Em and Jon’s Wedding

This was a change of pace from the MGM Grand in Vegas; we stayed at the Seven Seas in Tahoe, a little motel with few pretensions but very friendly owners.

We walked along the shore of Lake Tahoe, or as close as we could get: near the state line the beach is private, and then on to Heavenly Village. There we shopped for a bit (for a change) before having a little trip up the Gondola to the top of the Heavenly resort. I have to say it felt very strange to be going up a ski-lift without multiple layers of clothing, stiff boots and a snowboard. I felt positively naked. Of course, the landscape looked very different too - now I finally understand the argument people make about ski lifts scarring the scenery for Summer visitors. Still, the view from the top was absolutely spectacular and it was a welcome change of pace from the long drive yesterday. The air was almost sweet, it was so refreshing.

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This is photographic evidence of Jon’s collection of hotel toiletries….some of them don’t even smell that nice, but he takes them because they’re free! I don’t think he can do his wash bag up any longer.

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We ordered breakfast from room service which came complete with unctuous waiter. He finally buggered off after I gave him a tip (tip: never eat yellow snow). It was a real treat, with delicious food and we got a free newspaper that I’m sure had been pressed and was immaculately folded.

With the car loaded up, we set off for Lake Tahoe. Only about 520 miles away. We drove through Beatty, Tenopah, Parhump and Hawthorne. We also drove past Death Valley in temperatures of about 115F (110F is about 43C) and we were very grateful for air conditioning. Jon was delighted that we drove through Wilson Canyon and naturally we stopped so he could take photos.

Two names made us chuckle: Ray May Way in Smith and Stones Throw Road in Yerrington. We arrived in Tahoe eventually after I managed to drive the wrong way round a Dairy Queen drive-thru in Carson city. I was trying to get to Starbucks, which I could see in the distance but the road markings and the oddly placed exit signs meant a rather complicated reversing manouvre on the narrowest of lanes. At least 6 people came to the window to tell me that I was going the wrong way. Like I didn’t already know that when I came face-to-face with the headlights of a huge monster truck….. –>

So when I said in my speech at the reception about the verb ‘to Emma’ this is what I meant…

Here we see Emma at her most content having taken everything out of every single suitcase, sorted it into neat piles and put them back into the suitcases. Actually to be fair the suitcases needed sorting as we have managed to fill our new suitcase to the brim! –>

Jon was up bright and early to put his name down for a poker tournament, while I stayed in our suite to luxuriate. By the time I got downstairs Jon had finished his tournament and I really didn’t spend that long luxuriating…..

I had a little flutter - I put a dollar in the slot machine, but I didn’t win anything so I didn’t bother wasting any more money. We scoped out the pool or rather pools in prepration for an afternoon of lounging and then wandered up the strip to look in all the tacky shops. You can spend hours looking at tat and it doesn’t cast you a penny. Unlike some of the other attractions which cost an arm and a leg. It’s great fun trying to guess who on earth would be grateful to receive a thimble with Las Vegas on it! (Ed - we got you a poker chip).

We found it hugely relaxing laying on the sun loungers reading and people-watching, whilst sipping sangria. I indulged in a poolside foot massage - bliss. We were sensible though and put on factor 30 sunblock and sat in the shade as it was 38 degrees Celsius (100F). In other words blimmin’ hot!

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I did more laundry while Jon fiddled on the laptop, we packed up the Mustang and headed for Vegas. We drove one stint each, including a stop at the biggest buffet in the world (see the flog for details!) and a little more retail therapy in Kingman. How about a pair of Levi’s for 6 quid?

We arrived in Las Vegas as the sun was setting and it was lit up like one enormous Christmas tree, decorated by children. Our hotel, the MGM Grand, on the strip, was one gigantic, ornate shrine to excess, decadence  and greed, and it was fab!

Our suite was probably the size of the first floor of our house. It had a massive bathroom (about 3 times the size of ours) including a whirlpool corner bath big enough for two, two vanity sinks, and Jon counted six different light-switches in the bathroom alone. There were luxurious robes and slippers too! The main room had the most gigantic, comfy bed you’ve ever seen, as well as a sitting room area with a desk and chairs as well as sofa and occasional tables.

We felt dead posh, don’t y’know, don’t y’know. –>

A short late night drive took us to Williams about 60 miles down the road to break up the journey for tomorrow. Like Sunday night, it pretty much took both of us to drive: one to steer, and the other to help look out for elk, coyotes and so on. Actually there were fewer than on Sunday, but then it was earlier in the evening. Speaking of which, here’s a list of the munties we remember seeing:
Elk
Coyote
Jackrabbit
Ground squirrel
Chipmunk
Lizards
Lots of pretty little birds we couldn’t identify, plus this woodpecker

Owl
Brown bats
Goldiedoodle :->

That last one was Flash, a Golden Retriever - Standard Poodle cross. He was lovely. Did I mention we’re missing Des and Badger?

This leg of the journey really was a proper American road-trip, first because we genuinely didn’t have anywhere to stay lined up (in fact we thought we’d head for Flagstaff and only realised that it made more sense to go straight to Williams on the way) and second because we ended up staying in a Motel (El Rancho) and eating at a proper Diner, both on Route 66.

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I’m reminded of the old Mike Harding sketch about how everything is bigger and heavier and hairier in America, but this time he was dead right. The Grand Canyon is huge, and every bit as majestic as you might have read. The light on the canyon walls changes as the day goes on, and as we walked along the South Rim from Grand Canyon village, around every corner was a view seemingly more beautiful than the last. It really is a fantastic experience to have seen it!

We took it easy along the trail out towards Yavapai from the village, partly to savour the sights and partly because it was hot, and not least because of the altitude. The South Rim is at about 7000 feet (the North Rim is even higher at 8000) and while that’s not spectacularly high, it’s enough to make you shorter of breath than you’d first expect.

Back at the El Tovar, we decided to sit on one of the swing seats on the porch for an hour or so with our books (it turns out our USA guide book recommends doing exactly that!) and we got chatting to a nice American couple who were telling us that they booked their room at the El Tovar back in December, and made their dinner reservations 3 months ago! How lucky are we?

Speaking of being lucky, although we had the first rain of the holiday on the day we visited the Grand Canyon, it just added to the experience. The few raindrops were just a welcome cooling influence, and the distant thunder was very atmospheric (no pun intended). I later heard it’s best not to be out on the Canyon walls when there’s lightning about, because the high haematite content of the rocks means that strikes are frequent. Back at the village, though, the rain meant one more pleasant surprise: a complete, double rainbow, all the way down into the Canyon.

Then we wandered down to Bright Angel Lodge to wait for our Sunset bus tour. This was well worth the $14 or so each, not maybe so much to save walking (it maybe went 4 miles or so) but for the local knowledge of the driver. She took us to The Abyss, where the canyon drops right next to the road (some passengers took the driver’s advice and scooted over to the left of the bus to avoid being freaked out) and to Hermit’s Rest before finally stopping at Mojave Point to watch the sun set over the canyon. Only there did we realise that the views we’d been seeing during the day so far had not been of the whole depth of the canyon (a mile!) because this was the first spot where you could clearly see the Colorada River, which has carved this natural wonder over the course of the last 6 billion years or so.

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Oooooooooh….

(For those who don’t know, Mary, Jon’s Mum, is a pathological
worrier. In fact, she’d be a shoe-in for the All-England worrying
First Eleven. LOVE YOU MUM!) –>