Vegas, baby!

We are back from sunny and hot Las Vegas! We were there for 10 days. Here's a quick rundown of our stay:

The trip over there was horr-i-ble. We got up early early to make it to the airport for our 9:50am flight and got there in plenty of time. But when we got there, there was a mass of people waiting for the check-in line and the area was in complete chaos. We waited for awhile in a long, circuitous line that seemed to go nowhere and intersected at random points with the security line. This long line was not because there were a lot of people flying that day. It was because they had three people working the check-in line. Finally I asked the ONE person on the floor which line we should be in. I noticed that there was a much shorter line for people who only needed to check their bags so I asked her about that and it turns out we could wait in it. So we hoofed it to the short line and still waited and waited until we finally got there---too late to check our bags. SO we had to bring the bags we were going to check through the security line, which means they made me throw out about $30 worth of toiletries. I was so mad. I know United is going through a lot of financial trouble and it is REALLY showing. So I doubt we'll be flying anywhere this year unless it's to move.

Once we got there, we had a good time, though. The MGM Grand has a lion habitat in the casino, so going down to see the lions was always on the agenda. There would often be one or two trainers in the habitat with the lions, throwing balls and big plastic spools for the lions to chase and play with. The lions would run right up to the glass to grab the toys, which was always exciting.

In addition to lions at the MGM, the Mirage has a habitat for dolphins and tigers (including BABY tigers). We got to get very close to the dolphins and Ellie was really enthralled with them. She followed the trainer as she walked around the pool doing exercises with a dolphin and feeding it. The setting was beautiful and it was very low-key, which was nice.

Circus Circus was kinda seedy and run down, but the kids don't notice and it has carnival and arcade games. It also has short, 10-minute circus shows every hour or so. There was a team of three trapeze artists who did a show above the crowd and the look on Ellie's face as they were somersaulting and flipping in the air was priceless. After that, she said, "That was the best show I ever saw!" She wanted to see the circus show over and over.

We went another day with all of us and Greg won Ellie a bunch of stuffed animals. He tried to win her a stuffed Scooby Doo doll at a booth where you throw a wiffle ball into a tilted basket. He did it once and then tried 10 or 15 times to do it again. He was one of those guys. I kept saying, "You know, you're their favorite kind of customer, don't you?" and "You know you can just buy the doll for the money you're spending, don't you?" and "You know they want you to think you can do it again, don't you?" He wouldn't listen, of course. He even went back later and I had to physically drag him away while the girl there just laughed at us.

MORE ON OUR TRIP COMING UP....