Las Vegas: 10/10

Sexy Englishman & I are finally back from our world tour. It's been a month exactly - towards the end I really missed New York. We started off in Vegas for 3 days from July 4. This time was so much more fun than my January trip with Nice Lawyer. We stayed at the Wynn, which according to SE (this was his 6th time) is the best hotel on the Strip. It was definitely my favorite as well. The decor is a bit Art Deco/whimsical Arabian fantasy, which I liked, & the staff are unfailingly attentive. Even if we asked the wrong person a question they seemed happy to steer us in the right direction. I loved our giant king-size bed & very comfy sheets. Oddly, the bathroom was the twin of the one at the Four Seasons. I can't imagine why that would be.

The tables are my favorite as well - last time we gambled at several different hotels & the Wynn was the best, & I wasn't disappointed this time. The dealers (we played blackjack) are very cheerful, like they're actually having fun as well. We were up & down during the 3 days, at worst down $2000 & at best up about $500 but ended up more or less even. Not too shabby. It got us one night comped as well.

This time I had the pleasure of discovering how great food is in Vegas. We went to Picasso at the Bellagio, which was amazing. Every course of the larger tasting menu except the main was absolutely heaven. Our mains were quite good, just not up to the standard of the rest. & the dessert! SE enjoyed his molten chocolate cake so much he told me he had a new love in his life. It's a pricey place but worth it. Plus you get to watch the fountain show every 15 minutes or so, although I wouldn't advise going outside during the sumer heat. It was over 100°F while we were there, & even though it's not humid, walking farther than the pool is really unadvisable.

We played blackjack the rest of the night, with a break in the middle for a little pick-me-up. On the one hand I feel bad for the waitresses having to wear those incredibly skimpy outfits, but also I really enjoy watching them. It's too bad Lovely Blonde couldn't come with us as originally planned, she would have loved it. We managed to get up around noon the next day & did touristy stuff like the Shark Reef (smaller than I thought it'd be, but pretty cool) & the Insanity ride at Stratosphere. That was an interesting view but it was too hot out & I got a bit nauseous. We escaped back to the wonderful air conditioning at the Wynn for dinner at SW Steakhouse. We had a great waiter, & the food was very good, but not quite as transcendental as Picasso. Their house steak sauce isn't good, which I noticed at Cut - Wolfgang Puck's place in LA - as well. I wonder why that is. You'd think they would do that the best. More gambling after dinner, neither of us having much luck. We kind of considered going to Crazy Horse but decided that it would probably just be a more expensive version of Penthouse, & it's not as fun with only 2 people.

Our last day we went to a shooting gallery. A friend suggested one, though couldn't remember the name or address except the general location but we tracked it down. American Shooter's Gun Club, 3440 S. Arville, is a no-frills shop & shooting area with a very comprehensive range of weapons. They even had Sten guns from World War II! One thing they don't really show on TV is how ridiculously loud guns are. Even ear muffs don't help much. SE thought I was a bit too excited about the guns but indulged me... we started with a .22 which we both learned to aim reasonably well & then progressed to a .357 Magnum. There really is no civilian situation where one would need a gun that powerful. It jumps a foot when fired, which makes precise aiming fairly useless, & it rips enormous holes in things. The paper target presented very little obstacle - as bloodthirsty as I am, I shudder to imagine what it would do to a body. It was fun at first & then the noise, recoil & powder burns kind of got to me. I'm really glad I got to try shooting for the first time though. & We saw a great visual argument for gun control as we were leaving. A guy was showing off his new $20,000 machine gun to his friends. That thing could fire a ridiculous number of rounds per second. Makes you wonder what kind of deer he thinks he's hunting.

The gun shop told us we could call a cab there, but could also call from the bar across the street with the added benefit of drinks, so we did that. We waited... & waited... played 2 games of pool & waited some more... in the most all-American bar I've ever been in. It was pretty interesting how many people were there on a Friday afternoon. Finally after 2 hours we got picked up. Went to dinner at Daniel Boulud's Brasserie in the Wynn, an ironically tony end to a rather redneck day. It was also very good - I was glad I ordered the signature short ribs. We played a little more black jack until we were almost late for the red-eye back to NYC. I thought I'd miss the scantily-clad waitresses bringing free drinks & I was right.