn't the cheapest city in the world - but in fairness we haven't tried to go cheap - we've just enjoyed. Last night we had the most exquisite dinner at a restaurant called a'Sabella - I had a seafood risotto which was to die for. Now here's a few photos just to give you a bit of a sense of what we've been up to.

Just had to have my picy taken beside a SFPD car - Bloss reckoned they were there specially for me!


Took the trip to Alcatraz - the rock. It's booked out more than a week ahead so if you want to go you end up paying the scalpers prices - and we did - but regardless it was worth every cent. What a wondrous experience. They have audio tours - and it was so well narrated with brilliant background sound effects. I jumped out of my skin a couple of times and had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end from time to time too. Here I am standing in one of the D block cells which was used for solitary confinement.

This is just another view of D Block.

Before heading out to Alcatraz we had some time to kill so walked all the way along the Embarcadero from Fishermans Wharf to the Ferry building - this was just a little picturesque view we came upon.



Today we signed up for a wine tour of the Napa Valley. We visited three wineries and the weather and scenery was magnificent. This is the gardens of the first winery - originally a cattle ranch




Here I am at the front of the winery - just so beautiful.






This is the courtyard at the front of the third winery - Viansa. It's owned by a family of Italian heritage so they've modelled it on the original family vineyard in Tuscany. It's gorgeous!




And the views from the top of the building were unreal




Then one night we found the Saloon Bar - one of the oldest bars in San Francisco which survived the 1906" earthquake. (Beck, I'm sure you must have been here!). Just let me quote what the Lonely Planet says about it - "A mix of disheveled old-timers, street people, and local hipsters hang here, and blues, and rock bands perform nightly." It was fantastic - The Lucky Strikes performed while we were there - and it was the barmaids birthday - so she joined the band and boy could she sing - and to hell with anyone wanting a drink! There were all sorts of interesting characters there and Bloss (who smokes - so has to go outside now and again) met with some wonderfully colourful characters out there. This picture below is Louie who used to play with band in former good times - he plays a mean harmonica. It's taken just outside the bar - as you can see it's doesn't have the most salubrious of frontages!

Another night we had dinner at the Foghorn Restaurant on Pier 39 and had a lovely view of the bay just as the sun was setting. Tres romantic!

OK possums - think I have managed one or two comments this week - wireless access has been free at the Radisson - not sure what the setup is when we get to the Monte Carlo in Vegas. I'll just play it by ear. Love to everyone from this wonderful city of flower power and love ins.

PS haven't managed to make it to Haight Ashbury yet - may be tomorrow .... or then again we might just have to come back!!

Love
Zanna xx