Jenni goes Stateside: viva las vegas

Okay so my plan to fill you in super quickly didn't exactly work; I couldn't get on a computer for ages and then when I finally did it refused to load my photos and somehow I didn't think you'd be interested in a huge rambling paragraph with nothing to look at. I'm now back in blighty but I'm hoping that writing the rest of my America blogposts will keep the holiday blues at bay. Anyway, so I made it to Vegas baby! And it's everything I could've ever imagined! Everything is so huge and luxurious and lit-up. It's also a very good film-spotting place (easy for me seeing as I watch so many films and rather a lot of TV)

 

 

The buildings are all so incredible and over-the-top. Driving past, I felt like a Disney princess who was coming back home (Belle from beauty and the beast was always my favourite growing up and I owned every belle outfit possible including a red fur-trimmed cape that my mum actually made for me). But instead of the traditional horse and carriage, my ride of choice would be a red Cadillac, which if you've been reading my blog since April you would already know. Vegas also does replicas very well. There's New York New York, with a replica statue of liberty and Brooklyn bridge (it's the place I want my travels to take me to next, fuelled by my obsessions with Friends and Gossip girl). There's also a Little Paris with a replica Eiffel tower and lots of French restaurants, and they're building a replica England and India called 'Resort world' so maybe I'll have to make a return visit when it's finished.

There is also the most amazing shopping centre (or maybe I should use the American word 'mall'). Unfortunately I didn't have time to shop and even if I did, I don't think I can fork out nearly £1000 for a pair of shoes but a girl can dream right? Besides, I do plan to be filthy rich one day so it's a goal if nothing else.

 

Like I said, it's great for film-spotting. The Bellagio fountains are massively iconic and have appeared behind Cameron Diaz in What happens in Vegas and apparently they're part of an important scene in Oceans eleven aswell. They're not only iconic but beautiful too and they go in time to different songs, making it seem like the waters dancing. It's all pretty impressive!

I'd say Caesars Palace is the most famous hotel in Vegas, appearing in the Hangover trilogy, in both the first and third films. Its pretty amazing that they built an entire coliseum (is that spelled right?!) just for Celine Dion while she stayed there. I think that that's an easy way to tell you've made it in the world; having a whole hotel wing built especially for you. Don't ask about the headless statue by the way, I have no idea.

Then in the evening after dinner, we went down to the Vegas sign because really, you can't go to Vegas and not take a clichéd photo infront of it. We did underestimate how far away it is though, with Vegas being one long strip you assume it won't take you all that long to see everything but in actual fact the sign is about a 2 hour walk from our hotel Circus Circus, which is at the complete opposite end. Not an easy walk to make considering that even at 11 at night, it was still 38 degrees celcius. In the day it was well over 40 and it's definitely not a nice heat. The mix of heat and pollution literally makes your eyes burn. But there was no point getting a cab or a limo (seemingly the most popular choice in Vegas) because the traffic is constant gridlock. For my cliché photo, I wore this gorgeous orange bodycon dress from missguided (I think it was like £25). I just love the laser-cut detail along the hem and the racer-cut neckline is a current favourite of mine. I finished it off with my la moda sandals (£24) and a red lipstick. Luckily the heat is a very dry one with almost 0% humidity so my hair behaved itself and stayed nice and straight.

Another cliché we passed on our very long walk; the Vegas wedding chapel. Don't worry I didn't get married to some random stranger, it would take a lot more than a few cocktails to drive me into one of these places!

The next day we went and saw the Hoover dam on a raft boat ride down the Colorado river, where we had the state of Nevada on one side of the river and the state of Arizona on the other side. The dam itself was pretty impressive and the boat driver (I don't know what the right word is, captain? sailor?) told us the history behind how it got build. It was actually really interesting; they used to employ people just to go up the side of the rocks and place dynamite to get rid of any loose rubble and then they had to swing out of the way before it blew up. Apparently out of hundreds they employed only 7 every died but seriously who would be willing to risk their life just for a job? We also stopped occasionally to swim in the Colorado river, which given the 45 degree heat (that's nothing either, apparently it gets up to 50 degrees in August which is they're hottest month), you'd think would be really warm but it was actually colder than the sea at Blackpool. I still don't understand why. For the trip, I wore a bikini under my missguided denim shorts which I upsized with to wear as mom shorts, and then this missguided palm print top (£15 I think) which I just love the neckline of. I added sunnies too of course and I got a pretty decent tan being out in the sun on a boat for 3 hours.

I'd love to say I spent my nights drinking in casinos but seeing as the drinking and gambling age is 21 in most states, I wasn't allowed. It's such a cruel irony that I've only just turned 18 and finally become legal in the UK just to have it taken back away from me the second I go on holiday a few weeks later. So instead, we spent our nights eating at amazing restaurants and seeing all the famous parts of Vegas. For our second night we went to Little Venice (another replica) in the Venetian hotel. They have a fake river that you can actually ride a gondola down and they've painted the ceiling to look like a beautiful Italian day. And of corse they've filled it with gorgeous Italian restaurants - perfect for me seeing as they're my favourite! I had an amazing grilled swordfish dish (that rhymes and sounds stupid but there's no better way to say it) and a peach Bellini. I went with my classic pastels tonight, seeing as I'd pushed the boat right out my comfort zone with bright orange last night. I wore a pale pink bodycon missguided dress which was only £10 in the sale, and I added a pastel print kimono from new look and white la moda sandals, aswell as dangling feather earrings which I bought from a Navajo market during my jeep ride round monument valley.

 

We then went to see the volcano display at the Mirage. It's so incredible what these hotels can do; the volcano was an amazing fire show with spraying fountains and fire pits in the water at the bottom. Although I have to say that the fire didn't exactly help with the already unbearable heat! My time in Vegas was literally out of this world and I can see why so many people go for bachelor/bachelorette parties. I'm definitely planning a return trip for after I'm 21 so I can see what the casinos are all about. After Vegas it's back out of the big city and back into the scenery; next stop Death valley, mammoth lakes and Yosemite national park!