Feb 8th 2008
Our trip from Manchester UK to Chicago USA was pretty uneventful the food was good, seat not bad, films terrible but I had a good book! And all my cases were under weight!
Once in Chicago we had to get past the immigration officer I was very nervous, convinced I would be sent home.(my children had said they had had a whip round to bribe the officer to let me in) In fact the officer was charming, he asked us what we were going to be doing in the US, had we a house in Florida, we answered his questions and he LISTENED then checked our finger prints and eyes, then hey presto we are in the US for 6 months with his blessing, what a relief all that worry for nothing, We had a long wait for the connection to Phoenix Arizona which is always very boring, on arriving in Phoenix I was a case missing, not the small case with all my clothes which would be easy to replace, the large case with all the spares and stuff I cannot get in the US, like “Lady Grey” tea, my tablets, a shelf my brother had made me for the wardrobe, books and BBC DVD’s I was gutted. The airline however promised the case would be with me within 24 hours. It was, very impressive, it took 3 days when our bags were left in London after we had flown on to Manchester and Les’s bags took over a week.
It is very cold, like freezing, the truck has been frozen, I have a leaking water pump also the water filter is leaking, everything else is ok. I am booked in tomorrow for some work doing, it will therefore not be much of a problem, this first day in Prescott was terrible snow, rain and wind all day next morning the outside of the truck was well frozen but inside I was snug and warm, we spent a very busy week in Prescott getting jobs done and the truck up to speck, then headed off for Las Vegas for a couple of days R’n R.
Las Vegas, WOW! It is 32 years since I came to Las Vegas (my stepdaughter got married in a pretty little chapel) 32 years ago I stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton in a suite, this time I parked for FREE in the parking lot of Circus Circus, what a come down!! Last time I saw Frank Sinatra at Caesars Palace, the supper show (Lobster Thermador) I remember every detail. This time we saw Cirque du Soleil’s at theatre “O” in the Bellagrio Hotel/Casino after we had their wonderful buffet for lunch, of course we ate too much. All of this was wonderful Cirque du Soleil’s is an amazing show. Les and I went for a walk to see the Venetian Hotel/Casino which is just a cardboard copy of Venice, amazing, we also watched the lake outside the Hotel Bellagio which has a series of fountains spanning the quarter-mile lake and blasting water 240 feet in the air. Musically choreographed water shows are presented daily, we were lucky enough to see one, amazing, On our second day we had buffet lunch in “Paris” I did not think cardboard France was as good as cardboard Venice, Italy but it was amazing. The change in Vegas is awesome, all the small houses and wedding chapels are gone, all replaced with gigantic hotel/casinos/resorts, and I have to say this really is not my thing after 2 day’s I was very happy to leave. Before leaving we went to the “Liberace” museum which houses all his costumes, cars, jewellery and antiques if Las Vegas is ott this guy was OTT but how wonderful to have such a gift and be able to just express how you feel like this. a little bit of me was very envious!!!! It was a very good visit. However a visit to Las Vegas twice in one life time is enough for me, there are too many people by far, too much retail, but it is wonderful and fun!!
From here we head for “Death Valley”
