What Happens in Vegas, Goes on the Internet (Sunday Night)

We cabbed over to the Venetian for the Blue Man Group show. Neither of us had any idea what to expect, and so we settled down with a house cocktail (we love that the production show theaters serve drinks) to await our fate. The Blue Man Group show was colorful, musical, and used a lot of recycled paper. I don't want to give it away, but if you're a techno-geek with an appreciation for the absurd (including the KLF), then go for it. Just don't sit in the first five or so rows unless you enjoy wearing protective rain gear at entertainment extravaganzas.

From there we went to Canaletto, an Italian restaurant on the Venetian's Grand Canal. This whole "Canal Shoppes" thing is ridiculous (in a good Las Vegas way). A very Disney-like rendering of Venice's Grand Canal is surrounded by fabu-shopping like BCBG Max Azria and St. John (known for making Angelina's maternity wear). I impulse-shopped at Jimmy Choo and got an adorable pair of teal suede flats for half price. Anyway, dinner was wonderful; we had some grilled pears with proscuitto and ricotta salata, a salad, shrimp risotto, and roasted chicken. Canaletto was the same price as Wolfgang Puck's Bar and Grill, and the food was about 8 times nicer.

While waiting in the Taxi queue a the Venetian, I observed that Las Vegas is like Disneyland for adults, and the taxis are like the ride buggies that take you through the Haunted Mansion or whatever. Susie noted that Las Vegas as we know it wouldn't function without taxis. We headed down to the Olympic Gardens, and equal-opportunity "exotic dancing" club. Now, this is not my thing. Susie wanted to go since it was my birthday, and I was willing to play along to some extent. The drinks were weak (two expensive drink minimum), but the guys were reasonably cute and were all in really good shape. One guy, though, had pretty bad stubble on his chest and I considered tipping him some extra so he could go get a fresh wax job. The whole thing just made me want to go home, male exotic dancers grooving to cheesy music just isn't my thing.

The valet at the Olympic Gardens hailed us a cab, and we made our way back to the Luxor. Our cabbie stopped along the way to pick up a Lady of the Evening. He actually yelled out the window "hey hooker, want a ride?" I guess there's some professional courtesy between the drivers and the girls (recall that it's legal in Nevada), we didn't ask. He did ask us before he stopped if we cared if he picked her up, and we didn't, so whatever. She was mildly interesting -- and was complaining that it was a slow night. Anyway, we got dropped at the Luxor where we headed to the lounge for the last set of the night.

The lounge band was called "Steppin' Stonz" (oooh, kooky alterna-spelling), and played what would have been reasonably enjoyable R&B except that the speakers were horribly overdriven to the point where hearing the music was just painful. So, we went to play slots for a while. Three free drinks later Susie was up a little bit (she was playing nickel slots) and Laura was just about even (she was playing dollar-bet video blackjack). At this point it was nearly 3am, and so we decided to quit while we were inebriated and ahead. Woo, Vegas baby!!