When in Vegas, no wait, that’s not it… what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Lame expression, let’s post some pics instead:

And how about a 7 storey, 1 block long parking lot dedicated just to staff parking:

We walked around for most of the day, riding the monorail when we could and stopping to gamble in glorious air conditioning when we couldn’t stand the heat anymore. Eventually it got dark out and we were able to check out the fountains at the Bellagio and the Eiffel Tower at night:

We also went up the Eiffel Tower at Paris and got some shots of the strip at night (well, half of it):

Went back to the MGM after all of that and tried not to lose some more money, boy we tried ;). Off to Yosemite tomorrow, looking forward to seeing it, but not looking forward to the 8 hours or so of driving.

OK, so we did manage to stop at Grand Canyon again in the morning before heading out to Vegas. Nice morning light, thought we’d head out to Yaki Point, which is one of the more popular spots. Funny thing, though, you can only get there by shuttle bus. So rather than be pinned down by a shuttle bus we figured hey, let’s just park at the entrance and walk in, I mean how far could it be?

So approximately 1.5 miles later we were there. Did I mention it gets real hot in the morning? Did I mention we didn’t bother to bring water? Fun, not hallucinating fun but getting there ;). Anyhow well worth it, great view from up there:

Decided to check out a couple of the other popular points on the way out as well:

But eventually we did head to Vegas. Not a bad drive, considering. Other than some crazy traffic at the Hoover Dam, including a Police/Homeland Security checkpoint. I kid you not – they let us through though, must’ve been the Mini – I mean what kind of terrorist would drive a Mini anyway?

Oh, it was hot, as said Mini will attest:

Hoover Dam was interesting, other than the traffic:

Huge, and interesting to see:

But eventually we had to get to where we were going, which of course was Vegas. We were set up to stay at the MGM Grand, in a basic but nice room. Huge hotel/casino – it took about 5 minutes to walk from the elevator to our room. Had a relatively quiet night, basically stayed in the MGM and tried not to lose too much money. The real sightseeing is tomorrow.

OK, so we didn’t drop off the face of the earth – just off the Net. So now that I have the chance (on glorious dial-up) I thought I’d put in a quick post to update everyone on our trip. Sorry, no pics on this one but I’m going to edit everything hopefully tomorrow night and fill in the last 3 days.

We are now in Yosemite, after travelling from Grand Canyon to Vegas for 2 days. Vegas was Vegas, and apparently everything stays in Vegas, so sorry can’t fill you in ;). Actually we put in a pretty full day of casino hopping, checking out a lot of the new ones that we hadn’t yet seen (it’s been 10 years since we’ve been). Tough to do when it’s 110+ F. on the strip. Insane, but you sure welcome the A/C in the casinos. Took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower at Paris in the evening and got some pictures of the strip, that was a highlight.

After about 2 days in Vegas we hit the road for Mariposa, which is just outside of Yosemite. Another long day of driving, about 460 miles or 8 hours by the end of it. Turns out the B&B that we are staying at is quite a bit off the main road (12 miles) and quite a bit outside of Yosemite National Park (at least an hour’s drive). We’ll know to book way earlier next time ;).

We were up at 4:30 this morning to hit Yosemite and El Capitan for the sunrise. That’s early. Sick early, but who’s counting. Well worth it, though – can’t wait to post the pics.

Anyway that’s about it. Consider this a temporary posting, real ones to follow tomorrow night sometime….