The second leg of our trip was to Las Vegas, where we were due to meet up with Des and Jill who were getting married there!
The journey from Mammoth Lakes down to Las Vegas was a long five hour one, but we had the pleasure of sharing in some of the most breathtaking scenery that either of us have ever seen! The journey took us through narrow, scary mountain passes right through to the largest expanses of desert you could possibly imagine!
On route, we decided to briefly stop off at an old ghost town called Rhyolite (which was built at the time of the gold rush), before we finally drove into Las Vegas at sunset!
We were all booked into the Luxor Hotel on the strip, which is a very spectacular hotel on the strip modelled on an Egyptian theme (which unfortunately had no diving available!)
On our first night there, Des gave us our first glimpse of the Las Vegas strip with all its glitz and glamour, showing us the ropes with the way the gambling worked. As was expected, after being out in the mountains for the previous ten days, we were pretty overawed with the place!
Due to only being in the resort for four nights, with one of the days taken up with Des and Jill's wedding, and another with a trip to the Grand Canyon, we only had time one day where we were able to have a good look around Las Vegas.
We spent this day, gradually making our way down the strip checking out all the weird and wonderful attractions that all the hotels had to offer (although we did keep a wide berth of Siegfried & Roy!)
Highlights for us included the two roller-coasters (Manhattan Express at New York, New York and Speed: The Ride at The Sahara), the water fountains at Bellagio, and the extravagance of the Monte Carlo and Venetian hotels.
We also took the opportunity to visit the aquarium called Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay hotel. This attraction was simply amazing and gave us the opportunity to see close up some of the marine life that we have been lucky enough to see whilst diving (as well as those we've been lucky enough NOT to see!)
Being in Las Vegas, we had to try our hand at a bit of gambling. My vice from the trip was definitely Blackjack, whilst Kirsty tried her hand at the fruit machines. We both weren't without success either, as I finished up about $110 in profit whilst Kirsty had a good fruit machine win of $60 on our last night!
Our overall impressions of Las Vegas were very positive. We both had a great time whilst there and didn't find any of the tackiness that we were half expecting to see. It was also made by meeting up with lots of friends for our time there and of course the lovely day we spent whilst celebrating Des and Jill's wedding!
It was a great chance to visit a place that otherwise we might not normally have got around to visiting. We certainly wouldn't be against another visit in the future!
