Highs and Lows

The past month has been full of ups and downs, highs and lows. My niece finished her holiday with me with a final week of checking out the museums and sights around DC. We were pretty tired by this stage but she managed to see the Air and Space Museum, George Washington’s Mt. Vernon and a trip to Gettysburg. Sadly it just rained at Gettysburg but we got to see a lot and she enjoyed the civil war history experience.  We enjoyed a night out with our good friends A&PH at Hill Country BBQ in the city as she wanted to eat BBQ. As always, a night of BBQ means a meat coma and she enjoyed trying ribs for the first time. 

Marine Corp Marathon - MCM (42.2 km / 26.2 mile). The MCM is one of the largest and considered the best marathon in the mid-Atlantic. It is organised by the men and women of the US Marine Corp and is the largest marathon in the world that doesn’t offer prize money, instead celebrating the honour, courage and commitment of all finishers. The day of the Marine Corp Marathon arrived and it was my moment of truth and fear. Entry to this race is a lottery and I had wanted to do this since my first year. I got my entry by running one of the qualifier races back in March which was limited to 3000 entries. It was a 17.75 km race to celebrate the birth year of the Marines 1775. Completing this race gave me automatic entry to the MCM so that was step one. I trained for 6 months but like many who have been down this path, it was not the perfect training I had hoped for. I tore my calf muscle mid year which cost two months of training and it was difficult to catch up the missed training and do the longer training distances in the last two months. I was behind the eight ball but a good friend suggested that I start the race and run for as far/long as I could. I would at least experience the atmosphere which is race is known to be amazing for. So I persisted with the training as best I could and got myself to the start line early that morning of Sunday 28 Oct with about 30,000 other runners. Let's see how far I can go.

The race was definitely an experience. I had heard so much about it from other runners. The crowd was huge, loud and rows deep along the whole route. I’ve never seen so many spectators for an event. There was a band of some sort at nearly every mile and I was surrounded by runners for the first 15km. It was just busy, busy and busy. People had signs, rang bells and cheered like we were at a rock concert. The route was fabulous, through Arlington, Georgetown, the memorials, the Capital and the museums.

The blue mile is at mile 12 which marks the half way point of the race (21km). This mile is along a quiet stretch by the Potomac river and there are no spectators on this section. The mile is lined with posters about every 3m of a fallen soldier. This was a dreadfully sad, emotional and inspirational part of the race. I was able to see the face, read the name, the age and the year the soldier died. It was terrible to see such young ages, men, women, all services. By this point in the race, you are tired, hurting and wanting to stop. But looking at these brave faces who have fallen and given the ultimate sacrifice….well this was what keeps you putting one foot in front of the other. I have nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for. So I kept moving to push through the back half of the race.

My friends A&PH said they might try come by to cheer me on so I was looking hard amongst the crowds to see them. I figured they’d be at a certain point but it was just going to be a miracle to see them, as it would for them to see me amongst the mass of runners. But, at mile 17 (around 27km) I heard them yell my name. They were next to the Washington Monument. It was an excellent chance to stop for a few minutes, grab a hug and some words of encouragement. I was definitely struggling by this stage. I figured I could make it to 30k but the final 10 or so kilometers would be the toughest part. So I pushed through, walking and running and hoping I didn’t pull a muscle somewhere. The crowd continued to be strong and while the runners had thinned out, there were still a lot of runners pushing those last miles out. I made it to the finish line in front of the Marine Corp Memorial (also known as known as Iowa Jima memorial). There were marines waiting to congratulate you and put the medal around your neck. I was holding back tears and was super happy to see that Marine and the medal. I moved onwards and was overwhelmed with happiness and relief. I called Deb who was home with my niece and just cried. She had been following my progress with my Garmin tracker so she knew I finished but I called to cry and tell her I was alive anyway. It was crazy at the finish as expected and the only way home was to catch the train. Deb picked me up at the station and I went home a very happy and relieved Batman. 

