Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
A trip to Vegas turns out to be a battle between a man, his mother-in-law and his gambling addict of a grandmother.
Day 4
If you noticed, we stayed at the Luxor, but yet we didn’t even mention the Luxor since the first day. That’s because we were saving the best for last.
This was our easiest and most relaxing day. The Luxor is connected on the north by the Excalibur and on the south by Mandalay Bay. Therefore, to explore the neighboring casinos, it’s much easier to do so than at other hotels. Also, there’s a moving walkway back and forth, which accommodated our exhausted Grandma.
The three hotels were beautiful. Mandalay Bay and Luxor looked incredible and, the Excalibur, being more family oriented, had a lot to offer children. The biggest advantage of all three being next to each other is that with all of the shops, shows, and other attractions in these three buildings, there’s no need to exhaust the group by walking too much.
We spent most of the morning exploring all three resorts, as well as the architecture and shops in between. La Madre spent two hours gambling on a nickel machine, quite proud of the fact that she lost only one dollar while grandma lost the equivalent of Bolivia’s GNP within 10 minutes.
They spent the other half of the morning playing Wheel of Fortune slot machines. Although La Madre was completely perplexed by Grandma’s desire to gamble, she felt that the opportunity to "spin da wheela" was worth throwing away a few bucks. Every time the slot machine made the sound of somebody winning, she would jump for joy and attempt to throw in another five dollars.
As we were already engorged from yesterday’s buffets, we went to lunch midday at the Pharoah’s Pheast Buffet. This particular buffet was probably the second best buffet that we visited. It was also the nicest setting as it looked as if we were in an archeological dig site for ancient Egypt. We strategically arrived just before the lunch-to-dinner switch and with wine glasses in hand and no pressure of walking around further outside, we enjoyed our longest buffet ever, filling ourselves for two hours.
It was then time for the final event of the trip. We were taking La Madre and Grandma to the Blue Man Group. A favorite show of both Margherita and myself, this could make their day or traumatize them. Worse yet, how can one explain the Blue Man Group to La Madre, in Italian, when I could barely explain it in English?
"It’s just a very interesting experience, more than a show, " I said in Italian.
As for Grandma, she was born and raised on Broadway. Her brother (my uncle) was a famous Broadway hairdresser and used to have Lucille Ball over for dinner. To Grandma, a show was when there was a plot.
The show has no plot. It’s basically the three "Blue Men" banging objects and making noises. I explained it to Grandma as "Blue Aliens imitating the Marx Brothers without speaking." That made somewhat sense.
At the end of it, she liked the experience, but found it, "The weirdest show I ever saw."
Margherita and I were thrilled with the experience, opening up our minds at the end of the theatrical moment.
La Madre was angry and said, "Too dangerous. All the noise and toilet paper. Too dangerous."
The Strip at Night
At the end of this trip to Vegas, I was simply happy to have survived. Margherita wanted to do something nice for her mother and my Grandmother. I learned the lesson that traveling with seniors is like the colliding of distant worlds. La Madre learned that Vegas is a big place and Grandma lost all of her money.
Overall, Las Vegas has something for everyone; it's just a matter of whether you want to travel with your in-laws.
