Death and Glory

Getting up at 5 am wasn't the hardest thing to do, because I was really looking forward to my trip to Death Valley. To my surprise, Thomas and Silvia joined us on our private tour with Birgit. Awesome!

Birgit had not only packed cool beverages, but also breakfast (with cold chocolate for me! She's the best!) and lunch! That was a promising start!
It took us two hours to get to the entrance of the Death Valley N.P. and I'm sure I fell asleep on the way. ;-)

At the entrance sign we took the first group picture before driving to the Visitor Center. Who would've guessed: I bought another magnet. I have no idea where to put them all, but I guess the fridge is going to look pretty colourful from now on. ;-)

We visited several marvelous places, such as the Zabriskie Point, the Artist's Palette, the Devil's Golf Course and Badwater Basin. We were so lucky to not have the sun shining the entire time. On the contrary, twice it started raining for a few seconds! Not many people experience rain in one of the world's hottest places. So that was really nice.

At Dante's View we had ourselves a little picnic with delicious home-made food. The view over Death Valley was just breathtaking. I could sit there and stare at the lands below for hours. But of course, there was no time to do that. We headed back to Vegas after a 3 hour tour through these incredible lands. The trip was worth every

penny and I personally think that the others missed out on a wonderful experience. ;-)

After getting back to the Alexis I walked to the Hard Rock Café on the Strip. In the blazing sun. (I can't believe Death Valley felt cooler than Vegas!) I bought a shirt (what else) and got on the Deuce bus to get to the Stratosphere, where I wanted to go on a last great adventure in the USA: the Sky Jump. When I arrived, I was immediately told that there was lightning in the valley and that therefore the Tower was closed for now. That sucked. I've been looking forward to the jump (I've never done anything like that before) for a year and now I couldn't do it? The staff was very friendly and helpful and offered that I'd wait in hope the storm passes quickly. So I did exactly that. And I got lucky! The storm passed and after 45 min they called my name and I got into the jumpsuit. In total me and my gear have been checked four times by four different people. I felt that I could

absolutely trust them, which made the jump way easier for me. Axel and Heike had wanted to come to the Stratosphere as well, but I couldn't reach them via phone, so I didn't know where they were and I've given up hope that anyone would wait for me back on the ground. (Spoiler: no one waited for me there.)
The jump itself was over so quickly! I just followed all the commands and when the guy on the platform called down to his colleague via radio "She's going down in 3, 2, 1, go." I completely stopped thinking and just jumped. Oh boy, I screamed so loud, but not out of fear, but because I was SO full of adrenaline! It was amazing and I would've loved to jump again.

Afterwards I went up the tower to enjoy the grand view over Las Vegas as it was included in the price for the jump. When I got out of the elevator at the 108th floor (!) and went upstairs to the observation

deck, I immediately spotted Heike and Axel - what a coincidence! They told me they've had dinner at the Sky Restaurant and suddenly heard someone screaming and rushing past them. Well, that someone was me. ;-)

Together we got back to the Alexis and prepared for a night out. At 8.30 pm a stretch limo picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the famous Vegas sign at the beginning of the Strip. We were then brought to the Bellagio to enjoy the fountain and continued to drive along the Strip until we reached the Golden Nugget Hotel in Downtown Las Vegas. The hotel was really impressive and waaay above my budget. ;-)

Our group then went, guided by Georg, to the world-famous Fremont Street. Holy shit! 12 million LEDs covering the sky, music blaring from countless loudspeakers and dancers, photomodels and freaky people everywhere. I've never seen anything like it before. Amazed we walked down the Fremont Street until we came to a street that led us to "Hogs and Heifers", a Coyote Ugly style bar with the craziest bartenders on earth. There are no words to describe them :-D
I guess we weren't drunk enough for this bar, though, because we couldn't get into the right mood. That's why my mates and I decided to hit the Fremont Street again and stroll until its very end. At midnight we got into a taxi back to the Alexis, thinking that Americans really carry everything to excess! ;-)

This day was just the perfect ending to a perfect trip...