So here I am in the lovely city of Las Vegas. What a wild and wonderful place. Everywhere you look colorful splashes of flavor, usually attached to one of the seven deadly sins, ha ha. If you like smacked in the face with sex, gambling, smoking and more sex with a few laughs thrown in then Vegas is your kinda town.

Large extravaganzas of glitzy shows, fireworks, girls, guys, all scantily clad, thousands of human like drones walking the many miles from one casino to the next, spending god knows what to have what they call a good time. So many young college kids here on spring break spending daddy and mommy's hard earned money on sex, booze, and as little food as possible. Deals can be had everywhere you turn, half price tickets, tickets at a discount, VIP tickets, you name your price no doubt you can find a seller, or a buyer. Buffets abound, some okay, some not so okay, some fairly good, but at every one enough food on display to feed a few third world countries and still what most eat tends to be the same burger, fries combo meals at three times the usual price.

What amazes me the most is the casual manner of dress of 99% of the crowd, shorts, some outrageous t-shirt and of course the obligatory flip flops or the $100 tennies. Everywhere you look young, old, middle age rs, even entire family's all dressed for a day in the park. You see them in the casino's, gray haired grannies, playing two and three nickel slots at a time, with the electric colored visor, the shorts, the t-shirts, the tennis shoes, sitting at their buttons, placing their bets while their electric scooters idle nearby, gently sipping their giant margaritas. Grandad isn't too far off either, he staked his claim to another bank of slots, only he is the family high roller, he plays the quarter slots.

Now I appreciate that everyone is here to relax have a little fun and enjoy, but why can't they do it with a little class? What happened to dressing for dinner? What about looking good while out on the town at night? When did we as a class of people become slobs?

I have to point out that I did see a few folks dressed nicely, but usually they were the foreigners who came to experience the glitz and glam of the Vegas of old. I remember when going out to a night club on the strip meant being dressed to the nines, in tux and gown. Where you went to view the high rollers and their entourage, watch them loose their money in bags and then see them buy a round for the gang while they took a break by taking in a performance of a great entertainer or singer. I guess those days slipped by me. Instead you can watch what appears to be a busload of America's fatest decimating a buffet in twenty minutes or less, dressed in the latest fashion from Omar the Tent maker and then washing it down with gallons of soda while waiting for the dessert table to replenish.

The saving grace of Vegas is that at night the bright lights and glitter seem to give way to a spectacular event that covers over the blight of the day. Here you can eat well, if you choose wisely, and drink to overkill simply by flashing your credit card, take in a show and have a grand ole time, regardless of the seamy surroundings of the homeless and the migrant workers who are on every street corner handing out invitations in the form of coupons to the hottest new strip show on the strip.

Please don't let it appear that I am not having a good time, because I really am. I so enjoy watching the masses do their thing and I am greatly entertained by their antics. Besides all that, I have had a few great meals here, with an occasional funny show, and some excellent wine at ridiculously low prices. Yes I am enjoying the fact that you can find an excellent Chardonnay or even White Zinfandel at $ 5.00 a bottle. Even saw an extraordinary Cabernet Saugvinion for just a few dollars more. I have enjoyed a good wine with every meal, the meals in our condo of course. That to me is a great find, since Nevada understands that to tax wine to death may mean the death of the wine. Cheers to them.

Meanwhile let me get back to my drinking in sin city, and I'll post more about my trip in abit.

Til then,

Tell me your Vegas story's, lets compare......

D.S. David