salience

My Lengthy Las Vegas, Nevada Recapitulaion (MLLVNVR):

It was a much needed vacation ya’ll. I didn’t think about work at all, and even though it passed quickly, it was a long journey back and forth across the nation. To Las Vegas via Atlanta going and from Las Vegas via Cincinnati to La Guardia returning.

I was overwhelmed with emotion at the airport and often times randomly throughout the day while I was in Las Vegas. Alex and Chuck were at the bottom of the escalator at baggage claim and I was quickly whisked away by the ever-smooth Peter (Ulrich) Senior. Alex’s dad, just like his mom, has always been so warm to me and I was genuinely happy to see both again. Hard to believe we met carrying the BC Bands marimba down the stairs of Gasson at BC in spring of 2004 after Alex’s Musicians Among Us performance at ArtsFest. That seems like a lifetime ago. I guess in a way, it was.

I hadn’t seen Alex’s parents since going to Orlando with them in June, so it’d been nine months. They wanted to know all about my transition to working in town and where exactly that was and when was I moving into the city and just how bad is my living situation/commute situation from/to Long Island and just how much will it cost me to move, et al. Yes I was exceedingly nervous of seeing his parents again, but even though I was in a place I had never been to before, it felt like I was coming home.

Alex’s parents live in Henderson, Nevada which is about 20 minutes away from The Strip without traffic, in a development. They have a golf course lot with a spectacular view. (An aside: Alex’s mom's new conversion van is reminiscent of a van my family had which we named BoBo some ten years ago. It seats seven easily, with a tv mounted to the floor in between the two captains’ chairs in front. She always has driven a van, which I think is great. A testament to the kind of woman she is, insisting upon a vehicle big enough for however many may drop in for a visit.) At night the lights are beautiful but they don’t block out the stars. There is so much open space, one can’t help but feel released after months of only seeing the sun through office windows each day.

The house itself is a work of art. It looks like nothing I'd imagined and everything I'd imagined all at once. Unfortunately I only took pictures of the girls’ room for Nina and Cornelia, where I stayed. It is a warm place. Pictures scale the walls and prominent works of modern art are either suspended or arranged carefully. The colors are deep reds, greens, and taupes. I can’t even begin to explain all of the fabrics and just how welcoming it is. In Alex’s room, his bathroom was detailed by his dad’s hands with paint in a border around the ceiling, just like the large clay butterflies hung on the walls of the girls’ room. Their entryway and the master bathroom have panels of colored, inlaid glass, completely removable should/when the house be taken apart one day. Conveniently enough, there is enough for each child to have his own part. I will spare you further rantings, but trust me, it is a sight to behold.

Alex and I didn’t have much time to talk as we wanted to do as much as possible in our short time in Nevada, but his grades were great, he is involved, just like I had hoped he would be: studious, teaching, volunteering. He is in the best shape I’ve ever seen him in, mohawk, chains and all. My eyes tear up remembering the Alex who met me at O’Hare five months ago and the Alex I first knew in 2003 and fell in love with all over again this past week. He is back to drumming on everything/one and blasting Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach.

Chuck aka Charles from Alaska but educated in Colorado now playing cello at NU in Chicago, is hilarious. Literally, he has a one liner for every second of silence that may think of popping up. He credits it to hanging out with his dad’s colleagues, all gruff truck drivers. Unfortunately, I had to break the news to him. His former work folk called him “El Oso Blanco” and had said “oso” meant “bird.” I explained “oso” was not in fact “bird” but “bear,” no matter what the dialect of Spanish being spoken. He had always thought it strange that they referred to him as a bird, but a polar bear makes much more sense. He is a teddy bear of a guy and not scrawny by any means. He told us all about his life in Alaska, his family hailing from Switzerland, and how he had to choose between aviation and music in school. His voice impersonations are great, and he even played Bach’s Cello Suite in G Major for me from memory (yes, he had brought his cello), my absolute favorite of the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello (you know, the one that reminds Shell of a life insurance commercial). His line was, “Have you seen my G string?” which I still find genius. :)

