We arrive at our final destination - YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!

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We are booked in at the Koa campsite at Circus Circus, located on "the Strip".  The Strip is essentially one long road making up the main tourist area of Vegas.  And its a long road, a few miles I would say.  Circus Circus is a casino/hotel in the theme of a, yep you guessed it, Circus.  Most, if not all hotels have a casino attached and have a them associated with their name.

This campground is round the back of Circus Circus.  Its a big place, and it is a car park.  It is not what I would call a campground.  There is absolutely no grass (unless you count the small patch by the swimming pool), and no way Matthew can play outside as far too much traffic about.  You cant sit outside your RV really as the facilities for next doors RV are there (e.g. sewerage pipes to their RV).  Not really a nice view.  And you wouldnt want to sit outside either, you would turn to a crinkled dry wreck within minutes in the heat.  Its 97F, its hot, unbearably hot.  I like nice days, but Im not one who sits in the sun.  This weather is punishing, its hard to walk in it, and absolutely no good for young children.  I knew it would be like this, so wonder why on earth I have bought them here....Stupidity, we should have stayed up north for longer.  I think part of the reason is that we are eager to get home, we have had enough of driving around, so we turn up early in the hope that the time will go quicker.  It is a relief to know we are at our final destination.  But hot!!

The campground has all the essentials though.  Its in a good location, it has a swimming pool.  There is even a slide area for Matthew.  It also has a dog park, which interestingly is bigger than the park, and contains seating which the kids park does not.  I realise the reason for this is that none of the kids go in the park as the apparatus is too hot from the sun.  In Australia and New Zealand they often used shades to protect the kids from the sun, cant understand why they dont do that out here.  

Things take a turn for the worse on Friday evening as Matthew starts coming down with some bug again.  He is quite sick in the night and looks pale on Saturday.  Steve informs me that when we were leaving Bryce and he was getting the gas refilled the guy told him there was a nasty bug going round Bryce and loads of people had been hit by it.  We figure this is probably what Matthew has, as we ate at the restaurant a few times. Its not good, especially with Lloyd in such close proximity.  The focus becomes getting Matthew better and ensuring Lloyd doesnt get ill.

Matthew seems better on Sunday, but by Monday is quite ill.  As I write this he has been crashed out since 4pm and its now midnight.  He was as white as a ghost earlier, and even got into the pram himself to go to sleep!  He is with Dad now, so hopefully he will pick up in the morning.  Lloyd is okay at present, but I have a feeling he will get it too, its just too hard to keep a chinese wall between them in such a confined space. I've tried my best though, time will tell.  I feel a bit dodgy myself, but think maybe I will be able to fight it off.

We have still been upto a few things, as you cant sit in the motorhome.  The air-conditioning is on permanently and the noise of it droning gets me down.  Its on 24 hours.  If we go out the temperature in the RV rises so much that when we return the air-conditioning cant bring it back down.  On Saturday we had terrible trouble where the electrics kept tripping out as it was so hot.  In the evening the temperature rose to 84F when it tripped out, I woke up feeling really really hot and saw what had happened.  If you didnt have air-con in the RV you would quite literally die.  Its a bit worrying as quite a lot of people seem to leave their dogs in the RV with the air-con on.  I wonder do they consider they might have similiar problems to us where to air-con trips out?  The dogs most certainly would die. Its a worrying thought as we pass the barking dogs.

Steve is basically infatuated with fishing at present.  He still hasnt got his head and brain out of Fiji mode, constantly talks about the trip there, and the game fishing.  I've moved on I think, it was a lovely holiday but its over, and we have to concentrate on here.  But Steve is still in Fiji in his mind unfortunately.  This all means we have to go to a fishing shop, as Steve wants some supplies.  We goto a place called Bass Pro (or Outdoor World), and get a bit of a surprise when we roll up.  I was expecting a little fishing shop, I suppose of a similiar size to Woolworths or somewhere like that.  But oh no, this is America, and America is BIG!!!  This place is humungous.  Only word to describe it.  I suppose I would say its about the same size as Tescos in Pitsea (for those that know it).  And its full of toys.

