Diamonds
and dust, poor man last, rich man first. Lamborghini's, caviar, dry martini's,
Shangrila. I got a burnin' feeling deep inside of me. It's a yearnin', but I'm
gonna set it free. I'm goin' in, to Sin City, I’m gonna win. In Sin City. Where
the lights are bright, do the town tonight. I’m gonna win. In Sin City. Let me
roll ya, baby.
- AC/DC
Oh man, what a night we had on the
fifty-fifth floor – and it’s Friday the 13th!
Las Vegas has gotten us! 6.5 hours of sleep
wasn’t nearly enough, but the good thing about American beer – even for a drinking
lightweight like me – is that you pretty much have to drink many more than I
did (I had about six, I think) to wake up with a hangover the next morning. It
just isn’t very strong beer. I like the flavour and the distinct lack of a hangover
come the next sunrise sits well with me, also.
In the penthouse, you get free room service
breakfast delivered: eggs, toast, sausages, potatoes, coffee, orange juice,
cinnamon toast. Sitting at the dining room table looking out over sunny Las
Vegas, Nevada was a pretty good start to the day. The coffee here is awesome. Two
cups and I was up and about, ready for our journey out to Arizona and the Grand
Canyon.
There really aren’t words to describe the
immensity of the Grand Canyon. Nor do photos do it justice, either. Like
Yosemite and New York City, the Canyon is one of those places that you actually
have to physically go there. That’s when the enormity of it grows on you, and
thoughts of how much geological movement must have taken place to create a
giant crevice in the earth that’s deeper than one whole mile in some places.
One thing’s for sure, it’s spectacular. We
went to the West Rim, which is on native American Hualapai land rather than
being a part of the Grand Canyon National Park. You park in a lot, and a
shuttle bus takes you around to a number of different vantage points – each one
better than the one before – and to a recreated wild west Arizona village for
lunch.
This is my third time at the Grand Canyon
and it doesn’t get any less spectacular because you’ve seen it once or twice
before. As with my first two visits, I’m concerned about the lack of safety
fencing, and about how a lot of tourists – particularly Japanese ones – flirt
with life-ending danger by standing very close to the edge to get a good photo.
 |
| Rock fossil |
We were on the SkyWalk, a clear-glass
U-shaped bridge that goes out over the Canyon today, about a kilometre above
the Colorado River, and I remembered a fact told to me by an employee in 2010.
He asked me to look down at what appeared to be a small shrub near the base. I
saw it, and then found out that that ‘shrub’ was actually an eight-foot tree.
That’s how high up we were. No photo is worth falling from such a great height
that a full-grown tree look like some scrub that might catch you on your ankle.
We drove back to Las Vegas in the afternoon.
I should mention here that the rodeo finals are in town over the weekend, so
Sin City is full of cowboys from all over the country. The city’s turned into a
haven for cowboys, country tunes, jacked-up trucks (or utes, as we know them in
Australia) that include, stock, gun racks and mud flaps. It’s added an entirely
new element to our stay here, and we are totally in the mood, rolling some
country tunes – Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, the works –
and our newfound cowboy hats. It’s cool to hear so many people from the deep
south and way up north, everywhere from Georgia to North Dakota. It’s awesome!
After a somewhat rushed dinner due to
Friday night peak hour traffic around The Strip, we went to a musical at The
Venetian called ‘Rock of Ages’. I assume it’s fairly similar in plot to the
movie of the same name that stars Tom Cruise, but I can’t say for sure because
I haven’t seen it. The stage show, performed nightly in a 2000-seat theatre,
was epic.
Nothing heavy, but a heap of fun! Probably one of the best shows
playing at the moment.
Basically, it’s the story of two people who
both head to Los Angeles in the 1980s when the Sunset Strip was home to seedy
rock, drugs and sex. The background is a bunch of awesome eighties hair
metal/rock songs, everything from Starship to Bon Jovi to Pat Benatar, Journey
and Styx, performed by a very talented cast and backed by a crack group of
professional musicians who have the eighties look down pat. It’s a musical and
a rock and roll concert all rolled into one, and spectacularly put together.
Lauryn and I finished the night by ordering
in a midnight snack of New York-style cheesecake from room service. A great way
to end a fun day!
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