Day 19 - Las Vegas, NV

Sorry about the absence of a post yesterday night, right now its actually the end of day 20 but I'm going to attempt to post for yesterday and today this evening. A lot of pretty great adventures have happened in the last two days, but I ran into the first instance of not having internet in my hotel last night. I WAS staying at the Tropicana but they wouldn't let me stay in cool room for the second night for the same price. Honestly, it was real nice but not quite 80 dollars nice. Hence, I crossed the street to Excalibur for the cheap. Great place but they get you in the door for cheap and then want $22 bucks to access the net. I figured that my demanding audience could deal with a day without news, I'm sure you were all waiting with baited breath.

Anyway, I got started on Monday a little later than I had originally intended. Even though the two casinos were only across the street from each other, these places are so big that you can spend half an hour walking from one to the other. By the time that I was re-checked into Excalibur, it was actually 11 but that was okay, one of the important things about Vegas is that honestly most people are still recovering from the night before until about 5pm. Vegas really is hard to fathom until you actually come here. It has changed a lot since I was here about 8 years ago. Back then, it was still sort of a family place and it wasn't very expensive. It was kind of like a much bigger version of Reno, mostly parents and kids and then retirees it seemed. Nowadays its really an adult playground. I don't just mean adult as in sex, I mean adult as in the best of the best of everything. It seems that the standard day for a Vegas vacationer is to gamble, shop, tan, or sightsee during the day and then at some point in the late afternoon go back to the room, get fancy and go see a show (of which there are hundreds it seems) and then eat at one of the five star restaurants (of which there are also hundreds it seems). Although I'm not exactly one to spend fifty dollars on an entree, certainly not when I'm trying to keep costs down, I think its a good thing for Vegas. It makes a lot more sense than trying to find some line between fun for adults and being kid friendly.

So I spent most of the day, checking out the various casino resorts. Each one has its own flavor and amazing things to see. I have to be honest though, you guys may have heard about the newest casino called 'Wynn,' it cost more than 3.5 Billion to make...I'm not real sure why. I mean its really really opulent and pretty. Compared to some of the others though that cost less than half that...Iunno, its certainly not the most remarkable out there. It was pretty amazing to see some of these places though and go shopping through stores like Versace and Prada. Not that i'd EVER buy a 5,000 blazer, but it's fun to look and be shocked.

The highlight of the day though, was actually something that I'd completely forgotten about. If you guys ever see it come on TV again, you should watch the international bartending championships. Bartenders from all over the world come to Vegas once a year for this tournament wherein they have to make varied drinks and show their 'flair,' which means throwing bottles in crazy ways and whatnot. Well, I'd seen it a few months before and totally forgot that the previous champion was tending right at the Flamingo. The 'bar' was actually outside on the strip and you could see the crowd around this guy. His name is 'Flippy' and he's somewhat of a local celebrity. With good reason too, he was amazing to watch. I got my own drink from him, of course, and he was throwing bottles everywhich way but always he was in control. I tipped him five bucks (I mean he's the world champion.) and he stuck it right to his head, he was pretty sweaty I figure. So thats my five bucks you see there.

My splurge for the day was going to see Lewis Black at the MGM that night. He was absolutely side splittingly funny although the guy who opened for him was just godawful. He actually had about five minutes of material about going on the Temple tour in Salt Lake and he was dead on. I ended up having a pretty late dinner and watching a band at the Excalibur Lounge until about 1:30. Pretty great day all told, I'll miss Vegas but hopefully I'll be back before too long. Maybe October??