We both woke up this morning utterly shattered. The adrenaline that fuelled the first part of our trip has well and truly worn off, so much so that...and I never thought I'd be saying this...but we decided to skip the Grand Canyon!
Argh I know! I was so excited and determined to go there. But flexibility is a must when you are traipsing round the other side of the world, and so we rolled with it. Prioritized RELAXING, and getting enough to eat and drink, as I know once we are home life will return to it's .
chaotic, stressful self before we know it.
Taking the morning easy again (a must do for vegas), we headed in and after waiting about an hour, caught a tour like the one we went on in San Fran. It was good but totally regret forking out the money for a 48 hour pass- we have barely used it!
By the Welcome to Las Vegas sign (that small thing in the background!)
First of all though was our stop in at the Atomic Testing Museum. The nuclear bombs were tested out here near Las Vegas so this museum is great. It was missing quite a few things though- the effect of nuclear bombs on people and the environment, and the utter destruction the bombs caused in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There was one sole picture; a before and after of the city of Hiroshima.
In the former, it's a bustling city. In the later, it's bare land. Like it magically disappeared.
That's the feeling of the whole museum to do with that- *blink*, it's gone, out of sight, out of mind. That in itself was quite interesting to see. Also, right at the end they threw in a bit on 9/11...you know, just in case you were in any doubt about the validity of nuclear testing...(weapons of mass destruction anyone???)
We got an awesome souvenir though; a handbook copied from the cold war period on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack, which was really given out to families. It's pure propaganda which makes it all the more interesting. Got to be up there with the tin cup we got from Alcatraz just like the prisoners had.
My favourite bit was reading about the mannequins they used in the testing. They had a book with the recordings scientists had made about how the dolls fared in the blasts, hoping to see which type of housing, clothes, shelter etc protected them the most. One or two weren't badly damaged but a fair few simply disintegrated. Others it was noted had damage to only one side of the clothes and very minor burns. Oh, but it was also torn apart at the waist...yea somehow I don't think you'd be worried how your clothes fared if you were torn apart at the waist!
They also had a bunker thing where you could go and 'experience' a nuclear blast. Wow oh wow oh wow. Chad still has the nail marks in his leg! It was freaky as. Amazing, but freaky!
Then it was back on the bus and on with the rest of the tour, most of which was just driving past hotels. At one bit we had to stop to transfer so we went into the cool of the casino for a bit. There I discovered black jack which is officially my new favourite game. We only played the virtual one though...way too scared to play with actual people (yet!)
Instead of heading back and getting all dressed up for the evening that night, we decided to skip the long wait and hot ride to stay on The Strip instead. "What are we gonna do with 5 hours?" I asked doubtfully. Silly, silly thing to say in Vegas!
First up was the sharf reef at Mandalay Bay.
It's like Kelly Tarltons but better. Saw lots of sharks, jellyfish, an octopus, and a golden crocodile!
The golden crocodile, pressed right up by the window. I could have watched him all day!
There were also some really sinister looking fellas from the amazon. You tell in one look that they meant business! They jump outta the water and can snatch their prey from trees.
There was also a tank where you can touch some sting rays. I picked one to pat hello to and right as I almost touched him, he moved and I screamed! Both a couple by us, and the sting ray himself found this hilarious. Swear to god he was f**king with me- every time I put my hand in, he swung around. I was scared of the stinger bit on his tail that he kept showing off. Finally I just sucked it up, stuck my hand right the way in the water, and then squeled when I touched him- he felt so gooey! Like jelly. But really smelly.
This guy had a smile for us...think he was deciding who looked the tastiest!
Many a 'Jaws' joke was made during the production of these photos
Then it was off to New York, New York Hotel. They put a LOT of work into this one, with a statue of liberty, a new york skyline making up the buildings, and themed eateries throughout.
Yep- that's a whole WALL of M & Ms!!! Needless to say, Chad found another slice of heaven today :-) And we brought Charli-Rose her pink and purple M & Ms which she has been asking for for as long as we've been talking about the trip (easy to bribe a nearly-4 year old!)
We also went on the rollar coaster at NY NY.
Scariest. Ride. Ever!
It took us high up and then straight down, zero gravity, about 5 times, looped us upside down at high speed, and then did this awful cork screw turn. During the ride, I wanted it to be over. As we stepped out, I asked Chad if he wanted to go again and he almost yelled out NOOOOO in horror. But a few hours later? The nausea and unpleasantness had worn off, leaving pure excitement. Totally wanting to go on it again ;-)
We didn't that night though as we were heading off to something even more exciting:
The Las Vegas production of Phantom of the Opera.
It was INCREDIBLE!!!
It had a whole theatre made just for this show. The music was amazing, of course, but they also went over the top with costumes, sets, and even had fireworks and a chandelair which looked like it fell right down onto the crowd bellow us! Even though we were in the cheapest seats, the view wasn't too bad.It was a magical night. I even got teared up in parts! Was so easy to get immersed in the story. We came away singing. There's really nothing like it!
Custom theatre. Couldn't get a good shot but it was amazing, the attention to detail second to none. Those red boxes you can see are actually part of the set, filled with dressed up mannequins looking like they are watching the show with us.
The Chandeleir started off in 3 different bits, then got pulled together during one of the scenes. It had a guy swinging off it, waaaaaay up high, and then near the end it dropped on the audience below us, the lights blacking out just as it would have hit them on the head. So cool!
Then it was taxi time back to the hotel where we spent a few hours lounging by the pool, off to bed about 3am again. Aaahhh this is the life...
***
All in all, it was a very eventful day. So not feeling too bad about having missed the Grand Canyon.
We only have one more day left here as we are spending the last two days in at the airport then on our flight. I think we've done pretty well squeezing as much as we have into our trip, without totally exhausting ourselves.
And we're only bringing home about 1 1/2 extra suitcases of stuff, mostly for the girls- who have been doing very well with Nana Debs.
We have talked to them every night but one. The first night was hard as Charli-Rose was crying, Lilabelle had been upset all day, and Debbie looked totally overwhelmed and exhausted. Thankfully it got a lot better and now we see 3 smiling faces every time we Skype them :-)
I look forward to telling Charli tomorrow night that we will be seeing her real soon!!!
***
Favourite picture of today:
Dear Rachael,
Well babe, it's not quite the New York that you and I dreamed about, but it's pretty close. I did it! I really, really did it. I know I made your memory smile today. Love to all the way to heaven and back,
Your Mealz
xoxo
RIP
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