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Las Vegas 2002 - Sunday February 24 These pictures don't look as good as the 1600x1200 originals, because I had to scale them down to make the download times reasonable. Unfortunately, clicking on the pictures will not display the full sized version.....I've already invested about 12 hours of work on scaling and re-cropping the pictures on these pages, and the extra work is just more than I want to tackle. On Sunday we pulled together again and took a taxi to the Stratosphere at the North end of the strip. I won a coin there. I asked a sharply dressed fellow about going up to the Cocktail Lounge and he started writing something on a piece of paper and he said, "Here- this will save you $15.00". It was a pass directly to the lounge! And from there we would be able to get to the observation decks for free.
The picture above was taken from the Lounge level of the Stratosphere looking down onto the restaurant level, which slowly rotates 360 degrees once every hour.
Here we are sitting in the lounge waiting for our drinks. It sits above the restaurant called "Top of the World", which is the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi. We had drinks up there, in the level that is above, but also open to the restaurant below. Then we went up the stairs to the observation deck, went up yet another level and went to the open air observation deck, then we rode the Big Shot on top. I took a picture of the monitor that had captured our picture on the ride.
Mark, self-portrait. I grew my mustache back just for the trip.
Here is a picture of the shadow cast by the Stratosphere.
We took the stairs up to the observation level. This is Paul modeling his sneaky peek look.
Paul and Frank, taking in the southern Nevada scenery. Frank burst into tears after this shot was taken, awash in the glory of the view.
This is the very top of the Stratosphere, which has two rides- a roller coaster that goes in circles, and the BigShot, which blasts you up the pole and back down again.
Frank and Todd, no doubt getting tired of posing for all the pictures.
Frank, ex-CIA agent who never turned in his glasses.
The sun was very bright up there.
Here we are at the moment of blasting off on the BigShot. The picture looks funny because it's a picture of a video monitor.
Here is a picture of a group of people on the roller coaster as it returns.
Finally back on the ground in front of the Stratosphere, before taking a taxi back to the center of the strip, where we went to the Venetian. While at the Venetian I won a souvenir coin there. I got lucky and cashed out on some Frog Slot Machine someone had left, they obviously didn't understand they had won a mini-jackpot, they just had to pick a bonus multiplier. Yeaaa!! Got a handful of quarters from that payout and promptly returned them to the Venetian via several of the nearby one-armed bandits. I took a few pictures of the artwork on the ceiling in this resort. I think this would be a great hotel to bring your sweetie to. Went to the Impulse Store at the Mirage and got a few booze-related supplies for pre-dinner cocktails before heading over to Ruths Chris steakhouse later tonight.
We returned to the Mirage suite to regroup before heading out for the night, and watched the sun go down.
Paul and Todd, waiting for Frank to get out of the shower. "It's been hours.....should we check on him?"
Frank was in the john until dark, and even then he came out wearing nothing but a robe. 
One of many shots of the volcano erupting. I also shot a few MPEG movies of this.
We got cleaned up and took a Taxi to Ruths Chris Steakhouse on Paradise Road. We had changed our reservation to 7:30 P.M. because we were running late. The restaurant was in a strip mall and was somewhat marginal, not even 1/4 as good as the one in Chicago. The steaks were not even as big. But we did enjoy a really good red wine, a blend called Bajoules. Todd’s steak looked a little darn rare to be, and he said as much. Which is why I tend to lean toward ordering my meat cooked medium to medium well.
The fountains at the Bellagio were a blast to watch. It's the best free show in town. Went to the Bellagio to pick up our tickets for the Cirque De Solis "O" show. Paid $20 for a plastic cup of Sky Vodka, which I brought into the show. I was tired of asking for a glass of Vodka and getting a little shot of it in a glass. I told the Bartender, "Look, I'm going to be in the show for 90 minutes, I don't care how much you have to charge me, just fill the glass." The show was cool, we had front row seats (they call them the "wet seats") which was very neat. We could feel the water at times and we literally part of the action at times. They only had one fire thrower working that night though- liked it better when they had two fire throwers when I saw it earlier that year with Susan.
The Paris hotel behind the dancing fountains of the Bellagio. Because of our somewhat sordid past, I was certain we would be doing a lot of drinking while we were in Las Vegas, but I can say with a straight face none of us got very drunk. I didn't want to drink to much out of fear for feeling raunchy and tired the next day, which would be a drag since our time there was limited.
View of the Aladdin from across the lake in front of the Bellagio.
I believe that is the Flamingo Hilton.
Another night shot of the Paris hotel. I think the Paris would be another good choice for a romantic Las Vegas trip.
Paul and Todd. Todd was speechless after the "O" show. When he finally did speak he said "I'm moving here".
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