Wednesday 30th August saw us up bright and early to get to Manchester Airport for our flight to Las Vegas. We had booked the flights direct with MyTravel (Airtours) and the hotel (Circus Circus) online direct with the hotel.

We checked in and passed through security quickly and easily - surprisingly so, considering the heightened security these days. However, once aboard the plane, we sat on the tarmac for 90 minutes! This was because 6 passengers had managed to check in without going through the special American passport/security checks, and their details had to be faxed to Washington, and clearance for them to travel obtained before we could leave.

We arrived in Las Vegas about an hour late ( so we made up 30 mins) - it was lunchtime and 102 degrees! We had just missed the shuttle bus to the hotels, so we got a taxi - and sadly, he saw us coming, and, whilst keeping us chatting, took a circuitous route which ended up costing us $35 (it should have been about $15)

Circus Circus is a large older hotel at the North end of Las Vegas Boulevard ( "The Strip"). It is opposite The Riviera hotel and next door to the famous "Stardust" hotel.

We asked for - and got - a high floor room in the 'Skyrise Tower' - we were on the 21st floor. There was a bit of a trek to the lifts, but the room was excellent - a huge king-size bed, good bathroom, and a great view down the Strip.

We unpacked and wandered out into the heat. We strolled down The Strip as far as Caesar's Palace, which was enormous!

Back at the hotel, we saw a poster advertising a rib steak dinner for $9.99, in the hotel's Pink Pony restaurant, so gave it a try. Soup (or a salad) as a starter, and then a huge thick 12oz rib steak with fries mushrooms and veg - all for under 10 dollars.

We wandered around the casino; I wasn't confident enough to sit down at a gaming table to try my luck so we stuck to the slots. While playing, one of the hostesses signed us up to their "loyalty card"; in future while playing you stuck the card into the slot in the machine ( or gave it to the dealer at the table) and while playing it clocked up loyalty points.

Then we arranged our car hire; we rang around the local car hire firms, and they all quoted more or less the same cost. If you gave them 24 hours notice, the price dropped quite sharply.

All local telephone calls within the Nevada area code 702 are free - the hotel makes a nominal $1 a day charge.

Next morning we strolled up and down the Strip, looking at some of the wonders. The Venetian hotel, part way down the Strip, is modelled on - naturally - Venice, with good accurate buildings looking like St Marks Square, complete with a canal and gondolas. However the biggest shock was indoors, as up on the second floor, they have another Grand Canal and St Marks Square indoors. You can take a gondola ride, with a singing gondolier, and it looks like the real thing!

SWMBO's sister is married to an American doctor, and they live in Henderson, about 10 miles sw of Vegas. After we picked up the hire car - a brand new Dodge Caliber ( super car!) at lunchtime we drove out to Henderson to meet up with Jenny and her family.

Next day - Friday - was Jenny's birthday, so we drove out to her house to wish her happy birthday; we had offered to look after her kids (all five of them!) while they went for a cosy dinner, so after a lazy afternoon by the hotel pool, we met them in the Mandalay Bay, and relieved them of the children while they had a romantic dinner. We took the kids to the MGM Grand to see the lions!

On the Saturday, we picked up the three eldest kids ( 13, 9 and 7) and brought them back to the hotel; they had the morning around the pool, as all three are good swimmers; then we went into the hotel. Circus Circus has - guess what? - a circus, which takes place over the main casino area so we took the children to see the trapeze artistes perform. From there, we went to the hotel's massive indoor theme park - "Adventuredome". There are all the usual theme park rides, to suit all ages - from merry-go-rounds to twister rollercoasters.

Next day, Sunday we were again lazy, sunning round the pool, until going to Jenny's for a lovely home-cooked English style Sunday dinner - roast beef complete with home-made yorkshire pudding!

Monday morning, we took the short drive to the Hoover dam. It really is a spectacular piece of engineering; they have a well-thought-out Visitor Center, and you zoom down a 500 ft deep lift to visit the generator halls. The car park, however was a pricey $7, and the visitor centre was $11 a head.

On the Tuesday we headed off to the Valley of Fire. This is 35 minutes north of Las Vegas. It is a deep valley, and gets its name because the rocks and sand are a vivid fiery red. there are various points where you can stop and view, and they have some useful signs up to explain the scenery. The (dead-end) road has recently been extended to Rainbow Point, where you can stop and look down on a vast area with many many different hues, from almost white rock and sand to the deepest scarlet. Wonderful!

That night, back at the hotel, I decided to try my luck at the tables. One of the advantages of our hotel was that their minimum bets tended to be lower than in, say, the Bellagio! While you are playing at the tables (poker, blackjack, roulette, craps) or sat at the slots, waitresses are constantly wandering around bringing you free drinks ( so, for example, a bottle of Bud Lite, sold for $3.75 at the bar would cost you 50c as a tip to the waitress.)

The dealer for my first attempt was a great, helpful guy called Rich, who gave me all sorts of tips on good strategy for playing blackjack.

I purposely changed only $50 into chips; mainly thanks to Rich, when I left the table and cashed in my chips I came away with $95!

Wednesday was the start of our big trip out; we were up and out early (by 6.50 am) for the 3.5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We decided to go to the North Rim, as we had decided to go on North from there; be warned, you cannot get from the South Rim to the North directly - it is over 250 miles to drive around.

SWMBO had been to the South Rim previously, but never the North. Although she stated that the South was more impressive, I was utterly staggered. Nothing you have read or seen can even begin to suggest how massive this Canyon is; the South Rim is over a mile and half away, and the canyon is so deep you cannot see the Colorado river at the bottom.

