June 26th–Vegas

Up at 8am this morning – due to deciding not to do the Canyon today we had lots of relaxing ahead of us… this was until Andy decided to try and move our skydiving a day forward. In the space of 5 minutes we went from a relaxing day to jumping in the car to go jump out of a plane!

During the 40 minute drive there and then the 45 minute wait to board a plane there was plenty of time to get nervous.  I was actually doing ok until we signed a ‘if you die it’s not our fault’ waiver. Soon I was suited up and meeting my tandem guy Ross. And then on to the plane – Andy and I were lucky having a little plane all to ourselves, flying high above the Nevada desert.

After this things got a little crazy. I volunteered to jump before Andy, we sidled up to the side of the aeroplane and dangled our feet over the edge. It was just a little bit high. Before I could think about what on earth I was doing, Ross had pushed us out of the plane. The initial stomach-lurching drop only seemed to last a second…. then there was just intense pressure everywhere on my body (me leaving my mouth open and the intense winds lead to the most unattractive face contortions I have ever seen). The 60 second free fall went past so quickly – my thoughts were split between trying to remember to look at the view and trying to comprehend exactly what I’d just done.

 
And then we were gliding! This part was lovely, so completely different! Plenty of time to enjoy the surrounding desert (and swear just a little bit). Landing went smoothly, as did Andy’s straight after mine.Then back to our car in a bus, on a absolutely adrenalin high – my body at this point felt like it had just run a marathon and I was just a little nauseous.

I still can’t believe I jumped out of a plane.

Afterwards, back to the hotel via the car rental place (to extend our car hire for the day), a 7-11 (to stock up on hot dogs, wine, Pringles, beef jerky and a slushee) and Downtown Vegas. Downtown is full of wedding chapels – including a  24 hour drive through option? By around 3pm we were back at the hotel – in time for a sleep and pool side relaxing.

 

Tonight we had two shows booked! Excitement! Before hand we popped into the Caribbean hotel restaurant for a burger, a parmy and cocktails – then across the hall to see Cirque De Soleil. This was my first Cirque show and I enjoyed it thoroughly – the costumes, the music, the moving stage, the effects… and of course the circus tricks. And then on to the next show – this was a bit crazy, we needed to get to the MGM Grand at the other end of the strip within the hour… time for some power walking (certainly one way to experience Vegas).

We got there with five minutes to spare and I settled into my seat right up the front to see David Copperfield! I was so excited about this one! Having him so close was such a thrill, even if he was a rather smarmy man. The tricks where he made things (i.e. a car) appear or disappear were my favourite – I even didn’t mind his ‘box hanging above the stage’ trick that we see in every magic we go to these days.

After the show we were exhausted, so back to Treasure Island we went (all the way back) – via the Luxor, Excalibur and New York New York. What a crazy day!