Adventures are fun, but it's even better to come home.

About 3 years ago, My Beloved was at the tail end of a series of surgeries that had strongly impacted his life for a span of nearly 5 years.  Tired, depressed a bit....  he was more than ready to be his old self.  In checking his 'bucket list' I found a way to gift him with  one of his hopes: to drive a Ferrari.

The internet is a wonderful thing: I found a place in Las Vegas (http://www.exoticsracing.com ) that offered the experience of racing a variety of sports cars on a cool, 7 turn, 1.2 mile race track. 

The gift certificate was a hit, but he needed to heal up enough to be able to do the deed.  This finally accomplished, we needed to get to Vegas.

I will interject here, that doing the Time Share bit to be awarded a 'free' trip to Vegas is not worth it.  We did get a 'free' trip for 2 nights, plus airfare, but seems 'free' actually cost $390. 

'Free' packet in hand, we flew to Las Vegas.  The Vegas airport is a  mini casino in itself: flashing lights on the slot machines that lined every available space.  Right away, we learned that Vegas is about the Almighty Dollar.  Hotels (at leas the one we were staying at) do not have a free airport shuttle.  But, for only $15/head, one could purchase a round trip ticket from a local shuttle service.

Well, folks, Vegas looks just like it does on TV.... loud, garish, loud, crowded, loud, tacky .... and loud.   The main drag is an 8 lane horrour, looked more like a traffic jammed highway that anything else, car-wise: this was  Wednesday, I cannot imagine what a weekend would be like.  We were surprised to see a large population of obviously homeless as well.  There was a skeletal man at one stoplight, walking down the middle of the lanes, begging.  He was toothless and looked like a walking concentration camp corpse: obviously a drug addict of crank or crack or whatever it's called these days.

We arrived at our hotel and hid in our room a bit, just to adjust.

Emerging from our room, we ventured downstairs and people watched.  What a great place to watch people!!  To me, casinos forever reek of desperation: in Vegas, its not only the gamblers, but the folks who are determined to PARTY and have a great time.  The wedding and bridal shower groups struck me the most: too many lovely girls running around in matching t-shirts that said things like, 'Men come and go, but wine is forever'  and 'Bride's B*tch'. 

I guess I am truly old, as these shirts just made me sad.  Tell me, when did rude and tacky become de rigueur? I wondered how the groom might feel about being rated less important than wine. Talk about a 'red flag'.

Food: try never to eat in a casino.  A simple  cup of coffee was $3.95, and we're not talking Staryucks.   Besides ridiculous prices, the food was barely edible.. and that is saying a lot, considering I eat just about anything.

The next morning, we journeyed to the casino that had the shuttle to the race track.  Now, THIS casino was quite different from ours.... an obviously upscale business (read: $$$$$$).  Where our place was loud and tacky and overwhelming, this place was quiet, plush and.... well, just plain nice.  We found that they also had a small alcove with free coffee and pastries, mostly likely for guests.  We snuck into the alcove (being very naughty) and snagged a cup of coffee and a small orange for our breakfast. 

The race track experience was a grand hit:  if you have a person in your life who has the desire, try to get them to this place.  Clean, professional, great service, an instructional class prior to the drive: it was about a 3 hour experience.   The 10 laps around the 7 turn track left My Beloved with huge smiles.   There is an instructor that rides with (and, there is a brake pedal on the instructor's side): he and My Beloved got on great.  It was fun to see the professional smiles on the other instructors, as they emerged from the vehicles with other customers, but I will say, My Beloved's instructor had just about as big a grin as My Beloved's when he got out of the car.

Fun, fun, fun.

Back to the hotel, we wandered about, finally finding the door Outside.... and enjoyed the sights.

Tourists are so much fun to watch.  Nicely dressed, sloppily dressed, barely dressed.... we saw them all.  My favourite was the clueless young lady who wore a Mr. Pickles stuffed toy on a too-long lanyard.  I am sure she did not realize that the way it bounced about her crotch was the source of my hilarity.  There were the young, there were the old, there were the in-between: we spent hours watching.

The locals became easy to spot, and when we found a place to sit in the shade, we unwittingly shared the planter box with a local group of pot sellers.  These black young men had an easy going manner, and tended to recite 'kush, kush, kush' to potential customers,  They also tried 'Green, green, green'.  It surprised me to see the variety of folks who purchased: so many secret lives! What really surprised us was that the security officers not only turned a blind eye, but even stopped and joked with the entrepreneurs.

We tried to spot the birds that were whistling and squawking in the palm trees overhead.  They sounded like some sort of small parrot, but we never did see them.

Walking 'the strip' a bit, we found the best food deal in town: a Denny's!  What a professional, well run operation there, with non-inflated prices.  Folks, normally, I am not a Denny's fan, but will give this one top awards: the best Denny's food I've ever had, and supreme service.

Another day done, we slipped up to our room to hide from the clashing calliope of noise and lights.  And I forgot to call in, to reserve our shuttle back to the airport.

The next day, I called the shuttle company to be told 'so sorry, take a cab'.   So, we did, cringing at what we thought would be a pricey ride.  Guess what?  Ferrying the 2 of us to the airport was $14: less than the one way ride of the shuttle. 

Vegas.