A Grand Canyon

OK - back to America now!

After a couple of Vegas nights we fled the bright lights and crossed the Hoover Dam - our destination, The Grand Canyon. While it is possible to get from Las Vegas to the West Rim of the canyon in about 2-3 hours, we were headed for the South Rim, which is more like six.


We were booked in for a helicopter flyover of the canyon, which was possibly not the best way to get our first look at it. While it's undoubtedly very impressive when you fly low over the trees at the edge and then suddenly everything drops away, it's extremely difficult to retain a sense of scale when you're a mile above the floor of the big ditch. The commentary tells you you're flying over the mighty Colorado River, which is over 125m wide - but because it's carved such a huge groove for itself, and the chopper isn't allowed to swoop down into the valley, it looks like just another average-sized muddy river. It was cool to be able to look down at the oldest exposed stones on Earth however. I know - older than Mick and Keef!


Later that evening we went back to the park and looked at the canyon the old-fashioned way. We were very surprised that in the land of the lawsuit, you're completely free to wander up to, and indeed over, the edge of the canyon. This was extremely cool, and made the enormity of it much more real. As the sun set and the shadows played over the rock faces, Bec went on a photo rampage, very nearly melting our memory card with the workload.



Not content with sunset studies, the next morning Bec forced me to we got up at 5.30am to catch the sunrise over the canyon. Unfortunately some low cloud meant the morning sun never got a really good crack at the canyon - but it was certainly great to experience the transition in such a beautiful setting.


And with that, we hopped back in the convertible and set sail back to Vegas. Yep, we were heading back for more...

London Calling

Those of you who we caught up with in Australia in October may well be wondering "so what the hell are they doing now? They're still blogging about being in bloody America and that was in September!". Well, we're going to cut into our American adventure to give you a bit of an update. After three weeks of living with John's Granny, we finally managed to lock down a place of our own in London! We had a bit of a false start with one place (we'd signed the paperwork and paid the deposit, then the landlord decided he was going to sell the flat to a family member instead), but we're now completely moved-in and loving it.

We're in the postal code area W2, which is a common way for Londoners to describe where they live - but more accurately we live in Westbourne Grove; or Bayswater; or Notting Hill (if people are hoping for a familiar name - we're not quite in Notting Hill but we're very close). We're on an incredibly quiet street (called Alexander Street!) but just a 5 minute walk from a Tube station, supermarkets, restaurants and bars. It's ace.


Johnny will be working-from-home 4 days per week until the end of the year, when he'll get a "real job" in London. In the meantime he's playing house-husband while Bec goes to work in Central London. Here's John's Nerd-Nook - a great way to get unsightly computer gear (and geeks) out of the way - shove them under the stairs!


The flat is on the ground floor of a "period conversion" i.e. a big old house that's been split into four flats. It's got a really spacious feel with high ceilings and wooden floors in the living area. Plus it has a nice modern open-plan kitchen which seemed really rare while we were searching. Or at least, rare at our apparently bargain-basement price point. You do not want to know how much it is per week - trust us!

Viva Las Vegas - Part 1

What an amazing place. Rising out of the desert like a neon-lit oasis, Las Vegas was a place we'd been alternately dreading and dying to see. Would it be the ultra-tacky, fake Elvis-infested dive of Johnny's nightmares or the breathtakingly opulent backdrop of Bec's jackpot-winning dreams? Well it turns out that while it is undoubtedly a unique and hilarious vacation destination, almost every silver lining has an associated cloud...

As we arrived on the Vegas Strip the top came down and we soaked in the atmosphere. Which unfortunately was mostly carbon monoxide. As opposed to the old Vegas (Fremont Street), The Strip is 8 lanes wide and pretty much heaves with traffic 24/7. Our introduction was also slightly spoilt by getting lost trying to find our way into the car park at the super-premium Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.


However things quickly turned around once we got to our room, undoubtedly the most luxurious we've ever been in, featuring a massive plasma TV, monster bathtub and mesmerising views up The Strip. But on the (obligatory for Vegas) flip-side, our extortionate room rate didn't include breakfast or wireless internet - something we'd virtually taken for granted, even in rooms costing a third as much!

We figured we should get to know our "local" first and as such spent the first evening entirely within the mega-complex of Mandalay Bay. But before we knew it, it was 11pm and almost all the restaurant options were shut! It also became apparent that the casino's apparent generosity (free drinks if you're gambling - or appear to be gambling!) does not extend to its numerous restaurants. Luckily we'd gone through the hunger barrier and really only needed a snack, so we ended up ordering an appetiser - Nachos to share. What came out would probably have fed an entire Mexican township:


We did our best, but about half of the nachos went back to the kitchen, no doubt to be scraped into the bin along with who-knows-how-many other tons of waste this place must produce daily. Quite a sobering thought. Our first impression of the gambling at Mandalay Bay was also that it was extremely expensive - it didn't seem to be possible to risk less than $15 at a time on any table game, which is too much for us high rollers. We made friends with an extremely-drunk Jamaican dude playing poker, who advised that Mandalay was definitely one of the premium-priced casino floors, and to try "a few doors up" for more affordable tables. But as it was already 3am we decided to call it a night. Where did the time go? We have no idea! Damn free drinks...

The next day we took our Caribbean friend's advice and ventured up the strip, through the impressive Egyptian-themed pyramid, Luxor:


and into the hilariously-tacky mock-medieval castle, Excalibur:


While undoubtedly dodgy, Excalibur did have some redeeming qualities, namely that we could gamble at $5 a pop, and also that they ran free poker lessons. Now we both know how to play Texas Hold'em, but had never played at a casino before, and poker rooms are very intimidating places at the best of times, so it was great to get some tips on the etiquette of playing in Vegas. Of course, at the conclusion of the lesson, there is an opportunity to turn your new-found skills into cash by playing your classmates, which we both agreed to try. Bec bombed out quite early but Johnny hung in for a while, experiencing the uniquely heart-pounding thrill of winning a poker hand, for real money, in Vegas, with a big bluff.

Braving Death Valley

Continuing South and East, we headed into possibly the hottest, driest desert on Earth - Death Valley. A huge contrast from the soaring beauty of Yosemite, Death Valley includes the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere - at 86 metres below sea level. It is surrounded by enormous mountains however, which creates an oven-like environment where superheated air gets trapped and ludicrous temperatures (above 50°C) are not unusual. It also gets less than 2mm of rain a year. Nasty.


Luckily for us, it only got to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35°C) as we crossed the valley, but it's still pretty scarily hot when you have to turn off your Air Conditioning! Apparently the extra load that A/C places on the engine can cause it to overheat. Better you than it, out here: