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Friday morning our long..... trip home (two domestic flights and one international combined) began.  

Las Vegas airport with the city in the background

We had more leg room on the San Francisco/Sydney flight and it was well worth the bit of extra money we paid. We didn't have any problems at all on our trip home, apart from being very very tired when we got to Brisbane - we took the drive from Bris Vegas to Toowoomba in three stages and swapped drivers each time! 

We had a wonderful, wonderful time and I still can't believe I have flown out of the INTERnational airport. So glad it all went well and our travels were safe but it was nice to be back.

Grand Canyon

Thursday was Grand Canyon Day and we decided the best way to do it was by chopper and oh! it was amazing.  Apart from our wedding, this, along with the baseball, were my highlights of our first trip overseas.

We took a bus from Las Vegas to Boulder City (I guess that was about 45 minutes away) at 4.45pm. Once off the 'strip' the surrounds are so barren and, once again, colourless.  But it still had a certain beauty and aura about it.  It was great to just sit back and take it all in and not have to do the driving as we headed off to find our chopper.

Darren and I were lucky enough to score the front seats near the pilot (usually you have to pay for this, but being 'just married' they decided payment wasn't needed and also 'gave' us the routine photo shot at the start of the trip).

We flew over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead (which is actually more impressive than Hoover Dam) and eventually after about thirty minutes in the air we started our descent into this amazing place.

Well... it turns out you can be married in the Grand Canyon...indeed.  As we landed we spotted another chopper nearby and bride, groom, attendants and photographer were all doing their thing.  It was so cool!  

   

We returned to our hotel at about 9pm and after dinner in our still-favourite little steakhouse it was time to snooze.  We had one more 'sleepover' in the Northern Hemisphere then we were going home...

  

Our Wedding

May 22nd will, from now on, always be our special day.  Darren and I have been together for thirteen years and decided, only in the last month or so, that it would be nice to be married while we were away.  So we did....

The Chapel was a perfect setting.  It was beautiful, peaceful and reverent and the minister who married us was very nice and really helped make us a little less nervous than we were feeling prior to the service.  The service only took about 15 minutes - ending with a spiritual blessing and a few words about our family and friends back home, which was nice.  Our immediate family and a few close friends knew of our plan to marry while in Vegas, other than that everyone was in for a big surprise :)  This was just how we wanted to do it and it all worked out so beautifully.  

We chose two songs for our service - the timeless Elton John 'Your Song' and also 'Meant to Be' by OShea.  We've danced, often, over the years to Your Song and that was my choice right from the start.

By 4.30pm we were married and headed up to our room to get changed and then have some more champas.  It was just such a relaxing time our wedding of 2013 - definitely stress free and....perfect.  All that's needed now to end this little post are some photos.  

Darren Smith I love you xx   

 

 

 

  

Wedding eve

* I'm writing the rest of my holiday blog now safe and sound at home in Toowoomba.  It's taken a few days to get the energy to put the rest of my memories down on 'paper' *

  

My post 'Monday Day 2 in Vegas'  was incomplete - added to that we also had to venture into the city to purchase our Marriage Licence.  We had decided what a nice place to be married - in Vegas and now had to get a move on to organise everything.  I had applied for the licence online a few weeks prior and had received a reference number which made the process so simple.  We showed our passports, gave divorce dates and we were out of there in about 5 minutes and were free to marry anytime from then on.  We decided the beautiful chapel at The Luxor would be a nice venue...just beautiful...small but beautiful.  So before lunch we had that booked, Darren's tie and my shoes purchased and we were almost there.  I had already bought my dress at Macys when we were in San Francisco.

 

Tuesday began after a small sleep-in and at 11am I had my hair cut and styled (trial for Wednesday) and it was really lovely - just how I would normally wear it only a little more blow dried.  It would be perfect.  The 'beauty spas' in these hotels/casinos are incredible.  They go forever and are something you would see in a Cleopatra movie.  Absolutely stunning and massive WOW factor.

We were happy just to do a lot of walking this day - checking out our casino out and taking the free trains from one to the other.  Lunch time again and here in Vegas, like San Francisco, it was very difficult to find a really nice red (along with coffee!).  Most, if not all the bars, only have a very ordinary one called Louis Martini.  Yes, it sounds pretty flash, but very very ordinary.  Well eventually we found a lovely little steak house tucked away near the main entrance that had an awesome wine list  - Napa and Sonoma Valley wines, we were to learn, were the way to go.  Unfortunately our time in San Fran. was mainly for Darren's work so we didn't get to take a tour up to these famous valleys.  Next time....

Day 2 in the Casino City

Monday day 2 Vegas and it was a busy day just exploring and organising our wedding that was going to be a surprise to most people.  More about that later...

One thing Darren and I both commented on when we drove through Vegas for the first few days - the roads are so much newer here than San Francisco.  Was such a big difference.  It was like the roads in S.F. had been there for two hundred years and hardly touched whereas Vegas (and out to Boulder City) were like brand new.  

This particular Monday morning we had brekky downstairs...in the Pyramid Cafe.  I must say I definitely don't like the idea of leaving 'tips' on the table when you leave. There was a $5 note floating around on our table when we sat down. I decided to make the effort to take up the mandatory gratuity to the girls desk.  It's a bit different if you are paying by credit card/traveller card then cash wouldn't be left but a lot of the time we did pay cash.   