By toys I mean some of the following: Boats (speed boats, fishing boats, kayaks, canoes, etc), 4wd hunting jeeps, quad bikes, guns, archery equipment, clothes, fishing gear, shoes, camping gear.  Need I go on?  Its a big place, we were there maybe 4 hours and didnt see everything.  Admittingly Steve spent about 3 hours of this in the fish section also!

We leave very much poorer, with 2 reels to show for our efforts, and a new luggage bag (we need it trust me!).  Steve is mightly impressed with his reels, I must say I dont share the same enthusiasm, but as long as he is happy Im happy (yeah, yeah I hear you say!).

Incidentally I must mention we meet some scouts outside this shop, and purchase a burger from them.  They were lovely people, the kids and adults alike, and very friendly.  It turns out they are raising money for a trip to england later in the year, some centenery or something.  All good stuff, so a shout out to them.  And the burger was great btw, they know how to cook a burger out here.

Sunday we hit the shopping mall on the strip.  Fashion mall or something.  It looks pretty small from outside, but you enter and it turns into a tardis.  Its massive, with as many, if not more shops than Lakeside in Essex, UK.  The prices seem a bit steep though,  I think maybe there is a markup because of its location.  We contemplate getting Matthew's hair cut, as it is starting to look a bit rough, but at $25 Steve decides its too expensive! I also like having Matthew's hair long, so am happy to leave it until we return home.

On Monday we take the kids out again, Matthew is fine when we are out, but gets ill again on our return to the RV.  I will be pleased to hand back the RV tomorrow (Tuesday) as I think we need to get into a hotel room and some more space.  We tried to goto the Children's Discovery museum, but find that the bus doesnt stop near there.  We dont want to take the RV because of the air-cond issues, and a cab is against our nature (not sure why this is, but me and Steve both hate getting cabs, though I am more receptive when on my own). 

So we head back into Circus Circus and go watch the show at "midway".  Not sure what midway means, but for us it is the area within the casino where the free shows are, and the area where kids are allowed.  The rest of the casino is primarily for adults (with the exception of restaurants, shops), and out of bounds to children.  You are allowed to walk through the casino with kids, but not allowed to stop and play any of the one-armed bandits with a child in tow.  I think this is an extremely good thing, the thought of some child sitting their in a pushchair whilst their parents play the slots is just awful.

We see a couple of shows, including a trapeze act (which I have never seen live before), and some girl balancing on a piece of wood (it was better than it sounds here).  Matthew has a bit of fun changing dollar notes for quarters in the change machine (and its cheap for us to do this), and I have a go on an arcade game with Matthew sitting on my lap pushing my hands away saying "I'll do it, I'll do it!.  Little sod, Im sure I would have got a higher score.......!

We head back to the RV in early afternoon and the rest of the day is spent packing the van and dealing with Lloyd and Matthew. 

I must comment on Vegas a bit.  I've been here 3 times, though this is the first with the kids, so have prior experience of it.  It's very different when you have kids, and very different when you come here with/without a partner.  Obviously playing on the machines/tables is out of the question (unless I do it after they are asleep), though when I came here before with Steve we didnt gamble then either.  I like having an occassional flutter, dont get me wrong, but the thought of sitting at a one-armed bandit pressing the button (you dont even have to pull the lever anymore) is not my idea of a fun night out.  Its suprising the amount of soles who do like it though, sitting there with cigarette in one hand, coke in the other, and lots of coins all around them.  Strangely people tend to play these machines alone, Im not sure if its because they have no friends left, or if they need to concentrate more on pressing that button just at the right time!!

Sorry, my sarcasm has returned. I apologise to all those who play these machines.  But you do look a bit weird, surely there are better things you could do to occupy your time?  And you will lose you know...

