Viva Las Vegas !

Now it's fall and raining and I've been remiss in tracking Jackie's progress since springtime.  Each day is noteworthy even though there's little ongoing drama, and at the same time I have been withdrawing from any kind of public presence, growing more protective and defensive, and while I don't wish to deny Jackie's family and her close circle of friends any satisfaction of concern, it's difficult to compartmentalize the need for privacy I feel.  Anything within my shadow feels too personal to expose, and it's only in the sunshine of her love that I'm able to see into the light. Cream - The Sunshine Of Your Love

Jackie's birthday was October the 6th, and since this is the first year of her new life with Terry's kidney, I bought her a Minnie Mouse 'Look Who's One !' birthday card with a surprise cupcake inside.  I bought three fancy cupcakes at Noe Valley Bakery so when Conner stopped by unexpectedly, we all had a cupcake - chocolate, lemon and red velvet, the red velvet we saved for Colleen.  Colleen and Edward stopped by over the weekend, but SURPRISE ! we weren't there, we were in Vegas, Baby !  They knew, they stopped by to give Nino some food and emotional support.


You're all world travelers so I'm not gonna try to school you on the logistics and mechanics of it all, reservations, ticketing, airport transportation, parking.  But I took someone's advice and joined a loyalty club for a major car rental company, including the 'skip the counter' option, which involves filing credit card info with them, excellent advice ! We were hardly awake during the 7:20 flight and barely stumbled into the bright light of the McCarran desert terminal, and after deplaning, rest stops, the van ride to the rental center and all, we walked right through to pick any car in the row while our fellow travelers stood in line and waited for the desk.

The hotel was a dream, The Mandarin Oriental , 'the only Forbes triple five-star luxury hotel at the heart of The Strip'.  There's a kind of giant cul-de-sac where the Mandarin, Aria, Cosmopolitan, Vdara and Hotel 32 all sit, flanked by this futuristic mall, The Shops At Crystals , with every designer name you can think of.  The Mandarin has no casino, is non smoking and the tiny ground floor entrance lobby fronted by the valet parking court has a small bell desk, some art and furniture and an elevator that only takes you to the third and twenty third floors where you are greeted by staff and your stay begins.  It reminded me of this Chinese puzzle box I had as a kid, hard to get into, hard to figure out but so satisfying once I did.

Everywhere you go there are staff waiting to help you, if you call the desk someone appears at your door in a minute. When you leave your room people come in and put everything back in order, if you go out again, they come back and leave you bottles of water, put your stuff away for you, put rose petals and fresh towels on the tub.  Mention something you would like to do and they are getting you tickets.   Jackie said it's like they can read your mind and think ahead.

I carried a can of Coor's Light out to the pool, and the pleasant young lady reminded me that only drinks purchased at the hotel were allowed, so I handed it over and while she found me and Jackie some poolside chaise lounges and arranged the towels a young man appeared with a cup of beer, the Coor's Light !  They are right there to get you a drink, move you into a sunnier spot, or open an umbrella if you want shade.  I ordered a couple of those frou-frou cocktails while we were there and some shrimp tacos, Jackie said it's like they can read your mind and think ahead.


All that sophistication but wouldn't you know it, we wound up acting like dam tourists - at the Hoover Dam !  If you don't believe in American Exceptionalism, you will after that dam tour !  Built at the same time as the Golden Gate Bridge, not by private money however, it was a WPA effort that was completed in 5 years.  A dam elevator took 70 seconds to drop us down 530 feet and the dam tour guide walked us through one of the dam diversion tunnels and we exited onto a plaza above the dam generators. The iron work up above the generators looked a lot like the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jackie wondered if the dam was generating any power because we could only see one tiny outflow into the river releasing what seemed to us from our height an insignificant stream of water.  Looking at all the water backed up in Lake Mead, and that huge monstrous obstruction in front of it with just that tiny outflow all the way at the bottom, all I could think of was what a magnificent illustration of the problem of an enlarged prostate, and I started looking for that dam restroom !  You can drive and walk over the dam now and there's a really cool bridge you can walk out on.  At a dizzying height above the canyon and a little bit downstream soars the Mike O'Callaghan Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, quite a view.

We walked our feet off at the dam and then on The Strip.  It started getting to be time for Jackie to eat, and we're in restaurant heaven, and she says... "I want a hot dog."  "Where Oh Lord where will I find one honest hot dog in this wicked city ?" He said.  We happened to be in Caesar's palace and there's an outdoor court that has a walk up window restaurant called Serendipity 3 and they had a foot long hot dog.  It was grilled individually and was on a perfectly toasted fresh bread roll and as long as my arm and really big around, perfectly juicy and crunchy.  I bit a small piece of one end and Jackie demolished it, she really wanted a hot dog.

Back at The Mandarin, we took turns soaking in this huge free standing tub with bath salts and my feet felt brand new.  The next morning we chose the a la carte menu at Chez Mac and went to the pool and gym, detailed above.  We looked at the breakfast buffet at The Aria, it looked great but at the time there was an hour and a half wait.  We returned later in the afternoon and no one was in line so we took our table and did our best, it was great.

The next day checking out the Concierge started talking to me and I mentioned the Neon Museum, a junkyard really, of all the old Las Vegas signs, wonderfully cared for, some restored and in working order. In a few breaths she produced discount tickets for the 2:00 pm tour.  Sure enough when we got there the place was sold out.  On the way we stopped at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop - Pawn Stars.  A little disappointing and in the skankiest part of town, but I bought this and the small necklace was free (nothing's free).  Right next to the parking lot was Rick's Rollin Smoke BBQ & Tavern, "Put Some South In Your Mouth" so we had lunch before venturing onto the Neon Boneyard.

That's about it, Folks, thanks for listening.  Oh, I think Jackie thinks she's back in the hotel, she just ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich for tomorrow, and asked me to warm up her coffee !