The cats can be "self-tending" with an automatic feeder; we were off early yesterday morning, by car. It is "desert pretty" between Phoenix and Las Vegas... meaning: there isn't a lot of civilization, not a ton of greenery, but the landscape can be dramatic...
The drive started out with lively chatter, but got quiet along the way...
Well, it was an early morning. ;-) We stopped in Wikieup for snacks and a pottie break - didn't take Steph and Dan long to get into trouble...
Yeah, that is pretty touristy.
We rolled into Las Vegas shortly after noon. Steph and Dan's favorite place to stay is Paris... not the city in France, the casino/hotel on the strip. We were there too early for check-in, so we picked up tickets for the shows were were going to see that night. Shows, as in plural: we planned for dinner with the 4 of us, then each couple off to see what they wanted to see.
We walked up and down the Strip. It is a bit of an optical illusion trying to judge distances between the HUGE casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard... I felt like I walked my feet almost to the bone.
After checking in...
Back at our rooms, we got to rest our feet, then cleaned up and headed out for supper. Steph and Dan's favorite restaurant here is Texas de Brazil...
They had described it to us, but you have to partake of the "de Brazil" type of dining to appreciate it... it might as well have been called "MeatFest"... after you go through the very extensive salad bar, you flip over a round red/green disk by your place setting. On the green setting, the many meat-servers flock around your table. Not like that is a bad thing, they bring all different kinds of meat on a giant skewer, and carve you off a piece. All different types of cooked beef, pork, lamb, and chicken... have them slice off as much or as little as you want. It is not an inexpensive dining treat, so I felt like I should try them all. It wasn't long before my plate was covered with tasty meat servings. Flip the disk back to red, and the servers move on to other tables. Flip it back to green, and they are right there. The service was outstanding, the meats were savory. It is a unique dining experience, and we could see why Steph and Dan enjoy this place.
Back out to the Strip, and we dropped Steph and Dan off at Treasure Island for the show they wanted to see, a Cirque du Soleil production, Mystere'. We headed to New York, New York for a more adult Cicque production, Zumanity. We did some gaming while we were waiting for our seating at the show... Joan had good fortune with Blackjack, I came out ahead with Poker... it was already a good start to the evening!
The performers at Zumanity were amazing: sensual and all the acrobatic athleticism you expect with Cirque du Soleil. Some comedy, lots of music, breath-taking staging. A fun night out on the Vegas Strip...
I expected the crowds to be a little slack on a Monday night in March... I would be wrong - everywhere we went was packed. There was a NASCAR event in Vegas over the weekend - we heard it brought in over 120,000 people and put around 143 million dollars into the local economy. Vegas felt it when the economy tanked, but it appears that Vegas is back, baby!
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