March 11, 2003

This morning I was determined to take advantage of my early-running body clock by getting some great shots in the dawn light. Even though I got out of bed at midnight the night before to see and hear the Bellagio fountains perform "The Star Spangled Banner," I was awake shortly before 6 a.m. I quickly showered dressed, grabbed the camera and made my way downstairs. I took some shots of Bellagio and the Paris Balloon in the dawn light. About half of the people out at this hour were joggers. The sight of joggers on the Las Vegas strip intrigued me, so I shot some pictures of them as well.

I went back inside, bought a newspaper, raisin Danish and latte at the pastry shop near the elevator. I then took the same seat as the day before in the casino lounge near the TV showing CNN.

The front page of today's LVJR had an interesting article about how gaming revenues have declined in the past few years and how that is impacting the Nevada state budget. It outlined the construction booms of the 80s and 90s, and noted that there have been no major openings since the Aladdin opened a couple of years ago (I'm sure the folks at the Palms loved reading that). The editorial page ran a response to Monday's letter from the Rio cocktail waitress. The response said that the Rio's reputation of having the "hottest" cocktail servers was key to the resort's success, and necessary given its location somewhat off the strip. Therefore, the letter writer wrote, the Rio is justified in replacing its aging server staff.

I still wanted a Paris chip for my collection, so after breakfast I sat at one of Paris's $10 tables, resigning to the fact that the chip may cost me $15 if I didn't win and get the chip for free + $5 back. I drew a pair of 9s against the dealer's 6. I normally don't split 9s, but the dealer was egging me on, pointing to his 6. I decided to go for it. I drew 10s on both 9s, and the dealer conveniently busted. So I got my free chip + $15.

But I didn't want to play $10 blackjack so I went up the street again, this time to the historic Flamingo, incorrectly believed by some to be the first casino in Las Vegas. Maybe not, but it was the first on what would become the Las Vegas strip, which at that time was a lonely highway way out of town. It was also the beginning the mob's involvement in the Vegas casino business. I had heard that there was a plaque and a restaurant named in the memory of Bugsy Segal, so I walked around looking for it. I found the plaque outside, right next to the wedding chapel. The chapel did not open until 9 a.m., but it looked OK. I took a picture of the pool area, suspecting that it was not the same pool used by Elvis and Ann Margaret in the film "Viva Las Vegas!"

Inside I found a wall with photographs of the Flamingo taken throughout its long colorful history. One shot from the 1950s showed a man taking a swan leap from a 10-foot high dive. Yup! Definitely not into the 3' deep pool that's out there now! Around the corner were at least a hundred posters advertising many of the entertainers who performed at the Flamingo over the years.

I sat down at a $5 blackjack table and bought in for $50. A few hands later the dealer and my fellow players all got up and left. The new dealer was a 60-ish woman named Alfie. I asked her if I was her first. She laughed and said "Honey, you are not my first!" I embarrassingly explained that it was 8 a.m. and meant to ask if I was her first player today. As I played 1-on-1 I asked how long she had worked at the Flamingo, she said 16 years. As she dealt the cards to me, we talked about the history of the Flamingo and of Vegas in general. It was all very interesting, but I was having trouble focussing on both the conversation and the game I was playing. I guess I'm not as good as I thought. At about 8:10 my phone started ringing. I quickly finished the hand and left the table to take the call. Sonya was awake and ready for breakfast. I made three more walks around the casino, the first to find the cashier, the second to find Bugsy's Deli and buy a bagel for Sonya, the third to find the door. I had cashed out with $37.50. I kept one Flamingo chip for my collection, so I was really down only one hand, plus a surrender of a 10-6 to Alfie's 10.

Our last day in Vegas! Dan got up really early again and headed off to Flamingo. He brought me a bagel and cream cheese from Bugsy's Deli for breakfast and we packed and got organized and ready to go.

I had asked for a late check out so we didn't need to be out of the room until 1pm, but I wanted to have everything together so it wasn't a mad dash at the last minute.

At 9:30 we headed down to the car and over to Monte Carlo to see the chapel. By this time I was all chapeled out. :) It was beautiful, but my heart wasn't in it anymore. We walked over to the Market City Caffe to see the private dining areas, but nobody was working there yet. Dan just walked in and took some pictures of areas that looked like they might be the place.

We drove back over the Rio to try to see the honeymoon suite. We got up to the chapel fairly easily, especially now that I knew where it was, but nobody was at the desk. I put my tired butt into one of the chairs in the area and waited. Dan wandered around to find someone to help us, but nobody was around. We saw a couple of employees of Rio, but nobody acknowledged us. Finally Dan asked one young lady if there was someone here who could help us. She said, "Uh.. I think she's out today." Okay. :)

We asked if we could see the honeymoon suite and she said she'd make a call to see if it was available. She came back a few minutes later to say that they'd put someone into it last night and we could probably see it "tomorrow". I told her that we were leaving today but thanks anyway and we headed out.

I was a little disappointed in the service we got at Rio. Of all the places we visited, I was most disappointed with Rio. I have always had such good service there in the past. I was surprised to have had so many indifferent people there this trip. Hopefully it was just a fluke or my bad luck.

