Vegas
We left Heathrow, on schedule, on board an American Airlines Boeing-777. Everything was progressing normally until the screen you can call up on the individual monitors showed a change to the flight path – whereas we were due to fly direct to Los Angeles and then from there to Las Vegas, now we were headed for Calgary. In Canada. Not just the wrong airport, the wrong country. And the guy sitting behind me was seemingly molesting the back of my seat.
The in-flight entertainment wasn’t too bad at all – I’d watched Moulin Rouge and was in the middle of Bridget Jones’ Diary when the voice of the Captain politely informed us that “due to organised terrorist activity, American airspace has been closed and we’ve been diverted to Calgary”. Surprisingly I wasn’t too disappointed; I’d seen Bridget Jones at the cinema.
Landing in Calgary, everyone got a real sense of what had transpired. The first newspapers had been printed and we were all given copies describing the true extent of the attack. Airport security had been tightened significantly; sniffer dogs checked out our luggage. Which was good of them, I would have returned the favour if possible. Or if at all appropriate.
None of us had a clue what was going to happen, but it was obvious we weren’t going to get to Las Vegas tonight. All I knew about Calgary was that Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, the wrestlng superstar was born and raised here. I looked for signs of his trademark neon pink and black, but the Stetson-wearing elderly Calgary officials wore a rather bland red and white outfit.
We were designated to be located in the Shawnessey Super 8 – a motel the South side of the city. It was quite nice: nice pool, nice people, nice area. And it was near a Wal-Mart! I wasted no time going in and being disappointed by the cheap, unremarkable products.
The next day we went into Calgary and sampled it’s many delights; a tower which had a revolving restaurant and then a dodgy casino. Getting back to the hotel we discovered we’d be flying tomorrow as all aircraft had to get to their final destinations. A shame – I was getting to like Calgary and hadn’t had the chance to… nope, I’d done everything there was to do here.
When we finally got to Las Vegas (via Los Angeles where we didn’t have time to wander downtown and get caught in any gang wars or drive-by shootings unfortunately) there were only a few days left of our holiday. We were staying in Bally’s – a hotel member of the Hilton group comprising itself, the Paris, Flamingo and the Las Vegas Hilton. It’s located on the Strip itself and so isn’t too far from almost every other major hotel/casino. And there are a lot of them.
The main item on our agenda was to go to the Grand Canyon, but first up was the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. In recent years, I’ve gone off Star Trek a bit. It was getting too geeky, even for me. This didn’t stop me from enjoying it though. The whole area it’s set in is themed; Ferengi bar staff serve you drinks as Klingons, Vulcans and other assorted aliens wander around talking to patrons. All heavily in character. Those guys must love their job, and the sheer amount of merchandise available is… worrying.
As you may imagine, my family at home were justifiably concerned about my safety, my mother especially, so the next morning I listened down the ‘phone to a stern warning about American Indians, tomahawks and arrows. I don’t believe aircraft were mentioned.
In the evening we went to see Melinda, supposedly the ‘First Lady Of Magic’, who does magic illusions to the music of Christina Aguilera. It was the first magic show I’d ever seen live, not including Sooty, and was pretty impressive. After the show we went down and watched the Bellagio fountains dance to “Luck be a Lady”. That was impressive.
Then the next day we were off to the Grand Canyon! Woohoo! The coach trip was long, but enjoyable and included a continental breakfast (orange juice and a bun). The driver/tour guide Steve told us some interesting Silver State facts:
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There’s just 2% unemployment
There are no state taxes; the Gaming Commission pays it all
Everywhere has slot machines, K-Marts, 7-11s. The only places that don’t are banks and churches. They have other ways of getting money out of you.
We went via Laughlin and stopped off at an Native American store. It’s unbelievable how commercial they seem to have become since the 1880s, it seemed just like a Lowestoft Gift Shop. I laughed at their atrocious goods and walked out, stopping only to take a photo of it.
We got there around midday. We were due first to go to Bright Angel then to Yavapai Point. The English language fails in describing the Grand Canyon, it’s truly a humbling experience. It’s 277 miles long and averages a mile deep. And it was so… grand. There, see? My language failed me again.
The journey back was okay, though I went hungry. We were unaware vegetarians wouldn’t be provided for, so my meal was fed to a squirrel. We didn’t get back till quite late, so I was unable to walk pointlessly to another remote end of town as I’d been doing the previous days.