grasshoppers in Las Vegas

Hi there

When I was in Las Vegas there was a grasshopper invasion.  Millions came at nighttime, were attracted to lighting.  When I woke up in the morning there were grasshoppers attached to the outside of my hotel windows.  With the sun, however, they dropped off the glass.  The hotels' staff did great jobs of cleaning up the grasshopper bodies but every morning there were still quite a few husks around all the hotels' main doorways.

I went to a show one evening and a grasshopper had got onto the stage area.  Two of the female singers kept leaping to different places on that stage, emitting little shrieks and cries whenever that lone grasshopper came near them.  The singers admitted to the audience that they were wimps when it came to the creatures.

As if the grasshopper plague wasn't enough, there was heat too, of course.  And not only was there heat in Las Vegas but when I was in Los Angeles, the elderly, children and pets were told not to go to the beaches, so I had to give up my plans for Santa Monica..

Then, I was sitting in my LV  hotel when I got a message on my phone telling me not to go outside because of a flash flood!

So ... grasshoppers, heat, flash flood.  Oh dear, talk about biblical plagues.

Keeping fit?

Hi there

Well, I try to keep fit.   I do try to slot in a gym workout twice a week and I power walk for 45 minutes practically every day.  And then there's my swimming ...

But ... I like food.  Especially after the gym.  Or a walk.  Or  swim.  My downfalls are bread, potatoes, and cheese.  I've often said that if I was going to  be offered a last meal, I would choose a sandwich made up of potatoes and cheese, and slathered in butter.   Come on, would it really be that fattening?  Sigh, yes...

Anyway, I noticed a gym in Hollywood that really takes fitness seriously  -

But I'll bet there's a secret elevator* under the stairs.



...and just in case one set of stairs isn't enough of  a workout  -

*notice that I said "elevator" and not "lift".  I so have a US vibe!

Las Vegas heat

Hi there

The heat was really bad in Las Vegas.  It got up to 40c.  It was so hard to walk outside without wanting to collapse in a big old heat puddle!  In Vegas I will duck in one door of a casino and out the far door to avoid having to walk outside,  but I still have to walk outside for a few minutes at a time, just to get along The Strip or cross a road.

And the wind is boiling hot. It got me  way more hot than the actual air temperature. Wellington is known as Windy Wellington but the wind in Wgton is chilling;  coat-wearing, scarf-snuggling, hat-enveloping chilling.

Now, let me tell you, my four readers, about the outdoor escalators in Vegas? - by the time the afternoon  comes  around, any escalator hand-bar has become too hot to the touch.  I talked to a woman who got a burn on her leg when she accidentally banged against the escalator step in front of her.

The ground was so hot, I burnt the bottom of my shoes -

above:  The Strip, Las Vegs

Flamingo Hotel Pool.  I stayed at this hotel.  I am always intrigued how nobody actually swim nowadays.   They stand in the water and talk. It's the same at beaches in Wellington.

More Los Angeles

Hi there

I had been to the Los Angeles Farmers Market before, several times, and many years' ago.  It's a big warehouse with street-food-like stalls and rickety tables.  I ordered fettucine from an Italian stall.

"You want any salad with it?" asked the guy behind the counter.

"Tomarto, please," I said.

"Tomayto," he said.

"Yes, tomarto," I answered.

"Tomayto."

"Tomarto-  Oh!"

Goodness, I love the Americans!

I hadn't realised that since my last Farmers Market visit, a whole posh restaurant/store/park area had opened up behind the market building.  If I hadn't wandered out a small doorway I might never have discovered it.  Such lovely-looking restaurants.  Wish I'd waited for my meal and had it here -

In Hollywood itself after I had visited the Hollywood Museum where I saw Liz Taylor's wedding dress from "Father of the Bride ...

....I went for lunch next door to Mel's Diner -

I am truly surprised that I came back from my holiday and had lost one and a half pounds in weight.

Me in Los Angeles

Hi there

I've been home four days and I'm still tired.  How on earth do those business people who cross the international dateline several times a month handle it?  Oh, wait, I know - they fly first class!

My first stop in the States was Los Angeles.  Within one hour of arriving in Hollywood,  where I was staying at the fabulously located bed and breakfast Hollywood Celebrity Hotel, I had a fall.  Oh, no...  Can I blame my poor eyesight?  Yes, I definitely will.   Even though the step had a yellow strip across it, I still came a cropper.  Hands and knees grazed.  Ankles slightly sprained.  Big toe bruised terribly.

But I soldiered on -

That very day was the premier for the movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".  Still jet-lagged, I staggered to Hollywood Boulevard to watch the stars arrive.  Their cars stopped right opposite me.  I saw Chris Hemsworth, Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio, Britney Spears, Andy Serkis, New Zealand stunt actress Zoey whatshername, Margot Robbie,  and a host of other young stars I hadn't a clue about.  I felt so over-the-hill becuse in my youth I knew and adored every Hollywood star.

above:  that's Brad Pitt over on the left.  I take back every awful thing I've ever said about the guy.  He just oozed charisma. far more than on the screen (if possible).  Beautiful skin, looked so young.

above: the car from the movie

Some people had waited two days to see the street action.  Most of the celebrities came over to where I was standing, and I'd only been there for two hours.  It was fun...

I'm back from the States!

Hi there

Did you miss me?  Did ya?  Did ya?

I returned about one hour ago from a holiday of two and a bit weeks in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  Coming home, it was one hour in plane from Vegas, then 16 hours from Los Angeles,  followed by 3 and a half hours from Melbourne.  All that flying, and I'm ultra-tired!

I still had to take 10 eyedrops a day.  Is it any wonder I was so worried about my eyes before I left home?  One week before I was due to leave, it was still dicey as to whether the doctors would let me travel?  Thank goodness, I'd taken out insurance and specifically mentioned that I had glaucoma.

I'll write about my impressions of the holiday later for you.  I'm off to bed now...