 

End of Flying. So after the high of finishing the marathon, I said goodbye to my niece and put the kid on the plane for the long journey home. The job ahead was to focus on my flying and work towards finishing my license. To cut to the chase, after a few lessons I decided to stop my flying lessons because I figured I just didn’t have enough time to finish before going home. It was a difficult decision to make but it was the right one to make. I have completed more than 90% of the required hours and training but the work required to finish the exams and prepare for the checkride (final flying test) was just not achievable.  The weather continued to cancel lessons on me and was adding stress to try and cram the lessons in. I would only be wasting time and money to continue here because I will have to repeat some flying at home to demonstrate my skills. So no more flying for me here. I am totally disappointed and while I haven’t failed, it feels like I’m quitting. So, it’s over for now but I plan to continue flying at home and get my license in Australia. On the plus side though, my friend AH is on the final stages of his flying and on track to get his license. Hopefully he will get it before I leave and we can fly down to North Carolina to First Flight which is where the Wright Brothers flew the first plane flight.

Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving with our American friends. It is a really nice feeling this time of year as Americans do everything and anything to be with family for this precious time of year. It was a big family gathering at our friends and we enjoyed a deep fried turkey, ham and all the trimmings. 

Deb was excited to have a big bowl of mashed potato and we loved passing the food plates around the table – we explained to our friends that this is what we see in the movies. They thought we were weird!! Now that deep fried turkey, I was hesitant but I’d heard good things from many people over the years. As you can see in the photo, the turkey is deep fried in a big can of hot oil. I could feel my arteries thumping just looking at it. But, it was actually really moist and quite tasty. It was a great day with our friends and I will miss the Thanksgiving experience. 

 

Macey. To cap off a month of highs and lows, Macey gave us an awful scare. She was dribbling badly one Sunday morning and was not able to eat her breakfast. She was not her happy piggy little self. We took her straight up to the vet who found she had something red and inflamed under her tongue. She also had a high temperature. They kept for the day and night giving her the care she needed. The next day was Monday and the surgery team took a biopsy of the red ulceration. It wasn’t a mass as such but the odds of it being cancer was still possible. We wouldn’t get the results back for a few days but we brought her home that night. She was terribly groggy from the sedation and was likely pretty sore in the mouth. We are 9 weeks from coming home and it was just not an option for her to have cancer of any sort. Macey is 10 now and we are very aware her years ahead are precious. She took a good day or so to return to herself and Deb and I were both really worried about what the results might be. The call finally came on the Wednesday and it was good news. She had cut herself somehow (probably chewing a stick) and the cut had got inflamed and nasty. Her breath has been horrendous but it was not cancer. We were so relieved and I was honestly preparing for bad news. I don’t know how or what we might had to have done had the results been different. So while she dodged this scare, I had to take her straight back to the vet for a urinary check and yes, she’s got herself a little infection again. She is prone to them poor little girl. So she’s been on a routine of tablets for pain and infection and should be able to start eating harder foods soon. Poor Macey Moo Moo.

Ben's Chilli Bowl. Our good friends A&PH took us for a wander through their city backyard - around the U Street area. We enjoyed lunch at the famous Ben's Chilli Bowl. Wiki tells me that Ben's Chili Bowl is a landmark restaurant in Washington, D.C., located in U Street, next to Lincoln Theatre, in the Shaw neighbourhood of northwest D.C. It is known locally for its chili dogs, half-smokes, and milkshakes, and has been an integral part of the neighbourhood's history since its founding in 1958. 

Just to be clear, half smokes are not smokes as we Aussies would say, they are half smoked sausages. Bit like a mild spicy hotdog frank. The chilli is mild, is like a meat and bean stew mix that you spread on top of your dog.

