Countdown: Vegas to South of the Border: Wedding Anniversary Time

Over the past 28 years, mine and Shirley’s wedding anniversaries have included a variety of festivities. Sometimes a trip to Hawaii was involved; sometimes it was a camping trip, other times maybe dinner and a show on the Las Vegas Strip.

Pirate show at the TI

This year, September 14 fell on a Friday, so we made a weekend of it. Every decade or so, we like to go slumming on the Las Vegas Strip like a tourist and check out what all the excitement’s about. So I made a reservation at Senor Frogs at the TI on Friday night and we made the 15 minute drive from our house in the suburbs to the Strip.

The TI is famous for its free “Siren’s of TI” pirate show spectacular which takes place every night starting at 7 PM and features acrobatics, explosions, dancing girls, and a sinking ship. The nice thing about dinner at Senor Frogs is that you’re right on the waterfront with an up-close view of the action.

So after our fish tacos, chimichangas, Dos XX beers and a brownie sundae it was time to burn those calories with a stroll down the most expensive strip of real estate in the world.

Volcano at The Mirage

Of course, Vegas is an international city- like Rome, all roads lead to here eventually, so it’s appropriate that a recreation of Rome at its zenith- Caesar’s Palace occupies a prominent spot of the Strip. As if that’s not enough, there’s the Venetian complete with St Mark’s Square, canals and gondolas imported from Italy along with The Paris and a 1/3 scale recreation of the Eiffel Tower.

Bellagio dancing waters

Free stuff to see includes the erupting volcano at the Mirage, dancing fountains at the Bellagio, and a surfeit of street entertainers as well as people-watching in general. In fact, at the main fountain of Caesar’s there was one guy the security guards call the “swimmer” who was going in fully clothed to snag coins.

One benefit of living in a town where tourism is the bread and butter is that there’s enough security to make sure crime is held to a minimum, especially along the strip, so you can stroll around in relative security practically any time of the night. Being a 24 hour town, the casinos don’t even have locks on their doors.

Caesar's Palace fountain

This is one of the best times of the year in Vegas- 90’s during the day and 70’s at night with that single-digit desert humidity. So we checked out the conservatory at Bellagio with its talking tree and admired merchandise in shops so high-end that they don’t even post prices. Out front was a street performer who had just been on “America’s Got Talent” for the skill of being able to dance while dislocating his elbows and shoulders. Whatever it takes to make a buck.

Elvis sightings area common

So that was Friday. On Saturday we had plans with our friends CJ & Gerrie to head out to Spring Mountain State Park- a desert oasis about 30 minutes out of town- where they have summer stock productions under the stars. You take your wine and cheese (or whatever sustenance you require) and have a relaxing evening enjoying a Broadway musical. Our selection this year was “Leader of the Pack- The Elie Greenwich Story” which told the story of the Brill Building songwriter who wrote so many of the Girl Group classics from the ‘60s. (Ronettes “Be My Baby”, “Baby I Love You”, Dixie Cups “Chapel of Love”, Shangri-Las “Leader of the Pack”).

It was a great show, and of course for Baby Boomers like ourselves, the opportunity to hear performances that are part of our musical DNA.

So in answer to the question, what do you guys DO in Las Vegas, that was one weekend out of our lives enjoying typical non-sinful activities in Sin City.