Yesterday Mom, Pop and uncle Bob went to Navy Pier to view the "Tall Ships" It was a great day with temps in the 70s with a nice breeze off the lake. Not only did we view the ships but were able to get on many of them. A great thrill for this old man with a nautical ancestry. After the ships we took the buss to Millennium Park as Bob had never been there. He was pretty impressed with "Cloud Gate" (the bean) From there we walked past the Art Institute Gardens all the way to the Parthenon restaurant for dinner. Then on the Metra train to Naperville were we fell in a heap from exhaustion.

Las Vegas

We had a wonderful time in Vegas. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures. In order to skip the hassle of checking a bag, we packed as conservatively as possible and had to leave the camera behind.

We arrived at our hotel, The Flamingo, before check in, so we dropped off our bags and did some sightseeing on the strip. The hotels were beautiful and extravagant. That night we were treated to the sensual side of the Cirque du Soleil at a performance of Zumanity. It was spectacular.

On Monday while poor DJ, sat through a training class, I was shuttled to nearby Bootleg Canyon, where some very nice young men showed me and a few other tourists how to zipline across a canyon. Actually it was called flighline and is easier than ziplines. The instruction took all of five minutes, including getting into the gear. We then were taken into the canyon to the first runs. There were a total of four lines strung from platform to platform over the canyon. One guide hooked us up to the line and we flew down to the end where another guide unhooked us and hooked us up to the next line. The trick is to get to the end of the line. The heavier you are the faster you get to the end. The views were magnificent and I had plenty of time to admire them as I hovered above waiting for someone to pull me to the end. Twice I got stuck midway down the run. It was exhilerating. If you want to see a video and get a better explanation, go to www.bcflightlines.com.

That night we saw Penn and Teller. They put on a mindblowing show. It ended in time for us to check out some of the free shows outside the hotels. I played it much safer on Tuesday while DJ attended his conference. I did some sightseeing at the hotels and the incredibly expensive shops. I discovered the beautiful photography of Peter Lik, if we ever win the lottery , I'm going to build a house just to have a place to display and view his work. Then I'm going to visit all the places in the photos. He had some awesome shots of a volcano erupting in Hawaii. After DJ got back, we grabbed dinner and partied the night away at a nightclub.

The economy being the way it is, I decided I need some marketable skill in case DJ should lose his job. So on Wednesday, I enrolled in a stripper 101 class. Amazingly I passed, even more amazing the 70 year old attending also passed. I now know the basics of poledancing, a skill I was able to put into practice that evening at a party thrown by one of the conference vendors. Not to worry, I kept my clothers on. The next few days and nights were fairly tame. We toured the downtown area of Las Vegas on Thursday night and had dinner with one of DJ's co workers on Friday night. The restaurant is run by Bobby Flay, who has a few shows on FoodNetwork. We had a wonderful seafood dinner on Saturday, thanks to a gift card from Peggy and Don.

We dragged ourselves out of bed Sunday morning as most people were dragging theirs into bed. I spent Sunday touring the Las Vegas, Denver, Des Moines and Ohare airports. DJ spent the morning at the Las Vegas airport waiting for his flight. It was a fun trip. When I can set the kids down for five minutes, they will tell of their fun. I know they had fun because both eagerly asked if we would be doing this again next year.