I'd like to have a go on the tables, this is where blackjack, poker, roulette, craps (!), etc is played.  But I need to do the lessons first, and they are on in the day, so no chance there.  Plus Steve is a yorkshireman, so I wouldnt get much money to spend!  Maybe in my next life.

Vegas is open 24*7.  You can go get a game of poker any time of night or day.  Some people seem like they have been in the casino 24*7 too.  When you are at a table you get free drinks, I think to make you play longer, and possibly to get you drunk.  There are scantily clad bar staff wandering around, waiting for their 2 dollar tip.

Tipping is described in great detail in  the book "Whats on Las Vegas" that we seem to have 10 copies of (Steve wanted vouchers for Bass Pro).  Apparantly it is customary to tip for just about everything.  I dont mind tipping, my friends will tell you that I am a generous tipper.  But I dont really like being obliged to tip, I want to feel in control of it if you know what I mean.  In Fiji I tipped a lot, because I felt (and knew) the money would be wisely spent.  Out here I wonder what use my money has.  Apparantly a lot of people here rely on the tipping, so maybe it has the same as in Fiji, Im just not sure.

The big difference I notice here in America to Fiji, and to New Zealand, is that people are very very throw-away with things.  There doesnt seem to be as much value placed on goods.  For instance, in the midway area there were lots of kids wandering around with bin bags full of teddies.  They win one and chuck it in the bag.  Now I think one is enough.  I think the teddies are given out too readily, so it just becomes a counting game.  And what happens when the kid goes home - where do the teddies go?  Im sure they cant all be treasured, there are just too many.  Another instance is with the food we have left over.  In New Zealand there was a box on a lot of campsites near departure areas where you could put left over food for other people to take if they wanted.  I dont think they would dream of having such a thing here.  We put our detergent (the one that caused Matthew's rash) in the laundry on friday, its still there today.  People want to buy stuff themself I feel, and goods have less value here.  Im not sure what it is like in england, maybe the same as here, I shall have to wait until I get home to compare.  But in New Zealand people treasured the smallest things, like books and teabags.

I think America will change, and become more environmentally friendly, and more aware.  It seems to me to be in a bit of a transition phase.  There is healthy stuff in the supermarkets, but its still got a long way to go to be as healthy as the UK is becoming with places like sainsburys.  The adverts on tv for childrens cereal "with brown sugar" make me laugh.  In england this advert would make a lot of parents run a mile!  Even baked beans say "with brown sugar" as though this a good thing.  But adverts also talk of increased mileage in car engines (28mpg seems good out here), and of caring for the environment. 

I researched a bit into the washing line issue, as it still bugs me that I cant dry my "dont tumble dry" clothes.  It seems to be a bit of an issue out here, I found sites such as http://www.laundrylist .org/index2.htm and a forum talking about the reasons behind no lines.  It seems a lot of people have it written in their house deeds that they cant put a line up, and there seems to be a snob value.  Ive had it mentioned that its to do with the poisonous snakes and spiders, but they have these in Australia in abundance yet my friend hung her washing out, so I cant really take this as a valid reason.  There is no excuse, get your washing hung up outside americans, and save some electricity in the process!!!

Enough, I must get off my soap box.

We move into a hotel tomorrow, get a car which will be easier I think.  The food side is harder for Matthew as we cant cook, but there is a lot on offer here in Vegas so I am sure we will find something for him.  Cant believe its only 4 full days until we leave and return to the UK.  I am so excited about returning home.  I will kiss the house I think I've missed it so much!  Cant wait to see my family, and my mates, and my mates kids.  I have come to realise that I have a lot of very special relationships with people, and they are not to be taken for granted. 

We are already talking of our next trip, but it will only be for a couple of weeks next time.  When will I do another big trip like this?  Not for a while, I need to change jobs first I think, and save up some money!  Maybe one day though....