After a so-so lunch at the snackbar we pressed on up into Utah to visit Bryce Canyon. You drive along a road called, very appropriately, Red Rock Canyon; the rocks are so red, they look like they have been painted!

Once inside Bryce Canyon National Park, you do wonder what you have come all this to see, when, suddenly, you are at a cliff edge looking out on scenery that is straight out of science fiction. Huge towers of red sandstone, eroded into wierd and wonderful shapes (known locally as hoodoos) stretch away into distance . Only photos can convey what these hoodoos look like.

We had decided, despite having a hotel room in Vegas, to stay away that night, so leaving Bryce at about 6.30 we began searching for a hotel. It was getting dark, and all we could find were somewhat sleazy-looking motels, so we kept driving on and on, into the night.

Eventually, we decided to pick up the main Interstate highway and look at the towns down the Highway. We ended up in Cedar City, Utah, having driven through a tremendous thunderstorm. We had a voucher offering 25% off the bill at a certain hotel in Cedar City, but when we got there, it was full!

I was getting very black looks from SWMBO, but thankfully the desk clerk directed us to another hotel (the Crystal Inn) 200 yards away; they had space, and at $89, so we checked in.

Oncr again we had a huge room, with TWO king sized beds; they had a good bar and restaurant (although Utah has some odd licencing laws!) so we had a good meal and a few drinks before bed.

Next day we pressed on to Zion National Park. Although only maybe 70 miles from Bryce, the scenery here is totally different. Instead of the sculpted hoodoos, there are sheer, smooth cliffs, including what is said to be the world's tallest sheer cliff.

Most of the Canyon is accessible only by shuttle bus; you park you car and hop on the bus which does a circular route. You can get off and explore anywhere, and pick up the next shuttle, never more than 6 minutes away. It was still raining when we started, but by the farthest point in the canyon, the sun was out and we had hot sunshine again.

We left Zion at at about 3.30, and got back to the hotel about 7.30. A shower, dinner in the Garden Grill Restaurant, and a little flutter before bed.

The car was due for return to the hire firm the next afternoon, so we headed out to see Jenny and family again, did some shopping at Wal-mart and then returned the car.

After dark we strolled down the Strip. Some of the hotels have spectacular outdoor displays, so we started by the lakeside in front of the Bellagio. Every half hour they have a massive musical fountain display, all choreographed to whatever piece they play - and the music changes for each display.

From there, to The Mirage Hotel. They have waterfalls outside, but every hour on the hour a mountain set within the waterfalls erupts as a volcano with lava flows and fires and huge sound effects!

Thence to Treasure Island. Like Bellagio they have a huge lake outside, but with two pirate ships moored on it. Four times a night they stage a musical-comedy battle; one ship is manned by scantily-clad sirens, the other by pirates. The battle ends with the pirate ship literally sinking into the lake!!

................that night, I lost $40 on blackjack.................

Jennys parents-in-law have a condominium in a very exclusive resort area on Lake Las Vegas, so on the Sunday Alan (Jenny's hubby) picked us up from the hotel and we took the 3 older kids up to 'The Viera' to use their magnificent pool by the luxury marina at Lake Las Vegas. Jenny and Alan joined us at about 7pm with a super picnic.

Next day was another lazy-ish day....a morning of sunbathing by the pool but the wind had dropped, so by 2pm it was far too hot to stay out. We decided to try eating out that evening, and ended up at The Flamingo. Well, the food was excellent, and great value, but oh dear, the service.............

....we were but halfway through our starters when the main courses arrived; the waitress just plonked them down and left, without even an apology. THEN to make matters worse, a cleaner appeared with a dustpan and brush and began sweeping up around us, even starting to move the other chairs at our table to sweep under it!!!! The cleaner looked most offended when I asked her to leave the sweeping until after we had eaten.

When I paid the bill, the cashier asked if I wanted to leave a tip. Guess what my answer to that was?

Next day, Tuesday, was SWMBO's birthday - one of the special number ones. We had a slow leisurely breakfast, then lazed around by the pool, sipping drinks, while SWMBO took numerous calls on her mobile from friends ringing her to wish her Happy Birthday, and took great pleasure in saying "it's 12 noon, I'm in Las Vegas, it's 100 degrees F, and I'm sat by the pool drinking ice-cold beer.........."

That evening we met up with Jenny and Alan for a celebratory dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand Hotel. We took a super bus service, called "The Deuce" down the Strip. It runs all day every day, at $2 per single trip or $5 for a full day ticket. We had a super family meal, lots of fun and good food.

Back to the hotel, I went to enquire what I could get with our "loyalty card" points (remember them?)

What it ended up as was -

They gave us our first two nights at the hotel free and then the rates for every other night was reduced ( this was "complementary" or, in Vegas jargon, we were "comped")

The net result was that our bill was $208 less that we had booked it for........and then to cap it they gave us $50 in cash!!

A final game of blackjack (* won $40 * ) then for our last night's sleep.

Up early (8am, anyway) breakfast at the Barista Bagel Bar in the hotel, then onto the airport shuttle - only $5.50 each to the airport (compare that with the taxi fare!)

Checked in easily and quickly, and the flight left exactly on time; thanks to tailwinds we arrived back in Manchester 40 miuntes early..................

.......................and so ended a wonderful holiday...........I'll be back, Las Vegas!!