 

Going Home. We are now into the Xmas season and the lights are going up everywhere. It’s so pretty and I will definitely miss this time of year. I want to go and see the National Xmas Tree at the White House and I’ve got some cooking tasks over the next few weeks. We have been busy organising our return travels and removals which is no easy feat. The dogs will have their second vet appointment (of four) next week and I will start packing up the bikes and moving things around in preparation for the removal. For those of you wondering, we will return in February. I have enrolled in TAFE to do my chef course and am very excited to start my new adventure - the week after we arrive. So with 8 weeks to go, we have Xmas and hopefully some more snow to enjoy. Hopefully there will be more highs ahead as I don’t think I can endure anything more of the lows like we felt this month.

And here are some of Deb's cool photos as she polishes her photography skills. Some are from Shenandoah National Park after the leaves had fallen and some are from just around there corner here. Plus the others are from our U Street wander with our friends.

 

Nashville - The Grand Ole Opry

This blog finishes up our time in Nashville, the great Music City. The highlight would have to be our trip to the Grand Ole Opry to see a live country show. For the ‘town mice’ amongst you, the Opry is the most famous country music stage in the world. This is where YOU make it as a country and western singer. The Opry started back in 1925 where the live show was broadcast live on radio WSM 650. The show moved to various locations but most notably is the famous Ryman Auditorium from 1943-1974 and now the Grand Ole Opry House – all in Nashville. We toured the Ryman earlier in the day and it’s a beautiful old tabernacle that really made Nashville the home of country music. Everyone and anyone has performed at the Ryman – the acoustics are one of the best in the world. When the Ryman became too old, they moved to the current location where a circle of the Ryman wooden floor has been inserted into the Grand Ole Opry House floor – to ensure the Opry history continues. There are shows several times a week and it seems they are all live recordings, as ours was on the night. The announcer would come on between performers and read advertisements just like the old days – it was awesome. There were about 6 performers during our 2 hour show of which I had only heard of Charlie Daniels who is about to turn 82 !! He finished his set with the classic Devil Went Down to Georgia fiddle song. Bloody incredible.

Under that big hat is Charlie Daniels

The kid (my niece) loved every second and we both wore our country gear to look the part. My mum was a strong influence in our music interests and country was one of the genres she imparted on us. I did think of her a lot during the show and I wish she could have been there with us. 

Another Uber Story. The show finished around 1130pm and there were more people than taxis/ubers so we were standing around a while waiting for our drivers. One group of older blokes were funny…waiting for Jerry. They kept looking for the Honda and saying Jerry, is this Jerry….no, not Jerry. This went on for like 10 minutes and at one point, a guy drove past slowly with a woman in the front seat and they said Jerry, no, unless it’s Jerry and his wife!!  I kept thinking of that meerkat youtube thing where the meerkat keeps saying Allen, Allen, Allen, Allen…it was just funny hearing them saying Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. In the end, Jerry arrived for them. Anyway, our uber finally arrived too. He was south American, about 50ish and had a cool Latin accent and he was funny. It was a 20 minute drive back to our hotel and all we talked about was country music. He had not been to the Opry but really wanted to see Shania Twain recently…but it was $250 a ticket. He really likes Shania and puts on her CD which was already loaded in the car - so this guy was definitely a fan. Good grief, here we go I thought. The kid is swaying in the front seat to the song and the Uber guy is telling us how much he likes her music. Eventually he said everyone can sing her songs, she's easy to impersonate. He reckons they all sing her songs up town in the bars. So he puts on 'Still the One'.... and says c’mon lets sing it, you can do it. So here we all were, cranking out Shania Twain for the last few minutes of the ride….. 

Looks like we made it, Look how far we've come my baby
....You're still the one I run to
The on that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one I love

I can't even say there was any alcohol involved so it was pure karaoke style. And the uber guy is in full vocal mode with his deep Latin accent. We got out of the car at our hotel and say bye, he winds the windows down and turns the volume up loud driving away still singing. Man we laughed our way inside and it ended a fabulous night. 

