“It’s damned amazing”, I said as I looked down at the base of Hoover Dam.  “Pretty damn high too!”  I walked across the top of the dam with my wife, Karen, and our friends, Gene and Betsy, to the view of Lake Mead.   “That’s an awfully big damned big lake,” I noted.  That’s when they started to hit me. “Stop it DAMMIT!”  I yelled.  Karen pinched me under the ribs until I yelped like a girl.  Some people just don’t enjoy good puns.

Karen and I had met up with our friends Gene and Betsy that afternoon.  They lived in the small town of Loveland, Colorado, which included a regional airport with direct service to one and only one city:  Las Vegas.  I had found a great airfare deal from Baltimore to Vegas on America West Airlines.  Thus we reunited for some fun in sin city.

After our tour of Hoover Dam, we stopped at a sign announcing helicopter rides over Lake Mead for $29. (Lake Mead is one of the largest manmade lakes in the world—110 miles long, created when the 726’ high Hoover Dam was constructed on the Colorado River.)   I steered our rental car into the parking lot next to the chopper and the four of us signed up.  We were all quite excited as we boarded the whirlybird and it lifted off.  The copter flew out over the lake, turned around and immediately landed.  What a total letdown.  I could have probably gotten more airtime and had just as good of a view of the lake by jumping up and down a couple of times.  We walked across the parking lot to a casino and ordered one dollar margaritas.  The drinks, at least, were worth the money!

Wishing to see more of the lake, we drove along the lakeshore drive and stopped occasionally to stroll along the water’s edge.  The lake is magnificent.  Clear blue water reflects off of burnt umber cliffs as the lake snakes its way along the original path of the Colorado.   The area is one big playground with sailing, fishing, windsurfing, water skiing, mountain biking and hiking.  We pulled off at a boat ramp and sandy beach and skipped stones across the placid surface and relaxed in the late day sun.

Neither Karen nor I had a proper lunch. Gene and Betsy had arrived the previous day and had filled up at an extravagant breakfast brunch buffet at the Las Vegas Hilton, but they were also beginning to get hungry.  We returned to sin city and tried to bribe our way into the revolving restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere Hotel.  The maitre’d turned down our offer because the place was booked solid and recommended an Italian restaurant on the main floor.  The food was okay, but nothing special.  But the four of us had a great time, drinking a bottle of wine and continuing to catch up on old times and recent events.

After dinner we BOLDLY departed for THE FINAL FRONTIER— the Star Trek Experience (STE) at the Hilton.  I’m not a trekkie.  But I’m still enough of a geek to love Star Trek.   Gene and Karen both liked the show.  But Betsy is a borderline trekkie.  STE includes a star trek museum with models of all of the ships from each of the shows, costumes, props and a timeline that connects the various series.  Actors and actresses portraying various aliens mingle amongst the museum visitors.  The highlight is a virtual realty ride that transports you to the future where you’re in a shuttle craft battling Klingon forces.  As we waited to board the ride, a statuesque woman adorned in Klingon battle dress ENGAGED us in conversation.  Gene told the woman that I was seeking a mate.  But these Klingons are not easily deceived and she noticed the ring on my finger.  I told her that Karen would not mind if I dallied in an extraterrestrial, extramarital affair.  The Klingon woman would have none of it.  Geesh!  Klingons are such prudes!  Honor this and honor that.  It’s Vegas after all!!!

The ride was a total blast and we finished the evening with a cocktail at Quark’s Bar from Deep Space Nine.  Our friends had to catch an early flight out in the morning.  So we all hugged goodbye and Karen and I returned to our hotel, The Sahara, far less extravagant that the new ones on the strip

We slept in late and hit the $10Champagne Brunch.  The buffet included too much of everything from every food group and cuisine.  They even had enormous crab legs.  Crab for breakfast???  We left the buffet at noon and I took a spin on the casino’s roller coaster called Speed.  Karen passed, thinking it unwise to ride a looping, corkscrewing roller-coaster with a full tummy, but I survived the very fast, very short coaster.

