A Little Less Conversation

Welcome, Ma and Pa, to Las Vegas! The city where anything goes.

Had a fairly uneventful drive over to Las Vegas from Flagstaff this morning, although passed over the Hoover Dam which is a spectacular piece of engineering. More about that tomorrow as I think we are going for a visit in the morning.

Got to Vegas and changed the car again - for a Ford Flex. There was no way 3 people's luggage was going in the 300C. The Ford Flex is a lowered SUV. Its almost good enough quality to release in Europe unchanged - with a dirty diesel engine of course. The interior is well designed, with a button for everything, and some fake wood. The leather seats actually feel, well, leathery... usually they just feel plasticky. This one has a 3.5 V6 ecoboost engine. It has V8 power with V6 fuel efficiency. V6 efficiency. LOL. That's like arguing that a chocolate orange is actually a fruit of sorts... (mind you, its the closest I get to fruit).

Anyhow, the Flex has 7 seats, and like most Fords, an annoying squeek - and no I'm not referring to my conversation. True to its brick like form, totally unnecessary 4 wheel drive powertrain, and V6 engine, its getting roughly 9mpg around town (what happened to that efficiency. Should have been 3 cylinder power, and W12 efficiency...). Ford design for the U.S. is great though, I love it. They have some very well designed cars looks wise - if only they were made better, and Ford U.K would follow the design lead.

Chip Foose has even sold out to Ford and done a limited edition Flex! The Chip Foose Edition!

The A/C could do with being better though. Las Vegas is HOT. The kind of hot you get when you open the over door and get that whoosh of hot air released. Its like that. All the time. The Flex reckoned on 113F today, but I reckon 107F ish. Ford have a tendency to exaggerate their claims. Rather like me?! According to their advert, they are "better quality than Honda or Toyota" (... of the 1950s).

Whilst the interior passes the European test, the outer body is still made of tin foil and balsa wood. The metal is so thin it buckles in the heat. It looked like a Flex this morning, but had kind of turned into a blob of molten foil by this evening.

I took Ma and Pa up the Stratosphere this afternoon, which was very high. There are fairground rides on top of it, including one of those rides which goes straight up, and ones that spin round and hang over the side. Mum quite liked the spinny one that hung over the edge, and went on twice. Dad preferred the one that went straight upwards and did a freefall. He wanted to go on a few times, but I was bored with watching. I just cried like a big girl's blouse and wouldn't go on anything. Wouldn't be the first time.

The Stratosphere certainly gives a different perspective than the Eiffel Tower. Clearly the Stratosphere looks over Las Vegas, and the Eiffel Tower looks over Paris, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand... (Obviously I wasn't talking about the Eiffel Tower. That would look over real Paris, France. But who would want to go there. Its full of Japanese tourists).

This evening we went for an Italian meal in the Venetian, which was lovely. First bit of real veg I've had for two weeks. It was funny watching the other tourists perform. A couple turned up with some very young children. To keep the children happy at the meal time, they brought out a personal DVD player for them to watch. I'm not an expert with children or anything, and need a lot of coaching in this area - but what exactly are they teaching their children? That its ok to watch a DVD at the a restaurant dinner table? Foreigners!

After the meal, we wanted to take in the Treasure Island show, Sirens of TI. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to a slight possibility of a breeze in the air. That was a bit disappointing for us (although I have seen it before once from the street (residents section) and once from a suite room), Ma and Pa were disappointed they couldn't see it, as were the hoards of Japanese tourists making the Earth tilt.

Breakfast is an interesting time in America. Particularly in these hotels. I have noticed that it is against the law (section 35589.4 of the Nevada State penal code) not to have an egg with breakfast. That could be sunny side up, over easy, over medium, over well, scrambled with almost anything you want, poached, hard boiled, or raw. (In Texas. If you don't eat it raw you're shot like the dog you are). When I say 'it', I mean 'them'.
An example - this morning, a lady was taking breakfast, and proceeded to get her cereal in a bowl with milk, and get a plate with lots of fruit... and a hard boiled egg. Which was cold. With her fruit. Hmmmm. I just haven't lived.

One this is for sure, its handy having the old folks here - Mum reminded me to turn my light off in the hotel room as we were leaving for one of this afternoons activities. At least the power generation is clean in Las Vegas. Mainly from coal. (Hoover's power goes to parts of L.A. I believe).