We spent our last day doing the trolley tour around Nashville and toured the American Music Hall of Fame. I didn’t do this last time I was here so was glad to see it this time around. This museum was all about the musicians (behind the scenes people) who support artists in making songs. This included the record studios, sound engineers, musicians, backup singers, producers…I’d never heard of any of them really but it was fascinating to read all about the people who’ve made the music. There were lots of memorabilia and stories to read. There was a section on the Grammy’s and Jimmy Hendrix. I was glad to see this museum as I love music and it’s fantastic to see so much history in one place. 

 

One interesting stop on the trolley tour is the Parthenon – an exact replica of the Greek Parthenon including the huge statue of Athena inside. This is the most weird thing in Nashville. Nashville is known as the ‘Athens of the South’. By the 1850s, Nashville had already earned the nickname of the “Athens of the South” by having established numerous higher education institutions; it was the first American southern city to establish a public school system. By the end of the century, Nashville would see Fisk University, St. Cecilia Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Meharry Medical College, Belmont University, and Vanderbilt University all open their doors. So I get the concept but I still think it’s the weirdest thing to find in the Music City.

We couldn't leave Nashville without trying the famous Hattie B's Hot Chicken. Holy shit, it was cluckin' hot. Neither of us like hot and spicy so this was not a place we should be dining at. But, we lined up outside and found ourselves with a plate of fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and mac'n'cheese. We ordered the weakest heat but still, the kid was sweating bullets after her first bite. She really is quite soft when it comes to hot food ;o   I have a little bit more hair on my tongue so it was bearable for me. I"m not into deep fried food much so while it was nicer then KFC, I couldn't eat this stuff often or eat too much of it. Regardless, we can tick off this food stop on our list. By the way, check out the levels of heat....I cannot imagine how bloody hot the 'Shut the Cluck Up' is !!!

 

And one final funny joke from our trolley driver today.

What has 132 legs and 8 teeth?

The front row of a Garth Brooks concert ........baaaahhhhaaaahhaaaaa !!

The Kid Arrives

A month has flown gone by with no update from me - slack Batman. It continues to be a busy time and this will be the case until we leave in January. As I write this blog, I’m enjoying a very good coffee in a trendy coffee house (Crema) in Nashville. My niece has been here for 2 weeks and we are enjoying a jam packed itinerary as is customary on any of Batman’s trips for visitors. The kid is currently in the Country Music Hall of Fame museum which I’ve seen so I’m checking out some local coffee houses while I wait for her.

RAGNAR. So, the last time I wrote was after our trip out west to the canyons around Utah and Arizona. There was plenty of work and flying going on and last minute preparations for the 200 mile RAGNAR relay race from Cumberland to DC. I was not running this time but instead, was the Captain organising the team of 6. They were again the Aussie Drop Bears and an ultra team of 6, unlike the majority of traditional 12 person teams. Thus the team runs 6 legs each totalling around 40-50km by the end. I was initially on the team but due to a calf injury mid year, I decided to pull out and focus instead on the marine corp marathon end Oct. The team were an entertaining and fun bunch of Aussies as always and it was a long 2 days in the van with little sleep, no showers and lots of wondering why the hell we were all doing this…AGAIN. But the Aussie Drop Bears crossed the finish line exhausted, proud and relieved to have a well earned beer. The RAGNAR relay race series is about to begin in Australia so I’m certain I’ll be running this back home at some stage.

Kid Arrives. My niece AC (the kid, albeit in her 30’s now) arrived early October and we have already knocked over a few museums in DC and spent a week in New York. She’s super excited to see everything and has to be the best travel companion you could ask for…apart from her having travel sickness on just about anything that moves. Poor kid, she’s been like that all her life but she’s a trooper and chews a few motion sickness tablets. We weren’t quite so lucky on the bus to New York. Hmmm, we got about 2.5 hours along, she’d slept all the way and the driver stopped to change over at a service centre. I immediately thought, great, she can get some fresh air and the last hour will be fine. Nope, as soon as that bus stopped in position, she had her head in the bag. Blart. Maybe the final hour to New York won’t be so good. But, the driver was great and a few people swapped their front seat for us and the kid felt much better after a good spew. I had visions of getting a taxi to nearby Philly and taking a train for the rest of the trip but the kid said she would be fine and she was. We made it to New York with no more chucky chuck. Mind you, I cancelled the bus trip home and booked us on the train which proved to be a good idea.

