First of all, an apology for the time delay in submitting this Thanksgiving Trip Report, however; in all honestly, I will admit the delay was caused by a side trip to the city of San Antonio (which is a very neat place to visit, especially during the Christmas season.) Day #1 of this trip was smooth and uneventful via US Airways (Free due to the inconvenience we experienced in July). I did contract a Virus of some sort which I managed to sleep off the first night - in the Orleans of course, where else?? Day #2 started with breakfast at the Courtyard in the Orleans. As this was the day of the Meet, it was rather busy. After touching base with the Catering dept of the Orleans I managed to have access to our meeting room aprx 1 hour early to be sure everything was set up properly. Although attendence was fairly good (we have had better) it was definately one of our better meets - thanks to the efforts of Lee, David, Joe, and Lena Prima. A great big "thank you" goes to Lee for all of those umbrellas he gave to everyone, to David for all of those pictures he drew of everyone - he is quite talented you know, and to Joe for securing Lena Primas visit to our meet and last but certainly not least to Lena Prima for her talk and beautiful singing. For those not in attendance, you really missed one! Following the meet, Maxine and I ventured over to the Cortez Room at the Gold Coast for a great meal. This was followed by a quick jaunt over to Excalibur to take in Louis Anderson's brand of comedy - I would definately recommend his show. Followed by quick jaunt back to the Orleans to end a "great" day #2. Day #3 was started by another good breakfast in the Coutyard, followed by a little slot play (Megabucks included) to no avail). I did not manage to get in some "hot tub" time due to "cool weather". Lunch was one of the "hot dogs" at the Orleans hot dog stand. For those of you who have not tried of the hot dogs at the stand located in the Orleans or Gold Coast, you are missing some of the best dogs you can find anywhere. We made an early departure to the downtown area to do some shopping for some of the grand kids. Dinner that evening was in the Carson Street cafe located in the Golden Nugget followed by "Defending the Caveman" playing there in the Golden Nugget. Sorry, but this is one I cannot recommend - save your coins. This one man performance ended day #3. Day #4 which was "Thanksgiving Day" was another good one. Thanksgiving dinner in the Prime Rib Loft of the Orleans with David, Kes, and Lou was "a delight". This is really a neat place to have the traditional holiday meal, The decor, food, service, and price, are excellent and highly recommended. Following our "goodbyes", we ventured down to the Mirage to take in "LOVE". Out of the 3 Cirque shows, we have seen, this one is the best with the performers doing "their thing" to music by the Beatles. I would definately recommend this one and would consider seeing it again. For all practical purposes, this really ended the trip as day #5 was a travel day back to the real world and to start planning on the next trip. The last day and travel back to DFW was smooth, uneventful and best of all FREE. This ends the very delayed trip report so AMIGOS, ADIOS. :p

Thanks for teh report Wendell. It was actually nice having you wait, gave me something to read again.

I sure wish I could have stuck around or even flew back but it just wasn't in the cards.

We saw Defending the Caveman here in Columbus several years ago and thought it was great. I wonder if it's the same show?

That had to be quite a disapointment to a lot of people not getting to see that green kamono down at the hot tub .

Wendell, I think that San Antonio visit has interrupted your trip report before. Let's not make a habit of that. <g>

Lena said that she enjoyed talking to all of the nice people at the meet. She couldn't stop talking about you and Maxine and particularly enjoyed the story about how you two came together. I think that if you made a special trip to Vegas to see her at one of her singing or art shows, you would have a friend for life. And I can tell you from experience, she makes a great friend. So set aside a little mad money for a spontaneous trip in case her shows don't match your schedule.

I like those hot dogs too. Maybe sometime in late October we will get a trip report from Lou to find out if tried one. He is the hot dog authority.

Was Rich Little playing at the Nugget? I think you would have liked that much better than the Caveman.

Jeff, this version of Defending The Caveman advertises that it has toured all over the world and has been in X number of different languages. I saw that guy do about 15 minutes of his stuff at an Italian festival. It seemed to be the kind of show where one would have strong feelings, either positive or negative with not much inbetween. I thought it was oversimplified stereotypes of very tired jokes.

Wendell,
Great report, even greater meet. I personally think it was the best one to date. although I do remeber one with a DJ that was almost as much fun! Lena did add a special something, I do agree. I was suprised at how she was down to earth, a real person! Thank You for going to all the trouble to arrange the meet.
I was also glad to hear that you had an uneventful flight. I think those are the best kind! and after the last flight on that airline you deserved a decent flight.
We almost went to see the Cave man show, but ran out of time, after reading your report....I guess that was a good thing! I can only hope you had discount tickets for the thing, they had discouts all over the free-B magizines, and at the 1/2 price ticket outlets they where also listed. Although if it was a REALLY bad show, it isn't the money so much as it is valuable time wasted in Vegas, watching a terrible show.
So, when is the next trip? We are looking at March.
Thanks again for the great trip report and the meet. Very enjoyable!

Wendell - better late than never! It sounds like you and Maxine covered a lot of ground. I've been very curious about Louie Anderson - maybe it's time I go see him. Glad you liked LOVE - I would like to see it again myself. Thank you again for arranging our wonderful meet this year - I think it was the best one yet for me! You and Maxine both look great and I wish the both of you Happy Holidays and much happiness, good luck and good health in the New Year! Mike

I agree with Jeff, it was nice to have something new to read a little ways down the line (this does NOT mean that my brother can wait 10 months for his TR - get with it, Lou!)

Wendell - did you and Maxine find something under your door on Thanksgiving night? David was hoping he had the right room number!

Thanks gang - For Kes: Yes, we did find something under our door and we will definately have it framed - your husband really has talent as well as imagination. Tell him "thanks a bunch"!

Our pleasure, Wendell. David was just concerned that he had slipped it under the wrong door! (wouldn't that have been a surprise for someone else?)