Vegas Baby

Ron and I spent two days in Las Vegas. I have very few pictures for proof, because it was a business trip and we attended the Shot Show and the ANME (Army Navy Military Expo). Not the most exciting photo subject material unless you like dead animals or thousands of guys in camo. Actually it would be a great place to meet men if you were single. A 1 to 1000 ratio. This year we skipped the main floor and concentrated on law enforcement, tactical and military distributors. It still took the entire two days but thankfully I was spared seeing video after video of hunters shooting cute deer and elk. I needed therapy after the last Shot Show.
This year it was fun and very productive. It was good to see our very nice vendors, touch and feel their new/upcoming products and place a lot of orders. But I always wish it was a craft show.
This was the cutest thing I could find. Chuck Taylor reproductions (I wanted to buy some but they are no longer made) O.D. converse were standard issue during WWII. The only other thing that was pretty was the ballrooms. Part of the show was in the Venetian. One of the prettiest Hotels on the strip. Beautiful rugs, embossed wall paper, chandeliers, gilded everything. The bathroom is the prettiest one you will ever go in. All of the above and they pipe in classical music. Total luxury, I wanted to take a pic of that but I thought the bathroom attendant would think I was out of my mind.
I wish our big craft show in Phoenix next week would take notes. I am not looking forward to the stinky state fair setting.



We ate dinner at KOKOMO'S. It is super swankified. The waiters walked around with towels over their arms and there was a wine bucket at every table. The picture of us above was taken by a photographer working in the restaurant. I forgot to take a pic of the dessert. It was a chocolate torte. I am not one for chocolate cake. But it was amazing. Normally we would skip an expensive restaurant and just grab something to have more time to see the sites. But it was part of a dinner and show package. We thought we had tickets to Mystere as part of out hotel package at Treasure Island but our trip fell on a black out night. Ron in his desperation even looked to see if we could go to Donny and Marie ( I have been hinting about them for months.) They were blacked out also, whaaa! So he got this package, dinner at one of the Mirage restaurants and tickets to Terry Fator. Terry Fator and his opening act, Ben Harris were both so fun. We have avoided comedy acts in Vegas for obvious reasons but luckily it was clean.
This was by far the highlight of my trip. What an honor to meet (and get a hug from) Ed "Doc" Pepping of Easy Company 506th Parachute Inf Reg. 101st Airborne Division. He served as a medic during WWII. He took part in the Normandy Invasion on June 6th 1944. The Book and movie "Band of Brothers" are about his company's experiences. I have not seen the movie but I now have a signed copy of the book!
I always love meeting WWII vets. It is the best part of my job (next to hanging out with Ron all day.) Two weeks ago a Navajo code talker was shopping in my store. I had a wonderful visit with him and wish I had the guts to ask for a picture. The WWII vets are sweet gentlemen who remind me of my grandpa.