Tuesday. 8:30 a.m. Wake, shower, breakfast, email and flight status check, teeth brushed, toothbrushes added to our overnight bags, and out the door by 11:00. Walk 2 blocks to the community bus stop to board the local bus which will connect to the Express Bus and subsequently all 3 lines of the SkyTrain, depositing us in just 2-1/2 hours at the airport, the requisite 3 hours before our international flight. YVR on a Tuesday afternoon is ghostly quiet. We walk right into security, delayed only by having to remove our shoes, and from there directly to U.S. Customs and Immigration, where we are the only 2 people approaching a fully staffed 6 desks of immigration officers. Not a single person in line at Tim Hortons at 2:00 p.m. Full WestJet flight leaves right on time at 5:40 and the bright lights of Las Vegas are visible against a red sunset from our airplane window at 8:15. We’re on the ground and disembarked by 8:30 p.m.

12 hours.

Despite huge windows, since it’s dark outside, Harry Reid International (the renamed former MCarran International) is dark inside too. It’s like being in the perpetual night-time of a casino, complete with the brightly coloured flashing lights of the slot machines throughout the hallways surrounding the gate areas. It’s a completely different vibe than Vancouver’s airport with its indigenous art, beautiful totems, and soaring green spaces – and I don’t love it. On the up side, it’s practically empty of people.

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As we head outside to the ride-share pickup area, the heat hits us like a wall. At 8:45 p.m. it’s still 44°C/111°F. Apparently yesterday the temperature topped out at 52°C/126°F.

Las Vegas is a city that never sleeps, and never really goes dark. It’s also a city that’s expensive enough ($6.50 USD/$9CAD for a “small” gelato in our hotel!) that most people need 2 jobs. Our Ethiopian Uber driver, Yeheyis, is an ordained Pastor, with his own congregation, and is simultaneously working on his doctoral thesis on “Divine Grace” with the University of Florida. But he drives for Uber, and welcomes us into his shiny new one-week-old Tesla.

We drive past lots of sights familiar from our 2011 trip: New York New York’s huge replica Statue of Liberty, Luxor’s iconic pyramid, Paris’ faux Eiffel Tower, the colourful parapets of The Excalibur, the impossibly tall curved walls of Mandalay Bay, the fully illuminated and colour-changing Rio, and the still impossibly gorgeous Caesar’s Palace, but there are lots of new things too, most notably the $2.3 billionUSD Sphere, completed just last year, opened with a concert by U2 and currently home to one of our favourite all-time bands, The Eagles. (Tickets range from $200-450USD/$275-600CAD. No, we didn’t.)

On arrival at the Mirage, we realize why – in a city like Las Vegas – it’s considered ready to be replaced. From the outside it’s huge, but while there are waterfalls whose rocks each evening erupt in a 5 minute long volcanic fire extravaganza, in Vegas that’s no longer enough. During the day there are no eye-catching giant statues, or massive models of Rome’s coliseum and Spanish Steps, or ferris wheels, hot air balloons, or iconic landmarks recreated in miniature; and inside, while there’s a domed garden with a smaller (non-erupting) waterfall and an aquarium behind the reception desk, there are no swaths of marble flooring or Corinthian pillars, no piazza with canal and gondolas, no faux skies or intricate frescoed ceilings, no sphinxes – generally just no “wow” factor.

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We check in, receive a room upgrade to a larger room on the 24th floor in the south wing, and head up the dedicated elevators to drop off our bag and freshen up a bit.

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We’re too tired to do anything other than find a quick meal and call it a night; travel days, no matter how smooth, always leave us worn out. We wander past vast areas of mostly unoccupied slot machines and gaming tables until we reach Snacks, the Mirage’s most basic (and least expensive) eatery, where a really tasty Philly cheesesteak sandwich (Ted), a lacklustre order of fries (me), and 2 bottomless ice teas cost $37USD/$50CAD. Then it’s back through the maze of flashing lights to the elevators, and up to our room to call it a night at around 11:30.

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Wednesday. Inexplicably awake at 6:30 a.m., we decide just to spend the next couple of hours in bed. The city may never sleep, but it’s also not truly awake yet.

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Our plan for the day, after breakfast and before the Cirque du Soleil show, is just to wander around between casinos checking out the artwork and decor, and then enjoying dinner at Diablo’s, Mirage’s Mexican cantina.

Who knew that Las Vegas was such a great place to see interesting art? One of my loyal blog readers, Kathleen, clearly did. She suggested touring the amazing art installation in MGM Resorts ARIA: Aria Fine Art Collection

Great art was really not something I associated with Las Vegas, unless maybe it was a “hidden treasure” French impressionist painting that someone found in their attic and brought into the city’s Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (the one famous for being featured on television’s Pawn Stars), but nonetheless we headed out ready to discover something new.

Back in 2011, I remember being awed by the Dale Chihuly glass “ceiling” in the Bellagio’s lobby: 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms that weigh about 40,000 pounds and are supported by a 10,000-pound steel armature. It was the first time I’d been exposed to Chihuly’s work, and inspired visits to many subsequent exhibits of his glass art. I wanted to revisit that, and it actually made some sense, since the Bellagio is en route between the Mirage and Aria, and the only sensible way to take a walk in this extreme heat is to go through each air-conditioned hotel along the way.

THE MIRAGE

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CAESAR’S PALACE (my favourite)

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THE BELLAGIO

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In addition to the floral glass ceiling, the Bellagio’s hotel entrance features a stunning Conservatory, “Bellagio’s Opus”. Taken from their website: Each season, the enormously talented Horticulture and Engineering teams transform the 14,000-square-foot Botanical Gardens into a showcase of inspiring sights, sounds, scents and colors. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter are all featured—along with a special display for Lunar New Year. When the seasons change so do the displays. The talented Conservatory team changes out the design and also replants and repurposes as much of the living plant material as possible, further celebrating Mother Nature and our commitment to sustainability.

