The King

Wow! How does one describe Las Vegas? An amazing place with pretty much nothing of interest to either Cheryl or myself! A place with a carbon footprint larger than all outdoors! A place where smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere ---- not in restaurants, but the restaurants are attached to smoke filled casinos! A place where the sign in front of the Hilton that we stayed at was bigger than many complete hotels! Tonight's theme is The King, so I'll leave the picture of the sign to another day.

We really weren't there to gamble, but it sure was a gamble to do the wholesale show we were there for!

The King of course refers to Elvis.... our hotel/casino was the home of Elvis for many years evidently --- thus the statue above, with the queen of my heart next to it. Every event in Vegas pretty much has to have an Elvis impersonator, and the show promoters followed the rules. Actually a pretty good looking guy who undoubtedly made more money wandering the show for a couple of hours posing for pictures, than we did for the whole show! I was of course disappointed that the show girls I had heard about from last year's show were not there. Probably a cost cutting measure?
The King of Beasts (actually two of them) grace a huge glassed in lion "habitat" at the MGM Grand. A glass corridor through their cage allows easy access to the lion accessory gift shop! If you look closely in the picture you can see them asleep on the roof of the people tunnel! The nearest outdoor air or light is at least 500 feet away! There are signs directing the public to anything and everything inside the walls, but not a clue as to how to leave the place! After a long, long walk, a friendly staff person directed us to the outside. I will not identify her as I'm sure her pay would be docked for such a transgression! Perhaps the two men inside the habitat were there as punishment for similar behavior????
And among the many landmarks is The Excalibur (below), named for King Arthur's famed sword! The fire breathing dragon under the moat seems to have incinerated himself since my last visit for the Juggler's Convention (1995 or so?), so I was disappointed to not be able to show Cheryl. We were far to tired to make it to Treasure Island where I trust the pirates are still beaten and their ship sunk every half hour!
All in all, we are very glad to be home, a bit poorer - because of our addiction to making stuff ........ not from gambling, and ready to settle in for 3 weeks or so before the next show!