Big Dam and Big Chocolates

No one is supposed to go to Las Vegas without seeing Hoover Dam, no one that is except my friend Jenny, but that’s her story not mine.

When I took my daughter Val to Vegas in August of 2004, we signed up for the obligatory bus trip to the Dam, with a few stops on the way back. Most memorable thing about the Dam itself was going through security. The security guard, a large, friendly black woman, took each of our bags and scanned them. My big old backpack held most of our stuff and didn’t impress the woman too much. Val’s purse though, totally unlike her current purses, brought a smile to the guard’s face. “And then we have the itty bitty purse.”

After the Dam and a quick look at Lake Mead, we stopped at the Hacienda Casino for lunch. The buffet wasn’t bad, but then the bus driver thought everyone wanted some time to gamble. I don’t remember that being on the brochure, but it was kind of late then. Val and I returned to the bus and took a well-needed nap.

The next stop, however, made up for any casino. Ethel M’s Chocolates. We couldn’t buy much because it would just melt in the heat, but my daughter and I can match anybody when it comes to eating free samples.

All in all, the trip went well. Hmm? Pretty scary that she’s going to be legal in just one week.

Sorry that the picture is not of Hoover or Ethel - just some old castle on the strip.

Valerie Las Vegas

Nick graduated from high school the end of May 2004 and sometime that summer he went to Germany with his class. So once again not wanting Val to feel left out, I took her to Las Vegas in August for some bizarre reason. I don’t know why I thought that going to Vegas with my then 14-year-old daughter was a good idea, but we wanted to fly someplace exotic and Vegas was the only place in the budget.

We stayed at the Tropicana and basically spent most of our days just wandering around the strip. One day we rode the Monorail to the Stratosphere and went to the top of it just to get our picture taken – by a stranger and not by the overpriced semi-professional photographer who takes everyone’s picture while they are waiting for the elevator ride to the top and then super-imposes your image unto the Las Vegas skyline. Sorry, buddy, you ain’t goin’ make any money off of me. (Sorry I didn’t scan the picture of us that the stranger took.)

As you can guess, it was beastly hot outside all day every day. I thought we could just walk from casino to casino, resting and cooling off inside in between. But those security guys just inside the doors wouldn’t let me loiter for a minute with a minor. I told them, “Seriously? We are not even near any slots or tables.”

“Doesn’t matter, ma’am, she can only walk through, she can’t stop inside.” I felt like a criminal.

Oh, but Val still had fun, so I shouldn’t have stressed over it. We ate too much food at all the buffets, but either walked or sweat it all off. We dawdled in every store we found, but kept our purchases within our budget. They sell EVERYTHING in Vegas (and I don’t mean that either, for Pete’s sake).

The coolest part I thought were the fountains set to music inside of Bellagio. “In the summer time, when the weather is high you can chase right up and touch the sky.” Ok, reading the lyrics online just now, probably again not appropriate for my 14-year-old daughter, but it has such a catchy beat.