Las Vegas - 26th April, 2011

Las Vegas - 25th April, 2011

Long day today. Very long day..... but good fun.

Started out by going to the half price show ticket stall - we couldn't decide between two shows both playing at our hotel. So we went to both! Jersey Boys at 7:00pm and Blue Man Group at 10:00pm. Both shows within a 3 or 4 minute stroll from our room. Got good prices on both so wasn't quite the extravagance it seems.

We did go to Madame Tussauds and spent a cool hour and a half amongst the rich and famous. Really fun place and some amazing likenesses.

We did wander around the hotel area, both inside and outside - quite a maze but interesting enough. Nice day in Vegas, around 25C and clear blue skies.

Around 1pm we headed out into the suburbs and had a look around - had a nice banana lunch - Rayls had a chocolate sundae. Went to JC Penney to see about removing a security disk from a purchase in Tacoma. No problems there. We also checked out a Wal-Mart (socks and undies for me) as well as a Kohls. Then to a Michaels for Rayls and finally an Arbys for an early dinner.

We got back to the hotel and soon there after headed down stairs to the Jersey Boys Theatre. This is a great show, saw it last year and enjoyed it just as much this time around. The show finished at 9:12pm and we headed back up to our room for 15 minutes before heading down to the Blue Man Theatre. Lots of music and humour, most of the music was byway of drumming on PVC pipes of various sizes and shapes. There is much audience participation and this included one of the 3 Blue Men crouching on the arms of Rayls seat and staring directly at her inches apart face to face. Rayls handled it well and outstared him well.

So it was a long day, but fun with a late finish - it is 1:30am as I write this.

Sorry to see that Scott's Kings lost game 6 and are out for the season. They will be back in October, so will Scott.

Sadly we have left Amy and Steve in Cedar City and are now in our hotel in Las Vegas. As usual our stay in Cedar City was far too short, I could easily have stayed a few weeks longer.

Breakfast was our usual cereal and I think for the first time Rayls and I had waffles - Amy made them and they were very nice. After this the time seemed to get away from me. We pottered around, final packing, chatting, computer stuff and just as I thought it was lunch time I found it was 1:30pm already - wow, where did that time go.

So we said our goodbyes to Amy, Steve and Dan and hit the road. Fuelled up at Flying J and then on to I15, through St George and then into Arizona for 40 K's. The Arizona portion of I15 is notable for its scenic passage through the Virgin River Gorge. I15 heads in a southwest direction from the Utah border to Mesquite, on the Nevada border. It’s quite a drive - hands tight on the steering wheel with towering mountains close to the road on either side.

At Mesquite - an hour and a half from Cedar City - we stopped at Lee's Liquor Store and bought some booze for son Ryan. We had a quick bathroom stop at Wal-Mart and back on the road for the last hour and a bit into Las Vegas.

At the Arizona border we got the hour back we lost last week and so it was just 4pm when we arrived in Vegas.

Had dinner at Dennys and then arrived at our hotel - The Palazzo - around 5:30pm. Self parked the car and then went in search of the Lobby to check in. That was an art in itself. Shops, casinos and canals (with gondolas) to maneuver around and after 20 minutes we were able to check in. The Palazzo is the new tower of the Venetian complex. It’s a 5 star hotel and one of the best hotels in Vegas. We feel a bit 'out of our league' here - rather be downstairs at Amy's place but we are on our way home and this is part of the journey.

Our room is a suite with a bedroom and sunken lounge area. There are TV's in the bedroom, lounge and bathroom. Cool place.

We did go down to the strip for a bit but were back in our room by 9pm and we watched Private Benjamin on TV and we both caught up with computer stuff.