More Travels 4--Vegas and Finale

Vegas and Vacation Finale

It’s another beautiful day in the Nevada desert with temperatures in the mid-70’s by 11:00 a.m.
We had breakfast at Palace Station and then headed downtown. People checked out, waited in line for coffee-to-go, dragged their suitcases across the cobble foyer and generally prepared to depart, even on a holiday weekend. A few sat numbly in front of slot machines.  “I never could understand how so many can look so blank so early in the morning,” said Andy. “Do they just play all night until the lose all of their money?”
We got taken by surprise at breakfast. Yesterday’s buffet was $4.99 a person with the Players Club card. “You may purchase two breakfasts with your card,” the clerk told Andy. He had read Anthony Curtis’s review that the Palace Station had the best breakfast buffet value in Las Vegas. And it was delicious!  “You can’t eat at Burger King for $#4.99 a person,” said Andy.
But today the price was $8.99 a person. It was Sunday Brunch. Surprise! But we had omelets made to order, prime rib and apple crisp for breakfast. That was WITH the Players Club discount. “I wonder what it costs without the discount,” mused Andy.
“Double up,” I told him. This time I wasn’t kidding. The couple ahead of us had to pay it. I overheard the clerk. “You’re a foursome and the Players Club card is only good for two,” she said. “You can go down to the Cage in the Casino and apply for another card if you want to.”
“No,” said the customer.
“Okay,” she answered. “Then it’s $16.99 a person.”

At Ethel M Chocolate Company a three-acre cactus garden
shows off rare and exotic plants.

Except for the Golden Nugget, downtown was dead. We walked through the mall to Fremont Street, watched a spray paint artist work, stepped in and out of a couple shops, had our parking ticket validated and headed out.
We drove the whole Strip back and forth to downtown. It’s nice to have some stop and go,” said Andy. “That way I get a chance to look around.” At night the traffic is humongous and all the flashing lights; erratic, confused visiting drivers; drunk and inattentive pedestrians; construction sites and disappearing traffic lanes make driving a car challenging and downright dangerous.
Ethel M Chocolate Company, owned by Mars, Inc., has cut back too. Only one line operated and that was a packing line for heart-shaped boxes of solid chocolate Valentine hearts. But it was Sunday. Two girls packed the chocolate pieces of candy, just like Lucy and Ethyl in the classic I Love Lucy sit-com segment.
“Boy, do they have to move fast,” said Andy.
We each chose a nickel-size sample of dark chocolate. No more “pick-any-piece-you-would-like-to-try” sample.

The huge orange flowers of the Prickly Pear cactus
add a splash of color to the desert at Ethel M's gardens.

We walked the gardens. It took ten times longer than the factory tour. I was interested in the different kinds of prickly pear cactus. Many were not labeled, but I saw Mission Cactus, Cow’s Tongue, Rabbit Ears, Beaver Tail and Purple Prickly Pear, as well as Prickly Pear. They all looked somewhat alike. Covering three acres, the garden includes more than 350 rare and exotic plant species, but many plants had no labels. It was just pleasant to walk and browse.  We noticed holiday statues, a Santa sleigh and Christmas lights. The flier invited guests to visit from mid-November through January 1, when the garden is lit with more than half a million lights. “But they close at 6 p.m.,” said Andy. “That’s not much dark time to light up the garden.”

Prickly Pear fruit is used to make jelly.

Our show tickets to Jubilee, the only floor show extravaganza left in Las Vegas, read 10:00 p.m. The advertisement said 10:30 p.m., so we stopped at Bally’s to verify the time. It was our Grand Finale on the Las Vegas Strip.
“I was going to walk the other way down the Strip tonight,” said Andy, when we left Palace Station all dressed up. We browsed in windows at the Cosmopolitan and checked out the art at Aria Hotel and Casino. The shopping mall housed more exclusive stores—Dior, Louis Viton, Cartier—and beautiful beds of live flowers in colorful arrangements.
We stopped at El Diablo for a glass of white wine, two-for-one, but they still charged $10 a glass. They know how to tease! At the bar we met Andy from Brazil. “They call me Andy, but my name is Anderson,” he explained when we introduced ourselves. Andy Anderson spoke fluent English, but his three companions comprehended little. I couldn’t even try out my very limited Spanish. They spoke Portuguese. When Andy Anderson disappeared with his girlfriend, leaving the other couple at the bar with us, we invited the guy to have Andy’s second two-for-one beer and tried to explain in pantomime that we had show tickets at Bally’s. I think they got it!

The show Jubilee at Bally's was a lavish celebration of costumes, dancing and music with scenes from Delilah's Biblical betrayal of Samson, the sinking of the Titanic, the Rockettes chorus line, and the Fred Astaire dance era. Audience members oohed and aahed when a performer juggled huge metal frames and a couple executed gymnastic dancing while hanging from drapes near the ceiling.

The colors, the actions, the scenes, the costumes and head pieces were mesmerizing.

It was an incredible Grand Finale to our four days in Las Vegas.