vegas and the grand canyon

i decided to do a tour for vegas and the grand canyon because time was tight and it worked out cheaper than doing it solo. which seemed like a great idea until it transpired that not only was i the only english speaking person on the bus i was also the only person travelling alone. well the other english speaker was the bus driver. a scots man living in california for the last 20 years. so i sat up front with the him and we talked about cholesterol levels and diets. great.
anyway we drove through the high desert, saw the worlds largest thermometer, some joshua trees and a lot of nothing. arrived at the motel in vegas at around 5. so the evening was our own to get upto whatever hi jinks we liked. but being the only english speaking person on the bus i was on my own in vegas!
settled into my room and headed out to the strip. i actually though i was going to melt. 45degrees of searing dry heat. i sped up my gait in the direction of a shopping mall with air conditioning. i stayed in there until i felt it was safe to go back outside again. which was a few hours. got some dinner and wandered around.
then headed to the bellagio. strolled around and watched the poker players for a while. i still can't follow it. i hit the slot machines-which in the bellagio even seemed classy! then headed out to watch the water show. very cool. felt like i was in ocean's eleven or something!
then headed back to my amazing motel.
5:30am start the next day to see the hoover dam and the grand canyon. impossible to describe and no photo could ever do it justice. suffice to say its the biggest thing i've ever seen. we went to the south rim. i had lunch over looking the canyon where i also saw a californian condor (biggest bird in north america) and then headed back.
hit vegas quite late-i checked out the mirage and caesers and then saw a show. was put beside this couple who didnt want to chat-but the man did saw he thought he saw me coming in with someone. i said no that i was on my own and he seemed quite put out. himself and his lady than preceded to whisper amongst themselves. why is it that women travelling by themselves make people so uneasy?
next day was back to LA. its hard to describe vegas. its one of those see it to believe it places. i think what i found the strangest was that poeple just accepted it all as normal. all the gambling, crazy amounts of food and drink. it was all so normal.