What happened to me in Las Vegas probably happens to almost everyone who goes there:
1. I ate too much.
2. I got blisters on my feet.
3. I became dehydrated.
4. I spent too much money.
5. I had fun.
6. I wore out and spent the last evening with my feet elevated, wishing I had an ice pack.
I’ll have a couple of fun photos to show you later in the week, but first I want to tell you what a great place Las Vegas is for doing research. For instance, I discovered these educational opportunities:
1. The Tuscany Kitchen at the Bellagio has a cooking demonstration and food tasting.
2. At the Las Vegas Motor Speedway you can get driving instruction and ride-alongs on the track.
3. Learn to fire real weapons, maybe even a machine gun, at The Gun Store.
4. And at Planet Hollywood Resort, you can take Stripper 101 classes and learn the fine arts of pole dancing as well as other classy…I mean classic stripper moves with boas, chairs, etc.
I didn’t do any of these things. I did, however, enjoy the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, as well as the wall aquarium and the erupting volcano and Cirque du Soleil Love (The Beatles), all at The Mirage.
There was also eating, lots of eating. Serendipity 3 at Caesar’s Palace (including a frozen hot chocolate), Border Grill at Mandalay Bay, and B.B. King’s Blues Club at The Mirage were all outstanding.
Now you know the rest of the story. My husband was playing in the Las Vegas Regional Bridge Tournament, so I went along to take my own little Las Vegas vacation. A friend from high school days (and I won’t even go into how many years ago we became friends) drove in from California to share my adventures.
Once again I want to thank Alan Orloff for being my first guest blogger and for covering the comments since I was separated from my computer that day. And I hope you’ll mark your calendar for this Thursday when Barbara Graham’s guest post about her writing life will appear.
By the way, for those of you live in Northern Colorado and are interested in that pole dancing class, you might want to check into the Cupcake Cabaret and its Burlesque Booty School.
No, I’m not kidding: http://cupcakecabaret.net/html/bootyschool.html
Just reading about it is entertaining.
Glad you didn’t hurt yourself on the pole and you made it home safely. Sounds like a great time. How did your husband do in the bridge tourney?
When is too much just right? In Vegas. I went there with my folks on a trip to California from Colorado. Mostly I remember Route 66 – Vegas was pretty non-descript at that point. I’d love to see Cirque de Soleil. why don’t I? They’re in Montreal. I will darn it!
Today’s comments were more fun than the post. Thanks to everyone for continuing to drop by even while I was off playing tourist. Just as an FYI, the temperatures were 100+ the day we left on our drive, and on the way back there was snow on the mountains and the temperatures were in the 40s. And I sure am glad to be home!
You made Las Vegas sound like a new place to me. I have not enjoyed it too much, but I do think the shows are great.
No matter what you tell us, in my dreams you pole dance.
@Watery Tart. Rifle safety in PE! Did you go to a military academy? Were there wild bears on campus? Am I still dreaming?
Patricia, welcome home.
Glad you had fun. Spending too much money is better than losing too much money.
Sounds like a lot of fun! Although the sore feet.. not so much.
My hubby wants to go to Vegas one day – I’ve never really wanted to go, but it does sound like there’s some fun stuff to do.
Sounds like you had a wonderful time, glad to hear it! A friend of mine just came back from there and had a very similar list…except her list added it was too short of a trip, lol. Looking forward to seeing your pictures!
Nancy, from Realms of Thought…
We meet a group of old friends, or I guess good friends sounds better at this stage of life, in Vegas once a year. We’ve done all the activities you’ve enjoyed (I really liked the Beatle Show at the Mirage0, but not the educational stuff. Will keep them in mind for his year.
Ha ha ha. Great post, sounds like you had a good time.
I enjoy Vegas only for the shows. Which it sounds like you got to see and enjoy!
Glad you’re back home and I hope those blisters are healing.
It sounds like fun! Glad you had a good time (even though it was a little ‘too much’ of everything!)
You didn’t learn to pole dance? You’ll have to go back!
Funny. In my pre-writer days I never had any desire to learn to fire a handgun (growing up in Idaho, we had rifle safety in PE, so that was covered) but now that some of my characters shoot, I am feeling more curious… you know, to get the details right.
And sometimes too much is a good thing. Hope you enjoyed it overall!
I’m looking forward to the pictures. I mean to get to Vegas someday. However, I do not have the gambling gene.
Vegas is such a fun and interesting place to go…for a short time. It sounds like you covered a lot of ground and had a good time.
I went there 2 yrs ago to see my favourite Daniel at his first concert at Vegas, Yes I too ate too much, swollen feet, but did you see the Venitain Hotel, it was spectacular. At the concert Daniel ask for anyone from the UK/Ireland to stand up, peering from the stage he said “Ah there’s Yvonne from Bournemouth” that made my day.
Found your post very enjoyable as always.
Yvonne.
Sounds like fun, except for the blisters and dehydration, of course. Looking forward to the pics.
Karen
Ah, Vegas. What a wonderful little town.
Patricia, it was my pleasure to guest host and keep an eye on things while you were away. I did my best to control your rowdy crowd of blog readers, and luckily I didn’t have to raise my voice (much) to get them all to behave.
Love to do it again!
That sounds great. Yeah, as soon as the pictures are up, I’ll check them out
CD
Sounds like a great time. I’m looking forward to the pictures!