My first day there our trio and Alex’s parents ate at a bistro in “Paris.” We sat outside and had some of the best food I have ever tasted, a theme of the trip. After returning to the airport to drop off Alex’s dad for his business trip to San Diego, we went to his parents’ house. After getting the grand tour from my fellow Moose, Mrs. Jung, Alex took Chuck and I out exploring on his parents golf cart. It’s a nice retirement gift from Moen for his dad, heated, electric. We got lost all over everywhere searching for a breathtaking view, finally ending up on the golf course itself and eventually to the Club House, where Alex and Chuck decided to play an impromptu game of Pig on the basketball court. It was an entertaining time, no doubt, especially when the ball got stuck seven feet in the air behind the basket and Alex had to get a boost to shimmy up there to knock the ball back down. We made it back to the house just after dark to head out to Chili’s for dinner and then to Green Valley Casino (which is right down the street) for my first gambling experience. (The entire trip, I was only down $14!! Yes, I have found I don’t like taking risks with my money.) Chuck won $160 at his favorite poker machine. Personally, I liked the black jack ones if the penny slots weren’t near, poker being my least favorite. The thing about gambling in Nevada is you get free drinks. Think about it, you could sit down at a machine, only put in a dollar and get a $6 drink for free. Pretty clutch. Needless to say, Chuck was elated after winning his money and all of the free drinks that night. He even called his parents to share his good news. We headed into a bar at the center of the casino floor to watch the Nuggets beat the Spurs (boo) and then headed back to the house to celebrate (Chuck's win, not Denver's). Chuck made these rum and cokes which literally tasted exactly like how Drano smells. After a game at the pool table, and finishing all the Drano, we called it a night.

Thursday Alex took me back to the Club House for my first work out using weight machines in ten months. (As I sit here and write this, I am still sore. I am so out of practice, something I hope to remedy soon, as soon as I figure out how.) Then it was back to the house to shower and change and head down the The Strip. Now, having worked in New York for some time now, I am guilty of thinking “please, I work in New York City, I’ve seen everything.” Well my friends, when you say “Strip” you think of a little piece of something larger, something so minute it couldn’t possibly tire you out. Well driving back up to it was a shock. It goes for miles in each direction, and this is only the New Vegas. The Old Vegas is behind the New Vegas, so if you put the two together, you could literally spend weeks searching all of the corners, if you were so inclined.

Our first stop was The Fashion Show Mall, where there is literally a runway down the first level of the mall with full on lights and audio equipment set up should a designer want a showcase. It is all boutique shops, but fun nevertheless. After lunch at this Italian place, we walked over to the Wynn and all through it. They had nice marble bathrooms and a very nice conservatory at the side entrance. Past Treasure Island, where ship battles are reenacted on water, we headed to The Venetian. There were murals on the ceilings and a Riviera runs through it complete with gondolas. Inside there is even a mini Guggenheim exhibit. After that it all started to blend together. Highlights include: us walking the entire strip, acting like two year olds in the four story M&M store (no, three adult sized people are not supposed to cram into the $5 photo booth and yes, the camera is in fact knee height, but we did it anyway), the expansive arcade underneath, and walking back to the famed Bellagio fountain just in time to catch the water show for “I’m Proud To Be An American.” The first time we saw it was during lunch the day before when the water was timed to “Con Te Partiro.” From there it was to the Luxor where Alex and I paid some kid way too much money to do a caricature of us. We were able to eat dinner at a place called the Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay which was amazingly good. We caught the last minutes of the Gonzaga downfall and we weren’t charged for our drinks. We thought about heading to a club, but clubs cost about $300 to get in, plus a drink minimum. And even if we could sweet talk our way in, we weren’t dressed for it. After all, we’d been outside walking all day, so we weren’t exactly fashionable. As we were driving back, we did catch a few seconds of the Bellagio Fountain show to “Hoe-Down” from Copland’s Rodeo.

Friday was lunch back at the Feast of Green Valley. We were loud and obnoxious, mostly because of Chuck’s stories. Then it was movie time. We got to see Clive Owen prove once again he is The Man in Inside Man. After that we were back at the house just in time to change and head down to the Bellagio for the 7:30 show of Cirque du Soleil’s “O.” That’s right, I saw my first ever Cirque show!! We got to the Bellagio really early. We thought we’d be cool and have a shrimp cocktail and drinks at a Bellagio lounge right by the tables on the casino floor, a little Ocean's 11, if you will. All three shrimp that they gave us were great ya’ll. Needless to say, it didn’t take us long to finish. After that we headed down to the Sports Bar to get some real snack food and watch BC lose to Villanova in the Sweet Sixteen by 1 point. (Heartbreaking!!) Then it was time to head into the theater. I have to say my favorite part of the show was the clowns, mostly because the shorter of the two reminded me of my dad, especially when they danced. I liked the music, and the numbers were, as expected, abstract. The show is all about water, so the stage is shifting platforms which create varying pools. There were synchronized swimmers and acrobats/divers, which turned out to be almost everyone in the cast at some point. We had great seats in the center of the audience, and as it was stadium seating, we could see everything, although Alex’s mom had given me her opera glasses just in case. After the show, we headed to a café in the Bellagio for chocolate crepes. They were really rich, but worth the stomach ache. After crepes, it was back to the house to pack. Alex and Chuck took me to the airport at 4:45am Las Vegas time, when they weren’t leaving until around 10am for a noon flight back to Chicago. It was difficult to tear Chuck away from the pollo, but I’m sure we’ll all see each other again soon.