Hi Vegas and bye Vegas &amp;#8230; 

After a fun evening making s&amp;#8217;mores and singing cowboy songs around the campfire with cowboy dave at the Ranch in Arizona we spent the night in our own personal log cabin&amp;#8230;. It was very rustic. See our cowboy hats hanging from the longhorn.

Soon after we arrived and got settled on our front porch with a cold beer the rest of the party arrived - welcome Ian, Gill and Sarah, Matt&amp;#8217;s dad, mum and sister. Exhausted from the travelling they went to bed and we headed to the camp fire.


Next day we made our way to the Indian reservation on the grand canyon west rim and explored, compared and contrasted it with the south rim we visited the day earlier .. We decided the South Rim is better, not least because they actually have safety barriers which are alarmingly absent at the West Rim. Owned by the native Indians they can do whatever they like. And it seems they like watching white folks dicing with death a few inches from the edge of a 5000 foot fall. 


After a few hours and an incident were I (Matt) slipped off a dirt rock and ripped my shorts on the back and front we decided we&amp;#8217;d had enough of the 111 degree heat and took to the cars for some air conditioned comfort and a 3 hour drive to Las Vegas via the awesome Hoover Dam.

My (Sarah) first time in Vegas, I was kinda excited as we arrived at 5pm. Our hotel, the Stratosphere, was at the very start of the strip so we didn&amp;#8217;t pass much in the car as we arrived. One thing we&amp;#8217;ve noticed in the US is that everything is bigger, and Vegas is no exception. The car park is the size of a football field and several stories high. The hotel has over 4000 rooms and has 24 floors. So the trek to the check in desk was fairly epic taking us through the casino where it&amp;#8217;s hard to know where to look there&amp;#8217;s so much going on.

After settling in, we hit the strip at 6:30. In over 100 degree heat sharing the pavement (or should I say sidewalk?) with literally millions of others it took us 2 hours to stagger 1 mile to dinner. But it was the best buffet in Vegas with Maine lobster and King Crab legs amongst the choices. And wine included. Hurrah!!

After dinner we got a taxi back to the hotel. The others went to bed while me and Matt checked out the casino. Let&amp;#8217;s just say it was a successful visit. So we headed up to the sky bar 178 feet above ground - the highest bar in the world! With similar high prices :( but fantastic views of Sin City at night. After our beer we went out to the balcony and watched the thrill rides at the top of the tallest hotel in Vegas. There&amp;#8217;s even a crazy one where people jump off the building on a bungee and get lowered to the ground. They looked absolutely terrified getting hooked up and standing on the ledge. I felt terrified just watching!

And that brings us up to date. As I type this we&amp;#8217;re in convoy headed to LA where the end of our awesome Route 66 journey awaits us in Santa Monica. We crossed the state line a few minutes ago but, as in the last week or so, we&amp;#8217;ve driven into another storm! Apparently it&amp;#8217;s monsoon season - who knew?! Never mind, after a few minutes of rain drops the size of Big Macs it turns back to blazing sunshine and scorching heat.

Roll on California-dreaming!!

SM and MM