Pink Flamingos

My first time in Las Vegas I was two weeks old. My earliest childhood memories with my brother, sister, and father are in Vegas and Hawaii. My dad did a lot of work in Vegas and being as it was only a 3ish hour drive from Orange (where I grew up), we got to go with him quite a bit. I have vivid memories of parking at Circus Circus, taking the little tram across the street, and scouring the ground and tops of trash cans for “Free Game” coupons that others had tossed aside. I have memories of my dad using a deck of cards and sugar packets as chips in the hotel room to teach us how to play Blackjack. I’m pretty sure I could recognize a 21-hand before I could count to 21. When I was 5, my parents separated. When I was 6, they divorced. And these trips pretty much came to an end. The last time my brother, sister, and I took a trip alone with our father was almost 23 years ago (and it wasn’t even Vegas, it was Vancouver). For myriad reasons, we needed some time with our dad. Just us time, without his wife and our half-siblings around. Just time for us to be our own family again. So we decided to meet in Vegas for a night, a place that brought us so much joy as a family years ago.

My father is Muslim, practicing. Which means a sober (and pork-free) trip to Vegas; I definitely have not had one of those since I turned 21! Anyhow, my sister flew down from Seattle, my father flew over from Orange, my brother and I flew down from Sacramento, and we descended on Vegas for a night. What is quintessential Vegas dining? A buffet. So, first stop the Bellagio to fill our bellies! I recently discovered that my Hyatt status gives me reciprocal status with MLife so first stop in the Bellagio was to have them print a new card for me; line-hopper buffet pass and free parking at all MGM properties; score! So, pro-tip: check your Hyatt status and see if its worth linking to an MLife card before your next trip to Vegas!

The Bellagio Buffet did not disappoint, for a buffet. It was the noon-hour and they had all meals of the day covered in that buffet. Our eyes lit up with the endless sea of food and we were off. My sister, Leila, and I both spotted eggs benedict and knew that would be part of our first rounds. As we piled on the breakfast, I looked at our plates and realized that eggs benedict had Canadian bacon on it; crap. I stopped Leila and pointed it out. Problem solvers we are, a quick pull with our fingers and out slid our pieces of pork to be ditched on an empty buffet tray before we made it back to our table. The next course for me, seafood. My dad and I were both overcome with memory when we saw the two giant ice bins of crab legs on the buffet line. It may not have been Vegas, but when I was little there was a Cracker Barrel by our house, at the Orange Mall, and they had crab leg nights. I was young enough, probably around 3, that I was free for the buffet. Their mistake. At 3 years old I was obsessed with crab; my dad would take me and I would binge on as many crab legs as full tables of adults combined. We’d fill my plate and my dad would crack the legs as I pulled out all the yummy meat and sucked on the shells. I could throw down some serious crab as a tot. I won’t turn this into a food review; the buffet was decent; some dishes better than others. The desserts meh; which was a mixed blessing considering I ended up with eight of them on my plate!

After getting checked into our hotel rooms at Planet Hollywood; an ordeal in and of itself, we hung out in the boys’ room and just chatted for a while. For us, this time of being able to speak freely amongst ourselves without the distractions of others around us is priceless. We talked mostly about dad at that point; his health issues, his life, his angst. And then it was time. Time to head to Circus Circus!

We had self-parked at Planet Hollywood. DO NOT EVER DO THAT. You have to walk through half of the Miracle Mile Mall to get to the parking garage. So far away. Such a pain in the ass. So not worth saving a few dollars on valet. It’s an even longer walk when you are halfway there and your dad realizes he left the car keys in the room so you and your brother turn and high-tail it back through the mall, through the casino, up an endless elevator ride, and to the room to get them; only to get a call while you’re searching the hotel room that dad found them in his jacket pocket. The one he was wearing. Thanks for the extra steps dad!

