Vegas can have what happened in Vegas - I don't want it.

I attended a seminar in Vegas last week and cashed in some skymiles for Trip to come along and keep me company. I think there are two kinds of people when it comes to Vegas- those who love it and those who could go the rest of their lives without a return trip. Sadly, Trip and I fall squarely into the latter category. We stayed at the Venetian which was nice enough (although when Trip opened the armoire there was a condom, fortunately still in its wrapper, sitting on the top shelf) but you just cannot escape the smoke-filled casinos and unconscionable prices for everything from the gym ($40 a day!) to meals and shows. Walking the strip was downright depressing- we saw everything from old people on oxygen smoking and gambling, to Mexicans lined up handing out cards for prostitutes, to outfits not even the trendiest celebrity could pull off without inviting severe perez hilton criticism. I understand that this is paradise to some, but to those of us who don't gamble, drink to excess or have money to burn, it most certainly is not paradise.

Anyway, we still managed to squeeze in a few fun highlights in the trip. The first thing we did was check out Red Rock Canyon. We drove around a trail that looped through the canyon. It was beautiful.

Here I am balancing very carefully. . .
Fortunately we stopped into the national park's gift shop before heading out and learned that there were pictographs and petroglyphs along the trail. You had to know where to go and what to look for, but we found them. Here is the pictograph. If you look closely, you can see hand prints in the left bottom third of this photo.
And here were some petroglyphs.
We also checked out the "old" Vegas. One obligatory photo of all that craziness.
And we also took the obligatory cheesy tourist photo in front of the cheesy fake venetian gondola ride. Yeah, it was tough getting Trip to get onboard for this one but I persevered.
Finally, we caught a show on our last night. I have never seen a Cirque du Soleil show so that was first on the list. The only one that fit our time and budget constraints was the "erotic" cirque show "Zumanity." It was pretty good, but I would have liked to have seen less "erotica" and more cirque. Here we are outside the show. Looking good, Kennickells, looking good.
And, just because it's Vegas and you can't leave without getting one of these, here is a photo of Trip with some showgirls. I hate that the photo is blurry, but so be it. Is it just me or does Trip have a really big smile on his face?
Anyway, although it certainly does not rank in my top 100 places to go, we did have some good times in Vegas. Having said that, if I never see Vegas again, I will be just fine.