The lowdown on Vegas and Seattle

Here's a few thoughts to go with the previous photos.

Las Vegas. I doubt there is anywhere in the world that is similar. Right from the moment we stepped off the plane and into the airport and were greeted by banks of slot machines in the arrivals lounge (I mean what else are you going to do whilst waiting for a friends plane?) we knew we were in for a crazy experience. The craziness started not as we expected as we had to wait 1 hour for a shuttle bus to take us from the airport to our hotel. It was only later on that we realised that Vegas airport is actually at the bottom of the Strip, but in an act of stupidity the airport authority had put the airport terminal on the opposite side of the runway to where all the casinos were, forcing everyone to catch a bus to their hotels instead. Good thinking guys!
Once in vegas you could be forgiven for thinking you are on another planet. We actually only saw the horizon (ie. the surrounding desert mountains) when we flew out of Vegas, as the area is so developed with casinos, hotels and highrises that you wouldn't know you were in a desert except that it was 70F in the middle of winter! The amount of money poured into the casinos is also amazing as to survive in such a compeitive climate it seemed that all the casinos had some sort of unique drawcard:
MGM Grand - Had its own lion pit
Excalibur - Casino looks exactly like the Disney castle
Luxor - Big black glass pyramid 30 storeys high with a light beam shining from the apex that is visible from space
Mandalay Bay - Gold tinted windows
Bellagio - biggest casino there, outfitted with marble and a full japanese tea garden inside
Paris casino - Eiffel Tower replica out the front
New York New York - Rollercoaster that runs in and outside the casino. The casino itself is a facade of New York with the Chrysler Building, Empire State and Statue of Liberty out the front.
The Venetian - complete with canal system inside, just like in Venice!
Circus Circus - gaming floor surrounded by numerous circus acts. gamble whilst acrobats fly 10 storeys above your head.

There is even a whole 3 storey store devoted purely to M&M merchandise, next door to the 3 storey CocaCola shop.

Still, vegas is a place where to have fun you really have to spend money. So we did! Played some Blackjack which I came out from only a little bit down, and played some Texas Hold 'Em poker in which I lost $80, but that wasn't too bad as it took my 3 hours to loose it! And when exiting most casinos you have to run the gauntlet of mexican guys handing out prostitute flyers, I think we collected over 100 between us in the two days, they just don't go away til you take 'em!

After Vegas we flew to San Francisco where I put my snowboard in storage, said goodbye to HB and headed up to Portland, Oregon. On arrival I found that every hostel in town was booked out, so had to endure a 4 hour greyhound bus up to Seattle. Now that doesn't sound too bad, but it gets on your nerves when the bus is 2 hours late to arrive and overbooked so 20 people didn't even get on! Gotta love this country sometimes...

Seattle, in comparison to most american cities is a breath of fresh air. It seems to have the lowest amount of homeless people on the streets which is nice as it means you can walk 100 metres and not be asked for a quarter 20 times and spat at if you don't comply. I managed to find the first Starbucks and had some coffee there, as well as doing a tour of the Seattle Underground, the remains of the city after the great Seattle fire which was just built over. Today I got my nerd fix and visited the Science Fiction Museum and, more importantly the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, complete with one whole floor devoted to Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Soundgarden, all Seattle natives. It was awesome to see all the memorbilia, clothes and equipment.

Tomorrow im off to Portland for 2 days then up to Vancouver to see Simo and get a day's riding in at Whistler... I CAN'T FREAKIN WAIT!!!!!!! (they have had 32 feet of snow already this season... yeah, its insaneo)

PS: Everyone go see Smokin Aces. The movie sucks, but it was filmed in Lake Tahoe at MontBlu Casino, 5min walk from our place. And they do the car chase along Lake Tahoe Bvd right past our street and the Heavenly Gondola. Awesome!!!!!