Almost New Year's

I’m ready for the year to change. One week and I still have this marvelous cold – last week with the head, now it’s moved down into a nice rough cough. It would be nice to be whole again.

We’re off to see La Reve at the Wynn tomorrow night – our kids got us tickets for Christmas. So we are off to see another Dragonne show. Loved Mystere and O, this one has been open long enough to have the ‘kinks’ worked out of it, so I’ve got high expectations. B doesn’t want to eat there first – she says a full stomach will make it too hard to stay awake. But we’ll get there early – Friday night on the Strip is usually pretty busy – and have a drink or something first.

It’s New Year’s weekend. A story in yesterday’s paper says that there are still some good rooms available for the weekend if you still want to come to ‘America’s Party’. Looks like our convention and visitors bureau is pushing Vegas as an alternative to Times Square. The Strip closes to vehicles for the night, so you really get a chance to walk down and see all the casinos. And then they all shoot off fireworks from the rooftops at midnight. Unfortunately, predictions are for rain on Saturday, so the fireworks might be cancelled – first time for rain on New Years Eve in Vegas for over forty years.

If you want a room at the Wynn be prepared – rates are $399 for Thursday night, and $699 each for Friday and Saturday (cheapest rooms). The current largest hotel, the MGM Grand, with 5,034 rooms, was still accepting checkins for Friday/Saturday stays. It’s only $90 for Thursday, but $599 each for Friday and Saturday. The Venetian also goes up over the weekend, from $259 on Thursday to $699 Friday/Saturday. The 3,933 room Bellagio is already booked for Saturday. You can get a cheap night at Bally’s or off strip at the Hard Rock for only $399 per night.

Most of the city’s 134,000 rooms are already booked and paid for. If you wait any longer you might end up staying out at Pahrump.

Though I keep forgetting, for Clare:

1. Having a warm bed in one of the biggest party towns around.
2. Being old enough to spend New Year’s Eve without getting too drunk and not really remembering to enjoy it.
3. Having an enjoyable New Year’s day because we’re not overenjoying the Eve.

Hope you all have a nice quiet celebration with friends. We’ll be watching old movies. (no, no clowns here, Fred & Ginger came dancing in for the holidays.)