Viva Las Vegas

So I made the trip to Las Vegas, the city of sin and the city I said was at the bottom of my to do list. Just goes to show what I know! And yes I was, once again, wrong.

Last Wednesday, after somewhat whirlwind arrangements, my friend Suzy from Velva and I left on Allegiant out of Bismarck. In this great state Allegiant (except out of Fargo) goes only to Phoenix and Las Vegas, at agreeable prices. Travel tip: If you jockey around and book a one way flight at a cheap price ($39.00) and are vigilant, (so you can get back home) and book the return at another cheap price forgoing the round trip route you can have a cheap getaway. We didn’t do that but if one had time you could have a trip for around $100.00. Assuming you don’t check any bags, forgo priority boarding or, heaven forbid, a choice of seating. It’s like the Wal-Mart of Airlines if you want it to be.

We arrived safely (always a concern of mine) and shuttled to Caesar’s Palace, our home away from home for next 38 hours. We had a super priced package through Caesar’s with two nights (actually 1.5 nights because we had to be ready for the shuttle by 3:30 AM) and tickets to Bette . Time to upgrade. We moved to a “fancier” room to be closer to Susan, my old, old friend, who flew up from Phoenix. We were about four doors away. Fancier consisted of 700 square feet of living space. Suzy put it into perspective.

“Our first apartment was only 900 square feet.”

After introductions, a 7oz Bud Light for me (a mere five skins – out of our in-room bar fridge) we embarked on a foot tour of the “palace.” I must apologize for the poor quality of photos as I left my big guns camera a home. The little point and shoot Nikon was my only equipment to record the times of my Las Vegas life. Suzy and Susan had nothing but camera phones. Richard Avedon’s they were not. I also have taken the liberties of Google Image to enhance this blog entry.






Caesar’s Palace is a beautiful place with the Roman theme everywhere. Caesar’s, duh! It is huge too, with more marble than you can ever imagine. Casinos were everywhere with the whirling noise they give off. And believe me, it is a people watchers dream come true.







What is it about traveling that allows us to lose all common sense? Money becomes a slight obstacle. At home I clip coupons, only buy on sale and lurk around second hand stores. Shine some glitz in my eye and I am off. This is where our first meal comes in, under the heading of reckless abandon.

We scored reservations, not wanting to upset our 7:30 gig with Bette, for 5:00 pm at Nero’s – American Cuisine. This North Dakota girl sucked air for a moment but went ahead and ordered a Filet mignon for $48.00 and that was ala carte! Ron and I can go to the Pioneer have plenty of drinks and two damn good meals for under $48.00. Time to chant the Myles Espeseth travel mantra, “What the hell, we’re on vacation.”




We left Nero’s like three waddling whales, if whales could walk.

After a stupendous concert (see the earlier blog – The Showgirl Must Go On) it was time to lose some cash in the machines. A little side note from Susan, after we returned to our respective hamlets, Katy Sagal was in the concert audience the night we were there. Katey is none other than the family favorite - Peg Bundy. But get this: Peg/Katey was, at one time, a Staggering Harlette. The Harlettes are Bette’s three backup girls. After seeing the production Peg must have been a terrific Harlette. Long legs, glitz and tits. I have watched plenty of “Married with Children” episodes over the years and can’t rightly recall her ever singing, but she would have to have some chanteuse abilities to be in that package. Upon further investigation she also sang backup for Bob Dylan, Gene Simmons of KISS and Delta Dawn fame, Tanya Tucker. Hmmm, impressive.

I also want to share with all the party animals in my world, who hate to go out with me because I am a guaranteed, in bed, sound asleep by 10.00 pm kind of girl, I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. North Dakota time. Can you believe that? I still have a spark left in this aging temple.

Up and down for breakfast, cheery as ever, were we (except for Suzy who managed to get a darn good cold) ready for day two of the Las Vegas experience. Rain, Rain, Rain…it never rains in Las Vegas but about two times a year. We nailed one of the days. Las Vegas is not noted for its infrastructure of drainage so walking outdoors was risky business, henceforth we didn’t walk the strip. Susan and I each had umbrellas so we did go to the Venetian and saw the shops, gondolas and waterways inside the hotel. After drying out, supper at The Cheesecake Factory, Suzy and I went to the Bellagio to see the lights and water show from inside the bar. We also took in the Bellagio indoor gardens.








Susan opted to stay and play the machines. It turned out to be a good move. She and the Dean Martin penny machine made for a lucrative combo. She recouped her loss from a cancelled flight and another night at Caesar’s Palace, due to wind and rain in Phoenix. She made me laugh when she said,

“I have no idea how I am winning, and don’t even know what to root for, but when Dino sings to me I know it’s good. Come on sing to me Dino.”

I, on the other hand, was averaging about $20.00 each for those “free” drinks. I had some upticks but opted to reinvest for more expensive free drinks. We can’t all be winners, right?





We also took in the Forum Shops: Harry Winston, Coach, Fendi, DKNY, Chanel and many, many more, all out of my price range. We did go into Prada were I spotted a darling dusty pink trench coat that would have fit on my one thigh for a shimmering $2500.00. I bought stuff for the kids and a bracelet for moi at Brighton. As we were strolling along Susan said,

“I am so glad they have an Anthropologie, wait until we get there.”

I thought, oh a museum – cool. I had never heard of Anthropologie, very neat store, screw the museum concept.

Well it was soon time to call it a day. We had to be in the front of Caesar’s by 3:30 am, to get to the airport. One little down side of the Allegiant experience. There are no other return flights to Bismarck except at that glorious time. Tip: take a cab and you can probably grab few more winks. As we waited for the late arriving shuttle, the night life of Vegas was still thriving. New York is the city that never sleeps, but Las Vegas has to be close contender.

So as the crowed jet takes off over the city of sin, I whisper a little good bye to the fair village and think to myself, “I’ll be back.”