Part 2, Las Vegas and its beauty

I got off the plane and found my father waiting with the limo driver. I foolishly expected it to be cool in the evenings, but it felt like a sauna even at night.
He always stays at Sam's Club because they treat him so well and remember his name when he shows up at the tables. And his personal casino host gave him an enormous suite free of charge! I was impressed by the bidet, jacuzzi in the bedroom, and the bar.
Since I'd come alone and hadn't made any hotel reservations, I expected to sleep on the sofa in the living room, but my dad had reserved a room for me at another hotel. We checked in and discovered they'd upgraded to a suite, free of charge! The room was way too big for just me and it felt like a waste not to share it with someone, but where do singles hang out in Vegas? I ended up not spending much time in the room anyway - there was too much excitement in the Las Vegas air to get any sleep!
The next day my dad, Yve, and I went downtown to register their marriage at the courthouse before the crowds arrived for the 7-7-7 weekend. It's a good thing we did! Over 40,000 couples got married that Saturday and everywhere wedding related was completely booked. Apparently there was a shortage of ministers and a lot of people had to decide whether to get married on 7-6-7 or 7-8-7. Luckily my dad had everything planned out 6 months in advance!
After getting their marriage license we waited at the bus stop to take us back to the Hotel Strip. The bus comes every 10 minutes, but we waited for over an hour in the 45 degree heat (113 F) and man you should have seen the grumpy, sweaty faces of everyone at the bus stop. And when the buses finally did start coming, they filled up with angry passengers and after the first few stops no one else could fit. They had to pass up everyone waiting at other stops, and you can bet those guys were even more peeved to see buses coming only to drive them by.

My dad was invited to play in a tournament so we headed to the New York New York hotel to get him registered, and in the few minutes it took for him to get things together, Yve hit a $4441 jackpot! Bells started ringing and the machine shut down while we waited for an attendant to pay Yve her stack of bills (the attendant who counted the bills out got a tip - I didn't know you had to tip the attendants who count out the money!).
The Strip was absolutely gorgeous. The hotels were enormous and it was like having whole cities indoors. One of the hotels even had a lion habitat next to the slot machines.

New York New York
Later that night while I was watching the news, I discovered that there was a shooting in the New York New York Hotel casino just a little before I was there. Too bad I missed it!

Caesar's Palace


Luxor
The inside was so cool! The building was a pyramid with rooms lined on the tilted walls, so the elevators went diagonally!

The Mirage
After the Siegfried and Roy White Lions and Tigers Show got cancelled because one of them got eaten, the hotel opened their habitat for the public to enter. It's amazing how many albino wild cats they'd collected over the years.

The Venetian
By far my favorite hotel. All of these photos were taken inside the hotel! People were lining up to take a boatride around the hotel, but I had fun watching free shows scattered throughout the different courtyards.

The Wynn
The newest hotel on The Strip and half of it is still under construction. It seemed to be for high rollers only... the craps table had a $100 minimum bet and there was a guy throwing around $5000 chips. I had no idea they even made chips in that denomination!

The Fashion Show Mall where I found a Lucky Jeans shop! I'd always seen Lucky ads in magazines and have wanted a pair for years but never knew where to find them. And lucky me, they were having a 75% off sale on the 7-7-7 weekend, so my new brown jeans with faded thighs were a mere 30 bucks!

Bellagio
After seeing the Bellagio in person I feel like watching Ocean's 11 again just to see if I recognize anything from the movie. The enormous glass flowers justting from the ceiling of the lobby were gorgeous. I caught several wedding couples trying to take photos but were having a hard time because of the crowds.


MGM
It doesn't look so big in the pictures, but I took a closer one near the lion where you can barely see some people near the base. It was enormous! This is the one with a lion habitat in the center of the casino.

I was looking forward to seeing a Cirque de Soleil show and my dad made reservations for KA, which is reputed to be the best of their shows to date. It totally lived up to my expectations. The show expertly incorporated acrobatics, martial arts, shadow puppetry, and even fireworks while developing a story, and the vibrant colors and use of light were simply stunning. The theater itself was equally impressive (it took 18 months to refurbish for the show) and completely lacked a stage. There was a gaping hole where the stage should have been, and the actors performed on a gigantic platform that swiveled in all directions to change your perspective. At times the actors were strung on cords and bounced off the vertical stage as if we were looking at them from above (excellent in portraying my favorite scene of the battle against the Fire Fairies). Words just can't express how beautiful it was. I'd have seen it again, if it didn't cost $150 a ticket. But it was well worth the price. (first two photos borrowed from a website)

I found a clip of KA that has one of my favorite songs from the play. If you find yourself in Vegas, definitely check it out.