Las Vegas | Olives

Las Vegas, Nevada: Everyone left us today! Our friends caught planes back home and Mom and Dad loaded up their camper and hit the road north.

NOTES FROM LISA: Just to let you all know - Lisa is hunkered-down in her dorm at GW because of the World Bank protesters. She is stuck between it all, since her dorm is between the World Bank and the Watergate Hotel where the banking officials are staying.  Protests are occurring at both locations. GW is basically shutdown. No food service in any buildings, the student center is closed. Anything and everything that could be thrown or have a bomb put inside is gone from campus: kiosks, garbage cans, post boxes, benches, etc. No classes on Monday and, possibly, Tuesday. No mail, FedEx or deliveries - meaning the M&Ms I sent to her are melting in a truck somewhere in Washington! Lisa said busloads of police from Baltimore and Philadelphia arrived today in front of the Watergate and the officers walked-off the buses carrying little sack lunches! Lisa is fine and sneaks out towards Georgetown for food. Mostly she is just angry with the protesters for disrupting her life and classes. (The only protesters she has come across seriously needed some personal hygiene.)

Today, DT and I were very lazy. I was just exhausted after several past-midnight nights and the excitement of the Jimmy Buffett show. We stayed around the campsite, reading, doing the crossword and I was needle pointing. Then we went over to the business center at the hotel and they let me use their modem line to update my website. My server was having troubles, everything is working now... but I guess there is just too much glitz, glamour and metal in Las Vegas, as I am having a heck of a time using my cell phone/modem! Anyway... we headed out to look at a few non-gaming areas of the city. We checked out a few golf courses and the Las Vegas Golf Center. Las Vegas seems to be a city of apartment complexes! We came home, read through the guidebook and decided to try Todd English's Olives restaurant - back to the Bellagio! Olives turned out to be a fabulous restaurant! (Was that really Dolly Parton at that table, or a Vegas look-alike?) The restaurant hangs out over the 'lake' at the Bellagio. Every 30 minutes the lake has a display of 'dancing waters' - fountains shooting up water, accompanied by Italian opera. For an appetizer I had a hot deep-fried polenta patty topped with cold slices (shavings, really) of jumbo asparagus tossed in light vinaigrette, topped with shavings of asiago cheese. The combination of hot and cold, soft and crunchy was just perfect and (not including the Greek meal I prepared in Death Valley) it was the best thing I have tasted on the trip - so far! DT started with 'their version' of a Caesar Salad: torn romaine lettuce, dressed in a blue cheese/Caesar dressing - then the lettuce is wrapped in a huge slice of thin bread, so it looks like lettuce stuffed inside a tall glass made of bread! (Presentation is half of the meal.) It was beautiful and delicious. Olives served a nice assortment freshly baked breads and olives (of course!). For our main course, we shared a "flatbread". Olives calls it flatbread, I call it pizza.  After dinner we gave the remaining of our winnings BACK to the Bellagio casino and called it a night! I am leaving Las Vegas up only $85... I think DT is down a bit.