Sin City Part 2 ~ Other stuff....

Vegas continued....

Las Vegas Weather

Who knew Vegas would go from Hot & Sunny to Overcast & Muggy quickly followed by rain... then harder rain, thunder and lightening. Oh yeah, there was also flash floods on the streets.






The Bellagio Hotel

I really wanted to go see the Bellagio Conservatory because in the past I've always enjoyed the display. This time however it was quite an unfortunate experience. I'm really not even sure what the theme was.

There were trains
Hot Air Balloons

Huge animatronic baby eagles (???)

Thank goodness this 'Tree Spirit" didn't talk or move...

I really don't know what to say about this display... I was disappointed with this whacked conglomeration of all kinds of weird stuff but hey that's just me.

Belly Dance

As previously mentioned we went to Vegas to attend the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive: shows and workshops. I don't have any pictures from the workshops but I do have pics from the two shows we attended. I will post a few of my favorites soon but I need to just complain slightly about this meat head of a man that was in the front row on the Sat night show... See his head here?!

Well this dudes huge gum-drop shape head ended up in almost all my pictures... now I have to edit it out as much as possible!

Burlesque Girls

I've been to a few burlesque shows before, but I've never been to the Ivan Kane's 40 Deuces. I was really looking forward to it but maybe it was a quite night because it was a Sunday eve.... I'm not really sure what was going on but it really took quite a bit to get the crowd riled up.

The club is really REALLY small and the stage consists of an L shape runway against the wall and the whole bar 'runway'. Against the wall are strands of pearls which become a strong 'rope' so the dancer can hold on and swing and lift themselves doing all kinds of amazing moves. Above the bar runway area there is a bar in the ceiling and the dancer will use that can hold onto it and lift herself up. One of the dancers that night did a handstand and used the ceiling pole to walk on her hands across about half of the bar - & yes, it was impressive!

There were two dancers but what was really odd was that there wasn't an MC and the two dancers weren't announced. Not sure what was up with that.. hmmmm.? But I'm glad we went, but I'd like to see if it's busier on a Fri or Sat night.

Leaving Las Vegas

Due to the unexpected thunderstorm on Monday all flights leaving Vegas were delayed and we spent about an hour and a half on the tarmac with another 40+ planes praying that we'd actually get to leave ~ Though I didn't want to go to work the next day I really needed to...

Here is a slightly blurry pic of Vegas at night from the plane

as we finally got in the air...

And there we go Vegas 2008... Thanx & Good Night!

Leather & Music

Today I took a trip up to the City this afternoon to go see a favorite band from my youth.. Berlin was one of the headline bands at the Folsom St. Fair. It's been ages since I'd been to the Folsom St Fair but hardly anything has changed.

Leather, chains, latex, bare-butt chaps, and quite a few men wearing nothing but shoes & a cock-ring & maybe a chest harness to top off their "outfit". (I always wonder how these guys actually get to Folsom St?!? Do they walk, take the bus, catch a cab? & where do they keep their money? No clothes = no pockets.....)

The English Beat was also playing today but sadly I just couldn't be two places at once so I chose Berlin as the band to attend. So made my way to the 7th street stage weaving in and out of the foot traffic on the street and sidewalk, careful NOT to accidentally brush up against the guys in just shoes and cock-ring...

I made my way to a front row space and enjoyed the show ~ and what a show it was!!!

Here is Terri waiting to come on stageThe roar of screams and applause was intense!

A quick change (removal of her over-dress) made her even more sexy!

This Hunk showed up to 'help' Terri

Because those of us at the front were there early, we were told that Terri was going to be taken into the crowd and this guy became her 'vehicle'

Terri then invited anyone that wanted to get on stage to get up there and rock out with her and the band

Berlin played for an hour and so many of us in the crowd sang along the whole time. Here are a couple shots taken during their signature song "Sex (I'm a....)"

They say a picture is worth a thousand words......

That was a really GREAT show! I'm so glad I went.

This speaks for itself.....

Weekend WrapUp *pictoral*

Golden Gate Park ~ Tea Garden & De Young Museum: Chihuly Exhibit

Treasure Island Music Festival

Free Bio-Desiel Shuttle from SF to the Island

NO clue what these things are!?!

And in the Anything Goes Fashion Catagory:





Thanks, and back to the Music Festival....

Vampire Weekend

The Raconteurs close the show

Cupcakes runneth over

.... over in into Northern California that is....

