My husband and I will be visiting Las Vegas from next Thursday afternoon through the following Tuesday (12/7 - 12/12).  He’s running the half-marathon on Sunday, and we figured that was as good an excuse as any to finally return to town after a LONG hiatus.

The last time he was there was probably about eight years ago or so; I haven’t been in more like fifteen, so for all intents and purposes, it’s a completely different place than either of us remember.

We’re staying at the Monte Carlo (decent rate — $80/night I think — on Priceline) and already have tickets for Mystere on Friday night.

I think I’d like to head out to Red Rock Canyon and/or Hoover Dam on one or two of the days we’re there, but other than that, I have nothing else in mind.

We can probably do one or two other big ticket shows if there’s something we shouldn’t pass up.  We can spend some time gambling but don’t want to do hours and hours on end.  Peter plays blackjack; I’ll do video poker, some slots and low-stakes blackjack.

We’re young baby-boomers (46 and 50), who like music, fun and good food.

What should be on our “don’t miss” list??

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!

~ Peri

Today’s newspaper had an article that on Friday, McCarran was going 100% No Smoking.  They are planning to shut down the smoking lounges in the terminals and prohibit smoking anywhere inside any building.

I’ve stayed away from “right” or “wrong,” judgments in this discussion, but now I think it’s time to at least voice an opinion.

Selling and buying cigarettes is a legal act, sanctioned by our government and duly taxed.  The gummint implicitly sanctions smoking by taxing it and not making it illegal. . . as they have marijuana. Smoking cigarettes is addictive, and being forced to not smoke for extended periods of time goes beyond inconveniencing people:  It makes have cravings and physical withdrawl symptoms.  While not smoking can be tolerated by smokers for short periods of time, being forced to not smoke for hours of time is unnecessarily mean spirited and punishing to many of our fellow humans.

Many airline flights last for hours.  Where a short hop between LV and LA might be well under an hour flying time, you still need to add another couple of hours in the outbound airport and probably another half hour when arriving, by the time you (hopefully) retrieve your suitcase.  A flight to the east coast might add another 3-4 hours to that time, and that is NOT counting layovers.

Nobody in my family is now a smoker,  but we all were at different times in our lives.  I can remember having one or two family members literally run through a non smoking airport during a layover so they could go outside and get a drag or two on a cigarette.  It was awful for them, but they were addicted to the nicotine, or the psychology of cigarettes,
at that time.

In my opinion, I think that closing the smoking lounges at McCarran goes beyond protecting the lungs of non smokers and crosses the line into being both cruel and a bad business decision.  Having flown with smokers at McCarran, I know that the smoking lounges pull a negative air pressure, compared to the terminals and that the only smoke smell at all is inside the lounges- not the public terminal.  The only people being
exposed to secondhand smoke in or near the airport lounges are the smokers themselves.

Perhaps the powers that be at McCarran feel that the smoking ban might encourage more people to quit.  Perhaps they feel they’re saving a life or two.  Maybe, that is a rational justification for the airport-wide ban in and of itself. However, I sure as heck can’t see the removal of the smoking lounges doing much more than making smokers needlessly
uncomfortable.  I feel the airport authority should go ahead with plans to ban smoking in the common areas, bar and food service areas and even the slot machine areas.  These are areas where the non smoking general public moves about and cannot escape second hand smoke. However, I really feel that they should retain the smoking lounges for the comfort of smokers.

—Nonnymus—

Does anyone know the date that the IP is scheduled to shut down (or am I just making the assumption that it will shut down).   It seems in my foggy mind I remember July, 2007.

With the shutdown of Stardust, IP and others (Ho, Boardwalk), will we see hotel prices go up due to fewer rooms being available?

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Pretty much just the high points.

We flew out late, for us, and arrived at 4:10PM on the nose with SWA, then proceeded to wait almost an hour in the taxi line, such that it was very dark when we got our taxi. Since I had worked a half day, I was pretty tired and couldn’t wait to get to the hotel. Unfortunately 5PM is right in the busy time, so I cooled my heels.

Check-in was smooth as silk in the Platinum lounge. The clerk made it sound like he was giving us the best room in the house, but that it was “smoking optional”—-sounded okay to us, but when we entered we were sort of blown away by the old smoke….too tired to complain.

Caesars, Palace Tower, Room 1746, “Mini-Suite:”

Supposedly 720 Sq ft of room, large entry hall with loads of closet doors to the left including one with an in-room safe. To the right was a man’s half bath with sink and separate toilet room. Connecting the half-bath with the “woman’s” bath was a two person shower—nice. Woman’s bath was almost the size of the Venetian bathrooms with a
two-person jacuzzi, sink and counter, and separate toilet room with a bidet and toilet. Lots and lots of marble. Then, still in the entry hall, was a sitdown makeup desk for the wife. The room was Vegas modern which is Wynn-like with subdued tans, browns,
and whites. Very large. Lots of choices to waste money in the minibar. Flat screen TV opposite a gorgeous bed. Lots more room with a desk, table, large couch. View of
Bellagio and the fountains (must have looked all of 5 minutes).

(Phew—-that was for you, Hog.)

Played a bunch of craps, BJ, and VP along with several stints at our only slot—Duck Shot, and after a bite at the picnic court went to bed even.

Next morning I wanted to check something at the Player’s Club booth and was told that I had “graduated” to Diamond status—–COOL! I had been a Diamond Player before, and every Diamond lounge I’ve been too has been super—-free drinks, respite from the commotion of the casino, nice places to watch games, and great snacks and breakfasts free. And Caesars didn’t disappoint.

We made our usual jaunt down the strip, stopping at various casinos. Played craps at CR and tripled our money. Minimum is now $3. Wish I had been at Caesars! Ended up at Venetian and walked back. Took a little nap and met our neice before dinner at the bar by the Palace casino. Had reservations for Hyakumi, which also has never diisppointed. I’m not crazy over sushi, but they have a large sampling bowl which has just about everything you could ask for.

After dinner I sort of went crazy and went down the tubes with the gambling, as they say. There must be method to their madness regarding upgrading someone to Diamond status!!

The next morning my wife and I watched two DVD’s in bed with room service, since I wasn’t in too big of as hurry to get back to gambling. We pretty much just wandered about all day and night and cooled it until our showtime with Danny Gans at the Mirage. By 8PM either I was too tired and sleepy, or had too many Absolutes and sodas to be able to appreciate Mr. Gans. I had a hard time staying awake, but the wife loved him. Our seats we directly center, back on the very back row. I still can’t believe we hadn’t seen Gans in all the years of coming to Vegas! Never will again, if it were up to me!

Looked up a host Sunday morning and was able to get my room charges comped as well as finally a card to call for the next trip. One thing that continued to impress me about Caesars is how everyone was exceedingly friendly from the maids to the dealers to the security guards. We love the place.

Leaving the next morning I made sure to give plenty of time to get through security, but made the same mistake I made a couple of months ago. I let the cabbie talk me into him dropping us off in the left side of the airpoprt. “Just a little walk.” DON’T do it. We walked with our luggage for 20 minutes to get to the SWA check-in! Anyway, the eticket way to do things is the wave of the future. And this time security was a breeze and we zoomed through. DO NOT move to the far right or you will be caught in security hell—you will be probed and blown hither and yon before they let you put your pants back on! I think the far right is something from the far right, if you know what I mean.

Sorry that got sort of long. Didn’t mean to go on as long as I did.

Tom