Corpus Ptoma et Corpus Soma

Woke up at a reasonable hour, and it was already hot on the parking lot - oops, I mean Kampground.

We made plans to hook up with Steve and Judy, so we tidied up a bit, and they met us around noon. Our first stop was the Tropicana - not for the Tropicana, but because they had this great travelling exhibit that Marge has tried to see 3 or 4 times already and missed. So, we were really excited to see it. If you haven't heard of BODIES, check out this link; this is one of the most fascinating and well done educational and just plain impressive exhibitions I have ever seen!
http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/



After an eyeful there, we headed out to the Henderson area, to check out the WFM and to resupply a bit. Since we had the S&J taxi service, it seemed like a plan. We stopped for lunch in the same area as the WFM - complete desert just 3 years ago - and experienced one of the worst episodes in food-service history, but the waiter did introduce himself as "Biff"...

At the store I had the pleasant surprise of running into one of my former TMs, Glenn. I wish I'd taken a picture, he has no hair now and that's a different sight for sure! I had a good time catching up with him while shopping got done, and then our time was pretty much up, so we headed back to the KOA.

We had big plans for the evening; first we were going to see La Reve - not a Cirque du Soleil, but conceived of and directed by F Dragone, who pretty much was CdS for a decade - and after that, an excellent dining experience at OKADO. Both of these were at the Wynn, the new Casino in town, so knowing how long we might wait for a taxi, and seeing as it was only 3 Casinos away, we hoofed it.

What a trip, we walked through Circus Circus, which really is totally low-rent. This is where you go if you did NOT get the message that Vegas is NOT for kids anymore... Luckily, we made it through on their AC, and hit the Strip. 20 minutes later - and Bob is right, you see the building the whole damn time and it just never gets closer...

Well, we made it, and the Wynn is lovely... hard to peg, but nice. Most Casinos are pretty straightforward in their pretense, e.g Luxor, Paris Paris, Caesars, Aladdin, even Bellagio. But what does Wynn suggest?? I guess it's opulence mixed with (and I hate this word) whimsy. There are the requisite marble floors and rich appointments, but then there are these huge garishly-colored mosaic inset posies in the floor - hmmm... They did have 2 huge Picassos behind the Registration Desk, so I liked that!

La Reve is the "house show" at Wynn. This show was much better than LOVE - a bonafide CdS production. There were acrobatics, aerialists, contortionists, and all the things that used to make CdS great. Okay, there was a lot of clowning and such, which doesn't work for us, but at least it's Circus.

The show was fairly well done, and the stage and sets were great and used well. The show is partially aquatic, and shown in a pretty small setting, and in the round. The drawbacks: they wanted to make the show 'erotic' but couldn't commit and so it was confusing, e.g. a homoerotic section immediately followed by men in skirts acting hyper-masculine and apelike; the lyrics were in English and served only to distract in their doggerel.

Overall, we were happy and relieved to see a show that honored the elements we appreciated. Next stop - a fantastic dinner at OKADO. OKADO is one of the Wynn's showcase restaurants. We were especially excited because this restaurant was conceived of and opened by Takashi Yagihashi, formerly of Tribute in Michigan (acknowledged as the best restaurant in the state). I had the pleasure of dining at the Chef's Table during Takashi's reign at Tribute - it is a dinner that The Jive Talkin' Choir Boyz and MC 100 Watt Warlock will never forget - to Takashi-san!

The place did not disappoint (except for the fact that Takashi trained a replacement and has moved on)... the ambiance and decor were very nice and the overall experience was lovely. We ate the Chef's Sashimi Platter, Foie Gras with BBQ Eel, Kobe Carpaccio, Robotayaki lamb and oysters and then the Chef's Sushi platter - had to get some Uni!! It was all incredibly delicious, and there were mouth experiences that I haven't had before. Marge washed hers down with Sake, I tried, and very much liked, Sho Chu. This is Japanese vodka, and mine were Martini's with Watermelon and Lemon Juice - damned delightful!

Our table was great, we were seated next to the open wall with the cool evening air flowing in. The courtyard has a 25-30 foot waterfall into what seems to be an Asian Forest with a lake. There is even a little floating barge on the lake for private dinner parties. This place was great, and is in the Top 20 of Zagats. If someone can forward the blog-link to Mr. Abbey, I'm sure he'll be happy to read about great Takashi dining!

This was a huge night, so we headed back out through the Wynn Casino, to the Strip, and huffed it down to Shanty Town... We cut through Circus Circus, and to give you a taste, this is where you would find mothers feeding their kids Krispy Kremes, McDonalds, and a one pound bag of M&Ms for dinner at 11:30pm (who needs the Ritalin, and is diabetes hereditary??).

That was that, we hit the hay and gave it up...

No gas, lots of Vanity Plates:
CAP BAS
LUVLEE
SKYLOFT
I DOC
ONGKRSH
1OMEGA
SHALVA
LEGENDS
CRUNCHY - at WFM parking lot
MIC 2
FMLY GUY
PEPPERZ
O8 CUBS
SKI 2
FILMAKR
BJONES

Anyone who can tell me the origin of the shot below wins this week's Road Prize!


Harve