Back from Sin City

So I don't have any involved stories to tell about my trip to Las Vegas. Just a few short snippets, and the overall point that I had a really great time.

Going with a friend who had never been to Las Vegas before, I ended up doing a bunch of the typically touristy things, but that was pretty fun. For example, I've probably seen two dozen Bellagio fountain shows over the years, but one of the shows I saw this time was hands down the best I'd ever caught. It was set to the song "One" (from the musical A Chorus Line). Most of the fountains shows just seem to be "turn on the hoses, spin them around a bit; big jets for the grand finale." They could be set to practically any song and you wouldn't know the difference. This one actually had very recognizable choreography to it, almost like an actual chorus line, and it was really neat. Never would have seen it if I wasn't walking around town with my friend.

On the flip side, though, was my trip down to Fremont Street. It's a Catch-22. Everyone who goes to Vegas really should see it. The light show on the four-block long scoreboard-ish thing is an attraction people talk about. The area itself is "authentic" old Vegas. But it's also kind of a dump, and once you've been down there about 45 minutes, you've seen it all and you're ready to hightail it back to the Strip. But of course, we had to go. And sure enough, 45 minutes later, after my friend called it "dirty" or "grungy" or something like that, we were back on the bus. Oh well, you gotta do whatya gotta do.

But something I've done before and was totally happy to do again was go see Ka, the Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM Grand. It's really a fantastic show, and seeing it with my friend the stage manager added another layer of appreciation to it all. That jaw-dropping stage is just... well... jaw-dropping.

I played some poker too, and I've decided that aside from those cool fountains, I probably shouldn't hit Bellagio for entertainment on any future trips. For my third Vegas trip running, I dumped a lot of money at a Bellagio poker table, only to have to try to earn it back elsewhere. I also played at the Mirage this trip; had I just stuck to there, I'd have been up for the duration. It's superstition, I suppose, but I'm gonna go with it next time.

So that was Vegas. A good time was had by all. (Well, both of us.) Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.