OUR LAS VEGAS VACATION, 2007

Las Vegas has been one of our "sought after" vacation destinations for years. This year however, we had planned on a possible trip to England and Scotland, but when we became aware of the "LOVE" show by CIRQUE de SOLEIL in Las Vegas, that clinched the deal - it was to be LAS VEGAS in 2007. If you aren't familiar with the "LOVE" phenomenon, GO OUT AND BUY THE CD - it's fabulous. It's all our beloved BEATLES music from that very important part of our lives literally made into classics. The show that accompanies it is equally impressive.

What follows are a very few of the MANY MANY pictures we as typical tourists took on this trip. This was our first venture into the life of senior citizens on "bus tours" (we took three) where the first words out of every tour guide is "the rest rooms are located to the right". Bless them!! We truly enjoyed every minute of this trip, and hope these few pictures give you some of the same pleasure we had when taking them.

LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS 1959 -- at least that is when this sign was designed. We are not sure this is where it stood that entire time, as this is sort of on the "fringes" of the strip, but it certainly is the most famous representation of the city. A bit of trivia: The circles around the letters in the word "WELCOME" are representations of silver dollars, AND, this sign was designed by a woman, unusual for that time. We arrived on Sunday the 18th and returned to Oil City on Sunday the 25th. It was a great trip.

OUR HOTEL, THE MIRAGE

Since the "LOVE" show was our impetus for this vacation to Las Vegas, we stayed at the MIRAGE HOTEL where the show was playing. The MIRAGE was the first of the "mega" resorts built on the strip, but still has a great appeal amongst the many others now surrounding it. Our room was on the 17th floor, above the bottom of the "V" formed by the palm trees on the right side of this view of the property. The staff, service, and amenities were all top caliber. We would stay there again in a minute.

GRAND CANYON

Our first trip out of Las Vegas was the GRAND CANYON. After a hectic trip from Shreveport, arrving at our hotel about 11PM Sunday evening (and with a 2 hour time differential), we had to be "on the bus" at 6:30 AM Monday morning. We didn't arrive at the Grand Canyon until 2PM, but it was well worth the trip. Bobby had been there before, but for Thom it was a magnificent first experience. It is something you hear about all your life, but until you stand at that rim, and peer down, you can't really understand the vastness of the place. We had a little over 2 hours there, then another long bus trip back to the hotel, It was a very tiring day, but certainly one we will not soon forget. The new suspended "overlook" which has been in the news lately was not yet operational, nor in the area we visited.

THE HOOVER DAM

The HOOVER DAM is an engineering marvel. Another nearby marvel is the new bridge going up OVER the gorge area. It will be 900 feet above the dam, suspended from each side of the gorge. It is meant to keep vehicular traffic off the dam ridge, where the highway now exists. The cranes and concrete pilings are enormous and somewhat freightening, and frankly, we kind of hope we never have to cross the finished span. Construction was set to be completed in 2008, but a fallen crane has added another 2 years to the completion date.

LAKE MEADE

LAKE MEADE and the HOOVER DAM was our second "old folks" bus tour. It was a very interesting and educational experience. The enormity of it all is a bit hard to conceive. The lake is beautiful, but as you can see in the background of this wonderful picture of Bobby, the water level is down considerably, over 90 feet. We were told this is the result of a 10 year drought in the area. This water supply is vital to California, Arizona and Nevada.

THE VENETIAN HOTEL

The VENETIAN is located right across the street from the MIRAGE and was the primary focus of the view from the window of our room on the 17th floor. It is a mini version of VENICE of course, but very pleasant and quite beautiful. The hotel in the background is TREASURE ISLAND.

THE GRAND CANAL

This is the GRAND CANAL inside the VENETIAN hotel. It also runs to the exterior of the building. So many of the large resort hotels have brought the "outside" right "inside" the properties. We commented that Las Vegas MUST have a full time "sky painter" as these places all have very real looking skys high above the shops and streets located indoors. They are often lighted to correspond with the actual time of day.

LIBERACE MUSEUM

The LIBERACE museum was a "must see" for us. He grew up literally blocks away from where Thom lived as a child in Milwaukee, and got his start there. Thom had seen him in live performances in New York a few times, and even once met him in person on 49th Street in front of the WALDORF in NYC. The museum has a great presentation of many of his pianos (some truly unique and historic pieces) and many of his outrageous outfits and costumes. The propety was once a bank and small shopping center, and is a bit "tacky" - just the right atmosphere!!

