21st April: Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

From Wd

Lunch at the 'In And Out Burger' restaurant (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
Las Vegas Airport (Gavin 21-Apr-07)

Jinny's Blog

As we left camp, it started snowing. And we had the only accident the whole trip. James cut his finger while chopping some fruit. Almost disappointing after the stories of death by falling down cliffs and all!

As always I brought some fruit into the van in case I got hungry. This morning as I took a banana out to eat, it was frozen. And so I ate a CLIF BAR instead. Big mistake. Never eat a CLIF BAR when you are not active. I was totally wired and I didn’t eat anything until that evening (and even that was a light dinner). We got to Las Vegas and as we were chatting, Jen talked about having a flutter. Peta agreed she might have a flutter as well. Nat was also going to have a flutter. What the heck is that all about? Turns out, it's English for “gamble a little bit”.

'On Saturday night the camping group watched me proudly cash in my 50 cents winnings from the slot machines (the real winners like me also get a free drink while they’re playing). That wasn’t nearly impressive enough, and while the rest of the group have gone back to LA to catch flights, Bevan and I are searching the Internet for 'How to Play Craps' ahead of a second attempt on the Strip. He’s got this really great scheme whereby if we lose we just keep doubling the amount of money we put down to cover previous losses, ad infinitum. He says it should be fine.' (Comments by Dan; photo by Bev 21-Apr-07)
Modelling next year's look in Las Vegas (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
Dinner in Rio, Las Vegas (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
Dinner in Rio, Las Vegas (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
Dinner in Rio, Las Vegas (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
Chris and Gary at dinner in Rio, Las Vegas (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
Dinner in Rio, Las Vegas (James 21-Apr-07)
Vegas by night (Gavin 21-Apr-07)

Jinny's Blog continued

Chuck and I went off to see O (Cirque du Soleil) at Bellagio. The rest of the gang went to Rio for the buffet. We all agreed to meet at the Treasure Island Siren show at 10PM. I had a front row seat at O (it is a great advantage of buying single tickets, no matter how late you book, you are bound to get a great seat!) I felt the heat of the fire and the mist several times. What I want to know is: what is that guy who is on fire a good 10 minutes onstage wearing to not feel it at all? Even his hat is on fire, I guess he has a mask we don’t see since he stays way back on the stage. I could see the performers up close with their make-up and panting bodies as they came up close after their performances. The thunder and lightening was very convincing though I could smell chlorine in the air. I give the music as much as 50% credit for making the show awesome. I think all live performances would be useless if there was no music.

The dancing fountains of the Bellagio (Gavin 21-Apr-07)

After the show I parted with Chuck and went to see the chocolate waterfall. Disappointing. The flower show in the atrium was wonderful though. The fountain show outside Bellagio was great, though for $35M they could have added some colour to it, don’t you agree? I got a viewpoint with the Eiffel tower behind it, so I got some good shots of the fountain. Went back to TI at around 10 and ran into Dan and Bev. Gavin had somehow been separated from James, who was with Nat. Dan and Bev went into Kahunaville, I think this searching for James business was keeping them away from their alcohol quota far too long. I walked with Gavin to the Venetian looking for James, got to hear the gondola dude singing Pavarotti. I don’t think Gavin noticed anything, he was worried about where James might be. Ah, the pain of having a 19-year-old son who has a mind of his own!

We then joined Dan and Bev at Kahunaville, Collette and Tim were already there. Then the bartender tricks started, very impressive. First with a single bottle, then a bottle and a glass, then bottle and 2 glasses, then two bottles and two glasses, then four bottles. The bartender was unrestrained in his R-rated tricks, free booze flowed from bottles into mouths, dollar bills were stuck to body parts and all was well with the world. I was happy with my cosmo (I thought it was weak, I went for a second). Gavin and I left early to go back to the hotel and by coincidence, James, Nat, Jen and Gary joined us in the hotel shuttle. Father and son were reunited and all was well with the world for a second time that night.

The bizarrely named Paris Hotel, Las Vegas (Gavin 21-Apr-07)
More Vegas by night (Gavin 21-Apr-07)

Dodgy Video Footage

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