bt3.com/Baz's 1992 USA Holiday
California and the Golden West.

Where and how?

Day 6: Monday September 28

The USA. As I mentioned at the time you clicked the link to this page?

To be precise, a fully escorted coach tour, starting in San Diego CA and thence stopping in Phoenix Arizona, Williams AZ, Las Vegas Nevada, Visalia, Merced, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo before finishing the tour in Anaheim near Los Angeles (all California).

Marvellous.

No, better than that, the Holiday of a Lifetime.

Do yourself a favour, and navigate through this holiday using the hyperlinks scattered throughout the text. If you want to go back to the start, or feel a need to go to my site homepage, well, by now you should know what to do? :o)

Today, being free in Las Vegas for the entire day, I decided to take it easy and have a late start, so, at 8:00!! (there's something about choice in here somewhere?) we went for breakfast in Dennys. This breakfast, including 2 fried eggs (sunny side up), rashers of bacon, waffles and butter, pancakes and maple syrup, sourdough bread, toast, as much coffee as one could drink along with iced water, can only be described as one of the greatest treasures of the American experience. After breakfast, I scraped some loose change together to buy a copy of the USA today newspaper from the sidewalk vending machine outside the restaurant.

The day started out relatively cool, however the newspaper's weather page hinted at the high temperatures to come - forecasting 96 degrees F for the Las Vegas area - not so very much later on in the day. In the event, after starting out to walk to Circus Circus, we both decided that it wasn't very sensible, so retraced my steps and went inside the Fashion Mall, one of a series of like buildings on the opposite side to our Travelodge. This shopping mall contains some of the best shops that I have ever seen, being large enough to absorb all of the shoppers without being so large as to overwhelm. Here I relaxed for practically the whole day, either wandering in and out of the shops or people-watching. At what I (being allowed to be in charge) deemed lunch time, we headed for the refreshment area and bought a couple of big cokes. Americans certainly don't do things by halves, the huge size of the drink containers almost overwhelming us. The majority of the drinks was ice, another American custom, but their coolness was very welcome. The only thing purchased all day was an Atlanta Falcons American Football team baseball cap.

Leaving the Fashion Mall, the shock of the both the exit into the daylight and the unaccustomed heat, quickly registering as passing 120 degrees F in the direct sun, read with my thermometer watch, sent my tear ducts into overdrive, even with my sun-glasses. Later, after a shower and shave to get ready for the evening out, we went to Dennys for a smaller dinner than the night before's. Meeting in the Travelodge lobby, we walked along to the Imperial Palace Hotel for 'Legends In Concert', a show with the performers giving their interpretation of some of the greatest stars of the past and present. Again, the evening commenced with the two complimentary drinks as with 'Splash'. This show, starting at 8:00 and costing us, again, $35 each, came as a complete contrast to the extravagant displays of the previous evening's spectacle. The quality of the entertainers exceeded all expectations. In alphabetical order the list of 'celebrities' comprised: The Blues Brothers, Neil Diamond, Liberace, Marylin Monroe, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Prince.

Afterwards, we were given complimentary admission to the Imperial Palace Automobile Collection, and Elvis Presley scarves as a commemoration of the show. The leisurely walk around the aisles presented what, to my eye seemed to be a complete cross section of the American automobile's history, including a bullet-ridden ex-head of state's transport.

Leaving the Imperial Palace Hotel at 10:00, we walked back, and paused to watch the 'volcano' opposite the Travelodge, this 'erupting' every quarter of an hour throughout the night. Mum decided to stop in for the rest of the evening so I grabbed my camera and went out to have a walk along 'The Strip'. Obviously the temptation to succumb to the gambling urge in Las Vegas - to experience the highs and the lows - getting the better of me, I went on a leisurely tour around the local casinos, people-watching (heck, don't people look bored at the slots?), chatting with other members of our tour party who I met along the way, and comparing winnings as well as feeding the hungry slot machines.

Eventually, after winning a total of $1.25, and, more to the point, coming away with a pocket lighter than that by $13.00, I called it a night, but not before gaining the impression that the majority of the temporary inhabitants of the city's casinos seemed to be having the worst experiences of their lives, judging by the mournful expressions plastered across their countenances, even when winning and dolefully scraping their coins into their buckets.

11:15 and bed time came, after my first real viewing of American television, the most interesting item that I saw at that time of the evening being an item on the Weather Channel giving out the information that the temperature in San Diego had reached a record level of 100 degrees F.

To Day 7

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