We originally planned to hike around Mt. Charleston in the afternoon.  The 11,918 feet peak is 45 minute drive from the Strip.  The mountain includes dozens of hiking trails through thick pine forests with spectacular views of the Spring Mountain Range abutting the desert below.  Being so high, it’s 30 or more degrees cooler than Vegas and functions as a ski area in the winter.  And during our mid-November visit, it had already begun to snow and we didn’t bring any winter clothing.  Then I had the brilliant idea - a hike in the desert! 

I’d never seen the desert close-up.  We drove a half hour south of the city and pulled off at road leading to a small bluff called Jean Ridge.  We tromped around in the sand and around cacti, tumbleweeds and dried up prickly bushes.  The climb up to the top of the hill didn’t yield much better of a view.  Sand filled my shoes and the prickly bushes kept attacking me.  Hiking in the desert isn’t much fun.

We stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in one of the casinos and then left the barren world of the desert for a magical world of water:  Cirque du Soliel’s “O”.  “O” is the phonetic representation of the French word eau, which means water.  The show permanently resides at the Bellagio.  The stage is a giant, submerged aquarium with platforms that rise in and out of the water.  Seeing the show is like having a lurid dream or hallucination.  The performers exhibit feats of almost superhuman strength and dexterity.  Trapeze artists fly high through the air and dangle from wires.  Dancers appear and disappear into the water.  There’s a high dive act, fire eating, elaborate costumes, contortionists and clowns.  It was the most fantastic show I’ve ever seen of any kind.  We picked up tickets to see one of the other Cirque shows, Mystere, playing the next night at the Treasure Island Resort.

The next day we drove 30 minutes west of the city to Red Rock Canyon.  It too was like something out of a dream.  Crimson mountains of ancient red sandstone and shale spring upwards from the desert.  The high bluffs and mountain passes made me feel as though I was in an old western.  There are riding trails in the canyon.  But we came to climb on our last day in Nevada.  Our guide, Karl Wilcox, from Sky’s the Limit met us in a parking area at the park entrance.  He loaded ropes, helmets and climbing gear into our car and we drove about halfway around a scenic loop road.  The climbing area required about a 45 minute hike along a valley trail.  Every turn on the path rewarded us with breathtaking vistas of the dramatic countryside.  The climb was up a shaded cliff-face called Dark Shadows.  With Karl leading the way and Karen and I tied in behind him, it took about 3 hours to ascend the 300’ high shear wall. At the top was yet another fantastic view; the mountains looked like walls of fire against the backdrop of a deep blue sky.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at several other spots on the scenic loop to take photos.  I dropped Karl off at his car and we rushed back.  With a tight schedule we had Mexican food (it seems every hotel has a Mexican restaurant) in the Sahara and caught a cab to Treasure Island.  Mystere lacked the surrealist effect of the water from “O”.  But the acrobatic feats were as much, if not more, amazing.  The tuxedoed ringmaster was also hilarious as he frequently entered the audience, sprayed water on the unsuspecting, stole popcorn, flirted, and pulled people up onto stage where he played diabolical practical jokes.  A very large man, dressed as a baby in a diaper, was equally amusing and playful with the audience.  Karen and I fortunately escaped all of these pranks.

We walked back under the glow of the countless lights of The Las Vegas Strip.  We were both tired and ready for bed.  But we couldn’t have the full Vegas experience without some gambling.  In the Sahara casino Karen played a couple of five dollar hands of blackjack and lost them both.  I played one five dollar game and won.  I won another and then lost two bringing me back to my original five dollars.  I went for broke with another hand and hit 21.   So I cashed out five dollars ahead.  As I stood in line to collect my massive winnings, Karen fed a buck into a slot machine and hit the jackpot for $20.  She took the money and ran, making a 9 dollar profit for the night.  Wow, we not only had a great weekend of fun, we came out ahead gambling in Las Vegas.  It was damned amazing!!!