August 18 and 19: Vegas, baby!

Theme songs: "This Kiss" by Faith Hill and "Viva Las Vegas" by Elvis Presley

“Vegas is everything that’s right with America. You can do whatever you want, 24 hours a day. They’ve effectively legalized everything there.”
- Drew Carey

Thelma: You said you 'n' me was gonna get out of town and for once just really let our hair down. Well darlin', look out 'cause my hair is comin' down!

So we didn't end up leaving Grand Canyon straight away after breakfast, instead we went back to see the national park in daylight while we were waiting for horseback riding time! We lost track of time of course, and the scenic view went by in a blur on our way out of the park. Horsies!!! We got in our saddles at Appache Stables in Tusayan. The names of our beautiful horses were Highway (Vib's) (a very appropriate name as we've been on many highways so far) and Midnight (mine). Our wrangler's name was Gary, an old cowboy with spurs on his cowboy boots, fun! We went on an hour trail through the woods of Grand Canyon and had a great time :) We even saw a rabbit (no elk unfortunately).After this we stopped for lunch and ice cream back at "We make.."

Then we headed west! Instead of taking route 40 all the way again, we took a detour through the historic route 66 and got to see more exciting things than if we'd only stayed on the interstate: Cool old gas stations, and other places that I imagine only exist in remembrance of the days when route 66 was the preferred way to go west.

We got to Hoover Dam at about 8 PM and caught another beautiful sunset on the way in. America's is AWESOME when it comes to sunsets, goodness gracious, I wish pictures did them justice, but they really don't.
We were only half an hour away from Vegas by then, and general excitement grew in the car. Suddenly, after driving over a hilltop we saw millions and millions of lights, and realised it wasn't Vegas but Henderson. How on earth would Vegas look from afar then! It was gorgeous really :) Guided by GPS and luck we found Luxor, allthough I have to say, my nerves were never higher and will never be as high again after driving by night in Las Vegas for the first time. No incidents though, and after driving around Luxor 3 times we finally decided to skip self parking (which turned out to be full anywways) and fancied ourselves with valet parking (always remember to tip everybody! We forgot about the valet parker guy, but the bellboy let us know where the land lay ;) ). Luxor it was, a very cool huge hotel shaped like a pyramid. And like all hotels in Vegas, everything happens inside: clubs, lounge, lounge, lounge, shopping, food, and of course the Casino! We made a mental note not to gamble our money away; we're too fond of shopping for that. We got a room on the 11th floor, it was not as cool as we'd hoped, but the view (overlooking the 3 enormours outdoor pools) turned out to be fantastic. We headed for dinner at about 11, and then went clubbing. We had gotten VIPtickets from some random guy when we entered Luxor which meant that we got to skip the line and the cover to get in at LAX, a Paris Hilton club. It was huge! As everything else is here. And FULL of people. And the drinks were strong, no need for measuring glasses or soda in that club. The tequila came in a milk glass! But it was much needed.We got to know a bunch of guys from Austria and Ireland, and one of the irish dudes showed us a trick for getting free drinks around the black jack tables, which we of course then used ;) We had a blast and got to bed at about 6 in the morning. This really is the city that never sleeps =D

We got up reasonanbly early at 11 considering the late night before, and went straight to the pool after breakfast, with no sunscreen or sunglasses as the good Norwegians we are, at the worst time a day for bad sun rays. Oh well. It was great at taking any headache away and we felt so luxurious (as you should at Luxor, I guess). Then there was time for sight seeing and shopping! We went to the MGM hotel and they had real lions with cubs, there was no way I would let an opportunity like that go by, so I payed the staggering amount of $25 to pet one of the cubs (the cost is for the picture that I got of course, but I didn't do it for pictures), cuteness beyond imagination!!
There were a lot of "ooh" and "aaah"-ing as we walked down Las Vegas boulevard, also known as The Strip. What a city, we were overwhelmed! If you ever get the chance to go here, take it (and bring us along!). It was hott (double-T) as well, but we were only happy that it was sunny and warm with no thunderstorms ;)
We got to the mall, and we shopped to we literally dropped! The shoes! The dresses! Vib got an awesome dress at Bettie Page (check out the webpage: bettiepageclothing.com). The sunglasses! The lingerie! We were supposed to head home at 7 PM, but got caught up in the fountain show at the Bellagio - so cool - and "This Kiss" was playing throughout the show, thus theme song material :)
We ended up eating nearby at Cabo Wabo, great food and better drinks: Vib had Cabo Rockin' Iced Tea and I had Coconut Margarita. We went back in the mall just to buy post cards really, but those drinks turned out to be dangerous when paired up with shopping possibilites. Shoes! And dresses! I say no more. Maybe except for broke? Hmm.

Exhausted we got back to Luxor for another night out of the town. Well, not so much, we fell asleep after one Grolsch each. Oooooooops.... So we'll postpone departure a bit as it was going to be today, and gamble before breakfast and sight see some more =D

UC

We'll post pictures tonight as we're running a bit late here ;)