It is time for another visit to see the children and the grandchildren in Las Vegas.   I have been going there for ever it seems.  Years back when I tried to gamble, I would go to the old downtown, which was rather seedy at the time, but it was a place where I could relearn the rules of the games without dropping a lot of money, and then I could go to the Strip and really blow some money.  After all, the casinos were not built by the winners.  In the old days, there were not as many casinos on the strip, and they were not as flashy as the new ones.

In the old days, food, liquor and wine flowed.   Along with another job that was lost over the year, the “cigarette girl.”  I can remember even getting fine cigars for the price of a tip, just like the drinks.  I remember getting “line passes” to see the shows, when there were real celebrities to see, and the shows came with dinner and drinks, all for the price of the tip to the man who got you a good table for the show.  Some of the wine labels that I have, still have the labels from the casinos where I was comped, ah, for the good old days.  All they wanted back then was for you to look glamorous and to gamble.  It was a glamorous era, and I can remember only packing suits, shirts and ties for my trips.  The big casinos of the day were the center of the universe.

Nowadays, I hardly ever go to the strip, unless we are going for dinner, or one of the outrageously expensive shows.  We stay out in Summerlin, where my children and grandchildren reside.  Summerlin is actually part of Las Vegas proper, but it is a designed section, where everything is platted, prior to the new construction, and the residents of Summerlin actually pay a surcharge for living there.  I stay at a casino complex in Summerlin which offers a variety of options even for the grandchildren to enjoy, and the kids refer to it as a Senior Citizen complex, but that is OK.  I joke that instead of Smoking/No Smoking they should have Oxygen/No Oxygen sections.  It is all good, because I am going to see the family, and to play the slightly eccentric Grandfather, not the type from the old Shirley Temple movies.  The good news is that there will be wine, and lots of it, where ever I go.  Fear not, I still take Sport Coats and I still pack some dress shirts and ties and my cufflinks, because that is just my style.  I don’t like to look like I cut the grass or worked on my car, when I am in Vegas, somethings just never change.  More stories to come, I am sure, as I always write enough articles to cover my trip, as I do not like to announce that I have an empty house.