Las Vegas Trip
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We had a very nice trip. It was Tracy's first time in Las Vegas (Don's been there about a dozen times) so it was filled with first-visit sight-seeing.
We planned the trip with our friends Larry and Dana, which worked out extremely well. Always fun to get together with them.
We checked in to Treasure Island (TI as it is now called) on Wednesday, and the first night wandered across the street to the Venetian - one of the hotels Tracy particularly wanted to see. Very nice hotel - had an authentic Italian dinner, and then took a gondola ride. Not bad, although it only lasts for 15 minutes or so (under the bridge, turn around, and back under the bridge).
Day two was spent trying to set a record for most hotels / casinos visited in one day. Well, it kinda felt like it anyway. We stopped at the Mirage, the Monte Carlo, New York - New York, the MGM (saw the lions), Paris, the Flamingo, back through the Mirage, and finally back to TI. The Flamingo was a nice surprise. Dana and Larry had gone off to find souveniers for their girls, and Tracy and Don just stopped in at the Flamingo for a quick rest-stop. We saw signs for a "nature preserve" which we followed outside. They have live pink flamingos, ducks, 3-foot long koi fish and penguins, among other things. Very nice garden atmosphere.
Thursday evening we went to see Lance Burton - magician / illusionist. Very entertaining show! Great "tricks" and funny too. At one point in the show, he pulls a young lady out of the audience and proceeds to levitate her. At the end of the trick, he called one of the people she was with up onto the stage and handed him a microphone. The guy says to her "I told you I would make this a magical evening..." then gets down on one knee and proposes to her. Very sweet (she said yes), and both Tracy and Dana had tears in their eyes (as I'm sure many folks in the audience did).
After the show we tagged up with Hamilton, a friend of Don's from way back in his diving show days. He's a great guy, although perhaps the ugliest man in Las Vegas. Sure hope his face clears up one of these days. (Sorry, I know that doesn't make much sense, unless you know him.)
Friday morning we were awakened by a breakfast delivery to our room. Altough it wasn't really planned, our trip coincided with our 10-year anniversary, and Dana and Larry surprised us with breakfast in bed. It was very nice to have them share our anniversary, particularly since Dana was one of Tracy's bridesmaids (their twins were also flower girls in our wedding).
They headed to the airport to return to San Diego, and Tracy and Don booked a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon. That was set for 2:45 in the afternoon, so we grabbed the tram over to the Mirage to see Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. Very, very nice exhibit. White tigers, white lions, panthers, leopards, an elephant and a bunch of dolphin. Lots of money obviously put into creating environments to match these animals natural habitats.
At 2:45 we were picked up by HeliUSA's van and taken out to the airport. This was the first helicopter ride for each of us, as well as our first visit to the Grand Canyon. Naturally, Tracy was considerably more nervous than Don about the flight. Our pilot kept a running dialogue throughout the flight, pointing out sights such as the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead... Lots of interesting factoids, as well as plenty of very dry humor - the same types of jokes that cause Tracy to just roll her eyes when Don comes up with them. There are dozens of different tours out of Vegas... the one we picked (partly because we booked it last minute and it was available) did not land in the canyon. Instead, the helicopter dips about 1500 feet below the rim, flies around a bit, then back up and over to a cowboy ranch. Picture in your mind an authentic old-west ranch - now, throw out that picture. I imagine this was authentic, but it's a far cry from what you see on TV and in the movies. It was nice, however, with a main building / restaurant, a few small cabins, couple of teepees, and some horses. They served us a bar-b-que chicken lunch, complete with a guitar-playing singing cowboy. Bet you're wondering if he sang "Rawhide" ... well, of course he did! Then, to our surprise, we went on a horseback ride. We had decided not to go, but as there were only 6 of us and the other two couples were riding, we went ahead and joined them - peer pressure, I guess. The ride was nice - gentle horses, very slow meandering along a rather rocky trail, pause for photos, and then back to the ranch. Helicopter picked us up, flew a bit more of a direct route back to Vegas, and culminated with a low flight down the Strip, giving us a nice aerial view of all of the casinos.
Friday night we ended up at the "Forum Shoppes at Ceasar's" - lots of upscale stores where Tracy was tempted to buy a $900 purse. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.
Saturday was back to the airport and finally back home (we missed our puppies so much!)
Oh yeah... there are casinos in Las Vegas. So, did we gamble? Well, I think "gambling" implies that you think you have a chance of winning, so no, it was more like we just handed over our money. Definitely did not walk away on the plus side, but neither did we regret the amount we spent - the bit we played was entertaining, plus you get free beverages while you play so we probably saved some money on all of Don's diet cokes.
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