It’s been a while since my last blog update – which is a result of equal parts busyness and laziness on my part.

We finished up our fortnight in Vancouver with a trip to the Aquarium which was excellent – often they can be hit and miss – but this one is absolutely worth a visit. It’s situated in the middle of Stanley Park an absolutely massive 1000 acre green space almost completely surrounded by water.

John and I spent a few hours walking along the sea wall which surrounds the park and has fantastic views of the Vancouver CBD.

We also have to give credit to the Vancouver Aquarium marketing team as their range of kitsch gift shop items was on point.

As espoused in our last blog post – Vancouver is such a fantastic city and we can’t wait to return in the future for another few weeks – probably when it’s just a few degrees warmer!

We then headed off (via a two and half hour flight) to Las Vegas.

Vegas isn’t somewhere I’ve had any long held desire to visit – but for better or worse it is certainly well known and on that basis we decided given our proximity and substantial free time it made sense to spend a few nights.

It was a mixed bag…

Positives – our trip to the Grand Canyon was incredible – given we didn’t think we’d likely ever return, we splashed out and took a 15 min helicopter rode over the Grand Canyon – it really was an unforgettable experience.

It’s hard to capture just how vast and majestic the Grand Canyon is…

We also had a lunch included on our tour – the views were pretty average… surely they could put on something better 🙂

Negatives; it was then back to Las Vegas and its infamous nightlife – we did the obligatory wander through the Casinos – and up and down the Las Vegas strip – and I have to say for all of the money that’s clearly gone into it – it still felt kind of run down – the millions of lights couldn’t mask the fair grubby city that lies beneath them (particularly in the daylight hours).

On the positive side again – we did go to various shows – the most amazing being La Reve – a show performed entirely in water and the air – it was spectacular, the best show of its type we’ve ever seen. Shows in Las Vegas benefit massively from the fact that many have custom built venues as they aren’t touring shows – which results in the spectacular staging and effects.

For those who will never make it – here’s the opening of the show – make sure you give it at least 5 mins to see some of the amazing effects (for those who may make it to Las Vegas to see the show maybe don’t spoil it for yourself by watching!) (this isn’t my video by the way!)

We also saw two other shows, both cirque du soleil productions created around music – the first a show called Love – centered around the Beatles – the 2nd a Michael Jackson show (which was a bit strange given the new doco)… both were just ok – and probably suffered in our assessment because we saw Le Reve first which was so much better.

We also dropped by a Southern Restaurant prior to a show one night and had a traditional dish of Chicken and Waffles which came with a side of Watermelon with cumin. It was an interesting combination but honestly not one I’d order again – similar to not being able to get my culinary head around Pancakes and bacon – Waffles and chicken fall into that same category for me.

Finally we went for breakfast at the delightfully named Eggslut – which not surprisingly serves a range of egg dishes – and for fast food – it was actually pretty good!

We are now in Mexico City – which we are really enjoying so far – but I’ll save the specifics for another post at the end of this week…