Vegas baby!

Las Vegas is a city of total contradiction. Some of the nicest hotels anywhere built for some of the sleaziest purposes. Amazing, expensive restaurants sitting next door to abhorrent $3.99 "all the salmonella you can get" buffets. Mountains interrupted by skyscrapers, family entertainment next to a strip club, street ministers preaching beside people handing out cards to get you a hooker in 20 minutes or less, stifling heat with no humidity, friendly and warm people standing beside drunk jerks. Contradiction.

Morgan and I have had a blast in the midst of all this. A beautiful suite at THE hotel at Mandalay Bay (they capitalize the letters for some odd reason) was home base four our 2-day adventure of food, fun and relaxation after our monster drive west.

Le Reve and Phantom were 2 of the most spectacular shows I've ever laid my eyes on. Every detail carefully crafted with amazing athleticism, tremendous God-given talent on display, and theaters perfectly befitting of such amazing presentations. We literally could not take our eyes off of these shows, and I treasure the fact they were both family-friendly and very tastefully done, proving you don't have to be vile to entertain folks.

Okada sushi restaurant at the Wynn and Canaletto at the Venetian were wonderful culinary setting to stuff ourselves with delicious foods. Okada gave us memories of one of the best waitresses the world has ever seen, fire-roasted veggie skewers and hand-held sushi rolls. It also gave Wooda her first taste of sake', which she unfortunately liked. Now, I'm faced with the proposition of her lying in a gutter holding one of those tiny sake' cups out as people pass by, begging for some Sumayami Plum, vintage '66,...oh, the humanity!

Canaletto saw us being crooned by strolling singers as we sat in St. Mark's square in the heart of Venice. Sheep and goat milk cheeses, with pear chutney was our appetizer. We ate as a stilt-walker passed, trying to make human statues break their poses and laugh. Supermodels from around the world were walking by talking about the World Fashion Expo being held this week, looking at us and our food longingly,......for they cannot eat. "Shame",.....sigh.

Fjording our way back from the shows each night, we saw the neon lights of the Vegas strip. Speaking of strip, we passed about as many ads for strippers and hookers as there were people in the street. That's part of this city's great shame. Other cities seems more able to conceal their darkest sides, while Vegas embraces and promotes theirs.

Other highlights included our spa day at the Mandalay Bay, where Morgan got the pedicure/manicure special for FREE!! Walking the Venetian and Palazzo grand canal shoppes listening to gondoliers row and serenade their passengers, spending an hour at the wave pool beach where Morgan got hit on the second I left her for a chaise lounge, and losing $48 in the casino just add more layers to the onion of memory this trip provided.

Today we head to Cal Baptist. Bed, Bath and Beyond and Wal-Mart stops along the way to pick up dorm room essentials, then off to the airport to pick up Tina and Madeline, as they arrive from Indy for tomorrow's drop off of our oldest. The finality has hit me like a ton of bricks, but I know she's ready for this. I can't begin to think how I would've felt without this special time to spend with my first-born on her excursion into a new frontier of life. Every memory of the trip, from the trivial to the terrific, will be etched in my mind with appreciation that's unspeakable. Thank you, God. Thank you.