Vegas!

On Sunday 15th, we flew into Los Angeles and picked up our rental car, with a stop for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (why oh why aren't there any of these at home?) - we headed straight out to Las Vegas, a 4-5 hour drive. Our plan was to spend 4 nights here before starting our loop around Arizona and Utah. BUT slight problem is that we discover that we can't take the car into Utah :( So we will have to amend our itinerary slightly.

The cheap motel we've booked literally 5 minutes from the Strip has just been tastefully renovated, so happy faces all around. We phoned the wedding chapel and booked our renewal for the 18th, it took about 3 minutes to sort - if only all weddings were as easy to organise.

The heat here is incredible, it's been hitting 106 degrees, but it's a very dry heat with very low humidity so it's bearable and it's good to feel the warmth on your skin (with sunscreen of course).

The development here has continued unabated; there are new hotels every time we come. Happy to see the Luxor still standing, because that's where we stayed in 1998.

One evening we took in all the sights; the fountains at the Bellagio, the volcanic eruption at the Mirage and the pirate show at Treasure Island (which is certainly a little more risque than I remember). We also went to the auto collections at the Imperial Palace (which happens to be the very first hotel that I stayed at in Las Vegas with my mum and dad, when I was 18 - so quite a long time ago!).