Well, I'm not really returning to Wonderland, 'cause I haven't left except for a quick weekend in Austin to celebrate some birthdays (Jon-Michael and his Grandma Punkin' Pie both had birthdays within two weeks of each other--so we celebrated together). Otherwise, I've been right here, but it's been so busy out, what with work and play and sleep--there needs to be another 8 hours everyday to be used for whatever discretionary purpose fits one's mood--and I'd write my blog more often.
Regardless, I'm baaaaack, and hopefully I'll keep at it on a regular basis now. So here we go: That's the airport (McCarran--one of my least favorite airports ever--but it shorely is full of glitz and glamor!), where I picked Xiaoming up on Thursday night
The most immediate blog-worthy event has been the visit of my friend Xiaoming. The exciting picture above is just ONE wall in the baggage claim area at the Vegas airport. Xiaoming is someone I met in Austin when she was a student at UT. We decided this weekend that was about 5 years and 4 months ago (but who's counting), and despite the difference in our ages and background, we've remained pretty darn good friends. Anyway, she decided to visit me this weekend and became the first of what I hope will be a steady stream of visitors. Have I got an itinerary for you! Consider this weekend with Xiaoming to be a kind of trial run. I now know a huge bunch more places to take people to show them ALL sides of this great and amazing city of Wonderland. So read on, folks, enjoy the pictures. Xiaoming took almost 220 pictures: I'm going to include some of the best and most relevant, starting with the two of us at dinner on Thursday, the first night. Anyway, between the words and the pictures (which, as we know, are worth thousands MORE words), you'll be convinced to put me on your list of people you MUST come visit.
Xiaoming's visit began literally on Thursday night (that's us at Primo's restaurant, where we certainly started things off elegantly--overlooking some more of Las Vegas's gilt, the Strip!). However, we didn't get into true Tourist Mode until Friday morning--LATE Friday morning. Xiaoming actually got up at 4 a.m. to do some work on the internet for her job (she's an analyst for Accenture, based in Dallas but working since November in Chicago). After about 1/2 an hour, she went back to bed, got up around 8:30 and worked until 1:30 on her computer. Then she was free for the rest of the weekend. So off to the Strip we went.
We didn't have much of an itinerary on Friday, but we "did" three casinos on the south end of the Strip, near where I lived when my motor home was my abode. We started in the Luxor, which is the pyramid-shaped casino (that has a huge spotlight shooting straight up to the stars in the night-time); here's one of three huge pools outside the hotel/casino. We went through King Tutankhamen's tomb (well, a replica of it, full of replicas of what was found in the tomb in 1922--the first time the tomb had been visited in nearly 3300 years, except for one batch of grave robbers shortly after the tomb was closed and sealed. The replicas were made of wood gilded in gold paint, but they looked real enough to give a sense of what it might have looked like when Howard Carter peered through a little hole into the tomb, with the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon panting at his shoulder asking, "What do you see? Do you see anything?", and answered, very slowly, "Yes, yes, wonderful things."
Did I say that we started the day at Pharaoh's Pheast at the Luxor? Here's Xiaoming relaxing after our pheast! Anyway, after Egypt and the Valley of the Kings, we moved directly to the nearby IMAX theater in the Luxor and watched "Lions 3D: The Kings of the Kalahari." What a show!!! An hour of spectacle and drama, personified as only National Geographic can do it. I am truly in awe of the camera work: in that intense heat (sometimes as hot as 130 degrees) with absolutely nothing to hide behind or otherwise use to disguise a man (presumably) carrying a camera, those intrepid photographers managed to get shots clear up the elephant's trunk, right inside the lion's flea-bitten ear, inches away from five of the cutest lion cubs you'll ever see. Talk about "Mr. deMille, I'm ready for my close-up now"!!! This was wonderful--AND in 3D. The shots taken by helicopter, slanting around the desert just inches from the ground truly took your breath away. You found yourself leaning right and then left, to compensate for the tilt of the helicopter. Wow! I'm going back someday soon to see the other show, on "Dinosaurs." Anyone wanna come with?
After that, where could we go but to the other two casinos that are grouped with the Luxor: Mandalay Bay, where Xiaoming (ever one to sniff out a bargain) bought a lovely green silk dress (which she wore today--and looked absolutely stunning in!). By then it was already 10 p.m., which, of course is a bit early for the party scene (Xiaoming's other passion, besides travel). But she struggled and found a dance club, while I partied in my own way. Yes, folks, I gambled, with a bit of success for a while, but ultimately not. The casinos on the Strip are much more expensive than the local casinos, where I've learned to be much more comfortable. A slot machine that requires pennies in the local casinos wants nickels on the Strip, one that takes nickels locally insists on quarters on the Strip; table games like 3-card poker and Texas hold 'em bonus poker, two games I enjoy, have $5 minimum bids in the local casinos but want $10 or $15 minimums on the Strip. For those of you who want to do a little game-playing when you come here, I recommend sampling the casinos on the Strip, but don't discount the locals! Anyway, we enjoyed ourselves, and (finally) headed home, past the palm trees that we couldn't see 'cause it was dark--but here they are in the daylight.
For those who don't want to spend forever reading one blog posting, I'm going to call a halt here and pick up the adventures of Xiaoming and Patsy in Wonderland in our next exciting chapter, which we'll call "Blues in the Night," for reasons that may soon become clear.
Enjoy the pictures, though--here's an extra one of Xiaoming at my house before we started out on our big adventure--and start planning now for a visit soon. You'll LOVE it!!!
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