Day 24 (08 September 2015)

The road from Las Vegas to Death Valley, north of Pahrump, Nevada.

Imagine a 40 year old actress and singer in the 1940's travelling along this spot and has a flat tyre. She stayed and created the Amargosa Opera House and became successful over the next 50 years. This is the location of Marta Bennett's achievement at Death Valley Junction. She died in 2012 - god bless her!

The western entrance to Death Valley now in California.

View of Death Valley from Dantes Point. The salt lake below is a staggering -280 feet below sea level.

A bit of a walk to Dantes Point in Death Valley, California.

Information regarding Zabriskie Point in Death Valley. This is a  famous or should it be an infamous location in the valley.

The desolate scenery at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, California.

The desolate scenery at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, California.

The desolate scenery at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, California. This is the actual scene of the 1970 cult movie "Zabriskie Point".

The Furnace Creek Visitor's Centre, Death Valley, California. The temperature actually reached 120 deg F (48.9 C) while we were here. The interesting feature is the 190 feet below sea level location. We are staying just a few hundred metres from this location.

Our empty water bottle acting as an altimeter. The air pressure inside was set at Yosemite National Park many weeks ago at an altitude of 9,950 feet. The crushing effect of the bottle is now at -190 feet below sea level.

Old 19 th century steam engine preserved in the Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley, California.

Preserved wooden wagon located in the Furnace Creek Ranch Resort, Death Valley, California.

After a late night in the Las Vegas scene yesterday we eventually left Sin City at 10 am. We headed west, stopped at Walmart for supplies and had lunch at Pahrump, Nevada. This large town is a dry desert location supposibly the scene where they did "Mars Attack". Also the location where Michael Jackson had purchase land for a ranch. Definitely a wacko Jacko decision where there is nothing attractive about settling here. On to Death Valley and a stopped at Dantes Point and Zabriskie Point. The later is the scene of the 1970 movie of the same name starring Rod Taylor. The movie is famous for the scenes of many naked bodies rolling around the dry sandy and rocky landscaped environment. How they did this movies in extreme heat is hard to imagine for the actors/actresses involved. We reached Furnace Creek Ranch located 190 feet below sea level mid afternoon in a 48,9 C (120 deg F) heat. It is a cool day here - apparently. Historically the max temp has reached 134 deg F (59 deg C) in 1913. Interestingly later on in that year it had a record min of 9 deg C. We have lots of bottled water and tomorrow will visit sand dunes and other hellish tourist sites. You have to be here to appreciate the hot and dry hot environment. There is a golf course and we do not know how anybody could endure 4 hours of walking around the hot ground enjoying this pastime. Cheers.    

Day 23 (07 September 2015)

Ornamental umbrellas inside the Bellagio Hotel foyer , Las Vegas, Nevada.

The world's largest chocolate fountain - inside the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Anne's heaven - the world largest chocolate fountain inside Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Walking past Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Inside Wynn's Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

View of Wynn's Hotel from Palazzio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The best shopping mall in Las Vegas - Fashion Show Mall

Gondola rides in front of the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The centre axle of the LinQ High Roller - the world highest movable observation deck, Las Vegas, Nevada.

One of the LinQ High Roller modules, Las Vegas, Nevada.

On the way up - enjoying gin and tonics inside the open bar LinQ High Roller module, Las Vegas, Nevada.

View of Las Vegas from the LinQ High Roller.

View of the MGM Signature Apartments from the LinQ High Roller, Las Vegas. Neil & Anne stayed in the third building back in 2012.

At the top of the LinQ High Roller, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Ballagio water fountains in action taken from the LinQ High Roller, Las Vegas, Nevada.

One inebriated person in this photo - guess who? Walking back from the LinQ High Roller ride, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The famous Las Vegas entry sign, Nevada.

Our accommodation is the Casino Royale taken from the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The erupting volcano show in the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Zip Liners on Fremont Street, Las Vegas. This street is actually covered for about 400 metres - wow!

Great Elvis singer performing in Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The light show on Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada.

This morning we visited several hotels/casinos and discovered their major exhibitions - the Mirage, Bellagio, and Wynns in particular. The size of these complexes is mind blowing. The Bellagio has 6000 rooms and was the first building to cost $1 Billion dollars. To Anne's delight there is the world's largest chocolate fountain designed by Jean Phillipe. In the afternoon we took our LinQ High Roller ride with an open bar with free drinks. Most of us had four gin and tonics in the 30 minute ride. One had to be escorted back to our accommodation. We won't mentioned who in this post! After a nanna nap we took our two hour Light Night tour of Las Vegas and the northern suburb of Fremont. Again the awesome displays that were presented was fantastic. Especially Fremont Street that has been covered with a high ceiling and with a zip line that whizzes from end to end. We returned to our hotel at 11 pm for a well deserved sleep. Tomorrow we head for Death Valley in California. It will take us three hours so a late start is planned. There may be no wifi until San Diego ... so perhaps our next post will be in a couple of days. Cheers.