We walked up to the check in desk and got in line. When it was our turn we asked if there was a way we could see a Masquerade Suite as we were considering getting one for a wedding reception. The check in clerk gave us a key and sent us up to room 37029.

	<-- This bath and this --> closet are in the entry area for guests

We went up and toured around a beautiful suite. It has a great 180-degree view of the Strip that must be amazing at night. The bathroom off the bedroom was HUGE. Almost as big as our room at Paris! The entertaining area seemed a little smaller than the room at Aladdin, but still big enough for a party.

I'd have to pick the Rio suite over the Aladdin suite. Although the Aladdin suite we saw had a wide-screen flat TV, and the Rio had a mere 36' regular set, a larger TV at Rio would only block the magnificent view which includes the entire Las Vegas strip

Being the groom, I don't have strong preferences for one chapel over another. All are "churchy" enough for people who feel weddings should be in a church, yet not overtly religious enough to put off non-religious people. I thought Mandalay Bay and Bellagio had the nicest chapels, followed by Monte Carlo, which is a bit less expensive. The Rio chapel was a bit plainer and looked a little worn, which was a slight disappointment because I do like the Rio a lot. Also, all of the chapels we saw had at least three video cameras to record the ceremony. Some had them just mounted on the wall on either side of the altar, others had them recessed behind one-way mirrors or tinted glass. One place had them painted to match the walls behind them. Hidden would be better, but I wouldn't base my decision just on that. For receptions, I like the suites we saw at Aladdin and Rio. I just feel more comfortable in my own space.

What is always in the back of one's mind as you look at these venues is the reaction of family members. My relatives are not huge Vegas fans, and I was a little worried about the image of the Vegas wedding which includes drive-ins, Elvis, questionable buffet food and gaudy tackiness. While all these are available in Vegas for those who want them, some of the venues are very classy as well. Mandalay Bay is not Stardust, Flamingo or the Circus-Circus buffet (so slight against these places - they were built in a different era and so offer a different ambiance). Mandalay Bay is a place I would be proud to share with any family member, and would be my pick if cost were not a factor.

We took all our pictures and headed downstairs. My poor body was worn out so I sent Dan to return the key without me. I sat down at a Video Poker machine and put in $20. I didn't think I got enough credits, but just started playing. When Dan showed up, I started to cash out and really big quarters came out of the machine. It was a $0.50 machine. I said, "Oops! I thought this was a quarter machine!" Dan asked how much I put in and then how much I was taking out. I'd managed to turn a $20 into a $50, so yay for me. :)

We got the car and gassed up the rental car at the Texaco across from the Rio. We'd always gotten gas there in the past, but this time we had to go inside to use our credit card to get an advance and then back in to do the charge. What a hassle!

From there we headed back to Paris to have some lunch and check out. Dan wanted a crepe, but I just wanted a sandwich. I went to the little pasty shop by the elevators and got a chicken sandwich there with endive and pesto. I took it up to the room and watched the noon news while I ate. Dan showed up about 15 minutes later with a crepe that was more like a pizza, olives, tomato sauce, etc. We finished eating and packed up the last of our things.

We had the bellman come and take our one suitcase and our jackets. Then we checked out at the registration desk and paid our bill.

After that we played one last round of Video Poker and cashed out up a little bit again. I'm not exactly sure how Dan ended up but I took home almost twice the cash I brought with me. I didn't bring very much as it wasn't going to be a gambling trip, but I count that as a big win anyway.

We headed over to Dollar to return our car and got on the shuttle to the airport. We got to Alaska and the little check in computer things were broken so we had to wait in the line. It wasn't too bad of a wait and we got to the gate about 2:30 for our 4:15pm flight.

At about 3:30 we found out the plane was delayed and we finally left about 5pm. It was a long flight with some delicious cardboard chips and pepper mud for a snack. This time we were smart and had bought a couple of Mrs. Field's cookies just in case the snack sucked again.

The cardboard crackers and pepper mud wasn't so bad this time, as we weren't expecting anything more. The Mrs. Fields cookies I smuggled aboard really hit the spot for us - good idea.

I was really restless on the flight home. My feet hurt, my legs were sore, my back was tight and I was exhausted. I couldn't even begin to process all the things we had seen and done, but I did know that no one place had really cried out to us "I'm the one!". I had really hoped that something would become really clear on this trip. I'm still not sure if it did or not, but we sure got some great information and had a wonderful trip away from home for a couple of days.

We got home around 8:30 to find our house a mess. We had a flood on the 3rd floor on Friday night and they had replaced our bathroom ceiling while we were gone. The house smelled like paint to the point I almost couldn't breathe. My poor kitties! But even worse was the thin layer of sheetrock dust all over everything in the house. We stripped the bed and dusted as much of the bedroom as possible before Dan went to bed. He had to be up at 5am for work so I was in a hurry to get that much done. The rest could wait for the next day.

I managed to get most of it cleaned up that night and finished it off with some extra loads of laundry on Wednesday. I'm still tired and sore, but I'm glad we went. Even if we don't get married in Las Vegas, we saw some great places to tie the knot if we want to.