Las Vegas 6th November

The good news is one Wal-Mart truck today and also one Quilt Shop.

The bad news is that many of you will find the following information, especially the evening, more boring than usual.
We were sort of confused at what time it was when we got up. The room clock said one thing, my phone said another, after some research we figured out the clock was an hour fast, the phone was right - the clock seemed OK last night. Anyway, we had an hour more than we thought we had. Cool.

After the usual morning routine we headed out into the suburbs to buy stuff for the big camping trip with Amy and Steve. We had brekkie at Maccas and then turned on the GPS to help locate the shops we wanted to visit. The GPS took ages to turn on and then was in German!!!! Took around an hour to figure out how to get it back into English = remember that hour we just gained........, we lost it again. Hard to reset the GPS when directions are in German.
We finally did about 4 stores over the next few hours and got most of what we need, even the long underwear!!!  Still need sleeping bags.

On the way back to the hotel we called into the Paris and collected the tickets for tonight’s show. In our usual fashion we had no lunch but an early dinner and we headed to an iHop.

Back at hotel at around 4:30pm I think, we were still confused about the time, seemed to be getting dark real early and as we didn't want to be late for the concert I rang the desk clerk and asked her the all important question "what is the time?" - she confirmed that the clock in the room was out - the phone was right. Then she commented that daylight saving ended last night - aha! Now it makes sense. Never saw any news on it but at least it explains things a little.

At 6:30pm we drove the mile or so to the Paris. My knee is blown up badly and Rayls had new shoes so walking was out of the question.

Now comes the real boring bit......................

There are two Barry Manilow stories of note here! Firstly, we had tickets to see him back in May 1983. Problem was that son Scott was born on the 10th and the concert was on the day that Rayls brought Scott home from the hospital. I did the gentlemanly thing and went to the show on my own - cashed in Rayls ticket and Rayls never got to se Manilow till tonight. The other story is that on our 2003 trip up to Canada and down back into the USA we had one CD in the car - Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits and we must have played that CD a hundred times or more. Barry helped us pass some time through the most magnificent scenery and to this day hearing a Manilow song on the radio takes us back to that drive, Told you it was boring,

Tonight’s concert was sensational. A real show. Great band, great music. Funny to watch the oldies struggle up the stairs to their seats and then I remembered I did the same with my sore knee.

Back to the hotel by 10:00pm, Manilow fans need their early nights. I am pleased Rayls finally got to see Barry and I think she enjoyed the show.

What's with the hits on this web site - 4 on-line as I type and 184 hits for the day? I don't know 184 people. Wish I knew who you all were.

Houston to Las Vegas 5th November

No problems with our flights today and we arrived in Vegas on time.

We started the day in Houston, kind of a bad start when a hotel pipe burst and we had very limited water. We did the best we could with what we had and left the hotel a bit after 9am for the 4 minute drive to return the rental car, The shuttle bus was waiting and we were at the airport by 9:30am. Check in and security went well and we were at our gate, 43, by just a little after 10am. No direct flights so we were flying to Vegas via Denver. Boarded about 10:55 and took off at 11:08.

Almost exactly 2 hours to Denver and 1480 kilometres. An hour on the ground and then a 1 hour and 32 minute flight to Vegas, 1030 kilometres.

The flights were all good, that is 8 of them for the trip so far, 1 more than we had planned. Baggage claim was quick, shuttle bus was waiting. No line at the car rental place and we got our Dodge Avenger easier enough. I looked for a car with the steering wheel on the right but alas...... no!

No need for the GPS to get us to the MGM Grand, we are seasoned travellers in Vegas and also that big green building with MGM written on it sort of gives it away.

It's a long walk from parking to the check in counter. I know it may be hard to believe but I did get a bit cranky with the whole process. The check in was OK but I made the mistake of asking where in this massive venue do I go to get the tickets we had bought on line for tonight’s Eagles concert. The lady directed us to the Concierge desk next door and so I lined up for 20 minutes only to be told that I needed to go to the box office. So we struggled with our bags, asking for directions along the way - the guy suggested we go to the Concierge desk - he got snapped at. I left Rayls with the bags and headed to the box office and got the tickets. Somehow I found Rayls again and we tried to find the West Wing where our room was. That took a bit of work but we found the area expecting to find a lift/elevator but no...... you have to go 100 metres down a corridor to the lifts - up the lift to the top floor, 14th, and then almost 100 metres back down the corridor to our room. Seems badly planned.

The room is small but comfortable enough. We unpacked and headed out for some shopping, we are going camping with Steve and Amy in a few days and really have nothing from what they suggested we had to have........ I mean who has long underwear?  We were under time restraints due to the concert and had no real success camping wise, will have to try again tomorrow. Maccas for dinner as we headed back to the hotel.

This hotel has water so a much needed shower and off we went to see The Eagles. The MGM Garden Arena is almost exactly the same design as the old Perth Entertainment Centre - maybe a little bigger. We were well back and enjoyed the show. I saw The Eagles last December in Perth with son Scott - I think that was a better concert - not sure why but anyway this one was good also.

Back to the room by 11:00pm which was 1:00am in our time because we started the day in Houston and off to bed.

For those of you interested - The Wal-Mart truck count is nil. I have seen 4 but on my own and the rules state you have to both be in the vehicle. Somehow the Quilt Shop count is also zero, not sure how - the Quilt Festival doesn't count as a shop and the LA stores were just fabric shops - who am I to argue.