We have walked too far and eaten too much in Vegas. It was good to be back in town again, there is still more to see but I can only cope with 3 days at a time. The food is over the top and we almost succumbed to death by buffet twice. How many snow crab legs can I consume at a sitting well no-one was counting but let’s just say a lot. For Ian it was the mini lemon meringue pies, he ate more than 3 blokes could in a sitting. If the amount of food doesn’t get you…. the walking will. We walked the whole strip in a number of goes, still ended up footsore. We had the best weather for seeing Las Vegas, not a cloud in the sky each day and warm enough to be comfortable about 22c each day. Staying in the Paris Casino was a highlight and being in the middle of the strip it was perfectly located. I have stayed in three casinos in Vegas now and each has been better than the last. Ian had a lot of fun playing Texas hold ’em. He won and even won back the $100 he lost playing blackjack in ’99, he feels vindicated now that he has his money back and some.

After checking out it was back in the car and headed for the Grand Canyon approx 277 mi – about 5 hours driving time.

We had a good trip and getting out of Vegas was uneventful only about three turns in total and all on freeways, easy. Tom proved his worth yet again. Along the way we stopped for coffee and fuel at Kingman otherwise it was straight through to Village near the south rim on Grand Canyon and checked in to our Holiday Inn Express Room ($64) and lovely spacious room.

The highlight of the day would be crossing the Hoover Dam, this was amazing and provided us with a great place to stretch our legs and get some great shots around the dam and the new roadway they are putting. The bridge construction is something to behold. The countryside was very barren until about the last 2 hours of the trip. This country has its share of goat country.

Dinner at the Yippee Yi Oh Steakhouse, it was good food and good service, lovely big open fire and very warm inside. We are getting our first taste of cold as there was evidence of last night’s ice on the ground when we arrived and the temp has been dropping quickly. The gloves are out!!!

Tomorrow we explore the canyon…….