Back in the Swing

So, back at work today, still recovering from the trip to Vegas. I uploaded the good pix yesterday from the trip to Picasa. There were a lot of bad shots from the Shark Reef aquarium, darn fishies just moved to fast!

Before going into further details about the trip I want to first extend some thanks to everyone who made the trip possible. First and foremost thanks to Connie for watching the kids and staying at our house over the weekend, once again another example of Super Grandma! Then more thanks to those who made her weight lighter: Dave & Tia, Dennis & Megan, Marcella, Tammy. Thanks to everyone, because while the kids were happy to see us return, they at least did not miss us so much while we were gone.

We had a great trip, lots of fun, lost some money but less than we budgeted. We got to see lots of stuff, and had a good time. I will try to capture my impressions in bullet form.

• Las Vegas is truly an amazing one of it's kind city. It is so international now it's really amazing. You really could go anywhere and hear a multitude of foreign languages.
• And it changes so rapidly. I was last there 6 years ago, 5 for Kim. And in that time the face of the strip has changed dramatically: 2 new hotel/casino's, 2 huge new malls, 2 large vacation condo complexes, and there were empty spaces where 2 other new projects were going in. In no other city would you see that many huge projects occur in the space of just 5 years!
• The time share presentations were actually somewhat entertaining and educational. Especially the second one, where we learned a lot about the city and what is happening there. Our presenter at the second one, Frank, was very nice and not high pressure at all, he knew quite early that we were probably not going to buy and it was just a chance to tell us what was going on. If we had the funds to buy we probably would have bought from him.
• You don't really get an appreciation of the infrastructure that Vegas requires until you see it in person. The hotels are so huge, there are so many people coming in and going out. One of the fascinating things you can see from the Stratosphere tower pictures is the blocks of warehouses right next to the Strip. Which makes perfect sense when you think about the vast quantities of supplies each hotel goes through.
• We really enjoyed the show we went to: American Superstars, it was an excellent show, very high energy and all of the performers did a very good job.
• We will probably go back, not any time soon, but maybe in 3-4 years when the kids are older and there are more options for them. And hopefully are finances are better able to handle the trip.

So those are the highlighted points from the trip, although there is really so much more to talk about. But I won't bore you with the gritty details.