Coming home the scenic route!

Well the last day we had in Vegas started with a late start and we headed over to New York New York and had a quick and easy bite to eat and started off for our day run up to “the big B”. We went to the M and m store which was 5 storeys high and sold everything that you could think of with M and M’s plastered all over it!! Then it was a walk to the Luxor, this was an amazing place that was built like a pyramid and has a giant sphinx outside. This was a lovely hotel and if we return this may be the place we choose to stay, it was a bit darker inside but much more classy and spread out than the other casinos.

From here we got a cab to Bellagio and after viewing the fountains in full swing last night we went in to spend some time looking around the inside. It certainly was very posh and this turned out to be my most successful casino (winning a massive $43!!! Not bad as we were only playing the 1c slots all stay). So we spent some time looking around then headed over to Caesars for our date with “Big B”.

During the day they were playing the playoffs for the Superbowl and it was hard not to get sucked into the crowd watching and cheering the American football games going on, thanks to my dad I have a reasonable understanding of the game and could follow what was going on quite well! I was dragged away from the second game that after being 7-7, then 14-14, then 21-21, had finished28-28. Extra time and the first team to score would be winner a very exciting finish was about to take place but this is when I was given my marching orders to ensure we were ready for the Big B!! Well this was Debbie’s Christmas present and I tried my best to enjoy and to my surprise it was not as bad as I had expected!!

The Big B!!!

Bette Midler in the “showgirl must go on”. Debbie enjoyed the show and was singing along to all the songs. We then wandered around Caesars for a bit and headed back for the dreaded pack!! Packing has become the most horrible thing, we only seem to have a few days and then we are packing and un packing again!!! Still it was off to bed and we were all ready for the flight the next day and I was excited about hitting the Tapout store at the airport!!

We woke up and headed to breakfast, the MGM breakfast had been recommended to us and once we were in we could see why. The only problem with the buffet breakfast is that we hadn’t left ourselves enough time to fully appreciate it!! It was then off on the trip to the Grand Canyon, we took a short bus ride, some champagne (which at 9am I didn’t take, but Debbie said she couldn’t turn down free champers!) then we set off in the helicopter to the canyon. The ride was awesome and we went over the Hoover dam and into the canyon itself. The pilot landed in the canyon then after some photos and more champagne it was back to the airfield. We did um and arr a little about whether to do the tour by helicopter or to do the cheaper bus tour but we definitely were not let down, the whole experience was great and you could see why the Grand Canyon is such a popular visit, it really was something else!

We got the driver to drop us off at the mirage hotel and we went for a stroll down the strip to find the restaurant that we were eating at that night in Caesars Palace. We had a wander through Caesar’s, then into the Paris hotel and then headed back to our hotel for a short rest to prepare for the night ahead!
The restaurant that Debbie’s mum and dad had recommended for us did not disappoint, we went to Joe’s seafood and steakhouse in the forum shops at Caesars Palace and the service was great but the food was much better! Debbie enjoyed Lobster tails and I thought I would be letting the side down if I didn’t have the New York 22 oz speciality steak. We were not let down and the food was amazing, definitely a big thanks to Mervin and Lynda for the recommendation and Christmas pressie!!!

We then hit the Bellagio for the fountain display, which although apparently smaller than the one in Dubai was definitely better! Set to Frank Sinatra was always going to be a winner for me! We then went onto the Venetian hotel to see the indoors river and the gondolas. We went back to New York New York to play some of the 1c slots which had become our favourite and we enjoyed a few free drinks as we were playing! Then hit the sack and called it a day.

We flew today to Las Vegas!! The check-in and security was pretty painless again after all the hype about extra security on the news. We tried to get into the lounge but even though we were flying first class due to it being a local domestic flight we were not allowed in!! Never mind, we boarded the flight and got underway to VEGAS!! When we arrived I was pleased to see they had a ‘Tapout’ shop inside the airport and decided that this would amuse me when we were waiting to leave with a bit of shopping!!! We got a shuttle bus to the hotel. We checked in to the hotel while still in the airport waiting for our bags, which was pretty cool and once we arrived the first impression we had of the MGM was a doorman hassling us for a tip!!! I’m not usually that bad giving tips but he had literally lifted our bags off the floor and onto a trolley, he wasn’t even bringing them to the room, anyway we got our kit and quickly sorted ourselves out in our room and hit the strip ASAP!!

We toured our hotel and checked out the bars etc, we hit the casino and were amazed at how big it was! Little did we know that every place was just as big. We had a quick bite to eat, sorted out our sightseeing flight to the Grand Canyon and headed over to New York New York which was connected to the MGM by a walkway. This turned out to be one of our favourites for the weekend but we also hit the Excalibur and then went back to New York New York and went into one of the night clubs that was dishing out free drinks for girls (needless to say that Debbie was happy with this!!) We called it a day after some 1c slots and made our way back to the MGM and our room.

So our last day in San Fran and suprise suprise it was RAINING!! We decidedto have a days rest and stayed in the hotel for a bit. We got out after lunch and went to Union Square again, we had lunch at Lefty O'Doulls who was a famous baseball player and set about the shops for a bit to keep out of the rain. A ride back on the cable car and a couple of free glasses of wine in the hotel and we got ourselves ready for the trip to Vegas tomorrow!!

Not a very adventerous day today but we were preparing for our three day Vegas festival.

So here we are in SF. I have to admit it is a really pretty city, very different from the east coast, much smaller and less intense, the vibe seems to be quite chilled. We spent our first morning on a sight seeing tour, though we didn't make it over the bridge due to high winds. It soon became apparent that the weather in SF was not going to be as kind as Fiji. The tour was useful as it helped orientate us and we noted what we wanted to come back and visit, me - the shops, Dean - Hooters!!

After taking the 'Hop on, hop off' tour, where we didn't do any hopping because of the rain, we decided to head to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39. This area is really nice, lots of little nic nacky shops and restaurants. We dodged the rain and looked around the shops a bit, soaking in the led back atmosphere, we ate some fresh prawns and crabs from the fishermen's stalls, very nice. Then it was on to happy hour at Hooters, yes, for real, we had a drink at Hooters, twit twoo. Dinner was at a family run fish restaurant, I had the biggest tiger prawns I have ever seen, Dean risked the speciality dish - a fish stew, with mussels, clams, scallops, octopus, really nice!

The rain had died down by Tuesday morning and we decided to 'hop' back on the tour bus to see if we could get over the Golden Gate Bridge, thankfully they were taking people across. We did plan to cycle over but the weather has prevented us so far. After our trip across the bridge, we hit the shops. We covered all the old favourites Banana Republic, Victoria's Secrets, Abercrombie, American Eagle, Bath and Body Works, Old Navy, J.Crew and my personal fav, Payless Shoe Store! To top off our venture into US commercialism, we even had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! Dean surprised me in Bloomingdales by giving me my birthday present, a very nice watch, very unexpected, a lovely surprise - almost as good as finding out Abercrombie had a sale on, joking! We felt very local as we caught one of the trolley buses back to the hotel, though not enough to hang off the side!

We had a lovely dinner at a local Italian restaurant tonight, very nice bottle of Merlot too! However, got a bit of a shock when the bill came and they added 18% for service - that is cheeky right? However, the service was good and it was a nice dinner. We worked it off climbing the hill back to catch the trolley home. The streets in SF can get quite steep, just like in Mrs Doubtfire! Back to the hotel to prepare for our early trip to the ROCK!