Water. So pure...

Walking around in over 100F heat makes you love water. I have never been so glad to taste fresh (bottled) water... And not bottled tap water... Tap water just doesn't taste good here, bottled water is much better! Must be those Streisand, and Celine shows I've recently been attending...

Las Vegas has changed a lot in the last 2 years. If you think the place didn't have wow factor before (how you could possibly think that I don't know) you will certainly think so when the City Center complex is completed. Its a City within a City, and being built by MGM Mirage. It will change the Las Vegas skyline, and will dward virtually everything else near it. The LV skyline has considerably changed even over the last two years with the building of Encore (Wynn's second tower), which Sam and I watched being built from our hotel room window in Treasure Island, the Palazzo which is now open and completed (the second Venetian tower), and the removal of a few of the older places.

Unfortunately though, these newer hotels don't seem to be offering free shows, like Treasure Island, or Circus Circus. Las Vegas is maturing. Its all about the nice hotel rooms, gambling, and conferences - not to mention Cirque du Soleil, and other pay-for acts.

Today, we drove from Las Vegas to Bishop, California through Death Valley. Death Valley itself is an awesome place. There is no noise. At all. You can hear your own heart beat. And there is absolutely nothing around for miles. Apart from the odd toilet. When I say "toilet" I mean hole in the ground. See photos. (Not of the hole in the ground). There is a mix of colours, sandy, reds, greys, and browns of rocks, and occasionally broken with a bit of vegetation. The huge plains are surrounded by large mountains, with sand dunes - but not very often.

I did notice a Smart car on the journey, on its way out of Las Vegas. You could fit four of those in the footprint of the Flex. Eight in the Tahoe. One would fit in the glove box, and another behind the passenger sun visor.

Bishop, CA, is a lovely town. Real small town America. Old fashioned. What I would call real America. People say hello to you in the street, everyone is very polite here. You don't get stabbed in the eye, like in Worksop for looking at someone. Amazing. And the service is brilliant! There are shops selling cowboy boots and hats (although they were shut when we walked through). It is a one horse town though. This was confirmed to us on the road in when we saw just one horse.

Something else we saw (although I didn't have my camera with me at the right time d'oh!!!!) was the new Mini 4x4 in testing. Two of them, one after the other waiting at some lights. All painted in funny colours to disguise the body work. Some random bloke had a video camera with him and started shooting - this will probably find its way onto YouTube later today! But we were there!

Tomorrow we are off through Yosemite to Uncle Ken's in Aptos. Looking forward to seeing everyone again! And drinking more beer. Although there will be a noticeable drop in temperatures - we're used to 100F now! Its only late 60s at the coast! L.A. is struggling to make anything above 73F. Rubbish!