Vegas, Baby!

The Prodigal Blogger returns!

Briefly.

I had the greatest of intentions to post weekly this year, even scheduling a time every week to blog.  And I did it for two weeks.  Sorta.

Then I took a vacation...

Vegas, Baby!

I travel a lot.  I love to travel, see new things, meet new people.  I think there may be a wee drop of Gypsy blood somewhere in my background.  But in the past couple of years, every trip I have taken has had a work component.  I was beginning to suspect that I was afraid to take a vacation and relax.

And I took another vacation-phobe with me...

...the lovely and talented Miss Lexi.

We went to Las Vegas.  Sin City.  What happens there, stays there.  And what did we do?
We slept.  And walked.  We saw some shows.  We ate. 

We did not get drunk and stay that way (in spite of the yard-long Bellinis in so many of our pictures).  We did not hire escorts.  We did not steal tigers.  We spent a lovely five days resting, strolling, shopping, and reconnecting.  We were there for 4 days before we realized we hadn't even strayed outside of a three-hotel radius.

It was amazing.

The excuse reason for the trip was to see Cher in her final performances at Caesar's Palace.  I've been a fan forever and had been trying for the last three years to see this show while on a teaching junket, but always missed it by a week or two.  When I heard these were the final shows, I just said "f*** it"  and booked a trip...

 ...and I saw Cher, amazing costumes and all.  The show was pure Vegas, and may I just say that Cher can still bring it.

We also went and saw Cirque du Soleil's Beatles Love, which was awesome, as all of Cirque's shows are.  The combination of the almost overwhelming imagery and the music of the Fab Four was more than words can describe.  We ventured out of our little safety zone to see The Lion King at the Mandalay Bay, as well.  I've seen the show before, and it never fails to move me to tears.  A remarkable piece of theatre,  any way you look at it.

We went up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris...

...which is only half the height of the real thing, but still plenty high enough for me.  We ventured into the Fashion Show Mall and stayed for a whole day.  We meandered down to the Wynne under an almost full moon...

...and we watch the Sirens of Treasure Island, which left us somewhat unimpressed...

I believe the exact comment was "Well.  That was informative and educational."  We did, however, enjoy the running commentary of three fellow Canadians who referred to the boatload of shirtless pirates as "Shippendale's"  along with a few less PG-rated comments.

We hung out admiring the animals in The Secret Garden of Sigfried and Roy...

... and ate some of the most wonderful meals ever.  However, we also visited Hot Dog on a Stick far too frequently...

...and indulged in a few frozen hot chocolates from Serendipity 3.

All in all, a wonderful vacation.

I was clever enough to book myself a couple of days on either side of Vegas in Vancouver, where I got to hang out not only with Miss Lexi but with Number One Son Brendan as well.  There were long, philosophical discussions on art...

...along with some less intellectual activity.

I had such a great time, I think I may even try this vacation thing again sometime...but not too soon.  It seems the downside of taking a vacation is that you have to come back to reality eventually.  Though I'm still resisting...

There has been spinning and knitting galore going on since I got home, though.   A good rest was apparently all I needed to get over that post-holiday slump my work was in. 

It's good to be back behind the wheel.