The summer display is called “Higher Love” and is “an artistic representation of summer and love inspired by world-renowned art and architecture. Each bed celebrates European nostalgia, universal love, and the timeless symbolism of nature’s beauty using breathtaking botanical artistry to create a romantic dreamscape”.

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In the casino, more Chihuly glass in one of the bar areas:

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THE COSMOPOLITAN

It’s almost surreal leaving Caesar’s and The Bellagio and entering the ultramodern Cosmopolitan, with its mostly white, largely unadorned walls. Their hotel reception area does have some interesting light pillars with changing photographic and moving images, but it’s somewhat underwhelming after the glories of ancient Rome and botanical gardens.

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ARIA

Despite having a map of the art installations on my phone, we can’t find most of them. (To be fair, we weren’t in the mood to search for the outdoor ones in the scorching heat.) I’m embarrassed to note that we walk right by the series of 9 portraits of Christopher Walken and actually joke that that hallway must be “the Walken Walk”, without realizing they were part of what we’re supposed to be looking for. We do find 3 of the most well recognized sculptural pieces though.

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Artist Nancy Ruben’s “Big Edge” (2009) is made of hundreds of boats sculpted together.

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Artist Sanford Bigger’s 2021 “Oracle” features a seated body inspired by the ancient Temple of Zeus, with a head based on masks and other sculptures of the African Luba and Maasai.

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We walk past Hell’s Kitchen, where the sign Ted points to pretty much applies to everything today.

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PARIS

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And last, before heading back to The Mirage: THE VENETIAN, inside which, if the strolling tourists spoke Italian, we might be convinced we were actually shopping in St. Mark’s Square… if we hadn’t just been in Venice.

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We get back to our hotel room by 4:00 for a cold drink and quick freshen-up before our 7:00 p.m. dinner reservation, plus enough time to curate a few blog photos.

Then it’s drinks and dinner, served by a wonderful, personable waiter, José, who made up for a very slow kitchen that inexplicably sent our entrees before our apps were done by treating us to a delicious dessert of tres leches cake.

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On to the main event: Beatles Love.

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The show is everything we remembered and more. The innovations and new special effects that Cirque du Soleil have incorporated in their 15+ year run of the show are enchanting and mesmerizing, but the “heart” of the show – their creative story lines set to iconic Beatles songs – remains. Throughout the 90 minute show, we’re reminded that this music was, perhaps more than any other, the soundtrack of the post-war generation. The performance takes us from a rebuilding but still “traditional” Britain at the end of World War II, through the changes brought about by the peace movement, “free love”, spiritualism, women’s rights, anti-segregation and more. “Twist and shout” backs a dance and gymnastic number by “mod” young people reacting to the expectation that the world will simply return to its pre-war routines; Revolution” accompanies an acrobatic conflict between anti-draft flower children and police. “Lady Madonna” is the backdrop to a young black couple’s joy at starting a family.

Non-flash still photography is allowed, but is pretty difficult in a dark theatre and with fast-moving action everywhere you look. And honestly, cell phone pictures can’t capture the feeling of magic.

As we leave the theatre, Ted says he feels quite sad that the show is closing. It feels like The Beatles breaking up all over again, but maybe it also feels a bit like an end to “our” era.

Thursday. Our WestJet flight home is scheduled for 12:40 p.m., barring disruption by the airline’s current labour disputes with its aircraft mechanics. We’ve checked in online, which is now WestJet’s only option, but still need to be at the airport at least 2-1/2 hours ahead of time, which means in an Uber at 9:00 a.m. No sleeping in for us.

Harry Reid International is much more crowded this morning than it was during our arrival. No one asks to see our boarding pass either as we enter the lineup, or as we pass through TSA security. I guess if what you consider a fun activity is dealing with some pretty cranky TSA personnel, removing shoes and belts, emptying pockets, being VERY careful not to overlap your iPads in the bin (we only had to hear someone being loudly reprimanded for doing that to ensure we didn’t), and going through the body scanner – all with no intention to board a plane – then this is the place to do it! We managed by sheer luck to avoid the crankiest inspector’s line and get to our gate unscathed with two hours to waste playing games on our screens, reading, and drinking overpriced coffee. It’s not making my list of top 10 favourite airports.

Our flight leaves on time.

Because we’re getting back to Vancouver in the afternoon, we’re able to catch the WestCoast Express train back to Maple Ridge instead of doing the reverse of Tuesday’s route, cutting over an hour off our transit time. But first, a detour through the airport shop that carries all kinds of wonderful Canadian Indigenous-designed and locally made items, to pick up a wedding shower gift for friends we’ll be seeing in Ontario in July. I’m also buying similar Indigenous items for my cousins’ new grandchildren in Germany, but those I’ll do from the store’s online portal and have them shipped.

8:30 p.m. We’re back in our flat, unpacked, sitting down to perogies and sautéed vegetables, watching the U.S. Presidential debate on CNN.

It’s been 60 hours since we got up on Tuesday ready for our latest adventure. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but also a lot of fun. I told Ted it was a great way to take my mind off packing lists and to-do lists, which are what keep me awake – and what fill my dreams – whenever we not actually actively travelling.

I could really use better quality sleep. I wonder what Ted will come up with next?

They say that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. That’s not the case for us. Our memories have definitely come back to Canada with us.

$70USD, though, stayed behind in slot machines.