the trains go past this lodge/hotel, so it’ll be ear plugs tonight.
Yesterday I didn’t quite get my mind around how awesome it was to skydive. We were suited up by half eight in the morning having gone out til 3am. Then I was the last into the plane. There were 2 pilots, 6 jumpers with 6 instructors. Then the plane drifted off and up into the sky, it felt so surreal, the ground disappearing away, as we sat facing the tail of the plane. I was by the hatch, part open I could put my hand outside and feel the wind as we gained altitude. Being last on meant first out and down, just big smiles from me, I was lucky, though missed seeing the others falling out of the plane. I had the chance to hold the controls and spin us down to the ground while the guy behind me hinted at tips. All in all it wasn’t anywhere near as scary or aldrenalin pumping, but was well worth the money, and I will definately try it again.
So after we had pizza delivered to our room we headed out middayish. First off to the Stratosphere hotel. It’s a tower like a telecommunication tower, 800ft high, 112 floors. Other than a restaurant at that level are three fairground style rides.
Again the train blares past, these trains are enormous, 3 locomotives at the front and rear, so you can imagine how many cars long they are, and how long they take to pass!
So these rides were high, involving being thrown off the tower, swung around it and shot up from it. Hot, sunny, scary, wonderful views and super fun.
After that we went across the road to the Sahara hotel, where they have a Nascar themed bar. In this bar is a competition whereby if you manage to finish eating their 6lb burrito you get it for free. 6 f*€#¥>g pounds of food, that’s enormous, the size of a baby human! So there is a wall of shame, as if you partake in the big eat, you are sat in a fenced off table area and photographed. If you fail you go on the wall of shame. In the nine months of this year nine people have managed this. As you’d have guessed most are large men, but two were actually skinny, and none are women! The hotel had a wicked fast rollercoaster, the goes from the hotel, outside through the sidewalk, the backwards again.
Afterwards we wandered the other end of the strip, saw the bodies exhibit that tours the world, awesome to see inside real bodies, a little freaky but much more informative than an A-level text book.
We then had a casino/bar crawl down the strip; excalibur, new York new York(including the rollercoaster, I triedbto record a video on camera, resulting in the ride being stopped while me camera was temporarily confiscated), MGM, the finally some champagne in Paris. Another highlight was the M&M store, four floors of M&M memorabilia!
So that was us knackered, walking back to out hotel for dinner and watched a film(Anchorman) before passing out, what a Saturday!
Today we’ve driven via the Hoover dam, along the famous Route 66 and are now in an Indian reservation called Hualapai, on the southwest of the Grand Canyon. It’s a lovely lodge, food so tastey, and tomorrow we’re off to have more fun.
Until tomorrow we have fun with trying to sleep with the trains going past. Good night.

Tags: adrenalin, american, arizona, bodies, bridge, burrito, colorado, competition, contest, dam, desert, drive, drop, exhibit, fall, fat, food, height, hoover dam, hotel, indian, las vegas, m&m, native, nevada, plant, power, reservoir, ride, river, road, rollercoaster, route 66, scary, sky, sky dive, station, tower, trip, usa