2002-11-22 VIVA Las Vegas !!
Last summer a few of us got involved in a casual conversation about the upcoming reunion in Reno in May of 2003. The general gist of the conversation was that it is a long way away and maybe we should have a mini warm-up reunion THIS year. Yea, what a great idea !! Fast forward to Detroit Metro airport and metal detectors screaming "Check me, Check me". Seems I unloaded all the junk I carry and forgot my cell phone. DUH! ... This is not the last time I will have the opportunity to experience the ambiance and hospitality of airports this weekend...... But, that is a story left for the next reunion happy hour.
I landed in LasVegas in the morning and early in the afternoon Robert Malone arrived and he and I spent the balance of the afternoon gathering up Jerry and Kay Peppenger and Bob's wife Joan, from the airport. Bob rented a car and it seemed that having a car only increased the time in traffic jams. Finally we all got settled in and in the evening gathered in the room prior to heading out. Bob an I are in deep discussion of the merits of ... I forgot but, I know it was important at the time. Kay and Joan are ready to roll. Here is another shot of Bob, once Jerry gets the camera going there is no stopping him.
We assembled at the 3rd. floor meeting place (lounge) and at that time were joined by another BatCat, Bill Love. I hadn't seen Bill in ...... 30+ years but recognized him immediately when he approached our table. It was great to have a bunch of us together again. Here is a shot of the whole crew less the photographer, Jerry. From the left Kay, Bill, Robert, Joan, and the ole Buckeye. A decent shot of Jerry is in the works and will be done in a day or so says the development and touch up experts ...... :-)
We all got happy for about two hours at the hotel watering hole and then repaired to the Flamingo for their buffet and dinner. Wow. Let me rephrase that ... Wow ... Tons of food there ... really .... Did I mention that I like food? I was in hog heaven. The evening wound down after dinner and plans were made for the morning starting with breakfast at the Hotel.
After breakfast we decided to walk the strip and explore starting at the Venetian. I love a good show and as we were inside walking around the shops inside the hotel we realized the sky was a painting ..... a very good painting with clouds etc. Very cool. I also liked the canals running through the building and outdoors in which you can take canal boat rides with a real oarsman/drivers. These are full size canal boats and they look very authentic and not out of place. Kay modeled in front of one of the signs out front. Ignore the old bald buckeye in the background. The canals run through the building and outside. If you look close you will see the tail end of a canal boat going under the bridge in that photo. Inside one of the decorated halls, pretty neat looking.
We walked across the street to the Mirage and on the way passed the Treasure Island. The sign doesn't do it justice as there are two square rigger ships in the front lagoon that put on a mock battle in the evening and one of them sinks..... lol. Pretty neat sign.
The Mirage is next. This is where the big Cats hang out with Sigfried and Royson. I was impressed with the gardens walking up to the entrance. They were very nice. This pool is in the front also. I like cats. As a matter of fact Lynne and I have had cats as long as we have been together. Sooooo I asked Jerry to shoot some big cats. This guy is a white tiger and he is much bigger in person than in these shots. I estimate his paws are about the size of a picnic paper plate. He pretty much ruled that roost and spent a lot of time marking it as proof :-)
Our next destination was Caesars Palace. Here is another shot of it and there was a ton of construction going on there. This statue/scene becomes animated on a timer every so often. The statues move, talk, and sing and there is a laser light show. It was cool 20 yrs. ago when the technology was new but, time marches on. We all played some slots to win a BMW but alas no winners. We were milling around taking in the sights in the casino and somehow lost Bill. We looked and looked and no Bill. Bill told us later he was also looking and then gave up too. I found out shortly thereafter getting separated is not that hard and stood around in the last place I saw everyone until Jerry spotted me a short time later. Here is a shot of a great statue scene that the photo doesn't do justice. Jerry spotted and old friend and posed here with him in an outstanding shot. We bid farewell to the palace with this shot.
Across the street is a scale model of the Eiffel Tower of Paris. This shot shows it and what is not clear is the large restaurant that is behind the tops of the trees in front. Very cool ... again.
Here is a shot of the front of the Aladdin. We didn't go in but passed it on the way to get food. Time flies when we are having fun and it was near noon and the general consensus was that we make a bee line to the Harley Davidson Cafe for lunch. The entrance to the restaurant is impressive and the thing I liked about the place was the motorcycles on display inside. They have a conveyor like monorail with different bikes traveling around the inside perimeter ceiling. They travel over your head on their way to the second floor and circle around to return later. Probably more than two dozen bikes making the circuit. Neat. Ahhh .... all hogs. :-)
We walked around for another few hours and took in several additional sights like the MGM Grand and the NewYork NewYork. Very impressive on the outside and notice the Large roller coaster that can be seen in this shot. That coaster runs all over the roof of that hotel and is huge. We stopped on the bridge and took a shot of the lovely ladies Kay and Joan in front of the NewYork. They, in turn, took a picture of these three obviously over fed dudez.
We took a little ride on the $1.65 trolly that was a good news/bad news thing. The good news is we got some LasVegas night life book handouts that gave us discount coupons for the show we attended later ... the bad news is we rode around for almost an hour in the same circle with no progress toward our car. we finally gave up and took a cab back to the car.
Saturday evening found us all once again trading lies and reminiscences at the 3rd. floor meeting place. Later we attended a comedy club show at Harras and after the show we did some more sightseeing and watched a couple of live bands that were good. I finally found my bed late and found out later that Joan and Bob nursed their winnings at the 21 table till the wee hours.
Sunday morning brought us all together for the final breakfast buffet and
more story telling. Bob dropped us off at the airport and my TWO day leaving
LasVegas saga was just beginning ......
Suffice to say I will be checking my departure DAYS very closely in the future.
Especially when i leave on one day and arrive the next due to the time changes.
Viva LasVegas. I am sold and will return. Now, I need to save my pennies for the NEXT reunion in May 2003.
Got Milk ?? The devil made me do it. :-)
