Leaving Las Vegas

 

Good morning from sunny Las Vegas, where we are spending a relatively chill morning in the comfort of our hotel room. No need to rush to check-out, even though we fly out today - the flight is only at midnight, and I booked a second day at the hotel just so we would have somewhere to crash today, and not be "homeless" until we collected our bags and went to the airport. So I blog, we watch the news, snack on granola bars and apples left from the campervan. We plan on eating later, since our schedule is going to be a little delayed with the super late flight. There's some last-minute repacking going on, but we've come to the conclusion that we really have bought too much stuff, and will be needing to purchase a large duffle bag to crate it all home.  

Back to the monorail we go, to give it a little more love, and to head out to the center of the Las Vegas Strip for Brunch. We grab a table at The Henry, an up-scale American brunch place in the Cosmopolitan, where the food is good, the portions huge, and you could probably drown in your cup of coffee! I was very happy with my brioche French toast, except for one thing: as a born and bred Quebecoise, I find it very insulting when restaurants try to pass fake table syrup as maple syrup. As a chef, I am even more insulted at a menu that specifically lists maple syrup as an ingredient in a dish, here as an accompaniment, and then tries to fool me with a cup of that cloyingly sweet and thick-as-glue Auntie Jemima stuff. That's false advertising, and just not good. I made a very serious mention of it to our server, who was completely aware of the switch, but said the chef sometimes can't access the real stuff, and possible just doesn't care about the substitution - either way, it seemed that my critique was not going to make an ounce of difference, and so I ate my Brioche with the very good Bonne Maman Strawberry preserves instead.

We opted to fill our time today with a visit to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience, playing at the Shops at the Crystals, a VERY high-end mall next to the Cosmopolitan. We've had the pleasure of experiencing one of these shows before, in New York City: Paintings are projected across the walls of a large hall, often with some editing and movement done to make the piece feel more alive, and it is always set to mood-appropriate music. It's a very special way to experience art you are already familiar with. Mario and I both love Van Gogh, and have seen many of his works around the world, so this was going to extra special. 

Admiring Van Gogh's Cyprus trees under active skies	Self portrait with straw hat (candles are added in)
Olive trees enveloppe the hall	Wheatfield with Crows

Imagine suddenly being surrounded by a dark night sky filled with stars, the landscape full of tall Cyprus trees seemingly shifting with the winds... "Starry Night" is one of Mario's favorites, and though we've seen the really painting up close, this gives it a whole other feel. My only comment is that the space is a little dull. Perhaps that is only because the first Immersive experience we had was in an old Bank building, and so the architecture of the venue was as interesting as the projections, and added so much more depth to the show.

Insert here an intermission where we buy a duffle bag at the "World's Largest Gift Shop", and return to the hotel to waste away the rest of the afternoon. There is a little bit of blogging, a whole lot of "American Pickers" watched, and a final shower before departing for the airport.

Turns out that not a lot of flights leave Las Vegas at midnight, so we breeze through check-in and security at the airport. I snack on a jar of salad from one of the shops, and we both yawn our heads off, this being the latest either one of us had stayed up for weeks. Eventually, we board, watch movies, drink free wine, and try to get some sleep. 

Flying out over Las Vegas

Love how the lights of the city just abruptly end.

And so that is where this adventure ends: an early morning arrival, rush hour traffic, two very inquisitive cats and one extremely comfortable bed. And just like that, we are thrown back into the whirlwind that is the post-trip clean-up, with all the laundry to do, things to put away, floors to wash and layer of cat litter to dust off EVERYTHING. And yet, as I pull things from my bag - a painted cactus tile from Phoenix, a pinecone from the giant Sequoias, a hair elastic given to me by Lesley - I take a moment to think of the memory attached, and the adventures tied to that small moment, and then the bigger adventures that made up another incredible trip. And I count myself lucky that I could go out on these adventures, and then, in this very small way, share them with you. So...where to next?

Thanks for coming along for the ride. Until next time.