"Jubilee" and More

Wednesday began with bagels and coffee for breakfast and then a quick trip to the Strip where Helen and Gail wanted to visit the M&M store.

We parked the Vue at MGM and I led the ladies through the casino and onto the Strip. It's a short walk from the MGM to the M&M store. While they were shopping, I went back to the casino and found a $5 blackjack table that looked beatable. I was right. Within a half hour, I had piled up $100 in profit and would have stayed longer, but a guy joined the table who had absolutely no clue about playing the game. When he stayed on 12 against the dealer's facecard, I decided to leave immediately with my profit.

So I wandered to the sports book, then over to the poker room. Then I saw Gail and Helen and we met near the Lions habitat where they have live lions laying around getting their pictures taken. A month or so ago, one of the MGM lions made media news when it turned on a trainer and munched his leg a bit. No such antics yesterday, though.

We decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the Victorian Room at Bill's Gambling Hall, so we drove from MGM north on the Strip to Bill's. Gail had a mushroom burger, Helen had a chicken wrap and I opted for a philly cheese steak. All came with fries. We were all hungry and the food was tasty. The Victorian Room has long been one of my favorite Vegas eateries, especially for breakfast when their skillet breakfasts are hard to beat.

After eating, we drove home to rest a bit and change clothes for our evening adventure - the 7:30 p.m. "Jubilee" show at Ballys. We returned to the Strip and got to Bally's around 6:45 p.m. Seating for the show was already beginning, so we got in line to be seated. Because of Helen's wheelchair, an usher guided us through a side entrance to our table - right up front!

It was great being that close to the stage, but I think we were all surprised a bit when the curtain rose on the opening number and the lavishly costumed dancers were - well, missing a little of their costumes! Yep, it was a topless number - one of several during the nearly-two-hour performance. Gail had insisted it was supposed to be non-topless, but when she checked her entertainment magazine later she realized that Jubilee's SATURDAY performances are non-topless. The rest are sans tops...

Anyway, we all really enjoyed the outstanding performances. Between dancing numbers, there were some amazing acrobats, gymnasts and a really talented juggler. There were two amazing production numbers - Samson and Delilah - and the sinking of the Titanic! I highly recommend anyone see "Jubilee" as an old-school Las Vegas production show that features nearly 100 dancers with tons of sequins, feathers and rhinestones.

After the show, we drove home, arriving about 10 p.m. The girls stayed up laughing and drinking wine til 1 a.m., but I crashed early.

This morning we just sat around talking and drinking coffee. Gail had a 2:40 p.m. flight back to Detroit, then on to Traverse City. Around noon we left for the airport, which is about 30-40 minutes away. It was almost 1 after we finally got parked and walked her into the ticketing area. It was a little sad to see her go, but we know she had a really good time during the two full days she was here. If all goes well and Northworst Airlines doesn't screw up, she'll arrive back in TC around midnight.

Helen and I drove home and just relaxed for a bit. I made us a lasagna and salad dinner and now we're just relaxing and waiting for the Thursday night comedy shows on NBC. But tomorrow, our Vegas adventure continues...