Start Off the New Year with The King's Ransom

As you know I try as much as I can to let folks know about interesting places, people, and attractions across the land.

Over the years, this blog has spoken about such places as the SPAM Museum, the National Mustard Museum, Prairie Dog Town, Bryce Canyon, Hash House A Go-Go, Big Elvis, and many others.

Well the time has come to let you know that Elvis has entered the building! Not Big Elvis (though I still recommend his show at Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon), but rather THE Elvis. You can now check out a wide assortment of Elvis Presley's personal treasures & items at Las Vegas' Imperial Palace at the newly opened exhibit, "The King's Ransom".

April and I were there to check it out yesterday and absolutely loved it. Of course, we're always into such exhibits, but this one really had some rare and amazing artifacts, all personal items from The King of Rock n' Roll. Moreover, seeing it through the eyes of my friend, and occasional boss (he's a booking agent in town), Paul Sanders of Las Vegas Talent, the place took on a whole different meaning.

Paul was on hand to give us a tour and he really has put his own heart and soul into this project. It was not just the personal items from Elvis that made it special, but seeing the dedication and effort on the part of Paul (and so many others) to make this new attraction find a home in Las Vegas is quite remarkable.

Elvis will always be associated with Vegas. Now, The King has returned and found a home at a Palace, no less. I can strongly recommend" The King's Ransom" as a worthy distraction from your drinking & gambling duties when traveling to Las Vegas.

Some info for you...

Address: 3535 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Pricing: $10 admission (Keep your eyes out for Two-for-One coupons. At either price it is a BARGAIN for an attraction on the Strip!)
Phone: 1-888-777-7664
Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
How To Get There:
Las Vegas Boulevard between Flamingo Road and Desert Inn. Across from Caesars (Next to Harrah's).
Parking: Valet and self-paring garage

Also at Imperial Palace...

The NEW Strip location for Hash House A Go Go
The Auto Collections
Embers (our FAVORITE steak house in Las Vegas!)

Vegas Fun - FOOD!

This recent vacation to Las Vegas was different for us because we kind of knew that it would be part vacation/part relocation research. Once we saw the house w knew that we didn't have to rush to see everything, didn't have to get sad when we left, didn't have to wonder when we'd be able to return. We knew we'd be back in a few weeks and that made everything better somehow.

That being said we did have some fun on the agenda and we did do some serious partying, especially when my brother, Matt, arrived a few days after we landed. Matt got to join us on our trip last yea and he had so much fun he wanted to head back for more. This time around we returned to some of our favorite haunts, especially if food was involved.

Makino, for their fantastic all-you-care-to-eat sushi buffet was on the list, only this time we went to a location at a downtown mall. We were told of this place by one of the locals years back and our sushi-loving hearts are forever in the debt of the waitress at the Four Queens for doing so.

Hash House A Go Go was where we enjoyed our first real meal on this trip. To be exact, this was where we enjoyed our Easter Breakfast. The staff knew about our apartment disaster as we ended up chatting with them about it a bit when they called us to change our reservation. They were looking forward to meeting us because not only were they sympathetic to our plight, they were so happy to meet the folks who lost everything, came to Vegas and went to their restaurant to make it all better. Many of the staffers here also provides some great information about living in local Las Vegas and that made us feel much better. That was where we ended up enjoying lunch after making the trip to see what would be our new home as well. DAMN GOOD FOOD!

Why should anyone from Chicago, the home of some of the best food ANYWHERE, be so happy to be relocating to Las Vegas? One word - FATBURGER!

Did somebody say, "buffet?" Hell yeah! Matt and April both wanted to once again enjoy the bountiful culinary treasures found at the mighty Wynn Buffet. Who was I to argue? My wife has been talking about that food for a year and Matt was certain to put it on his list as well. It is expensive, but SO worth it you don't even notice the money missing from your wallet. We ended up eating there once for lunch and once for dinner. Come on, people...Kobe beef meatballs in your pasta! Plus, there's a great chocolate shop in the mall there and you can always enjoy taking a trip to the Spamalot gift shop so there's no real reason not to go. Highly recommended!

We had some killer Italian food at one of the local favorites, Nora's. GODDAMN that's some great food. A wonderful, intimate setting, truly delicious Italian food prepared by folks who know what the hell they're doing, and aromas designed to make you HUNGRY make this a must if you are in Vegas. It is not anywhere near the strip or downtown so thankfully, many of the tourists never make it there. Sadly, that was where I started having some of my intestinal problems, but I was in a full-on panic mode for a spell and the nerves did a number on me. I was just starting to have some of that, "Oh my GOD, I'm pulling up 37-year roots and changing EVERYTHING! How do I pay for all this?" kind of initial panic and it really kicked my ass. None of that affected my enjoyment of the food, mind you and I am more than ready to go make a stop there again.

Of course we took some time to drink and the Rum Jungle and visit Greg. I also enjoyed a gigantic plastic football filled with frozen alcoholic beverage while downtown. It was discussed on an episode of Podcrapular awhile back.

Speaking of which, take a listen to the latest, Andy-free episode of Podcrapular. One day I'll return to the show, but I have no idea when this will happen. Until then Josh & Golfwidow keep the fire burning.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's OK. I'll remember more of the great places I've eaten when I'm here permanently...eating there often!

Greetings From Southern Illinois

Yeah, I'm a big time star. Last week, Las Vegas. This week, Mascoutah, Illinois. Ahh the glamorous life!

Sunday found me working for long-time friends and employers, the Reynolds family in Mascoutah. Circus stuff, fun for all ages, etc. Good people to work for and a fun time is expected for the week.

The Reynolds gave me one of my first "real" bookings many years back and I'm proud to say that my career started, peaked, and ENDED with their show. ;) It is also worth mentioning that most all of my circus stories worth writing about have occurred when performing with these folks. So if you're reading A Clown in Kentucky, Pass the Soap, Wilbur, most all of my Kentucky stories, and others you can be fairly sure those stories happened on this show.

Among the highlights of yesterday's travels and the show was a hand-colored picture given to me by a young circus fan named Rebecca. I think this was her first circus adventure and she couldn't wait to give her present to me. Very cool. I'll post a scan of it when I get back home, along with scans from VEGAS!

Currently I'm sitting in a library in Mt. Vernon, IL and will be off to the booming metropolis of West Frankfort, IL for a 7:00 PM show. I am not heading to the booming metropolis of Metropolis, IL this trip, which is too bad. That's a fun little town obsessed with Superman!

Ah well, that's all for now. Many thanks again to my most talented guest bloggers. I'm going ton spend the remainder of my time here at the library leaving comments on last week's posts. I've got no scale here so I've no idea what I weigh this week. I'm probably a bit fatter after a week in Las Vegas. The trip started out at Hash house a Go-Go, so you can imagine what my waist line looks like now!