Well, it's the end of a busy week - the sky is starting to clear up again after a rainy start.  Looking over the previous blogs from Vegas - I have a few notes to add even though I've been home for a little while. 

Saw the jousting dinner show at the Excalibur while in Vegas - "Tournament of Kings" - this was an entertaining show -- the whole 'Good vs. Evil'  theme with a lot of good-looking men with no shirts!  The dinner wasn't bad - I was craving a big turkey leg that I could eat with my hands, but they served cornish game hens.  The wine was an inexpensive house wine; red, chablis, white zin - that wasn't that inexpensive to buy - $7 per glass.  I would recommend the show for kids - not very young kids, however.  There were some large groups of college kids that were having a great time. They separate the sections into countries - we were Austria - and you have your hero to root for during the jousting excercises - and then everybody joins together to fight the evil knight - very fun.

One more note before leaving Las Vegas - in search of a late night snack/dinner - we found a great oyster bar in Harrah's called 'The Oyster Bar' - good wine and food - I had some excellent fried oysters and seafood dip with big chunks of crab and rock shrimp -yum.  It had to be close to 12 midnight - but they served us with no complaints and it was a nice quiet spot away from the noise of the casino.

Okay - one more note about Harrah's - I have to give a shout out to the flair bartenders at the Carnaval Court right outside Harrahs.  I didn't get to see more than a few minutes of the flair because of the craziness of spring break, but this is a great spot to watch all the talented bartenders do their flair thing.  After seeing them a few times, I have come to the conclusion that the best time to see them is during the weekdays during the day - you can actually interact with them and have a good seat at the bar.  Flippy and Steve are actually award winning flair bartenders.  A lot of fun -  check out Flippy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5qAfnMyS6k -

Well - my wishes are for everyone to have a relaxing, warm weekend filled with good food and wine!

After arriving in Las Vegas and checking in at Imperial Palace, we all decided to see the The Rat Pack Show (http://www.ratpack.com/) at the Greek Isles Casino - a very small casino off the strip - within walking distance from the Convention Center Monorail.  It really is a very small casino - but with a great karaoke spot. 

I would definitely recommend this show to anyone who would appreciate the old Vegas lounge acts and is a fan of Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and the whole rat pack era in Vegas. 

The first time I visited Vegas was in '95 or '96 - at that time, you could stay at the Excalibur for $29 per night and airfare was about $100 - and it really wasn't that long ago.  I had just started listening to Louis Prima and was a fan of swing music.

For those of you who didn't follow swing - Louis Prima was the voice of the ape King Louie in Disney's Jungle Book and his song "Jump, Jive and Wail" was featured on a Gap commercial.  Anyway - I took an educational trip to Vegas as a part of the travel school that I was attending.  The Sands Casino was still standing and they were featuring a show - two drink minimum - with Sam Butera and Keely Smith.  These were Prima's horn player and his partner and ex-wife - I was in heaven!!  I felt like I had traveled back in time - Eddy Fisher was even in the audience!!  This was Louis Prima's old stomping ground - there are old pictures with the Sands billboard featuring Louis Prima back in the day!  It was a great show and gave everyone a taste of the gaudy humor and great music that filled that same casino back when.

The Rat Pack show started slow and I kept thinking this might be a waste of money, but as the cast and the audience warmed up, you were transported back to a time when it was acceptable to have a full bar set up on stage!!  Marilyn Monroe even showed up and interacted with the audience. 

It was a great show  - of course it helps to have a martini - neat - in front of you as you transport back in time.