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| Kate & Cindy, Caesar's Place, Las Vegas |
Pat called at 6:15 to say Cindy was on her way. We had hoped to take our new car but it's still in the shop and another long story. Cindy says she was hadn't slept and was awake all night — but she missed the thunderstorm. Probably another darn exaggeration!
Anyways, we got away at about 6:30 and had a boring drive, or at least an eventful one, to Detroit. We arrived at the Ambassador bridge and US Customs prepared for the worst but we're passed through quickly after explaining that we were heading to Las Vegas. We assume this happens a lot, i.e. Canadian flying out of Detroit for Las Vegas.
Reg arrived at the Detroit airport terminal at 9:30 after first dropping of Kate and Cindy, parking the car and etc. He has his first beer at 9:45. The plane left Detroit at 10:35 for a short hop to Chicago and at about 11:00 a.m. they came around with beverages. Cindy and Kate each ordered a vodka and orange juice. The stewardess looks shocked and said, "You must be on holidays!" Reg was in the seat behind them but when he ordered a beer she didn't say a word. So Kate turned around and said, "You must be on holidays!" Reg pretended he didn't know these drunken louts!
Reg had the onerous job of running the window exit — he passed the requirements but didn't have to exercise his life saving abilities. He spilled half his beer on the plane — oh well. He also dropped and broke his camera — it continues to work but will need serious repair when we return.
At the O'Hare airport in Chicago they're overbooked for the next leg to Las Vegas and are offering $300 travel vouchers for any passengers who are willing to take a later flight (arriving at 8:30 versus our flight arriving at 1:30). Kate and Cindy are not tempted although it would have meant a free trip to Texas some time. Four others volunteered which makes the issue academic. But they also got seats on our plane which means that many didn't arrive even though they were booked. So I suppose they didn't get the vouchers.
Rain in London, rain in Detroit, rain in Chicago. Sure hope the weather is better in Las Vegas.
At O'Hare we were looking for a postcard store to send to Pat from "The Windy City" but didn't buy one because there was no post box on this level. However, they did see a bar that said Bloody Mary's for $5.95 and you get to keep a free O'Hare souvenir glass! Kate couldn't pass that by so she and Cindy each got one in a plastic glass to keep their souvenir glass clean. Reg had a Killian's red beer. Here's the neat thing — they let us take our drinks out of the bar and into the waiting area where it was cooler! Cindy says, "God I love the states!"
We arrived Las Vegas McCarann International Airport to very hot weather. The official "grown up" terminal is much bigger than the charter terminal where Kate and Reg had landed last time. Still, it has lots of slots to play. You ride a train or subway type vehicle to the main terminal where you get your luggage.
Where is Pat! Cindy tried phoning but got no answer — and he has his girlfriends over!
The Alamo car rental picked us up at the airport in an air conditioned shuttle. There are lots of the companies that do this although it was a little weird to figure out. Damn, our rental car has a tape deck and we didn't bring any tapes along. We picked up some beer and double vodka across the road from the car rental — start your trip right. The clerk told us she doesn't drink, good job I suppose.
What follows is our quick tour of Las Vegas:
We stayed at Harrah's on the south strip near the airpot. It's also a Holiday Inn. Their casino is in a riverboat motif. The rooms are very nice, ours has a nice view of the pool. But, we are on the 18th floor and it's on the 2nd. It seems that casinos are constantly being renovated but the renovations here aren't as intrusive as our stay, last fall, at the nearby Imperial palace.
After a skin bracer (couple of beers and some double vodka) at our hotel we're ready to attack the city.
We had asked the fellow at the car rental to recommend a show. He suggested splash at the Riviera Dash said it was a big production, an "adult" show (which to Reg means naked women!) So, we bought Show tickets at our hotel $38- this includes two drinks and tips and booked for a clock now to some casinos have dinner and get to the show.
We wander through our hotel casino where there's lots of activity — slots and more slots, poker, blackjack, and more. All this at the Holiday Inn! Great family entertainment.
The Mirage, across the street, is the newest hotel at about 3 years old . It's famous for the fountain and volcano at the entrance — the volcano goes off every 15 minutes after dark. We saw this later in the evening just before bedtime.
The Mirage is also famous for it's atrium (so many orchids) and the animals. This time we found the white tigers. S
We showed Cindy the nearby Caesar's Palace — Kate made sure we saw the hologram actors dancing as Rome burns. This is one of the grander casinos with grand entrances, fountains, statues, and lots of crazy Italian chicks. It was built in 1967.
We ate at "Battista's Hole in the Wall" on Flamingo; just around the corner a bit from our hotel. This restaurant has become an ARF tradition started by Mario (Kate's boss). Louie (Kate's colleague) was there only a week ago and now here we are. As usual, two jugs of wine are served. A red and a white. These wines are aged about 30 days and then filtered to produce a young beast with just a bit of bubbly left in — I'm kidding. They are young plonk though; that's for sure.
The accordion fellow at Battista's must make a real killing. He comes to every table to say hello, chat a bit and play a few bars of some old favorite before taking a tip and moving on. Reg has no small bills but leaves him a $2 Canadian bill -— a $2 bill is bad luck in Las vegas. Sorry!
We walk up the strip, north to the Riviera where the Splash show is playing. The Frontier staff are still on strike and another hotel has workers on strike as well. There are pickets on the strip.
At the Riviera Casino, despite having tickets, we still stand in line for the show. People who arrived earlier have been seated since 6:30 and it is now 7:30. The maître d' is taking us to an obscure corner far from the stage. Reg asks if there are still any good seats and he has some green in his hand (very casual though). After some searching a good spot, or at least one a lot closer, with a good view is found for us. No fuss, no muss, and we tip $10.
The show is a great spectacle with laser writings, fireworks, synchronized swimmers (in a tank on the stage), divers, three motorcyclists who zoom around inside a sphere that is about 12 feet in diameter, four amazing Italian acrobats, one comedian, one magician, and horde of vigorous dancers including Michael Jackson and Madonna look-alikes who lip sync the words (badly). Costumes and stage props, etc. were truly unbelievable. Dancing was well done but repetitive in a workout style to disco beat music.
We were pretty tired and maybe a little cranky, but not Regwho was just "lit", when we left the Riviera Casino. Although bed was our target we found a cab and had a drive through "Glitter Gulch" for Cindy's benefit. Our our cabbie was an older geezer from Texas — he'd been here over 30 years. He was very dry with an Arkansas Louisiana accent. He told us the Grand Canyon is it just a big hole in the ground — not quite! He told us about some of the new casinos being built. A "Temple of Luxor" shaped like a pyramid with boat rides to and from your room. The Mirage is a building an extension that will have battling pirate ships with cannons, etc. to augment the volcano. I'm sure he was just exaggerating, however, given what is there already he's not likely exaggerating too much.
These notes, originally composed by Kate, Cindy and Reg at the time of the trip, were transcribed '21/07/05 with the help of Google voice recognition.
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