Circus Circus. A site to behold. Aside from the tram no longer being there, nothing has changed in my lifetime. We arrived cheering in awe. And spent a decent amount of time trying to get a group selfie in front of the iconic sign; the sign of our childhood, of our family trips, of many many many laughs and smiles. After multiple outtakes and trying different angels, we finally got some successful pics and headed inside!

We could hear the “Circus Act” going on in the midway as we approached and climbed the oh-so-familiar spiral ramp up the center to the midway floor. There, we became kids with our daddy again. I will say, shockingly, the games are not that expensive even today (most $2)! We circled the entire midway; twice pretty much. Seeking out and playing all of our favorite games. I always loved the camel races. My dad’s favorite; without a doubt, the whiffle ball toss where you try to land it in one of the colored cups for a prize. I’m pretty sure we went back to that game about four times yesterday. We went from game-to-game; playing, smiling, laughing, winning. Robert (my brother) and Leila each have two kids of their own now so dad and I donated most of our winnings to their causes. At the balloon dart game, one of my higher gaming skills, I bought 5 darts and passed them out to the family, keeping two for myself. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. We popped four balloons with our five darts! So close to the biggest prize! The lady plucked the coveted large prize, a big ol’ bright pink flamingo, off the wall, and handed it to me. It was then that we realized this lady did not know how to count. Or she just didn’t care. And we also all came to realize how much we all loved that damn flamingo. In that midway, we were kids again. There was not a care in the world as we went game-to-game, all playing, all laughing, all loving every minute of it. By the time we left; Robert, Leila, and I all had a pink flamingo tucked under our arms. And all agreed that we were keeping those flamingoes for ourselves; they would not be gifted to any kids!

Circus Circus is exactly as I remember it. And I mean, exactly. Nothing has been repaired, nothing has been updated. Many of the games are creepy looking with their age showing. But I loved it. They were the exact same as they were when we were kids. (Not at all like Disneyland, which I wouldn’t even recognize these days.) There was such a sense of comfort, fun, and familiarity in those games. As we left with all of our stuffed winnings in hand; there was some serious discussion and negotiating happening. Which stuffed animals were better for my brother’s baby? Which would my niece, the oldest, want? How should my sister divide among her kids? My dad started laughing, saying, “This is EXACTLY how it was when you were kids. As we’re walking out you’d be negotiating trades.” Apparently some things never change.

From there it was on to the Rio for a quick snack and to see Penn & Teller’s show! As everyone is taking their seats before the show, live jazz is being played as the announcer invites the audience down, and on to the stage, to see a live chicken and sign their names on a mystery box. Unable to resist the urge to see a live chicken (haha), my brother and sister headed down to the stage to take selfies with a chicken and sign their kids’ names on a cardboard box. I tried to get them to pose while up there so I could get a picture of them on stage, but alas they were unable to comprehend the “Stay!” hand signal that works so well on my dogs and moved on before I could focus. Oh well. Penn & Teller put on a great show! They were witty, funny, had cool magic, and tons of audience participation. I do miss Penn’s longer hair though. I won’t go into any details on the show but I would say they were worth seeing! After the show, they both come out into the foyer and spend as much time out there as needed to say hi to and take a picture with anyone who asks. Robert was able to grab a selfie with Teller and we were able to get a group shot with Penn; that dude is tall!!! I also know I will end up losing a lot of sleep in the next few days laying in bed trying to read about how they did their tricks. It’s so fascinating.

From there, it was back to Planet Hollywood for a late night dinner at Gordon Ramsay Burger. It is scary how like my father I am; all he ordered as his meal was a side of French fries! We got back to our rooms (next door to each other) at 12:30am and decided we’d hang out and chat for about half an hour and then call it a night. Three hours of deep conversation later, my sister and I finally retreated to our own room to try to get some sleep. Thank god for sleep aids. After not having fallen asleep till around 4am; that 8:30 am alarm came too damn early this morning. I am already eager and anxious for our next family trip.