The Forgotten!

Feb 13, 2006
We’ve been to Las Vegas so many times in recent years that the strip has lost its lustre. We kept feeling ‘been there – done that’ and so the off the beaten track casinos provided more entertainment. I think the opulence of Caesars, Wynn, Bellagio, etc. gets a bit ‘ho-hum’.

We did get a kick out of the Chinese New Year’s exhibit in the conservatory of the Bellagio. A wonderful but ailing banyan tree was removed from Florida in pieces and reassembled at the Bellagio. It provided the background for the colourful display. Beautiful red lanterns hung profusely from the branches. Large smiling Chinese characters including a huge dog (must be the year of the dog) were located here and there in the exhibit and walkways wound through and around the magnificent tree and they created archways from fountains of shooting water. I, obviously still a child or approaching second childhood, stuck my finger into the shooting stream and soaked the man behind me. He took it in good spirits but I was a bit embarrassed.

I never tire of the dancing waters at the Bellagio. The music is different every time we’ve stopped to watch. But there’s another ‘laser and dancing water show’ that doesn’t get much press but is worth a visit. I guess the best words I could use to describe it are ‘cute’ and ‘hokey’. It’s the water show at Sam’s Town. The hotel surrounds a large glass-enclosed quadrangle – about 10 or 12 stories high. This conservatory is filled with trees, replicas of mountains and a gushing waterfall. Birds (not real ones) chirp from above. It’s very dense and green and so relaxing. We viewed a nighttime show - 10 pm. The lights dimmed and we could hear wolves howling in the distance; a spotlight picked out an amber-eyed wolf who threw back his head and howled menacingly above the waterfall. An eagle high on a rocky outcropping spread his wings and cocked his head as if reacting to the cry. A massive grizzly bear rose on his haunches and answered with a guttural roar. I swear that the wolf and the grizzly made eye contact with me (guess I am still a child). With that, the waters started to a hillbilly tune; lasers drew ancient characters on the rock walls in turquoise, pink and yellow. The waters glowed with the colours and the laser beams glistened as if millions of diamonds floated in the air. The music morphed into a classical piece and as it reached a crescendo, the waters shot high in the air. Wolf, bear, eagle, and owl watched intently.

The music changed to a country song – Clint Black maybe (I really don’t know country singers) and the lasers drew more modern images on the stones. The colours changed to red, white and blue and the lasers depicted the US flag and the music changed to a haunting rendition of ‘America the Beautiful’. A bit over the top for us ‘less patriotic’ Canadians but we respect the American way even if it does make us smile.