…it’s because the French are all at the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon or Monument Valley. We just visited all those glory spots (what a country!) and can attest I heard more French than English.

No exaggeration. Plenty of German and Italian, too. But way more French.

After days of nature and dust, we overnighted in Las Vegas, aka Chuck E. Cheese for adults, at South Point. It’s a new hotel with large rooms and flat-screen TVs. We switched on the Olympics in time to watch the American swim team beat the boastful French in the 4 x 100 relay.

Sweet.

The build-up to this race helped to make it extra special for the American swimmers. The very fast French team was heavily favored and tried to psych out the American team in print by stating they were going to “smash” the Americans.  But a funny thing happened to the U.S. underdogs.  They swam the race of their lives, with the only thing smashed being the previous world record. 

Michael Phelps has arguably the two hardest gold medals in his possession in his quest for eight in this year’s Games, and he has clearly demonstrated that he is the greatest overall swimmer of our era, and perhaps ever.  But the hero of the race was anchorman Jason Lezak, who closed a gap of over half a second behind the French in his last 50 meters, and was able to pass Alain Bernard, he of ’smashing Americans’ fame, and touched by a fraction to claim the gold.