So what we had missed out of the last blog is that Megan and Coco had offered to come to Vegas with us and be bridesmaids, guides, friends and photographers for a Vegas wedding! Of course this was the most amazing news as we had just made the final decision to have a wedding there. Megan and Coco loved the idea of a drive through wedding and after a little planning we agree to having the wedding on Wednesday… It was Monday.

We packed up our things cleaned the apartment top to bottom and moved out of what felt like home!

Grabing one of the biggest burgers i have ever seen for lunch from Carl’s Jr – catch line ‘The best way to wash down a burger is with another burger’! Hummmm!

We headed up to Point view cemetery which in the resting place of Walt Disney amongst others, the place was dramatic, hugh fallen angels, leonardo style naked statues this was certainly the resting place for the rich and famous. The real beauty of the place is that all the grave stones lay flat. When you are driving around it looks like a beautiful hilly park full of great monuments and statues rather than a spooky grave yard.

Next on the list was Griffith Observortory, this is one of the highest points in LA just next to the  Hollywood sign. Luckily we caught the end of a chinese wedding, the bride in a beautiful white gown and the  groom in a Tangerine dinner suit jacket! Although it was something Elvis would have worn he looked great! Lisa took pics of the infamous Hollywood board and the views over the city. Whilst standing there staring out it hit us how amazingly lucky we had been to find such great new friends hidden away in such a sprawling metropolis.

Stocked up with 30 litres of water, oil checked, tyres checked and general all round double check we set off to cruise to Vegas. As soon as we left the city the scenery changed straight away. Literally in the desert surrounded by dry mountain vistas and endless sands we really enjoyed the calmness it offered after the none stop feel of LA. it got dark early and we stopped halfway to Vegas at Barstow for the night, hooking up peggy in the dark I couldnt help constantly checking round my feet for scorpions and other little biting beasts!
The views from the van the next morning were truly amazing, and we actually wished we could have stayed longer to explore this no mans land. But we had a wedding to get to!

Once we arrived in Vegas we set about the task of finding some accomadation. Luckily it was mid week and Vegas is clearly being hit hard by the recession! We ended up booking into the Mandalay for £47 a night (normally £300)! Booking a second room for Megan and Coco who where arriving later on that night.

We decided we would proceed directly to enjoy one of the 5 pools, the spa bathroom, the casino or maybe one of the umpteen restaurants. Even maybe catch the sun setting from the roof…. Not that easy you dont! Skidding to a halt at the hotel carpark to find it has a 5ft high restriction and peggy is a leggy 9ft. Lisa ran off into the hotel reception to ask for help as I not so carmly reversed the 16ft lady ,forcing the queue of 6 cars out of the way behind me! I could feel my ears burning as the honks and beeps started to blare. 10 minutes later I was out of the line of fire and Lisa had retured, ‘They are sending security out to escort us to the private parking area’ she giggled. Surely enough seconds later a security van pulled up at speed, lights flashing, the 6ft 5 security guard jumped out hand on gun (as always, I think they must stick their hands to the gun in basic training). He said ‘ARE you the van?!?’ staring incredulisly at 24 year old peggy as if to say ‘this is THE Mandalay you know!’ He snorted, held back a laugh and said ‘follow me NOW’ hand still on gun he jumped back in his van. Lights  flashing he escorted us passed security barriers through the underneath of the hotel and round to the private parking area.

We proceeded directly to reception… not that easy you don’t! It was like they knew we had paid £47. ‘We can’t find your booking’ followed by ‘you’re on the wrong side of the hotel’ followed finally by getting lost in the labrinth casino, I was just waiting for the room key to not work…. thankfully it did. So after a smooth and quick 2 1/2 hours we had got checked it. The pools had closed and the sun had set!
We had 4 hours to kill before the girls arrived and seemed that cracking open a bottle of wine and running a bath was a good option. Cranking the music up, sitting in the bath looking out over the view of Vegas we proceed to get royally hammered! 11pm came round and still no sign of Megan and Coco we decided to have a quick nap…… 1am we got a message from Megan ‘They ran out of rooms and have booked us into a penthouse suite!’ We quickly grabbed some more wine and headed over to their penthouse in disbelief! Surely enough there it was, a two bedroom penthouse apartment that took up an entire end section of the Mandalay, you could see out from North to South just by walking from one room to another. Feeling that we should take advantage of this £47 luck we ordered room service, laughed and drank our way through our adhock batchelor/batchelorette party until the early hours!

Read all about the Las Vegas wedding!