The wages of sin is perdition

It maybe wasn't the smartest move to take off for Vegas a mere two days after the long trek through New Mexico but sometimes you must play the cards that you are dealt. Leslie had her biannual clothing show, I had a small bone to pick with the gods of Black Jack and the piles on the floor in my office would have to wait. A short stopover at the city of sin in the accompany of the one that I love the most, how could I pass that up? Although I now must admit in the aftermath, I am completely wiped out.

I am too tired to give you anything but the quite abridged version, short on much but the bare facts. We followed a big dust storm up the I-15, baking in the 115° heat and then hit the tempest, a storm that made the freeway a duck pond and exceedingly difficult to navigate. The rain cooled the thermometer down to about 75° when we hit town but it quickly rose to a stasis point of around 105° and decided to stay thereabouts for the duration.

Really good trip, amazingly I won every black jack session. Not giant bank but a nice affirmation that my "spidey card" sense was intact and that I could once again revert to my asskicking ways after one or two beat downs. Think I can now better justify the new super telephoto lens without too much guilt. Will work out quite nicely in Yellowstone.

We stayed at the Trump, thirtieth floor upgrade to a suite, very nice. No gambling and awful food but a nice hotel, nonetheless. Went to the spa one day and self applied an aloe scrub, steam, sauna, pool, the gamut. My normal comp room at the Venetian was unavailable with a million people in town for MAGIC and the fashion shows.

I decided to catch a little bit of the scenery and eschewing a $20.00 cab ride downtown each way, I bordered the city bus, known in these parts as the deuce and made my way down to Fremont St. for some local color on the cheap.

Fremont St. is a quite interesting zoo, lot of shtick, everybody looking for an angle.

I guess the pictures speak for themselves.

Downtown definitely caters to a different clientele. Hadn't been in a while and look forward to further exploration in the future!

Fcuk

We had a great meal at Valentino with Loughlin and a couple of his best friends.

I ordered the rib eye with the shaved australian truffle along with polenta with a mushroom medley (sing a few bars). Outstanding. Cannolli.

Unfortunately Valentino is supposedly closing up shop, high rents and whatever. Sold off their incredible wine. I will really miss this place. In this day of stupid idea of the week food faddishness it simply delivered fabulous food every time.

This guy was laying down the facts of life pretty hard and heavy at the back of the bus. Had a Filner rap too. Took a while to convince him to let me take a shot with the camera.

Black lady next to me was complaining on the phone because the union was going on strike and her boyfriend didn't have work right now. Landlord won't fix anything.

A crazy young woman lunged at the side of the bus in a violent motion, screaming unintelligibly. She ended up sprinkling us out of her bottle of holy water, than pirouetted in a jerky manner and settled back to her very private trajectory. Eccentric Orbits.

Saw a pack of wild burros on the way back. Very cool sight. Couldn't get a shot.

Glad to be back. Time to put nose to grindstone and clean up a few things, starting with the gallery. Repair relations with the cat.