House of the Purple Worms: Sunday in Vegas

I got a late start this Sunday morning because sister Pru and I were up late "playing cards". The others went to the Forum shops to check out the cheesy statuary and then to the MGM to see the lions. Don and I went to see the lions a bit later and took a few photos. The lion enclosure is very interesting.

It is designed to protect the lions from humans, so they can not smell or hear the people outside the enclosure. Trainers are kept inside so that they become a natural part of the lions' environment. Lions only spend 5-6 hours there a day and are switched out frequently so that they don't have to come repeatedly. They are kept at a separate lion conservatory elsewhere.

The enclosure was designed to keep them comfortable and happy and they did seem to be so.

Pru seemed happy in her natural habitat too. She developed an ingenious gambling strategy. By claiming to have promised to play a slot for everyone she knew, she could hide a growing gambling problem. Last time I can remember she was playing for our cousin Emo's girlfriend's yoga teacher's rabbi, but of course since she was winning we decided it must be okay.

For lunch we decided to go to nearby Wolfgang Puck's.

It was a unique experience. I had a very nice Tuna tartare there and an excellent salad.

And both the iced tea and coffee there were very good.

I was, however, very disappointed in the desserts. My suspicion is that it was a problem of naming. They called this a brownie.

It was really more of a mousse on top of a tiny little, teensy weensy layer of brownie crust. It was good, but when you want a brownie, this doesn't cut it. Even more disappointing was the Crême Brulée. This was really much more rubbery than creamy and was an egg custard rather than a crême. Pru who said she'd never had Crême Brulée liked it as did my husband who had ordered it, but I was painfully disappointed.

Somewhat better was the pumpkin cheesecake . It was nice and pumpkin-y, but very short on the cheese. Of course not a one of us ordered a pizza, so we can't weigh ion on that, but my advice at Wolfgang Puck's is stick to the standards. Mom's cuban pork sandwich was dry and unpalatable too. The coffee, as I said, was exquisite and the best we had in Vegas, but skip the dessert.

The exterior of the restaurant has these lovely hoops for privacy and it was a very pleasant dining atmosphere.

The MGM Casino is much more understated than most of the others we had been in. It was husband Don's favorite Casino because it was tasteful and somewhat muted - of course for this very reason I found it boring.

Meanwhile back at the castle, there were more interesting people to be seen.

And we had been informed it was time to practice for the air hockey tournament.

We all took it very seriously, in spite of the fact that none of us had played in ...ahem... several decades.

Of course, since we were already in the arcade, we couldn't resist trying out some of these less adult versions of the games upstairs. The point of this one was to use your mini-sledge hammer to bop the witch into a cauldron.

This one took unnatural feats of human strength. Alas, no spells would be brewed in those cauldrons on that day.

Our luck at the ping pong balls in the shallow dishes game was equally dismal, but it was a fun time and helped us pass the time until dinner and our next show.

Our Sunday show was chosen by Mom and was the Smothers Brothers at the Orelans. This image is not mine - I got it from FrankAyran's flickr pictures - but it is such a great representation of the Las Vegas spirit. Be sure to check out his photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankayran/3103529043/

Anyway, this is The Orleans, where we went to see the Brothers Smothers.

One enters The Orleans (they seem to love to capitalize the The in Las Vegas) through these doors.

Can you tell there is an alligator theme going on here? I chose the restaurant and had a choice between Prime Rib and Steak and evidently chose wrong - but we ended up at the Prime Rib loft. We wandered through the Casino and found our restaurant.

On the way, we passed the bar. Anything stick out about the bar?

The prime rib was good, but evidently someone thought the drinks were better. Who ordered all of those anyway?

Uh oh, Mom, I guess there'll be an intervention when you get back to Houston. You had better live it up while you can!

Then it was on to the show. I wish I could tell you it was a young, fashionable audience, but what we lacked in youth, we made up in exuberance. My sisters and husband were the youngest people in the room. It doesn't look like he wants to be associated with us, does it?

After great anticipation the Smothers Brothers took the stage. Were they going to be old, feeble shells of their former selves, tottering around barely able to manage their instruments after all these years?

No, indeed, they were still in fine form! They were indeed older. Dicky had become a bit gaunter than he was those odd thirty five years ago and Tommy had developed that aged roundness that so many of us seem to get. Still they were easily recognizable and just as vibrant and funny as ever.

They still sang beautifully in crystal clear tones and the jokes were not hackneyed and feeble, but as hilarious as ever. Tommy still embellished on the truth a bit

And Dicky played the perfect foil and straight man. We even got a vist from the Guru of Yo, the yoyo man.

Still in fine form, we got to see several yoyo tricks by the Master of Yo.

Just before the end of the performance we were shown a slide show of a brief history of the Smothers Brothers. It was good to see some of the old favorites. Tea with Goldie, Pat Paulsen running for President and pictures of the Smothers family.