Why am I starting off with a photo from Logan Airport (Boston), before we even left for Vegas? Because that was probably the last time we were happy that night. Our flight was delayed 2-3 hours, and since it was leaving at night, that put us into Vegas at around 1 AM, which was 4 AM our time. By the time, we got to our hotel (after a wildly overpriced cab ride) and grabbed something to eat at a crappy little cafe, it was already late for Vegas, let alone our internal clocks. Things did get better the next day, thankfully.
Because we were getting in so late our first night, we stayed at a cheaper hotel, the Golden Nugget in Old Vegas. Although the hotel itself isn't as impressive as the ones on the Strip, the pool area was very cool. It may be hard to see, but the waterslide goes through a shark tank.
After that, we headed over to the Strip and checked into Mandalay Bay, where we spent the rest of our trip. The first afternoon, we played some video poker and then we found the Burger Bar, a great pub/restaurant in the shopping area that has about a zillion types of beer. It ended up being a frequent destination of ours during the trip.
As it turned out, the newest Cirque du Soleil show was having its world premiere at Mandalay Bay our first night there. Just like a Hollywood premiere, they set up a red carpet area and had a bunch of celebrities. As we were heading out to the Hard Rock Hotel to see another show, Marilu took this picture, which may be the worst quality photo I've ever posted on the blog. It'll probably take a lot of squinting, but it happens to be Doogie Howser/Barney himself, Neil Patrick Harris.
Speaking of the Hard Rock Hotel, we decided to walk from Mandalay Bay since it didn't seem that far. Misjudging distances is a common error in Las Vegas, which we realized after we walked 2.8 miles, mostly outside to HRH. Oh, and did I mention it was 117 degrees that day? (47 for my Canadian fans) Somehow I survived, even though I couldn't have been less hydrated, having drank many high alcohol beers that afternoon at the Burger Bar.
Before the show, we went to the Hofbrauhaus Vegas. For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Hofbrauhaus is a famous beer hall in Munich, Germany. And for those of you unfamiliar with my past, I lived in the Munich area for almost 3 years while in the US Army, back in the early 1990s. So, since I'd been to the original many, many times, I just had to see the re-creation. I have to admit, from what I remember, they did a very good job with it. The beer was so-so, but that could be attributed to either the fact that my beer tastes have changed since drinking German lagers 2 decades ago, or it could be that I was about ready to pass out from heat exhaustion. One or the other. Whatever the case, here I am finishing off a liter of their dunkel.
The show we saw at the Hard Rock was the stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay. If you know anything about the Dice Man, you know he is one crude mother f*****. As such, when we ordered our tickets, we tried to make sure we weren't anywhere near the front row. When we got there, we discovered it was a fairly small theater, and guess which row we were in? Ugh. As it turned out, Dice did focus on us, and I got picked on for a good third of his act. I suppose it could have been a bad experience, but the way we see it, it made it all the more memorable.
After the show, Dice posed for pictures in the lobby. However, since he was charging $30 or $40 a pop, Marilu just snapped a picture of him with someone else. That said, we both agreed he should have taken a picture with us for free, just for the grief he gave me. :)
On our way back to the room (we took a cab back...no more 3 mile walks), we were getting on the elevator and Marilu whispered to me, "That's Alison Janney!" As it turns out, the former star of The West Wing was returning to her room after seeing the new Cirque show, and she graciously took a picture with us. So all in all, it was a pretty neat first full day in Vegas.
I'm going to stop there for now since there are still a lot of pictures to see and stories to be told, but it's 1:30 in the morning, and I don't want to be up until 4:00. I'll put up some more--hopefully the rest--tomorrow.
In Lucas news, his science camp is going well. He's having a great time, and Marilu and I are enjoying the house being quiet from 9-5. Also, Lucas had his first trip to a Subway restaurant yesterday, and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He ordered a foot long Italian BMT with cheddar cheese, untoasted. Surprisingly, he ordered the exact same topping as I do (lettuce, black olives, no sauces or oils), without any prompting from me. Like father, like son, I guess. In case you're wondering why we let him get a foot long, it's because he had half for dinner and the other half as his lunch today. We're not actively encouraging obesity, yo.
3 comments:
So much fun! And so happy for you guys on your 10th anniversary. Much love.
The commentary is as good as the pictures. Great memories you have there! You forgot to mention though where the little guy was. We were the lucky ones even though you were in Vegas. So much fun for us. Thanks for the Lucas science camp update also.
Ha! I've got to show Brad your pic of Dice. He loves him. Was he really a dick about it? Double ha!
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