We'd long planned a jaunt to Las Vegas as part of our road trip, and my wonderful friends Beth and Alex got us tickets to Cirque du Soleil's LOVE show as a Christmas present, but as the schedule firmed up for our trip it turned out we had a whole 4 days in Sin City. I felt that this was perhaps a little long, but was happy to go along with what mum wanted. Well, she let the cat out of the bag a few days ago. It turns out my auntie Lorraine and cousin Catherine were surprising me for my birthday by joining us there, before heading off to San Francisco for their own mother-daughter holiday there! What an amazing surprise... but there was more...
Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas
I will blog properly about the whole of my Vegas experience soon. It was an assault to the senses. Incredible and compelling but simultaneously quite repulsive, and I'm still processing how I feel about it. In the meantime I will tell you about my birthday weekend. As my life straddles a number of timezones I'm lucky enough to call it my birthday for a full 48 hours. Breakfast on 22 February (23 February in Australia, natch!) was at the Bellagio cafe (in our hotel, no less). A gorgeous breakfast of waffles and fruit, with many of our fellow breakfasters clearly fresh from the gaming tables and cocktails of the 'night before', while we were fresh-eyed from a night of sleep before our trip to the Grand Canyon.
The stunning Chihuly ceiling at the Bellagio hotel
Mum surprised me with a trip to the Grand Canyon for my birthday. She and Lorraine had been researching madly while in the UK but kept the whole thing a secret. For those who know my mum you'll appreciate how hard this must have been! We did the trip through a company called Maverick Adventures (I appreciated the Top Gun reference). We flew over the Hoover Dam and the Nevada and Arizona desert to get there, captained by our dishy and charismatic pilots Todd and Mike. The plane was a teeny tiny 2-seats-wide rattly thing, but got us there in one piece. Arizona: the fifth US State of my trip so far!
The Hoover Dam & Lake Mead from the air
Lots of buttons in the cockpit
Grand Canyon from the cockpit
Selfie with pilots
Colorado River from the plane
Grand Canyon from the plane
Bright Angel Gorge
We drove through various parts of the Canyon, learning the history of the early pioneers there and the Harvey Girls etc. Finally we got inside a helicopter to fly over the Canyon itself. Billy the pilot flew us around the widest section of the canyon (29 kilometres wide). The scale of this place defies belief. It really is one of the most stunning areas of the world, and the sight of it literally moved me to tears. I can't quite believe I was flying above such an awe-inspiring place. In total it's 446 km long and at its deepest is 1800 metres deep. Over 17 million years in the making, it exposes a thick sequence of ancient rocks, beautifully preserved. I simply have to come back here one day to hike through the canyon itself. Congratulations to Lorraine, Catherine and Liz for overcoming their fear of heights and flying to experience the trip!
Ladies at the Canyon
Liz and Lorraine
Lorraine and Catherine
Looking out over the Canyon
Our shadow from the helicopter
Gang with helicopter
In the helicopter: excited!
Canyon from the helicopter
Canyon from helicopter plus Colorado River
Vegas from the cockpit on the flight home
After our astounding day out we got tarted up and went to Hyde bar to watch the famous Bellagio fountains. Every hour the fountains 'perform' to a different song and they really are quite beautiful to watch. After dinner, Catherine nonchalently won a whole heap of money at roulette and blackjack -- it was amazing to watch her. She who dares certainly wins!
Bellagio fountain performance
While we were getting ready I received another totally unexpected surprise. My Karaoke buddies in Sydney had sent me a hamper filled with Moet, chocolates and all sorts of other goodies. Thanks mum for snapping me bursting into tears still wrapped in towels after my shower. My friends are truly fabulous.
Crying coz my friends are awesome
Japanese dinner at Yellowtail Bellagio
But the Birthday Festival was not over yet! On Sunday 23 February (my actual birthday in the USA) we enjoyed Le Champagne Buffet for breakfast at the Hotel Paris. An all-you-can-eat buffet, there was no food you can think of that was not there. Pastries, eggs, steak, sushi, crab claws, tiny cakes, potato rosti, trout... the list goes on. We managed to stay there for three hours, enjoying chatting and really catching up. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to spend time with these wonderful ladies, it's such a rare treat.
Breakfast crab
Le French Bistro
Paris, Vegas
Ladies who brunch
Of course a visit to Paris isn't complete without a trip up the Eiffel Tower, and being Vegas they have a replica right there. The views of the city were amazing from the top, and we even glimpsed the Bellagio fountains at work again.
Mum on French bridge
Bellagio fountains from the Eiffel Tower
We then managed to fit in some time to chill by the pool and hottub before getting ready to go out for the evening.
How many outfits in 2 days?
Our European tour continued as we took a trip down the canals of Venice (or, the Venetian Hotel) on a gondola. Luciano and his charming faux Italian accent sung to us as we marvelled at the fake Saint Mark's Square and 'blue skies' of Venice. He even sang me a happy birthday in Italian.
The ceilings at the Venetian
It's always sunny in the Venice canals
Selfie on gondola
Our gondola driver with the ladies
Dinner was at the fabulous Bouchon Bistro, a recommendation from Kim which I was extremely glad to have enjoyed. And finally, the magnificent Cirque du Soleil show, LOVE. A psychadelic Beatles album brought to life in dance, acrobatics and circus, as well as some truly daredevil performances. It really was incredible.
Caramel with Creme Caramel at Bouchon
Beatles at the Mirage
All you need is LOVE
What a birthday weekend! I'm exhausted just reading back on all of that. So much crammed into just 2 days. Madness. As I promised, more to come soon on the rest of the Vegas experience and our California road trip, but until then, thanks again to everyone who surprised me and made my birthday truly memorable. I am completely overwhelmed and you are all wonderful. x
wow wonderful.and a belated happy birthday to u 2 luv from Caroline x
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