Las Vegas Adventures

Alright. I'm sure you've heard the adage that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." But I'm going to let you into a little secret and divulge ALL that happens in that hot, yet magical, city in the desert.

I should start by saying that, for many, many years, I resisted traveling to Las Vegas. I mean, come on, why bother? It's just a bunch of casinos and nothing but gambling, and show girls in skimpy costumes, and dozens of old, dried up entertainers who can't get a gig anywhere else. Right? Plus, it's in the desert and you'll be sunburned and hot all of the time. And, the Mafia and east-coast gangsters run the place and you never know when you might get taken 'out back' and taught a lesson. Scary!

Then, my Sweetie, her sister, and a few more ladies take the quick trip from Burbank to Las Vegas. Short story - apparently they had fun and didn't get raped or nothing. Maybe I ought to reconsider.

The first time I went to Las Vegas with my Sweetie, we stayed at Bally's which is pretty much in the middle of the Strip. On subsequent trips, we've stayed at the Luxor and some other ones (I've forgotten. Need to ask my Sweetie!). Anyway, the hotel rooms vary considerably in size, class, outfittings, and views. Seeing that we normally don't spend a heck of a lot of time in the rooms anyway, I think going for a centralized location or a hotel where we will be spending a lot of time might be how one would pick. Of course, you could always go for the lowest price but that might not work in all cases and you may find yourself spending hours and hours and hours checking and re-checking prices - some are good only on the Internet today, you have to call that number between now and 7 a.m. tomorrow for this one, can't reserve this one more than 4 hours and 9 minutes in advance, must have a portable pool table and weegie board to reserve the Tropicana suite, etc.

Back to reality for a minute. During our trips, we have seen a few of the shows. Our favorite so far was Phantom.  We have also seen Taming of the Cave Man (or something like that), the Cirque de Sole Beatles, Lion King, Carrot Top. We'll be having another amazing Vegas trip soon where we will be seeing Ka (another Cirque), Phantom (again. Seen this in London also), and Penn & Teller. Anyway, the shows are pretty good (but pricey) and there are lots of them - more than we have time to see, actually.

Casinos. Fact of life in Las Vegas, casinos don't appear to ever close, they never have a clock on the wall, they serve booze 24 hours a day, and you can't get from the front door to the check-in counter without passing a slot machine.

On a side note here, everywhere I went in Las Vegas (and most areas of Nevada), I was continually amazed to find slot machines. Like at the grocery store, the drug store, and probably the veterinary hospital.

We've visited Hoover Dam, Lake Meade, and I actually made it to Ethyl M's Chocolate store! I have gone to the top of the spire and looked out over the city. All are actually fun things to do!

But why go back to Sin City? That's hard to say. I love most of the restaurants I've visited (but the buffets have really, for the most part, been a great disappointment) and have a couple's manicure/pedicure with champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries is really a wonderful experience.

Having said that, we will be traveling to Las Vegas this August for a family reunion. I hope it turns out well as we'll have three people who have never been there. Wish us luck as we try, for the first time, (1) a rented cabana near a large, well-known pool, (2) see the strip and downtown in a limousine sharing champagne, and, (3) renting a large SUV and driving to Hoover Dam and some hotel/casino that is not on the strip. I'll let you know how things went in about a month!