LAS VEGAS

Who ISN'T headed for Las Vegas ? That's the question these days. It seems that everywhere I go someone is telling me about their upcoming trip to "Sin City." Hopefully all these visitors will help those folks get their economy going once again. For it is certain that WHOEVER goes will be leaving a trail of money behind them.



My first glimpse of the casino in the desert happened a few years ago. Honeybuns had a business meeting out there so I tagged along. Seeing that place with my own eyeballs was such an enticing thought that we actually took Philip out of college a few days and flew him from Baylor at Waco, TX to meet us in Las Vegas! As a sophomore in college he was pretty involved with "poker nights" at his fraternity and was feeling pretty lucky! He was shocked that we would invite him along to the mecca of all gambling.



I saved my pennies for several months with the expressed purpose of giving our "lucky" boy some casino money. Never before had I EVER sacrificed anything just to have money to throw down a rat hole. But I was convinced that this was going to be an experiment in the rule that "the house always wins." And thus the fascination with actually "hitting the jackpot" would be buried once and for all.



IT WORKED!!



We stayed at the beautiful Treasure Island Resort, walked the streets of the strip and looked at all the fancy people, shopped in Caesar's Palace (where the statues actually move and talk every 15 minutes!), watched the dancing fountains at the Belagio and ate M&M's at the candy store by the same name. We took in a couple of fabulous shows, one being Siegfried and Roy which was mesmerizing and magical. (That was before Roy became a snack for one of their white tigers. I'm thrilled to report that he is STILL alive and functioning!) The guys rode the roller coaster at New York, New York, we sat in on the humongous show at Circus, Circus and toured the Lexor. One day we took a bus ride out to Hoover Dam! We had a great time in "Sin City." It IS a treat for the eyeballs. I've heard that when the lights are on the city can be seen from outer space!



The time came for the blackjack lesson. Honeybuns and Philip headed off to the tables with their pockets full of coin.


I waited in the hotel room. (I had had my fill of that constant and loud...DING, DING, DING, DING, DING and decided to sit out the big hand.)



They returned after a very short time. Honeybuns had timed the experiment. It took them 12 1/2 minutes to lose every penny they had.



Money disappears REALLY FAST in Vegas. My own roll of nickels lasted about 10 minutes matching wits with the one armed bandit. My sister has adopted the plan of just handing the casino cashier her $20.00 when she first goes INTO the hotel and thus saving her a lot of time and blood pressure worries.



Everybody should see Las Vegas once, I suppose. The trick is to take along "throw away money" because that is exactly what happens.