Day 1: Las Vegas Bound

Today we leave for Las Vegas. The last time I was in Las Vegas was 1983 when I spend a couple of nights there on our way back home from the Grand Canyon. I expected Vegas to be very different from what I remembered. We left Detroit early in the morning and arrived in Vegas early in the afternoon. Judy was going on company business and I was along for the ride. I rarely have the opportunity to travel on business when I am NOT the one traveling for business. I was looking forward to some unscheduled time to just explore and then hook up with Judy and the group in the evenings to enjoy time together. We were booked to stay at the Aria hotel. The hotel is located at the center of the strip and has about 4000 rooms. It is a city within a city. It took us forever to check in, but once we did we headed to our room. Once we opened the door to our room, everything came alive. The curtains opened, the lights came one, the TV fired up and included a welcome message to Judy. It was totally impressive. The hotel was amazingly modern with touch pad controls for lights, TV, Curtains, Radio and Alarm. The room was elegant. We then explored the hotel We visited the casino. For me if you have seen one casino you have seen them all. Certainly it was very large and very active. I am not a gambler, so I certainly was not going to spend much time in the casino, but it is still a site to take in and behold. The group connected for dinner at one of the 9 hotel restaurants. It was a Japanese stake house. We all order fish or stake. Our appetizer was interesting: bone marrow. Oh yea, bone marrow. A bone cut in half, with salt and garlic lightly warmed and served with crackers. tried it. I will not order it again. It just tasted very fatty to me. I tasked far more garlic than anything and I can think of other items that taste better with garlic and fatty "stuff". However, I am glad I tried it. For eight people the dinner bill was over $1200.00. Yes, I typed that correctly, $1200.00. The company hosting Judy and her co-worker picked up the tab. I was very thankful for the opportunity to join the group and listen to conversations about the latest medical technology. One thing about being an educator, I find so many things intersect with my job and my interests so it is easy to be engaged on almost any topic. After dinner we walked the strip. One of the most enjoyable sights for me were the fountains in front of the Bellagio hotel. I could have stood in front of those for hours taking in the music and the energy. From there we explored the London hotel. The interior architecture is truly an art form and captures the real London. We hit the bed exhausted ready for adventures waiting for us tomorrow.