When The Lights Went Out on Fremont Street

I find it reaffirming that the best day that I had in Las Vegas was, decidedly, a non-Las Vegas kind of day. Well, not completely. One of my uncle's half-brothers stays in Las Vegas. I'll just call him my bonus uncle, Sam. Sam and his wife Nita came to pick us (me and my aunt) up and took us to a magic/comedy show.

Speaking of my aunt, we have not vacationed together since we were shorties. That's my aunt in the white swimming suit and, if you cannot tell, my eyes are focused on her and I have quite the smile on my face.



(More smiling and so glad that I can swim minus Daffy now)

Sam and Nita made us smile quite a bit. We joked about Nita being Sam's GPS minus the off button and Nita said that she should have left Sam lonely a long time ago. I told Sam that he was going to be left singing that Al Green Tired of Being Alone song. The whole time that we were joking, I kept catching glimpses of a spectacular ring that Sam gave Nita when their son was born. To say that they were great hosts is an understatement.

After the magic show, Sam asked if we wanted to go to this burger joint and my aunt looked at me. I said that I don't eat hamburgers but I would find something else to eat but Sam insisted that we go to Souper Salad and I'm glad we did. While they have pizza etc., it's, essentially, a giant salad bar with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chickpeas, etc. When I tried to pay, Nita put a block on me that was linebacker-worthy.

Looking back on what I ate while on vacation, I didn't do too bad with selections, including veggie burgers at Fuddruckers. They did put butter on the buns but I just cut that part off. For lunch a couple of times, I got the mango salad at Qdoba Grill. I asked for it without the shell which I got the first time (misunderstanding) but I still didn't eat it. I also ate at T.G.I. Friday's and although I got the Dragonfire Grilled Chicken with brown rice and broccoli, I knew that the sodium was going to be off the hook. I did ask for them to leave the kung pao sauce off but still...

I also fell in love with these little flat white peaches which I found to be the perfect size...



After eating, Sam and Nita took us downtown since we hadn't been there yet. Oh, the kitsch of Freemont Street. Ya gotta have a light show, right?



When the lights went off and the music came on, it was amazing to see adults stop in their tracks. It reminded me of two moments in The Shawshank Redemption when Tim Robbin's character locks himself in an office and plays classical music and when he escapes from jail.



Sam and Nita couldn't resist the music either.




To our hosts, heartfelt thanks -- for hospitality, for the laughter et al; you all are incredible.

Have you been the recipient of sterling hospitality? Hope so and hope it has been often...