Day before Day One,
We stay over night at Manchester before our morning flight, The Bewley Hotel with parking for our car with APH, all is well and we have a nice room and up early for our Flight to Vegas via Chicago with American Airlines.
Day One,
No problems with flight out of Manchester but we end up spending a long time at Chicago Airport, I decided to give ourselves plenty of time between flights only for American Airlines to re-schedule our connecting flight to Vegas and we end up with 8 hours to kill at O'Hare!! Never mind.
A Taxi from McCarran to our Hotel, I tell the taxi driver no tunnel, he agrees, he's a pleasant sort of fella, who seems to spot straight away that I'm no real gambler (of course he's seen loads)
We eventually reach our destination Hotel the Riviera, now I can hear the groans of disapproval about this Hotel and I want to say right now that I would never recommend the Riviera to anyone, there are far better hotels on the Strip and it's nowhere near in the same league as other hotels in Vegas.
We've stayed here before and had (dare I say) a good time, It's close to the start of the National Rodeo Finals and the hotel hosts a Cowboy Convention so loads of people are dressed up as old time Cowboys and girls.
I try the old $20 trick for an upgrade and it works a treat, we end up with a suite, King Size Bed, Two Sofas, Two TVs"¦lovely clean room"¦although with it being the Riviera I think $10 might have done"¦
Then, the fire alarm goes off at 4:30am, at this point the Riviera has gone deeply down in my estimation but, all is not lost.
Day Two,
Feeling a little rough from the previous day's travel and the early morning fire alarm so we have Breakfast at the Circus Circus Buffet then we catch the Deuce up the strip.
And It's raining..!!!..Yes, rain in Vegas, the locals seem happy but right now we are not..!!!..
Day 3
We book our trip to the Grand Canyon + Skywalk at a little kiosk outside the Riviera, the nice man knocks a few dollars off. We spend the rest of the day exploring a few Hotels up the strip, we are beginning to feel the strain already of walking about, so it's off to a Mall for new trainers (seemed a good excuse for shopping) Trainers bought, and a couple of I-pods just for good luck and we are a few dollars lighter now.
Day 4
Grand Canyon + Sky Walk.
Early pick up 5:50am, a little light breakfast, then off to the west rim of the Canyon via the Hoover Dam. It's so cold here, but we are wrapped up well. The Grand Canyon is truly a site worth seeing, no amount of pictures really does it justice, and you just really have to go there. The Skywalk is interesting, a glass floor, your 4,000ft high, but the building is not quite finished, No cameras allowed, so of course you pay for the souvenir photo. However it's a good experience looking down through the glass floor, we then head for another viewing point for lunch, we decide against the ranch due to the cold weather here. We are back to Vegas for about 6:00 pm.
Day 5
Just a lazy day really today
Day 6
Our big day, we decided earlier in the year to renew our wedding vows and today is the day.
We've chosen the Little Chapel of Flowers, Carole spends the morning at the beauty salon, I decide to have a couple of beers and a little video poker (it just seemed right) I'm now more nervous than when we walked out on the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon, and you'd think after 35 years of marriage it would all be so simply..!!!
Anyway, the limo picks us up and we are off. The Chapel is lovely, the arrangements work well, and it's broadcast live back to family and friends in the Uk. After the Ceremony it's back to the Hotel for a nice meal then taxi up the Strip. We call in at 'Bill's' for the Big Elvis show, he really is a good entertainer and after a few more drinks I decide to finish the day with song with him (after all it's a special day)
We get back to the Riviera and they have laid on 2 compliment tickets for the ICE show, it's a really good show
Day 7
I've arranged to pick a car up for the final 2 days of our holiday from Dollar, for shopping and just getting around a few hotels that are off the strip.
We spend the evening down Fremont Street, it's a sort of Cowboy ho-down that night, we take the deuce down and have a really good evening there.
Day 8
There's even more shopping to do and we are feeling a little exhausted now.
Our evenings were mostly spent at the Riviera playing various machines and video poker.
We tried a few eating places and I think all have been mentioned by various people on here but we did find a really excellent eating place down in the downtown area called Bay City Diner at the Golden Gate.
Well, that's it, we enjoy Vegas but one thing that sort of lets it down right now is the amount of construction work going on, I suppose in about 5 years it will be finished but there again maybe just started all over again"¦