Vegas News :o)

Sunday's travel day was not bad at all. Our flight out of South Bend was only delayed 30 minutes, and we had a three hour layover in Chicago, so had no problem with making the connection and getting into Sin City while the night was relatively young (we got to the hotel at about 8:30 P.M.). We forgot how long of a flight from Chicago it is, three and a half hours.

We met up with our friends Kim and Steve, had a cool amber beverage, and then headed to explore Bally's and Paris casinos. We will write more about them when we return, but the ceilings in Paris are painted like the sky, it is very inviting. We played a few slots, a little blackjack (only $10 tables, that did not last long) and some craps (this was fun because we were able to teach the rules to Kim and Steve). Alas, we did not win big the first night (down about $100), but all in all, a fun evening.

Today, we met up about 10:30 A.M., and headed to the Rio for a look around, and then across the street to the Gold Coast (the picture above shows the weather, in the high forties, and a bit overcast, and also the fact that some construction is still occurring, but it has slowed a bit). We had a blast playing some blackjack, and I ended up $70, and Beth down $50, so pretty good for about three hours of gambling. The picture here shows Steve, Beth, a wonderful gentleman (who helped Kimberly weather her first blackjack experience, she did great by breaking even over a three hour period), and Kim. The last hour, I was able to get a seat at the table, and we had a fun time with a guy from central Michigan.

We came back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and headed to dinner. We went to a burger place, and Beth had a Cobb salad and I had a Blue Cheese burger. The deserts were fabulous, we had a Cheese Cake with fresh berries, it was the smoothest I have ever had.

We then headed to the Mirage (a nice brisk walk to burn off some of the burger), and saw an amazing Cirque Du Solie (spelling?) show, LOVE, with a Beatles theme. One a scale of 1 to 10, Beth would rate it an 11, and I would rate it a 9.5 (mine is slightly less because I am not quite the music aficionado that Beth is, and the show had great dancing, but less tumbling and such). We had front row seats, and it was amazing. I will leave the graphic descriptions to Beth and her wonderful talent with prose.

Tomorrow we are headed to old Vegas for the Neon Sign Museum tour, some seafood buffet, and the whole Fremont Street Experience :o) I am sure there will be some more blackjack in our plans as well.

Needless to say, the first night and day in Vegas exceeded expectations. We have to pay for Internet, so are not going to be able to provide regular updates or many pictures until we return (besides, we are not spending very much time in the room :o). Hope your week is going well, and know that even though we are not visiting you right now, does not mean we are not thinking of you all and wishing you well.