New York was crazy as always. The weather was not kind to us. I didn’t think but we went up the Empire early to only see fog and clouds. We decided to go back later that night (as you are allowed to with a same day ticket) and the night view was incredible. We weren’t able to get up the Rockerfeller on this trip but managed to do the usual tourist stuff and a few new things for me. Of note, we took a tour in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg through the Jewish Hasidic community. Wow, this was a total culture shock and we were looking into a little sheltered bubble of another world. I had no idea about traditional Jewish culture and the tour guide came from this community, leaving it as an adult and now taking tours to help people learn more about the Hasidic Jews. The tour guide was excellent and I can totally recommend this tour.  Tours by Frieda 

We ate our way through the city as the kid is a bit of a foodie. We visited one of the famous Carlo’s Bakerys, had a donut at Dough, ate fantastic Italian as Little Eataly near 9-11 and had a great bagel breakfast at Sadelles in Soho. We of course had hot dogs at the ice hockey as the kid wanted to see her first ice hockey game and I made sure I got a Ben & Jerry’s fix at Rockerfeller center. And how could I forget tea at Tiffany’s on 5^thAvenue. This has only been open a short while and I had to book this a month earlier, get up a 6am to buy tix as soon as the website opened, tix sell out in a few minutes. Lucky I reckon she’s a good kid !! It was a treat and she was exicted to tick another foodie box. She also made a sizeable purchase too so that was nice to see. 

I was surprised she wanted to visit the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier museum but she loved it. We had to rush through but I made sure she saw inside the ship, the bridge, the aircraft of deck and the space shuttle Enterprise and Concorde out back. We also took a wander through the old USS Growler submarine. The kid was overwhelmed with the size of everything and I told her that these things are small compared to today’s fleet of ships and subs. She loved every second of it which made me happy to see as a former military girl.

 

We went out to Liberty and walked around but the weather was completely foul. Wet, cold and windy. We had gone from 26c when we arrived in shorts and were down to 10c freezing in our limited coat selection. Note to self, summer has apparently just finished all of a sudden. 

I visited the 9-11 museum again as I will unlikely return here or to New York again. It is hallowed ground and always leaves you thinking about the fateful day back in 2001. We also walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, as you do, to wrap up our last day and squeezed in a look at the original Winnie The Poo in the NY Library (thanks to my friend PH for that tip). I also took the kid to Grand Central Train Station to marvel at the decorative main terminus. We got home to DC exhausted and my legs were screaming with tiredness. 

Nashville. We had a day at home to wash, rest and repack for the next leg. I managed to get a 20k run in the afternoon and the change to cool weather made a big difference after the high humidity of recent months.  It's 2 weeks now to the marathon and I have no idea how I'm going to survive it :o

We headed off to Nashville, Tennessee where we currently are. I’ve been here before but we are doing a few new things that I’m quite excited about. We took an uber to the station and the guy had a rating of perfect 5.0. Wow, this guy must be fabulous. We jump in the car and he’s a young guy, just finished college, proudly saying we were his first uber ride. Crikey, I wasn’t sure whether to be scared, honoured or happy for him. Probably all three. He got us there safely so it was a good ending. We were delayed 2 hours getting out of DC as there was rain and storms. Thankfully, the kid flew well and we had no chucky chucks on the plane trip. 