The famous Southern CA Cupcake purveyor Sprinkles has opened a shop in the very trendy and popular Palo Alto, CA.

Considering that the Executive Pastry Chef, Candace Nelson's roots are in the Bay Area (I was surprised to find out) this is the first location here.... They do not have gluten free options for those of us with wheat sensitivity so while I might choose to imbibe once Sprinkles will not be on my To Do list. But the Chai Latte flavor is calling...

Who's Shocked?!?

I'm not.

I'm sure your not shocked either...

Making headlines today: Clay Aiken has come out of the closet

Shocker Shocker Shocker

Is this really news????

Sin City Favorites

The Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive happens in September and last year Dawn & I went and had a great time so this year we went again. This time I planned and extra day to turn it into a really weekend get away.

Aside from the Belly Dance related events ~ two shows and a few dance workshops ~ we found time to take in a few sights and sounds.... Here are some of my favs from the weekend


Pinball Museum

You could almost hear 'Pinball Wizard' playing in the background.

Who knew that there was a Pinball Museum in Las Vegas, heck who knew that there was such a thing as a pinball museum... The museum had about four rows of dozens of pinball machines side by side and back to back. Old (very old) and new pinball machines everywhere.

You could play them all, with the exception of a few that weren't working that day. The cost of the games ranged from 25 cents to 75 cents.

I really like the art on this Mata Hari game

Meat & Shopping
....is there a better combo?


One evening we went for an early dinner at Pampas Brazilian Grille in the Desert Passage Shopping Mall attached to the now Planet Hollywood but more about Planet Hollywood in a sec.

Pampas was a really great experience - we went for the full on *meat spectacular*.


Here is the restaurants wording about the menu:
Skewers laden with a seemingly endless array of roasted meats arrive at your table and are carved to order.
YUM!


& the best news of all is that Pampas is also in Palo Alto so I don't have to wait for my next trip to Vegas to enjoy skewered meat.



Desert Passage / Planet Hollywood
If you didn't know Plant Hollywood Hotel WAS The Aladdin Hotel. The Aladdin Hotel had a fun Middle Eastern-ish theme and so the Desert Passage shopping mall was decked out in similar fashion in it's decor. But now that Planet Hollywood has moved in the theme is more: "Ultra-Lounge Dripping with Crystals" than Aladdin's: "camels and flying carpets".

Here is a great 'chandelier' of crystals that kept changing colors...

This 'squid' shaped crystal edifice just needed to be photographed

Very little of the Lounge - Crystal motif has been moved into the Shopping mall but where is has it's oddly juxtaposed with some of the old Aladdin feel.

We called this the floating crystal intestine

*Note how the building on the left has the old style arches of the Aladdin look....

Vintage / Costume Shopping

Williams Costume Sales and Rentals has pretty much anything you might need to make a costume or rent one.

The wall just at the entrance had all these pictures

Lots and lots of feathers, boas, etc everywhere....

The Attic. You might remember The Attic from the Visa commercials... It's been quite a few years since I've been there and while they have a pretty big selection of rave/club wear they still have some proper vintage clothes. I'm sure that there is a high level need for colourful Animal Print shirts but that's just not my thing....


Yellow Brick Road

Last year I was introduced to the Las Vegas Band: Yellow Brick Road. They are a classic rock cover band that is really great! It you want to experience Queen, Led Zeplin, Pink Floyd, etc... check them out when you are in town.

There was a pretty funny moment when a woman went up to the lead singer and asked him if they would play a Killers song. He said that they are playing the killers, all the killer classic rock bands....


Prime Rib Heaven


Totally unplanned we decided to go to Lawry's Prime Rib for dinner. It was a really amazing experience... from the moment that you arrive and you turn your car over to the Valet and you walk in and check out the bar.



Inside the decor is Art Deco but properly done, not over the top like a restaurant that tries too hard. Mr. Khato was our server and he was a good looking man but we noticed that he was not actually on the menu.

Not only do they specialize in Prime Rib but they serve a 'famous' spinning bowl salad with their vintage dressing. The table side service was impressive and the salad was scrumptious.

The prime rib was the highlight of the meal. The delivery of the prime rib was a fantastic production. Again table side the 'cruise ship' of meat arrives with all available prime rib selections. Below is the chef that served our meat from the 'cruise ship'.

Check out the chefs big gold medal. After enjoying my prime rib I definitely agree that he deserves that medal!


more Vegas to come soon.....