Las Vegas - Desert Hot Springs

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We meet Aaron & Alexis in Las Vegas picking them up from the airport - they have been flying for over 24 hours and understandably need to sleep, so we drop them off at their hotel.  They have a concert booked for tonight........we collect them around five and go for a drive down the strip and then out tot he outlets shops so Alexis can get an outfit for the night. 

That night Alexis has her purse stolen and we discovered Daryl's credit card has been skimmed at a gas station and some Russian guy has gone on a $1500 spending spree - all on alcohol & candy!  Must be gonna have some new years party!  Dealing with Air New Zealand's One Smart card over this turns out to be a nightmare and we are basically told nothing can be done until after the 6th and even tough all the transactions are only pending - they put them all through....... 
Eventually, the money is credited back but we still have not received a replacement card or any decent communication from them.   Hopefully Alexis will get her $500 off her credit card back also.

The next few days, they go to concerts at night and sleep during the day.  We all go to see the Eagles in concert - they still have it and played all the their hits.  Suspect it was a little tame for Aaron & Alexis but we enjoyed it.

New Years Eve and they are off to a party with friends they have met.  We cruise downtown about 5pm as the road is being shut off and walk around until we find a restaurant for dinner - very nice and a nice bottle of German Riesling to go with the seafood.  Yummy. 
Afterwards we wander most of the length of the strip which is all closed off to traffic so easy walking and filling up now it is getting later.  We get a Margaretta in a large tube and walk around people watching before heading back to the RV park and watching the fireworks show at midnight on the box.   
Aaron loses his passport and so a day spent reporting to police and filing paperwork with embassy to organise another one to go home on.....   Hopefully that is the third thing and we have no more bad luck!  We take them out the the Hoover Dam so they can say they have seen something while in Las Vegas before they head to LA tomorrow.

It is freezing in Vegas being winter and we have both ended up with the flu!  There is an epidermic over here for the flu in America. 

Next day we went out to Skywalk Grand Canyon for a look and were very disappointed having seen the South rim already.  This one is run by the Native Indians and has a 9 mile rough dirt road to get into it, then you have to purchase entrance passes and add on the skywalk, so $76USD each.  You then have to go on their buses.

Finally we leave Vegas and head down to Desert Hot Springs not far from Palm Springs.  It is much warmer and the first day is in the 80's (30c) so we feel better for being warm.  The RV park has natural mineral pools but is also like a retirement village - not too many younger people like us......

We check out the stature of Marilyn Munroe in Palm Springs and have lunch there the next day - very nice area and we are back in shorts and t-shirts. 

Quartzsite - Xmas

It was great to get so many messages on facebook & skype for xmas and to be able to see the grandkids opening their presents.  Of course, our xmas came the next day so we kind of had two in a sense but it is never quite the same when you are away from home.

We had a good kiwi Christmas diner with a nice drop of Malborough pinot noir, so not all was lost.


Quartzsite is a small town mostly filled with RV parks in the Arizona desert.  Not much here but RV parks and sales yards..... (and apparently a bookshop run by a naked guy, which we missed!). Today drove to Blythe which is just across the border into California, which only had slightly more than Quartzsite and petrol was a $1 dearer in California.

Tomorrow we head straight up to Las Vegas, where we will met Aaron & Alexis for a few days.  They have planned a number of concerts to catch and we are all going to the Eagles together.