Vegas Adventures in the Fall

The Joneses at Red Rock

Howdy folks!  Its been awhile, sorry 'bout that.  Lots has been happening and I just haven't had a whole lotta time to sit and write.  We had company through our house for the entire month of August and into November which kept us busy, and November is the annual NaNoWriMo month (that is, National Novel Writing Month), an online challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  This is my third year doing the challenge, and my second failure!!  Dammit!  I got to 30,000 words and lost perspective and then got self conscious about not having found a job yet and all the other things I've been neglecting around the house, so that kind of knocked the air out of my writing balloon.

I really got into recording over October and November.  It started out as just a promised gift for some friends, but then the whole project turned into something bigger.  I ended up recording a collection of cover tunes for all the parentals and friends for christmas presents, plus I did another collection of all my own stuff that I just needed to get down and get off my plate.  I didn't think the covers and my tunes would work well together as an full album so I decided to do the two.  Its been a lot of work and a lot of fun.  And its made me want to learn more of those old country tunes that Frankie always wanted me to play for the Stokes' family parties, so I'm getting there folks.  I guess once you're over 40 your perspective changes a bit and you start looking back more and more.  I even pondered the idea of heading down to busk on the strip as the 'Naked Maritimer', a play on the 'Naked Cowboy' theme you might know from New York.  Only, the Naked Maritimer would be pronounced 'Nekkid', and have rubber boots, suspenders and rubber pants, a Sou'Wester hat, lots of scruff, a beer gut, and play country and maritime tunes!  Pretty much right up my alley!  Speakin' of beer guts, its finally pants season here in Vegas.  And wouldn't you know it, I came to find out that none of the pants I brought down here with me fit anymore!!  That friggin' sucks.  So I gotta go pants shoppin'... AND lose weight.  Tan's having a ball with that one.

Well, there have been many adventures with our guests over the past few months, so I'd like to give you a quick rundown of the Mountain Man's experiences.  Here we go!

First off, there's an Ice Bar here in Vegas.  If you're visiting and itching to go into a meat locker-turned-ice bar that is carved out to resemble an ice-cave, then you can go there.  And for a mere $18 you can get a 4oz special mixed drink served in a tiny ice-cup that you can't 'Cheers' with.  Never again.  That was only my first experience with the $18 dollar drink.  My second came at a bar downtown, after spending an excellent evening of drunken carousing with the Sackville girls, we made another liquor stop at the Walgreens drugstore to pick up some cheap sidewalk travellers.  We really had too much, I did anyway.  The 4 hard iced-teas I downed took a mean hold of me before I even got to the last bar, Diablos, and when the dude told me "$18" for two draft that was served up in plastic cups, I nearly shit myself.  I felt that icy cold surge of adrenaline pump into my veins that brings an absolute drunken clarity that always precedes something bad happening, which means its the end of my night and I have to go home or else.  One of the girls flipped me a 2for1 card and so it was only a $9 draft, but that was it for me.  Friggin' drugstore beers on the sidewalk are cheaper than drinking at the bars on the strip!  I abandoned the girls and cabbed it home for $30.

Nat and a random group of tourists!

One of the best adventures I've had on the strip so far was with my friends Nat and Dan, who were here on a hockey trip but also their honeymoon.  They had initially planned on getting married here but it didn't work out like that.  So Nat brought her dress to Vegas and got dressed up for a day of photoshooting around town with me as the photographer.  Now, this is something every lady should experience in their lifetime, totally wild and unexpected.  I could never have imagined that a bride would instill such a wild amount of attention from complete strangers!!  It was CRAZY!!!  As soon as we got out of the car at the 'Welcome to Vegas' sign (Elvis was there), groups of people started coming up to her to get their picture taken with her and the cars started honking.  Her dress was beautiful and Nat has such a vibrant personality that she just attracted it all.  She was in her glory!  Wherever she went, cars were honking, people were yelling and everyone was coming up to her and wishing her the best of luck and congratulations, whole tables at restaurants stopped eating and everyone clapped as she passed by, large families would gather around her to get their picture taken with her, and a man got his 18yr old son to pose for a prank photo.  All day long we walked and she beemed like she was queen for a day as people flocked to her like a magnet.  The bottom of her silk dress was blackened from sweeping the sidewalk all day but it didn't matter to her, she'd gotten her money's worth out of it.

The Hoover Dam

I also was out to the Hoover Dam for the first time.  What an incredible structure!  726 feet tall, 660 feet deep thick at its base.  There's 500 feet of water behind that wall.  We went on a tour right down into the belly of it.  Its amazing to think that a superstructure like this was built in 1935, to see all the wood grains in the walls from the framing of the concrete.  What an amazing piece of history and an engineering feat!

Wood-etched Concrete

On the way back we went on another photoshoot with our friends through the Valley of Fire and on the way our car passed over a Tarantula crossing the highway!  He was big, about the size of your hand.  I zipped the car around to go back and get a picture of him but I didn't get out in time.  Adam and I went to the side of the road to look for him but he was off into the scrub, no doubt watching US.  Apparently, we later found out, fall is the time of year when the great tarantula migration takes place across the desert, when the males set out in search of a mate.  We passed over another one shortly after that.  That's good to know, don't tent out in the desert in the fall.

Last thing I have to mention is my initiation into the sensual world of bellydancing.  We went out to eat at an authentic Moroccan restaurant called Marrakech (please check out this link).  Its a dimly lit place with low tables and your meal is served without utensils.  They wash your hands before you begin and bring you your meal in several courses, no menu, just a shared group meal.  The food was amazing.  The music, I don't remember where I picked up these tribal rhythms in my head, but it hit me when I was much younger and it engrained itself in my bones so it seemed somehow familiar.  So entrancing.  Every so often, the music would get louder and you knew the girl was coming out to do her show.  Then she'd appear, swirling out from behind a velvet curtain in a flash of glitz and long, flowing scarves, clicking her finger cymbals (zills) to the music and moving like a shimmering desert fantasy around the room.  She was all curves, a dark skinned beauty with a head full of black curly black hair, a fixed smile and dark, engaging eyes.  She worked the room and when she got to our table she keyed on me... she knew she had me.  I had slipped into a trance like state and was totally disarmed by her, then she swirled her way deep into my subconscious where she could toy with me however she pleased.  My gawd!!  She could see right through me, so erotic, like she and I were the only two people there.  She motioned for me to get up and dance with her and I could not resist.  I must have looked incredibly goofy with her because I don't really dance to begin with and when I do its ugly at best.  But here I am in the middle of a restaurant with people all around watching, doing whatever it is that I call dancing, and just aching to touch her and take her all in!  The girls at the table and all the other patrons got a good kick out of it and my ugly dance broke the ice in the room for others to get up to join the performers.  There were three performers on the night, and they were all incredible ladies, and they all keyed on me when they came around to our table.  They were all very talented dancers, very sexy, beautiful women.  Some of the older guys called the girls over to slip money in their waistbands, but I didn't.  I kinda thought that cheapened the experience.  They're not strippers.  And it interfered with the flow of their dance to have to stop and wait for some old guy to pay for a slight brush with her skin.  Maybe that's the thing to do though, I dunno.  There were other patrons, women who were obviously into bellydancing who got up with the performers to dance with them, and two girls dancing sexily with each other is always better than one!  The music, the moves, the body awareness, the subtle, sensual spinning of the fantasy, fantastic!  Boys, I tell ya, you should encourage your ladies to take up this art!  You will not be disappointed.

Vegas Snowball out at Red Rock!

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading.

TRJ