LAS VEGAS AGAIN--WCC Basketball Tournament; Temple; Mob Museum; Freemont Street; Shows, and More

It was time for another play at Hale--Titanic--with my parents and Nani.

For this play, Bill and Jan Evans joined us. We all agreed it was well done, but it was definitely a sad ending--as we all know. It is always fascinating to watch the sets and how they move during each play at Hale. This one did not disappoint in that regard.

Glen and I went to Nani's one morning for Glen to help her with her finances and then her taxes. It had been another snowy night and we were impressed she had already gotten her driveway cleared. 

She told us she had been up since 2 a.m. when she received an SOS call from Mom who reported Dad was having chest pain and an ambulance had taken him to the hospital and Mom needed a ride to the hospital. 

So Nani braved the unplowed roads to head off in the wee hours of the morning to come to her rescue. After testing and diagnosing Dad's condition, it was determined he had NOT had a heart attack. 

An upper GI scan later in the week looked good. The doctor's report stated, "chest pain episode most likely secondary to nonerosive gastroesophageal reflux disease."

Well that was a big relief!!! All except for Dad who continued to be in great discomfort the day we were there. I went to the pharmacy and picked up some Gaviscon, as per the doctor's instructions, and took it to Dad in hopes that would help him feel better. 

Once Glen and Nani were finished, they joined us. Glen had scheduled to spend some time that afternoon helping Dad with his finances. We didn't think Dad would be up to it after his long, unrestful night, but he wanted to go ahead with it.

So off Mom, Nani and I went to pick up some take-out food for lunch. Although Chick-fil-A is Mom's and Glen's favorite, I put my foot down and said I was doing two restaurant pick-ups. Nani joined me in ordering from Hug-Hes. 

We ended up getting everything done that day in Ogden, and it was actually good we were there so I could see for myself how Dad was doing. 

It was even better when he reported the next day that he was feeling better than he has for some time. That was a shockingly wonderful report. 

Glen had an appointment that Tuesday morning to get his stitches removed from his hand. It was a big relief for him as the stitches had been pulling a lot. He felt great freedom leaving the doctor's office that day.

We were supposed to leave for our second trip to Las Vegas the next day, but with the snowstorm we had just had, and with more on the way expected all through the state of Utah, we decided to pack up and leave a day early in hopes we would have better driving weather. 

As excited as we were to get away from the snow for a week--for 8 days to be exact with our revised early departure date--I was definitely not excited to see the wild wind forecast we were driving into. 

It was definitely crazy windy for parts of the drive and once we got to Vegas, but there was NO SNOW!!

We stayed at The Orleans Hotel and Casino once again. We like staying there this particular week because that is where the WCC Basketball Tournament was being held. It is always so nice to leave the late ball game and just walk to our room. 

We were reminded of why we were there every time we stepped into an elevator.

We went to Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile Shops and picked Ocean One Bar and Grille for our restaurant that evening. 

We walked around for a while until it was time for our show to begin. We watched "Vegas! The Show" that evening. The show description said it is "a musical on Las Vegas history told in a splashy old-Broadway style."

It was entertaining. I really enjoyed the music of the live band all throughout the show.

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast at The Egg and I before going to the Bellagio. I wanted to see if the conservatory and botanical gardens display had been changed out for a new season. It was still the Chinese New Year of the Dragon display.

I usually love the huge botanical easel artwork on display, but this one was not that impressive. I hadn't even taken a photo of it last time we were there.

I love to walk through the Bellagio. It is so very fancy and there are so many unique and beautiful flower arrangements on display.

The Bellagio Patisserie has some beautiful displays to please the eye and also some sandwiches and sweet treats to please the palate.

It also has the world's largest and tallest chocolate fountain. 

In the afternoon we went to the Las Vegas Temple for an endowment session. 

That evening we parked at Treasure Island, which offers free parking, and took a walk down the Strip to the Linq Hotel and Casino where we ate at Off The Strip Bistro and Bar. 

I liked the saying that was posted behind Glen and feel like it is a great description of him. 

Our after-dinner show was Mat Franco. We had watched him on America's Got Talent and he definitely did not disappoint. He is a very likeable magician who kept amazing the audience with his magic tricks.

We walked around for a while after the show making our way back to our car. Of course we had to stop and get another Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign photo, although not quite as impressive as us standing in front of the real sign. 

I really like walking through the Venetian. With the ceiling painted sky blue with clouds, it gives you the feel you are walking around Venice in the daytime with the gondolas floating by.

This Vegas trip felt like a continuation of our anniversary Vegas trip. Even though we were no longer in the LOVE month of February, we were still feeling a lot of love being together.

I was insistent that we go to a different restaurant every morning for breakfast. Thursday morning was Babystacks. 

Glen even surprised me by eating a stack of pancakes. Look at my pancakes loaded with strawberries and strawberry syrup. YUM!!

For our activity that day, we decided to go to the Mob Museum. 

There were three interactive experiences that we could do besides just walking through the museum. We decided to do the crime lab. 

We learned all about fingerprinting. From our fingerprints, we learned that Glen's has whorls and mine have arches. Then a famous mobster popped up to show which ones have a similar fingerprint to ours.

We learned about ballistics and had to determine which bullets matched up to the specimen bullet.

Next we studied dead bodies for clues on cause of death.

It made me happy I don't have to study dead bodies and try to figure out how they died. 

After our crime lab experience, we walked through the rest of the museum. 

These next four slides are dedicated to Jeff, the postal inspector. 

Slot machines with personality.

These prison-made weapons were of interest to us now that we have been serving in the prison.

There was a whole section on prohibition.

After we emerged from the Mob Museum, we decided to take a short walk to Fremont Street. 

The street was very colorful overhead with lots of vendors, stores, and loud music going on under the arched awning. It was an entertaining few blocks.

As we came out the other end, we were glad we had experienced Fremont Street.

That evening we went to eat at Walk On's Sports Bistreaux at Harrah's Casino where we would be attending our evening show.

We had time to spare before our show began, so I suggested we get an ice cream dessert at Ghirardelli. It was a fabulous idea!!

When we had bought our tickets to this evening's show, Glen was sure BYU would not be playing a game that night. Then we were sweating it when BYU was losing some of their season games. BUT--as [my] luck would have it, BYU ended up not playing in the tournament until Friday, so our show was not spoiled!! HURRAH!

Because the show we had tickets for was the Donny Osmond show. Despite not liking the venue at all as we were sitting in one of the semi-circle booths at the very back and had a bunch of heads blocking my view, I had a wonderful time being entertained by Donny. 

Glen said we were going to Donny for ME, but he admitted he enjoyed the show as well. We were impressed with the long section he did where he rapped in rhyme the whole story of his life and his accomplishments with a huge picture video going on behind him. It was SOOOOO GOOOOD!

Donny is very talented, and as he pointed out, he has been performing for six decades, and he's still going strong. 

In another section, he would have audience members call out a song for him to sing and he immediately began singing with the band right on cue any of the hundreds of songs he has sung through the years. Impressive!

I also enjoyed the little section towards the end that he dedicated to his sister Marie. 

He just had to sing his famous Puppy Love song before ending his concert. 

What a lovely evening's worth of entertainment by Donny. 

We definitely picked some great shows this trip. But, the show entertainment had come to an end. The basketball entertainment was just beginning.