Let's take a break -- Vegas

We did take a few days off from the grueling pace we're setting here in Colorado. It's easy to get exhausted when you have to do everything we've had on our list up here. Like... well, then there's.... OK, so we didn't need the break, but it was still fun.

Saturday, Cole and Sarah drove up from Phoenix and Sunday, we took off for three days in Vegas. Matt and Christie flew down from northern California to join us. We stayed at our favorite hotel there -- the Bellagio. Great rooms, great location, great service.

As always, when people travel with us. Cole, Sarah, Matt and Christie had to get used to the idea of eating our way through Vegas. As soon as we got there, we headed straight over to the Paris Hotel to have a late lunch at one of our favorite places -- Ah Sins -- only to find out its now only open for dinner (more later). We ended up at one of the other places at the Paris. Not great, but not bad.

That night, we all went to see the first Cirque d'Soleil show -- O. Carolyn and I have seen this one five times now and have enjoyed it every time. This was the kids first Cirque show and its a good one to start with. This is a typical Cirque production except that water plays a big role. The specially constructed theatre ($90M we're told) has platforms that come and go. For example, there are spots on the stage where, one minute, people are running around and dancing and, literally a minute later, somebody is diving on to that spot from 2 or 3 stories up. This is really a spectacular show -- highly recommend it.

Then, back to food. Dinner at Olive's, another restaurant at the Bellagio. Hard to get used to eating dinner at 10 o'clock, but the food was good so it was worth it. Afterwards, Carolyn crashed, I headed to the tables and the kids all set off to explore Vegas.

Monday saw me back at the tables for pretty much the whole day, while everybody else headed out to shop and see the sights. The kids headed over to New York, New York to ride the rollacoaster. Christie and Sarah seemed to really like it, but Matt spent the whole ride hanging on with his eyes closed and Cole came back with bruises all over is neck and shoulders from being bounced around. All of this, of course, worked up a big appetite (what else) and in the evening, we all headed to the newest restaurant at the Bellgaio -- Michael Mina's. He's apparently a well known celebrity chef from San Francisco. The food was just fantastic -- way more than we should have eaten -- but fantastic. We all started with a giant platter of cold seafood -- lobster, shrimp, oysters and clams. Christie decided she wanted to try foie gras, too and they had an appetizer that had it done three different ways. Somehow, the rest of never got to taste, but she and Matt seemed to have become big foie gras fans my the time the plate was clean. The entres were huge -- I'll just describe mine. Four small Kobe beef filets, each with a piece of grilled lobster on it and topped with a dab of hollandaise sauce. If that weren't enough there was then a dish of lobster mashed potatoes and vegetables. That dish was then topped with, of all things, a short rib and then it was topped with piece of foie gras. At this point, we're all groaning, but, of course, with this crowd, you're never done until you've had dessert. And of course, we all ordered, not just dessert, but dessert "samplers". a plate to share with small portions of 7 different desserts! We could barely get up from the table, but dispersed the same way -- Carolyn to bed, me to the tables and the kids to the strip until 4 in the morning.

Wednesday, a learned that the kids are buffet fans. The Bellagio has a great one, but I almost never get to go since Carolyn hates buffets. So we jammed ourselves full of all kinds of food and then back out to "real world" or as close as you can get to it. Even Carolyn headed to the slots this time, coupled with more shopping. Since we were headed to another show that evening, we had made arrangements to meet at 5:30 for dinner. Fortunately, we got to talking on the way to the restaurant and, after the buffet at lunch, everybody was still stuffed and just going along to keep everybody else happy. We decided to head over the MGM and hit a bar before the show and try to find dinner afterwards.

The show that night was KA, the newest Cirque show in Vegas. Things got off to a good start in the lobby. As we passed through, several actors in elaborate costumes climbed up to a platform above us. Up there was an enormous musical instrument -- sort of guitar like with strings that stretched across the lobby and were connect to gigantic (20 feet tall) sound chambers. The two actors proceed to play the instrument by stroking the strings -- pretty incredible. The theatre itself was absolutely amazing -- kind of like the mining pit scenes from Lord of the Rings -- with 4 story towers all around. As it got close to show time, characters started running around the towers and their platforms -- flying on bungie cords over the audience. The show itself was a lot darker and much more theatrical than a typical Cirque show with a lot less "thats impossible" acts than we've come to expect. That said, however, the show really was pretty amazing. A moveable, tilting stage made for some incredible acts like a big martial arts battle that is done on a vertical platform. The big finale was a huge onstage fireworks show. I'm not sure I'd rank this as one of the better Cirque shows (although I think Carolyn probably disagrees with me), but its absolutely worth seeing. After the disaster of Cirque's other new show in Vegas, Zumanity, it was good to see that they've still go the touch.

OK -- shows over -- back to food! We walked back over the Paris to try to make it to Ah Sins and were able to get in. Its a great place, especially for a late night dinner. They have a sushi bar, a satay bar and a bunch of entrees too. Whenever we go, we always just order a bunch of food and put it in the middle of the table and graze. No exception. Food was terrific and we almost got Sarah to try sushi. Maybe next time.

Three days is about all we can take in Vegas -- you eat to much, stay up too late and walk way more than normal. We did really have a great time. It was good to be able to share some time with the kids -- a great group to travel with.

Oh yeah -- on the gambling front everything went as it usually does. Carolyn gambled for about a half hour and doubled her money. I, once again, got my tail handed to me. There's always next time.