Las Vegas
So, as my vacation in Las Vegas is drawing to an end, I have to say this has been one of the best family vacations I have been on yet (although I can only really remember two others–one where I was pretty much on house arrest on a cruise to the bahamas, and one vacation to Keywest that was too long ago to really remember).
When I first thought of going to Las Vegas, I imagined a filthy city filled with cigarette smoke and debauchary and as hot and dry as a desert should be. I imagined that the only sights to see would be the fickering lights of the penny slots and the neon signs of the Casinos and that my days would consist of sitting in my hotel room with the occasional visit to the gym while my parents gambled away my inheritance. Just kidding. But I did imagine something boring of the sort. Thus I was pleasantly surprised by our daily walks down the Las Vegas strip. I love the vibrant colors and sounds on the streets bustling with vendors and people and the sunny days that are just right–not too sunny. Most of all, I love the wind. While not completely like the sort of breeze you would get next to the ocean, the wind in Las Vegas is vigorously refreshing. I love the way it tosses my hair around (as if I was sitting in a sportcar with an open window) and plays with the skirts of my dress as I walk. For awhile, I can just relax. I forget about worrying and preparing for the future. I even forget the annoying clicking of call girl cards being shoved in my face. It’s just the wind and the present.
The insides of the Casinos are complete luxury. My favorite? The inside of the Venetian. It’s a cute little (maybe not little, persay) imitation of the streets of Venice, complete with an imitation blue sky and imitation bridges with cute little men on cute little gondolas floating underneath. I wanted to take a picture of just about everything. A close second would be Mirage. They have an imitation rainforest that you can walk through with exotic live plants and a leafy green canopy as well as an absence of cigarette smoke. Huge plus. The night shows outside the casinos are equally impressive. The Fountains of Bellagio did a cute little dance to upbeat music for us and the volcano at Mirage really made us feel the heat. I can only imagine how much gas they burn a day. I also liked the sexy sirens of Treasure Island, especially when they sunk the (very hot) pirate’s ship after their closets got blasted by the pirate ship’s cannons. Hah!
We watched two shows so far, both very fun to watch. Mystere of Cirque du Soleil was a feast for the eyes as expected with a lot of comedy. One Albert-Einstein looking clown entertained the crowd by pretending to be an usher, switching the seats of people’s girlfriends, ripping up guests’ tickets, dropping popcorn on people’s heads, and the like. I especially liked when the announcer with the greasy mustache was making his puppet talk and the clown calls out from the crowd “Hey! We can see your mouth move!” After the clown calls him out, the announcer shuts his mouth and looks offended while his puppet looks at him and goes “He said your mouth not my mouth.” Hahahaha. There was also a big “baby” that randomly picked an audience member from the front row to be his “papa” and made that person get up and help him whenever he needed help. One time, the “baby” fell over, cries for ”papa!” and then when the audience member walked on stage to help, the baby squirted him with a huge baby bottle. There was much more, of course, including very nice dance choreography and acrobatics. The other show we watched was Xtreme Magic of Dirk Arthur. My mom was extremely impressed by the guy’s ability to turn women into gigantic Bengali tigers, haha. I really liked when he made two dancing hankerchiefs fly into a bottle and then when they finally came out of the bottle, there was a little hankerchief dancing between them. Hahaha!
Of course, my mom and I also went to the mall. That mall is probably one of the biggest malls I’ve ever seen. We walked around less than half of the top level and realized that there were two other levels we hadn’t even seen yet. We also caught a glimpse of a live fashion show in the mall. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was motivational at least =P Still, I have yet to go to the gym as planned. Sigh.
Anyways, I will continue this entry later. Mom is bored of listening to me type.