CAESARS PALACE

CAESARS PALACE is located right next to the MIRAGE, where we stayed. It is an enormous complex of at least three hotel towers (that we could see), over 150 high end shops and 15 restaurants. It has "over the top" design, with many fountains, Roman statues, murals etc. The FAO SCHWARTZ store is a huge Trojan Horse. One has to wonder where the money comes from to support all these exclusive shops! We certainly felt that we were the "norm" as vacationers, and we definitely do not have enough disposable income to support these places. As a tourist however, it certainly is a place to see!!

BELLAGIO

The BELLAGIO was, we believe, the first "over the top" resort hotel with a cost in the billions. Now, there is multi-billion dollar construction going on all over the Vegas "strip". The CITY CENTER project alone is extimated at 7.6 billion dollars. High rise buildings are going up everywhere, and studio apartments in these new structures start at $600,000. Many of the early casinos on the strip are scheduled for "implosion". The SANDS recently went down, and the FRONTIER is on the list. It's hard to imagine where all this is going. The VENETIAN is adding a new hotel, the "PALAZZO", which when completed will give the VENETIAN a room capacity of about 7500, a new world record. (The MGM GRAND had held the record of about 5500 rooms.)

HOTEL AMENITIES

One of the most amazing things for us was the lavish furnishings and decorations of the "strip" hotel/resorts. This huge aquarium was behind the front desk at the MIRAGE. All the large resort hotels have similiar attractions, be it an indoor botanical garden (Bellagio) or the Grand Canal (Venetian) or the Roman Forum (Caesars Palace). Everything in these hotels seems to have been done without thought to "cost cutting", but rather with quality and presentation.

FREMONT STREET

FREMONT STREET is the "old" Las Vegas where "the action" was before the advent of the LAS VEGAS BLVD. "strip". One of our bus trips included an evening there, under the 12 million light canopy. It covers a five block section of Fremont Street which is now only open to pedestrian traffic. It is a technicological marvel, but unfortunately has been turned into a huge TV type advertisement. Seeing all the old "vintage" casinos was interesting however, as were the prices, often 75% less than on the "strip".

THE "LOVE" SHOW

On Friday evening, we saw the show which was the reason for our trip to LAS VEGAS. The CIRQUE de SOLEIL "LOVE" show was by far and away the best stage show either of us has ever seen anywhere. Of course the nostalgia element had a great deal to do with it. The music was wonderful, the "acts" totally sensational. At one point during the song "WITHIN WITHOUT YOU" the entire audience is under a huge piece of white fabric right overhead, feeling like we were all "under the sheets".

PARIS CASINO DINNER

Our last night in Las Vegas we had dinner at the EIFFEL TOWER restaurant at the PARIS casino. We had a window table overlooking the BELLAGIO fountain show which is presented every 15 minutes. It was a wonderful experience in a superb environment with excellent food and quality service. We visited the top of the tower before dinner. It gave us a wonderful view of Vegas and we finally knew what we were looking at after a week in town. The BALLY casino is to the left.

Our STAINED GLASS CLASS ends.

As some of you know, Bobby and I have been taking a stained glass class at the local Community College for the past two months. We finished last night, but have signed up for the advanced class to begin later this month. These are a few of the pieces we did over these weeks. It has been a lot of fun, and a new form of creative expression. Thom, having more time at home, has really "run with it" and is enjoying it a great deal.

Piece # 3

Piece # 2

Bob's first class project.

Thom's first class project.

POSITIVE EXPERIENCE!!

I had an interesting experience at the VA yesterday. I was having a bit of a problem with bursitis on my left knee, and since we are leaving for our Las Vegas vacation on Sunday, wanted to be sure any problems would be resolved before then. Even though the Shreveport VA is exceptional in all aspects, there still is a waiting time and waiting room prior to consultations and treatment. In the “walk in/emergency” area it is a large space at the back of the building. Even at 7AM it is pretty well populated, and staff is coming in through the entrance. At the time I was there (early) there was an elderly EVS gentleman cleaning the area. He was a bit on the “scraggly” side, but working diligently. There is a large TV in the area, and the ABC morning news was on at the time. The report on General Pace’s negative remarks about gays was being presented at the time. The EVS gentleman seemed very interested, and was sort of grumbling to himself. Frankly, considering the fact that we are in a very deeply religious conservative area where these issues are rarely discussed let alone defended, I was expecting an outburst with highly religious overtones and condemnation. When he finally did expound, his words were “that’s really nobody’s business, who knows, that might be the guy who saves your life”. I can tell you, I was the one who wanted to shout hallelujah.