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.