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It doesn't seem very smart to me for a town where everybody is encouraged to drink too much and eat rich food to hide the bathrooms. But they totally do in Vegas. Literally every public bathroom that I have had the misfortune to need has been far away and counterintuitively located. Some bathrooms might be worth the wait, though, such as this one in "Paris."

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For kitsch value and pure awesomeness, Paris' sprawling, indulgent, crazily excessive beauty is hard to top. The picture doesn't do it justice.

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I have questions about this sign. Why are inexperienced strippers a good thing?

I mean, I totally get wanting a hooker her first night on the job. But why first-time strippers?

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Cool!

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This is Fremont Street. It is quite reminiscent of the French Quarter.

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Caesar's is kinda dark, so this may not come out, but they have a cigarette girl. I've never actually seen a cigarette girl before.

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If they ever build a Washingtion DC casino, I hope they name the sports book "the situation room." That would be awesome.

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This is the Flamingo. They have several huge swimming pools and many more hot tubs and don't care if you sneak in. Sucks that it's December.

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Makes sense if you think about it.

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Is this a mediocre piece of art or an awesome laundromat sign? Ill live that to the philosophers...

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They had me at "YES YOU".

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Please advise: Is this couch as cool as we think it is? We are seriously considering buying it. The red looks orangey in the picture but is more of a tomato.

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This is a "Bettor Safe," for those who lack the willpower to buy fur coats. You put a couple of hundred dollars in your pocket, lock your credit cards and extra money in the safe, leave your key in your hotel room, then play. When you win, put the winnings in the safe. When your play money is gone, stop gambling, go to your hotel room, unlock the safe and admire your winnings.

I'm still not gambling, but I admire the person who came up with this.

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We're spending a big chunk of today off-strip. This mural is on the outside of Gambler's General Store.

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The only thing the ChaliceMom knows about Las Vegas is the following story:

Her former boss and his wife took a trip to Las Vegas. They weren't really gamblers. They saw a show, and when they came out, the wife needed to go to the bathroom.

There was a craps table near the ladies' room and the husband put down a few dollars while he was waiting. There was a line at the ladies' room, and by the time the wife came out' my mother's former boss was up $1,000.

So he took the money, he immediately bought his wife a fur coat, and he never even looked at the craps table again.

CC heard this story many times as a child. Her mother still admires the rewards of self control, and fur is still big in Vegas.

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Everything in Vegas seems to take longer than it should. Perhaps this is the snippy Washingtonian in me, but I'm amazed at how long it takes to get seated, particularly when there are dozens of empty tables.

At check-in, we got stuck behind a group of half a dozen young people who had no id, no reservation, no apparent money and didn't seem to speak English. The clerk worked with them for at least half an hour, which is either amazing or terrible customer service, depending on whether or not you're me. Eventually, theCSO got into another line or we might still be there.

When we finally got checked in, we were told we'd been "upgraded," which in MGM Grand parlance means "tranferred to a tiny room with no bathtub." At that point it was something like 2am Virginia time, so I got on the phone and more or less begged to be transferred to a room with a bathtub.

They gave in and stuck us in the "MGM Signature" a business hotel behind the MGM Grand. The Sig is awesome and I would stay here again, though I was kind of taken with the Paris yesterday.

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This is what you see when you're sitting in the Star Trek restaurant and look up. I doubt the picture does it justice. It's really beautiful.

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This is a view of "Paris" from the bus bench in front of the Bellagio where I have momentarily collapsed. I don't recommend walking from NYNY if you're headed to this part of the strip and you've been walking all morning. Caciatto took less time to walk to gay Paree...

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This is the casino at New York, New York. NYNY is a pretty cool place. They have a magic shop that ZombieKid would love.