I am not sure if Mum was saying extra prayers or maybe God was just on our side.... but the weather in Vegas was superb considering only a few weeks ago when we booked our trip it was topping 40!  We were  so lucky.  For those of you who are on Facebook (and most of you are) you would have seen my status referring to the fact that I hate the smoking over here. I suppose it's probably ten years or more since we, in Australia, have been able to smoke in hotels etc. and it was really awful! having your clothes smell of smoke, your hair smell of smoke and more importantly walk around near people smoking their heads off!  Anyway, I guess after a few days we did get used to it.

The Luxor is located at the very end of the southern tip of the Las Vegas Strip.  There is only one other (The Mandalay) further down.  Our hotel and The Mandalay and The Excalibur were all linked by walkways  and shopping malls. Yes, it was confusing for a while - trying to find the correct exit from our hotel! But by the time we were to come home, we knew it all backwards :)  

Back to Monday morning breakfast....on our way back to our room there was a lift full of Chinese people that got out at our level.  We laughed, again, as they were all women (about twelve of them) and then right at the back was a bloke; a very small, shy looking bloke. They were obviously all in the same group. For some reason we felt a bit sorry for this poor soul...

Sunday - Las Vegas

An early start as the annual 'Bay to Breakers' fun run was on and cabs and shuttles were going  to be few and very far between (or so we were told).  It turned out that we had no problems whatsoever and after checking out of 'Le Meridien' we were leaving this city that had been home for the past week.  Our time there was just wonderful.

We didn't have any worries checking in at the airport and before too long we were on a small plane bound for the city of casinos and wedding chapels.  What we found interesting at the San Francisco airport was that it seemed people who had booked tickets etc. weren't necessarily guaranteed a seat?? Maybe those of you who have flown in and out of the United States could explain this more to us.  A guy was on a microphone continually asking for people to come up and give their flight away (postpone until a later one) so that others could have the seat. In return they were offered 300 flight credits??  It was all rather confusing....and I can imagine quite stressful for any passengers involved.
  

Our flight to Nevada was okay, but rather bumpy for the last half hour or so.  The ascent and descent on a plane seem to be so much steeper than in Australia - we've noticed also that escalators are so much steeper too.  Hmmmm....

Las Vegas airport was no drama...pokies (sorry, slot machines) throughout did make us chuckle though.  It seemed a quiet airport or maybe it was just the time of day, or time of year, I'm not sure.  It was very easy to get around and a shuttle took us promptly from one terminal to the other to collect our bags.

We had a really cool cab driver - his name was James and was in for a big chat - hip hop singer/performer and seemed like a great bloke.  He gave us a few tips for our time in Vegas and on the way to our hotel pointed out the very big MGM hotel where the American Billboard Awards were to be held that evening.  

James dropped us off at The Luxor and gee the WOW factor was huge right from the start.  I'm sure all the other casinos on 'The Strip' were as good, and better, and it looked like there was a connecting tram between different hotels.  This would be fun to try.  Check-in was easy and the lady helping us gave us an upgrade from the Pyramid to the Tower, which we'd heard was a great thing if it was offered to us.  This hotel was buzzing (no that's probably not the right word, but you get my drift).  By the time we'd made it to The Luxor it had been about eight hours since a meal, so we wandered through the huge!! casino area and found a buffet restaurant.  

That night it was time to 'phone home E.T' and gave Mum a call to let her know we were all safe and sound.  Our week in Vegas had begun.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz is something we all see on the movies and gee it was really great to stand on that infamous island on Saturday.  We took one of the many cruise boats over from Pier 33 at 10am and did the self-paced audio tour.  This was fantastic.  The sounds, music, voices etc coming through the headphones made the history of Alcatraz all seem very real indeed.  The tour took about an hour and a half and it was worth it that's for sure.

 

 

 

Back on land, lunch was at Pier 39 (this is the area where the famous seals live).  It's an interesting story how they came to be there.  Once again I had another typically American salad.  I love how they seem to put anything and everything together and the flavours don't seem weird at all.  Their love of blue cheese, as I've mentioned before, and it's addition to many dishes is quite quirky I think and I really like it.  I'm not fussed though on this strong, vinegar-like dressing that I've tasted a few times.  I'm really unsure what it is...maybe Stacey you can tell me :)

Lombard Street is where we headed to next.  Most of us know it as the street in San Francisco that is famous for its one-way one-block section consisting of eight very tight hair-pin turns.  We took a cab to the top then walked all the way down as cabs are unable to do the drive.  Darren took a few photos that are just perfect - much better than mine.  This was so cool walking down and just watching everyone doing their own thing (taking photos or simply admiring the street).  I wonder what the residents of Lombard Street think of all this melodrama.

The end of our second last day in 'the bay area' as it's called....on the news anyway....was so much fun in so many ways.  We headed over to MarketBar again for dinner and on the way (walking up the piers once again) we saw the coolest kid playing the coolest music on the trumpet.  I ended up dancing with him and we had a few photos.  Good on you little boy, you made my night!