Sunday in Vegas - Drag Queens and Stingers

Our last full day in Vegas started a little bit late – surprised? Rose headed back before the rest of us went to lunch at RM Seafood (the RM stands for celebrity chef Rick Moonen) in the hotel. The food was really good (my sister got mac ‘n’ cheese that was flavored with jalepeno – she couldn’t eat it, but it sure looked good), but the service was awful. After eating, we went to the Shark Reef for a while (very cool) and then took Mom to the ice bar. I sweet talked the lady there to “upgrade” Mom from a parka to a fur coat, ‘cause Brenda don’t wear no parka. We had two drinks there. I made the mistake of having a stinger for my second drink (I mean, crème de menthe in an ice bar? A match made in heaven, if you ask me!) The bartender was a complete babe, so I had enough liquid courage (and a wedding ring) to go talk to him. I envisioned he and Sue chatting, so I said to him “My friend fancies you.” His name was Alden and he had modeled for Abercrombie and Fitch (with a name like Alden, I think there’s really nothing else you could do.) During this little conversation, Sue beat it out of the bar. Oh well….

Since Vegas is a town where everyone makes at least one bad decision, Sue and I decided to have one more drink before we went upstairs to get ready to go see Jubilee. We went to the Orchid Lounge in the hotel and were waited on by a super sweet bartender named Wayne. He looked like one of the Osmond Brothers and, since there really is a Wayne Osmond, our bartender got a new nickname. We did only have one more drink and got ready to go out. When we got to the theater, Jules and Sue sat down in their seats (down front were the only accessible seats) and Mom, Colleen and I sat up in the cheap seats. Apparently, the show wasn’t sold out, so the ushers came and got us so we could sit with Sue and Jules. And get table service. I wanted a drink, but I got “the look” from Mom and drank water during the show. Sue didn’t. She drank champagne from big old goblets. I had a feeling things weren’t going to end well. Jubilee was everything you would think a big, old school Vegas revue would be. Cheese-o-licious! They had musical numbers depicting Samson and Delilah and, of course, the sinking of the Titanic. Since we were now up front, our tour guide from the day before saw us and we got winked at. For some reason I thought that was so amusing, probably because I’d never seen anyone break character like that before. If you go to Vegas and the show is still running, go see it. It’s so Vegas (and after a while, you really don’t think about the fact that the girls are topless. That’s weird.)

Mom, Sue, Colleen and I all went to dinner afterwards at Stripsteak at our hotel. I don’t think I have ever had French fries as good as the ones I had there. Ever. I also had a killer Kobe beef burger (sorry Anthony Bourdain, I like Kobe burgers!) The best part about dinner was watching Susan try not to look drunk in front of my Mom (even though we’re all grown, there’s just something weird about being tipsy in front of someone’s parents.) She wasn’t doing too well. I was distressed because I had been looking forward to seeing the drag show at Gipsy which featured the gorgeous queen Shannel from “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. I knew Mom and Colleen weren’t going and the way things were looking, Sue wasn’t going to make it either. I was not going back to Florida without seeing the drag show, so I went by myself. God knows I’m no stranger to a gay bar! The cab driver promised me that there would be cabs available outside of the bar when I wanted to leave, so I went in with little trepidation. The show was in progress when I came in and after only a few minutes, Miss Shannel came on stage dressed like Stevie Nicks. I was in heaven! During a break, I met a very nice drag queen from Hawaii named Princess. She was more than happy to talk with me. Her two friends (also drag queens) – not so much. They were downright surly. I went back into the bar to get a ringside seat for the show and two cute boys sat next to me. They were from Odessa, right down the road from my former place of residence, Port Richey (small world!) Don and his partner (I can’t, for the life of me, remember his name) were my best buds for the rest of the night. After the (fabulous) show, I got to meet Shannel, who was gracious and far from the diva she was portrayed as on RuPaul’s show. I even met her mom! As promised, a cab was waiting outside to whisk me back to the Mandalay Bay. It was well worth staying sober for – and a perfect end to a perfect trip. Words just can’t do it justice. I’ll be back soon, Sin City!