Viva Las Vegas

Sorry I fell a little bit behind with my blog posts. Hopefully, the PCH driving videos made up for it.

On Monday night, I pulled into Las Vegas and got some much needed sleep. I am staying with my godfather in Henderson, NV while I am in town.

Tuesday morning we woke up and hit our favorite breakfast place, Hash House a go go. It is yet another Man vs Food stop that I've tagged while on this trip.

I also brought the car in for an Oil change, fluid check, a bath and a tummy rub and a scratch behind the ears. My car has been very good to me, despite me mercilessly driving him 7,000 miles in the last month.

I also dropped my clothes off at the worst cleaners in the entire world. Village East Cleaners in Henderson, NV...you are awful! I dropped off 6 t-shirts and 2 polos to be laundered and they charged me $40. I argued with them for 30 min about what it means to launder a t-shirt and how ridiculous they are for folding it around cardboard and individually packing each shirt in plastic, yet ignoring the 6 month old pasta sauce stains! I said that at least when the four seasons charges me 4.75 to launder a t-shirt it comes back to me wrapped in a silk bow with a box of chocolates and a back rub! Then I demanded a box of chocolates and a back rub or my money back...they did NOT oblige.

Moving on...

On day 2, we got breakfast at Green Valley Ranch and caught a morning tour of the new Smith Arts center in Las Vegas. It was built in the Art Deco style of the Hoover Dam.
I thought it was pretty funny to hear the tour guide encourage us to rub the toes of the bronze statue in the lobby because "we are told it brings good luck". The center is only open 3 months and that is hardly enough time to develop a true mythology around the toes of the "Genius in Flight" statue. Who did it bring good luck to...the 7.5 people that have rubbed it so far? Did one of them hit a slot machine for a million dollars or something after rubbing the toes? Nevertheless, it was interesting to me because I imagined what those toes will look like in 30-40 years after a few million people have rubbed them and the oils from their fingers have tarnished the bronze and eroded the outer layer to the point where no one will ever question why to rub the toes...they just will.

After the Smith Center, we went to see my good friend Jeff Civillico and his hilarious new show at the Imperial Palace. Jeff just recently got his own show here in Vegas and has put together an incredible hour of entertainment that should not be missed if you are in town.

http://www.jeffcivillico.com/

After the show, we went upstairs to the Auto Museum and checked out some of the antique cars they had. My favorite was the Porsche Roadster.

Finally we capped off the night at The Golden Steer steak house where Sinatra used to have his own table. It is old school Vegas with the red leather booths and shag carpeting. They also make a great steak!

I'll post the update from my 3rd and final day in Vegas later this afternoon.

I am heading out now to Flagstaff Arizona to climb the first of three 10,000+ foot mountains that I will be tagging over the next 9 days.

Below is the game plan...

Humphrey's Peak, Arizona (12,625 ft)
Wheeler Peak, New Mexico (13,159 ft)
Mt Elbert, Colorado (14,439 ft)