Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Our first day in Vegas. How did it go? HEY, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! Well, for you guys, I’ll make an exception. So, what would you do with your family on your first day in Vegas? Well ... check out the strip, of course. We didn’t have a very packed agenda for today. In a nutshell, the plan was to walk the strip from Circus Circus to the Luxor and simply be amazed at all the fulsome, spurious ephemera (I really outdid myself there, eh?). We also had to make sure we stopped by New York, New York to ride the roller coaster there, and try to swing by Treasure Island when they are having one of their free pirate shows. Yes, it was sunny and hot but that is all part of being in the desert. Besides, on our walking tour we are likely going to be inside most of the time anyway. So off we went. It is almost impossible to describe Vegas to someone who has never been here and if you have been there, you wouldn’t want me to try to tell you about it. I usually say to people who haven’t been there that Vegas is not unlike a car crash in as much as you can’t help but look to see what is going on but you don’t really want to stick around very long. We did manage to make it all the way to the Luxor. The highlights, in a nutshell, were an over-the-top new Fashion Mall, Steve Wynn’s new hotel, the Venitian which did not really impress, nice architecture at Paris, very rad interior at the Aladdin, LOVED M&M world, complete with 4 stories and a 3-D movie, rode (or should I say, survived?) the most intense roller coaster of my life at NY,NY, and finished with a ride up the “inclinator” (not the elevator) at the Luxor. If you go there you’ll see what we are talking about. It was a long day and we were offered free tickets to different shows about 73 separate times during our walk … as long as we agreed to listen to their timeshare pitch. No thanks. Somewhere in there we stopped in to buy some half-price tickets for a magic show at the Stardust the next day. And just after dinner we tried to scoot over to see the Treasure Island show taking place in front of the hotel but the sidewalks were packed by the time we arrived and we only got to see a partial show from our vantage point. But technically we saw it. So a successful first day which was concluded with a swim and a soak in the hot tub while watching the lights of Vegas in the background. Check in tomorrow for day two in Sin City.

Today’s words:

fulsome \FUL-sum\, adjective:
1. Offensive to the taste or sensibilities.
2. Insincere or excessively lavish; especially, offensive from excess of praise.

spurious \SPYUR-ee-uhs\, adjective:
1. Not proceeding from the true or claimed source; not genuine; false.
2. Of illegitimate birth.

ephemeron \ih-FEM-uh-ron\, noun; plural ephemera \ih-FEM-uh-ruh\:
1. Something short-lived or of no lasting significance.
2. ephemera: Items, especially printed matter (as posters, broadsides, pamphlets, etc.), intended to be of use or importance for only a short time but preserved by collectors.