They had troubles in Medford, Oregon and ended having Jill's dad fly them to Redding, California to catch a different flight to San Francisco then on to Vegas. For a time we didn't think they would make it on Sunday let alone in time for Bette Midler concert which we had tickets for.
They did actually make a flight but weren't going to be in time for our dinner reservation before the 7:30 show. When I landed in Vegas, I went to the hotel, dropped my luggage off with the bellman and headed over to Caesar's Palace to get the Bette Midler tickets and see if we could change our dinner reservations. It was a package deal with dinner at Bradley Ogden Restaurant and tickets to Bette Midler, the Showgirl Must Go On, show.
The box office manager was very very nice and walked me over to the restaurant to let the hostesses know that the three of us would be having dinner after the show instead of before.
I then had a couple of hours to kill before Jill and Alicia were to show up. I played some slots but was not doing well. I had my heavy backpack to lug around and wasn't really in the mood to play. I people watched and grabbed a bite to eat. Jill and Alicia arrived in good time and we decided they would go to hotel to check-in and cab it over to Caesar's. We were staying at the Luxor.
Bette Midler show was at 7:30 and we were to meet at the Collesium box office at 7pm. 7pm....no Jill and Alicia. 7:10pm....no Jill and Alicia. 7:20pm.... they arrive and we go in to sit down. The Colliseum is enormous. It seats almost 4,000 people. The stage is huge. The show was fantastic. Bette Midler did all the songs you would want and expect. And there was a full orchestra AND real Las Vegas showgirls along with Miss M's usual Harlettes.
I had been to a Bette Midler concert in Minneapolis a long time ago. She didn't disappoint then and she definitely didn't disappoint now.
We had a wonderful dinner at Bradly Ogden restaurant in Caesar's Palace. The waiter was very nice and brought candle with dessert.
Jill and Alicia didn't like the room at the Luxor they had checked in to so we changed rooms when we finally made it back to the hotel. That was after wandering through Caesar's Palace and the Bellagio which was next door. I think we made it to bed around 2 or 3am.
We slept in on Monday. Jill likes to play the slots and Alicia likes to shop. There is plenty of both in Vegas. We went to Mandalay Bay for brunch. There is a beautiful view of the Mandalay pools and the brunch buffet is really good. We went to the Luxor pool for a little bit. I was hoping to get a bit of a disco nap in but didn't really get any shut eye.
Monday night was the show at The Wynn hotel. It is a Cirque du Solei show...all the shows in Las Vegas are Cirque shows. The show is called La Reve which is French for The Dream. It is in, on and around water. Amazing is about the only word you can use to describe this extravaganza. The women are beautiful and the men are really beautiful. The acrobatics, the swimming, the costumes, the music, the special effects, it goes on and on. And they do it twice in a row....7pm and 9:30pm.The Wynn is pretty but I still think the Bellagio is prettier. We had chatted with An 80 year old ex-boxer in the hotel cafe. He asked if I was a bodybuilder...which certainly did my ego all kinds of stroking.
A previous assistant stage manager, Emily, of Jill's met us after the show and took us to a tapas restaurant. Good food and good stories. She now is a stage manager on "O" -- another Cirque show which is at the Bellagio.
Emily dropped us off in front of the Bellagio so we could see the dancing waters. Was perfect timing. The Bellagio fountains are beautiful. We headed back to the Luxor stopping at New York New York to try the slots. It was very very smoky which is unusual. My eyes started to really bother me. I did good on a Wheel of Fortune slot and cashed out. Now good for me is getting back to the $20 I would put in. I actually made $15 on this Wheel of Fortune 5 cent slot. Jill wanted to go back to Mandalay Bay because she had done pretty good there.
I dropped $20 really fast and was not feeling the vibe. My eyes were now about falling out of my head. Alicia who was technically too young to be allowed within the gambling areas was fading. We dicided to head back to the Luxor and let Jill indulge in her obsession. I heard Jill when she got back to the room but had no idea what time it was. She later said it was 4am.
Tuesday. We kind of slept in again. We had to check-out by noon so we headed to the Luxor buffet to charge our meals to the room. The hotel was offering these deals where you could charge certain items to the room and then get a discount. The desk clerk said to just go to the buffet...charge it to the room...then call them to check out. It worked like a charm.
I wasn't really very hungry. We had checked our bags with the bellman before eating. After brunch we were to go over to the Bellagio to watch the Cirque Du Solei people try to break the Guinness World Record for people walking on stilts. Emily had learned how and was going to be part of the event. I kind of knew this but now really know this....Jill and Alicia will always stop for shopping. We were cutting it real close to the event start time but had to stop to shop. I admit since they stopped to shop, I took advantage to get one souvenir for Asha who had requested something.
We made to the Bellagio in time to see that we had missed it. By the time we got there it was over. The thing must not have been very long though there were lots and lots of people with various kinds of stilts. We didn't see Emily.
We went across Las Vegas Blvd which was renamed Cirque Du Solei Blvd in honor of Cirque's 25th anniversary to Planet Hollywood. Planet Hollywood is one of the newest casino-hotels on the strip. It was nice inside but I think it is probably more of a bar/club kind of place. We wandered down the strip. I bought post cards. Alicia was looking for clothing. We ended up
at MGM casino-hotel.
We saw the lions and their keepers. We played some slots. I did good at another Spin the Wheel. We talked Jill into playing Let It Ride which is an actual card game. She looked for her wallet and could not find it. We went back to the slots where she played and could not find it. Reported the wallet lost/stolen to security and headed back to get our luggage and get to the airport. Jill called her bank to cancel all the cards.
She had no picture identification so were concerned about her even getting home. We were able to get Jill and Alicia's luggage from the bellman using Alicia's id. Jill called her parents to have her dad pick them up at Meford airport. Jill's house and car keys were in her wallet. The hotel had said to go to seccond floor security at the airport to get clearance. Turns out she didn't have to. My flight was earlier so I headed to my gate after checking in.
Jill called a little while later to say they were checked it, at the gate and MGM had called and her wallet had been turned in. Good news to end a good birthday celebration.
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