Viva Las Vegas, Vol. 2

Las Vegas is one of those cities you have to see to believe. It’s like Disney World, only not, because children should never be allowed there. Frommer’s is dead-on when it describes Vegas as wonderfully awful and awfully wonderful. I was worried that Alan might hate it, but I was wrong. The boy wants to move there.

The trip started out great for him. Because of a fear of flying, he started out with a beer at the airport. And because he was headed to Vegas(!), he opted to have a rum and Coke as well. He got the party started right. On the flight, a flight attendant took an extreme liking to him, bringing him three free drinks over the course of the flight (gate to gate is typically only a little over an hour). Alan finally had to mention that he was meeting his wife in Vegas. Starting off his trip with near-scandal!

By the time Alan got to the hotel, he was a sheet or two to the wind. By the time I met him at the hotel, he thought Vegas was the greatest place on earth. By the time we checked in, I was afraid he would pass out and sleep through our show. Ok, he wasn’t that bad, but he might have gotten there had Vegas sunk its claws deeper into him without me along for the ride. I also might have cried when I saw him in the lobby of the hotel; I was that happy to see my lovely drunken husband after a long week at a trade show.



We stayed at the MGM Grand and got upgraded to The Signature, a separate hotel altogether that must have been a 3-mile walk from the regular MGM. But the hotel room was amazing, with all these Cuisinart appliances (why?), huge Jacuzzi tub and hot shower. The shower was especially impressive because I’d taken two cold ones at the Riviera, where I’d stayed all week. Blerg. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, but here you go.



We had to pick up our tickets before the show, and our dinner reservations were at the Bellagio, so we headed off to dinner, stopping for a couple of the obligatory tourist photos.



We picked up our tickets for the show and I had a drink or two while we waited for our reservation at Fix, a restaurant where we proceeded to rack up quite the total for our bill. We didn’t really hold back. We both got steaks and salads and wine and this “adult” macaroni and cheese (of course, adult) and creamed spinach. It was sinful, but hey, that’s the name of the city.

I have a great picture of Alan toasting with his wine glass, but this one really says it all.



After dinner we headed to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O” show. It’s the one with the water. And then no water. And water again. And diving and synchronized swimming and trapeze and contortionists and big rocking boats and fire and swinging and flipping. Well worth every penny. Granted, it’s a lot of pennies, but it’s definitely worth all of them.

I have since gotten over my jealousy of the flight attendant. Turns out he was no real threat to our marriage.