VEGAS, BABY!

I just got back from Sin City. The motivation behind the trip was a belated birthday gift for Ben. I was out of town for his birthday and suggested I take him to see "O", one of the Cirque du Soleil shows that never travels. (Most of it involves water and amazing pool that constantly changes shapes, deepens, and can appear as not being a pool at all, so you can see why it would be difficult to take this show on the road.) "O" permantly resides in Vegas.

We booked our Orbitz trip which landed us at the MGM Grand on the strip. Funny, both Ben and I thought we were staying at New York New York until the day before. But no worries as both are right across the street from each other and we were quite pleased with our room.

MAJOR SIDE NOTE: I count steps. Perhaps you've seen my pedometer during the show. Maybe you saw me throw one of my defective pedometers across the studio in exasperation? Anyway, I try to shoot for 10,000 steps a day. Well, Ben and I didn't know just exactly how much walking we were in for in Vegas. How's 25000 steps a day suit you? NO JOKE! Just to get from our hotel room, down to the lobby and across the street to NY NY is an easy 1000 steps. So, to go there for lunch and back is a quick 2000 steps! The first day I made the mistake of wearing my wedge sandals that were a bit loose -- owwwwwww!

But back to the rest of the trip.....

We didn't realize it at the time, but we could have just as easily eaten at chef Todd English's "Olives" right here in DC at 16th and K, than travel to the Bellagio in Vegas to do so. But, then we wouldn't have been able to see the fountains in Lake Bellagio dance to the music either. Oh, that's right, we didn't see them at the Bellagio, either. Turns out it was too windy and the last performance for the fountains happened right as we were waiting to be seated...sigh. But it was STILL beautiful! I enjoyed watching the strip's lights slowly come on as the sun went down. We enjoyed the Cubano Flatbread and this amazing chocolate cake (it was like a lava cake and had raspberries) -- ALL ABOUT YUM!

Let's see...we took in "Second City" improv -- that was FUN! Audience interaction made it real. If you like "Who's Line is it Anyway", then you will like "Second City" at the Flamingo.

"Zumanity" was our second Cirque show that we took in on our last night. How ADULT of us... It, too, was fun. There was audience interaction at this show as well. I don't like "plants" in the audience and something tells me these folks, chosen from the audience ,were just regular folks who had no idea they would be up on stage and encouraged to ... um, well, do things they thought they wouldn't do up on stage! (What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?)

And to make our looooooooooooooong day of travelling back to DC a LOT easier, wouldn't you know it, Ben just happened to sit across from his friend, Scott, from church who was so kind to give us a lift home from National (sparing us from the metro and cab.) Nice.