What Happens in Vegas---Needs to be Shared!

Karen wanted to go to Las Vegas for her 60th birthday, so that is what we did!

It was supposed to be a surprise, but that lasted less that 24 hours after Clay bought the plane tickets and reserved the rooms for us.

Then Kevin and Beth from Alabama joined in the fun too and flew in from Birmingham (Beth) and Minnesota (Kevin) to spend a few days there.

Highlights of the trip:

--Great flights there and back.  This 'scared to fly' gal is getting MUCH better with being on an airplane.  I closed my eyes on take off from Midway and opened them two hours later!  I couldn't believe I had slept that long or that the flight was so smooth. Returning home was easy also.  Gary remembers my first flight to LV very well, and this one was SO much different.  No white knuckles gripping the armrests---or burying into his arms!

--Uber experiences.  It was our first time using Uber and it was great.  All of our rides were good, except for a crowded backseat on the drive to dinner one evening, and the drivers were friendly and safe.

--Lionel Richie - wonderful concert!  He was very good and I enjoyed it.  Still not at the top of my list (no one can beat out Paul McCartney), but he was close!  The seats were great, the music fantastic but the long line to get in?  Endless.  Really.  And the walk there?  I am surprised I made it!

--Lights!  One thing I enjoy about LV is all of the lights.  Even though flying into Chicago on the return trip was amazing from the air at night, nothing beats Vegas.  We could see all of the flashing lights, the Eiffel Tower, the pyramid at Luxor where we were staying, the Stratosphere, the Statue of Liberty at New York, New York---but just all of the lights were pretty amazing.  And exciting. 

--the casinos.  I don't really like gambling.  To me it ranks right up there with arcade games, which I don't like either.  At arcades it seems like money is spent on silly (and some disagree with that adjective) games to accumulate tickets to redeem for cheap prizes that will just be thrown away or break before they get home.  Gambling is similar to me.  Feeding money into slot machines and coming out with nothing, putting money down on a table for Blackjack or poker is just like throwing money out of the window of a moving car.  Gary always says that we spend money for going to a movie or for a concert and that is entertainment.  We can take that same money and use it at a casino, and that is entertainment also.  True. But I still don't like it.

The funny thing is---when I play, which is rare, I usually win. 

The first time we went to a casino, maybe it was Blue Chip in Michigan City, I won under $50, but I felt guilt about that, so I put it in the offering plate at church the next Sunday!

We walked through the casino in New Orleans after the cruise last year, and I won there too.

So even though I didn't want to play, Gary finally made me sit down at a slot machine and fed in a $20 bill and I played.  And I won.  I cash out when I am ahead. Or if I go ahead and play (like when I was up to $35 on that $20) I only played it down to $20 and cashed out.  The last slot machine I played on Thursday night I was down to $2 and hit two bonuses and ended up with $25.  So I cashed out quick after that.  I found that if I start with a larger bill, like a $20 instead of the piddly little dollar bills or fives, and if I take a larger bet than the minimum, I do better and can play longer.  It is kinda fun, but not something I would want to do all of the time or with big amounts of money.  Ir would really bother me to put in a $50 or a $100 bill ever! I just couldn't do that.

Beth from Birmingham told me that she had seen people take the down payments for their houses to the casino in hopes of doubling their money ---- and losing it all.  Why would people do that?

Other things - hotels are busy at all hours of the day and night with check ins and departures!  I honestly don't know how they keep all of the registrations straight and the rooms clean and ready with people arriving and departing at all hours of the day and night. I know computers do much of that and that there is a system to it, but it was mind-boggling to me to see people arriving after midnight (like we did) and first thing in the morning and leaving in the early evening. 

Morality - that issue has been on my mind more recently after the Supreme Court justice controversy.  I know there have been brothels and red-light districts and ladies of the evening and escort services for years and years and years.  I also know that sexual abuse is wrong and that women AND men are assaulted, verbally and physically, and that it needs to stop.  But what is confusing to me is that a country whose women are shouting about abuse and being touched and taken advantage of is also promoting 'sex for sale' and it is acceptable.  The scantily clad showgirls on the street, ready for pictures with any man they could entice to pose with them, the little cards that both men and women were distributing along the sidewalks, the street advertising with strategically placed black rectangular strips, the dancers on tops of the tables in the casinos. 

The walking.  Oh my!  My Fitbit was clicking off those steps for two days and going into Overtime!  Over 21,000 steps on Wednesday and over 19,000 steps on Thursday!  My legs hurt. My feet hurt.  At times I didn't think I could even move forward at all.  But I did, and I enjoyed all of it (even though Tylenol became my best friend!).  Just walking through the lobbies of the hotels, watching the Dancing Waters at the Bellagio, looking at all of the crystal chandeliers and draped crystal curtains, walking through the mazes in each casino to get to a restaurant or to a shop, all of it was fun and entertaining and enlightening.  Plus I hope I worked off the extra points I accumulated, because it was SO hard to eat healthy foods all of the time when we depended on what was on the menu for each meal.

Was the trip fun?  Yes it was!  Am I glad we went?  Yes I am!  Am I ready to return?  Not for a while.  The next time, though, I want to go to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.  Already looking forward to that!