June 5, 2002 -- Las Vegas

While we didn't really do any touring as such while in "sin city," we did wander through a couple of the many casinos and dropped a total of $3.50 in the slots (the last of the big-time spenders!).  We also took one evening to see the lights and in particular the fountain show at the Bellagio hotel/casino.  We felt a sense of wonder at the number of casinos that were there (lots), their individual themes, and the incredible creativity involved in designing each of them--not to mention the billions it took to construct them.  It is, of course, the major tourist trap in the world and sucks up money like the Hoover Dam intake towers suck up water.  We wondered how many millions each casino took in daily from its thousands of willing donors.

Imagine our surprise when we saw some of Tacoma's own Dale Chuhuly's glass work on display.  There was a specific accent on fresh flowers in one part of the hotel, and these glass blown flowers fit right in, acting as a sort of chandelier; they were gorgeous.

The Paris hotel was across the street, with the 1/2 sized Eiffel Tower.  There's a restaurant in there that must command a wonderful view.  And then the fountain show.  First, it's free.  Second, it's every 15 minutes day and night.  It may shut down sometime, but every time we went by it was doing its thing.  All computer controlled, matched with music over loud speakers, and very impressive.

Lest you think we showed all the pictures we (Barb) took of the show and the surrounding lights, let me set the record straight.  I (we) narrowed it down to what we thought were the best.  There are at least another 25 or so shots of the show.

Walking around this hotel was fun.  We could smell the flowers, and neither of us saw a single dead one.  The butterfly was impressive because it was done on both sides.  Made me think of the floats for the New Year's Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA.  And then it was outside to the lights.  Since it was 103 degrees at 9 PM, the sunroof was open and Barb was pretending to be a contortionist sticking her head out the top to get some good shots.  Las Vegas Blvd. is called "The Strip" and even shows on the map that way.

Ah, yes.  The Harley-Davidson Cafe.  A friend of mine from Weyerhaeuser that I used to work with came to town for a holiday, and we picked her up at her hotel and ate lunch here before dropping her off at the airport for her return to Sea-Tac.  Thanks for the visit, Judy!

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