Four States, 8 Airports, 10 lbs Overweight

Our vacation started with a smooth landing in Los Angeles, and what follows are memories both Em and I are still giddy about. Three weeks of walking, eating, sightseeing can leave one's pockets bleeding, but it was so worth it we are already planning next year's trip, with the Little Bee this time around.

LA is great, but for now we are staying for just a night before heading to Las Vegas where our first meal was in In & Out Burger! It lived up to the hype, fresh beef that was never frozen and real potatoes cut in the premises. It's not hard to understand why there is always a line forming at the counter. We made sure we had our fix of In N Out as we were told we couldn't find it in the East - our next stop in the coming weeks.

Las Vegas was great, brimming with lights and enthusiasm. We did all the touristy things, saw the hotel lobbies (Venetian voted as the favorite), watched the Bellagio fountain show many times over, did the slots, sunk in the view from the Eiffel Tower in Paris Hotel, even did a day tour to the Grand Canyon (which by the way was really GRAND) and of course, ate the buffets - the one we like best being the lunch buffet of Mandalay Bay. After a particularly long night however, we found the best food we had in Las Vegas - tucked away in the farthest end of the Strip is a diner called IHOP (International House of Pancakes, as we would later find out and listed at the NYSE, as I would find find out much later at home) where I was to have hands-down the best pancakes Ive ever tasted (sorry Pancake House!). It was the big floppy kind of pancakes, and I could imagine all the butter that went into it. Their tag line goes Come Hungry, Leave Happy. Indeed!

While we very much like Las Vegas, what was to come in our 3-week itinerary are even better. On to San Francisco next.

PS. Thanks heaps to my bro and his wife for bringing us to LV, and thanks to my friend Banj too.