So over Vegas....!

After Nick headed back to Sacremento I was by myself for the first time on this trip. As with my last trip it is these switches that are the hardest part, transitioning from being part of a group, however big or small, to be by myself. I have to adjust focus and adapt. Luckily however I did have another friend to play with! So after completing some admin in the morning, signing documents for my new work, sending emails etc I wandered over to the Venetian for lunch with Juicy Lucy! It was great to have a good catch up about all things Guernsey, and Thomas no doubt your ears were burning, as you were mentioned quite a lot!!!

We headed off for a mooch around the shops and then meet Andy, who wanted to take Lucy to a bar in the New York New York, so I tagged along. He had been to the bar before and seen an act that involved two duelling pianos! We were intrigued! The bar was practically empty and when the show started we felt so embarrassed for the two pianists. They sit opposite each other and try and whip up a frenzy by asking for requests and then pitching the punters against each other, so one may play country music until the other one gets a higher bid to play a rock n roll song. To start with it was cringe-worthy with maybe 20 of us in the bar, but in less than an hour they had pulled a crowd and were slickly pitching the Americans against the Canadians, the Aussie's against the Brits, colleges against each other, any angle to increase the tips coming in.  

We were there for about 4 hours and by the time we left it was rocking! Such fun! I will let you try and guess what my requests were, but I will say that I did jump up and down when the Proclaimers were played!!! I think I was quite squiffy by the time I got back to the hotel, in fact I know I was, because I headed straight to Maccy D's for fries, and I don't even like Maccy D's!!!

My last day in Vegas was fairly uneventful. I wandered around a little bit, but had pretty much seen everything, and was tired of the people and the noise. I watched the sun go down over the desert, one last time from my room. When we were in the canyon we had played a game. As soon as we pitched camp each night Steve, Keith and I would pick a rock, pinnacle or ledge to be the place where the last rays of sun would hit before sunset. And in the morning we would try and guess where the first sunlight would catch. Every time I watch the sunset from the beach in Guernsey, I will try and remember those moments.

This morning it was an early start and straight to the airport. My flight to Miami headed off and within 10 minutes we were passing the Hoover Dam, then Lake Mead where the Colorado River enters the lake and turns blue again. 

We had briefly seen it from our plane to Vegas 5 days earlier. Then I got to fly alongside the south rim of the Grand Canyon itself, catching glimpses of the river deep below. As seems to be my modus operandi at the moment I couldn't help but shed more tears at what was truly my last glimpse of such a bewitching landscape. Reality was far too quickly turning into a memory. Those who have already returned to work have been emailing to say that they feel our adventure was a dream, and now my physical connections to the landscape were also broken.

I think it is going to take me a long time to process what I have seen and experienced, and the impact that has had, but I have more adventures ahead.....