Uber Story 1. We arrived late in the afternoon and headed uptown via Uber again. Oh my god, this is a story to tell. FARK, the picture on my phone was scary even though it was a tiny thumbnail and I’m blind….long bearded dude (lets call him Johnny for this story) in a red ‘pick up’ truck – never had a pickup truck before but we are in Nashville I guess. He’s rating was 4.67….anything less than 4.8 is a worry as far as Uber driver ratings go. It was hilarious. He was scarier than his picture and the pickup was so loud, like it needed a new muffler or belonged on the dragway on Saturday night. His truck smelled of weed and cat piss. He was friendly alright but he had a good thick drawl of an accent, long scraggly hair, had 2 big silver skull rings and a big southern Georgia cap on his dash. He might well have been related to Willie Nelson with all those good looks :o

The kid hops in the front seat and she looked like a midget in the big pickup. I’m in the back thinking what the hell are we doing in this truck and I was way too scared to look behind to see if there was anything dead in the back of his truck. Anyway, we’re driving down the road and he’s telling us about how bad the uber map application is, he’s rung customer support …in Korea….gives them a serve about their lack of competence…tells them that he’s not rude, they are just snowflakes…..and then he yells…AWW MAR GOD LORK  someone just hit that girl (pedestrian). Shit, she’s on the ground on the corner and I’m thinking oh god, can’t look, I’ll be sick, I’ll faint. But she gets up and was ok. Light goes green and Johnny says I’m going get that guys number so he burns off (imagine the loud roaring noise of his red pickup truck dragging off up the road). I said I had a phone and could photo it and he’s getting up behind the cars but wasn’t quite sure which one - this was clearly a scene from Nashville Five-O ;) We didn’t get the number plate but thankfully, we arrived safely to our drop off point. He finally drops up off and as we step out of his high truck…..watch for cars he says – god we laughed !!!  We walked away and just burst out laughing, so loud, we were trying not to piss ourselves, we were crossing our legs and just in tears, hysterical with laughter. This was the kid's 5 minute welcome to Nashville.  

Before hitting the town, I played some Bobby McGee and Harper Valley PTA in our hotel room just to get her in the mood. Who doesn't love Charley Pride and she'd not heard the HV PTA song - just a classic. We enjoyed an easy dinner out and wandered the streets of Nashville. The kid was in heaven. She's always wanted to come here, thanks to my mum's influence I think. She bought some boots of course and I've got some cool country girl shirts to wear with my jeans tonight. Of course, we hit the candy shop and helped the economy by eating a few hundred calories of sweetness.

Uber Story 2. We took another Uber into town again in the morning. This was a much more enjoyable ride but memorable again. We had the usual Australia conversation, how long is the flight, do kangaroos hop along the Sydney Harbour bridge....The driver said he’d tried vegemite and hated it. It’s always good to hear people’s reactions to that foul black paste. He then said his ex-father-in-law went to Australia last year to meet a woman he’d met online - this was going to be good. Apparently it was a miserable trip. The lady picked him up from the airport and chucked him out after 2 hours!!  They had a big fight and didn’t get on. So he was stuck in some place (not a big city either) with nothing to see or do. He had to get another motel to get away from her. I don’t know where he was but it must have been quite remote. We had a good laugh and felt sorry for his x-FIL, such a long way to go for 2 hours and a fight. Not a good advertisement for Aussie chicks !!  Anyway, when he dropped us off he laughed and said, now it was his turn to ‘chuck us out of the car’. We laughed. He was a nice bloke.

I dropped the kid off at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. I've been before and thought I'd spent time blogging while she soaked up the cowboy boots, hats, tassels and guitars. She checked out RCA Studio B and then we both went through the famous Ryman Museum.  This got her all excited and well briefed for the big night ahead - we're going to the Garnd Ole Opry to see a show. I'll continue the adventure next time as this is enough of a read for now. Here's us rocking it on stage at the Ryman Auditorium in preparation.

One fat pumpkin !!

Pick your shit-spice ;)

Zion Nat Park and Las Vegas

Zion National Park. Our final national park on this journey was Zion National Park. Zion is a little different from the other parks we’ve seen – you are down in the canyon rather than up above looking down. This different perspective makes all the difference. Zion is more greener, had more water streams and overall was quite beautiful. The rock formations were striking and tall and there were many hikes to choose from. A popular hike is up to the Narrows which is a narrow canyon with water flowing through it. People rented water proof boots and walked the river stream to the end. We didn’t do this as it was a long hike. However, it was nice to walk along the river to the popular viewing point. We also did a hike the following morning and it was a gorgeous view over the park. Before leaving, we drove the scenic drive to the East entrance and saw some fabulous rock formations like the Checkerboard Mesa – you’ll see this in the movie at the bottom. Zion was smaller than the previous parks but I think our favourites were Bryce and the Grand Canyon. Never the less, it’s well worth visiting and it’s certainly close to Vegas. This was the end of trip through magnificent Utah and this desert state has some of the best things you’d could imagine in a desert.

Las Vegas. And so we headed to the bright crazy lights of Las Vegas, Nevada which marks our 30.1 state in our 50 Shades of DC adventure. It was hot and windy when we arrived and we were not quite sure what to expect. Vegas has never been on our list but it's just one of things you have to do. We didn’t stay on ‘the strip’, instead opting for a nice hotel 10 minutes away from the madness. We headed downtown and were overwhelmed with the casinos and wierdos. This place is a party town. The road is fenced off on the sidewalk to both prevent drunks falling on the road but also to force you into shops and casinos. It was quite annoying after a while as it was taking ages to walk down the main strip. We likened it to the Gold Cost in many ways. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a French Steakhouse across from the Bellagio fountains. Unfortunately the fountains were not in action that night – it was too windy I think. Nightime brought out more weirdos but we headed home like a couple of oldies before the night got too late and crazy for us. 

We headed out early in the morning to see Hoover Dam where once again, that Colorado River was a central player. I’ve always wanted to see this engineering wonder and it was seriously impressive. Wiki says it’s a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Arizona-Nevada border. Constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression, it resulted in a massive effort involving thousands of workers. It was initially called the Boulder Dam (area of Boulder) but was officially renamed to Hoover Dam for President Herbert Hoover by a joint resolution of Congress in 1947. We took a tour of the Plantroom which was 53 stories underground – I tried not to think of that as the elevator went down and down and down. We saw the huge power generators and pipes which take water from Lake Mead in which Hoover Dam impounds. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US by volume when it’s full. The dam’s generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevadad, Arizona and California.

We walked out across the dam wall and I bravely took a photo across the edge - it's 221m high. This wall is bloody high. I am always fascinated by such massive structures and even more so the ones that were built many years ago when technology was primitive. I had to smile that one of the innovations listed for this project was that workers were issued hardhats !! It is an engineering achievement and is today one of the great engineering wonders of the US and the world.

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the hotel and headed to the Bellagio Hotel for their famous buffet. This was huge, overwhelming and very good value for money. I ate my share in prawns and crab legs but everything was lovely. The dessert selection was insane and we left fat and happy. As a final hurrah, we decided to try our luck very briefly inside the casino – Roulette is my game but the minimum game was $10 so this was definitely going to be a quick splurge. I felt embarrassed looking for the $2 table !! I only played for 15 minutes or so and ended up only $7 down which was a relief as I can only imagine how much damage people do here in these addictive gambling places. It was just insane, I have never seen so many casino’s in my life. So it was a tame night on the strip for us and hopefully we won't wake up to find a chicken or a tiger in our hotel room like a bunch of blokes did once !!

Anyway, this is the end of our long desert adventure and although we added only 2.1 states to our list (recall New Mexico was the .1 from the Four Corners), we’ve seen and done a bucket load of fabulous things that we will always remember. If you not seen the Grand Canyon or any of the National Parks in Utah, get moving.

Here’s a short collection of the photos of Zion and Vegas and of course, who else but Elvis to get your through the show.