The month of September is nearly over now and I think we finally finished celebrating Bruce's birthday that was on September 8th. I believe he had a total of four celebrations this month. They just kept happening! I guess when you turn 70, that's a big deal, right? We celebrated in a big way this year with a trip to Las Vegas to see the Eagles in concert at the Sphere.
We just returned so it's still fresh in our minds and we can't stop thinking about how spectacular it all was. It's the most amazing venue in the world for a concert. They designed the Sphere so acoustics are absolutely perfect and the visuals are amazing. I wrote about it last year when we saw Postcards from Earth during our trip there. But an actual music concert, and with non other than the Eagles, well…it was phenomenal. I wish I could go again.
There are 167,000 speakers in the sphere that you don't see at all. I don't understand all the technology but apparently the sound comes from acoustic beams that shoot out all over the place so every seat in the house, all 18,000 seats, have a perfect stereo sound.
And the Eagles themselves didn't need to provide any light show or pyrographics like a typical concert. The Sphere's visual experience is so amazing since it's a 360 degree screen that surrounds the whole place. At one point during "Lyin' Eyes", it looked like all the lyrics were falling from the sky.
It was just a solid 2 hours of amazing music and visuals. There are only two of the original band members but they still sounded exactly the same since Glenn Frey's son is now playing with them (and he's also a real look-alike of his dad), plus Vince Gill with his perfect voice and Joe Walsh who really hasn't changed that much - still rockin' and rollin' and he plays a lot of the guitar solos. (He's nearly an original member since he's been with them since 1975.) It was just very nostalgic hearing them again, bringing back a lot of memories of the 70's. They switched up playing different instruments like Don Henley played drums/singing, and then guitar/singing but none of them needed to put on a show or do anything different other than just sing their songs because all their songs are so good and the Sphere provided all the visual entertainment needed. And some songs were so good that the Sphere just showed a simple background without anything spectacular, like during "Tequila Sunrise" and "Take It Easy". I could go on and on...
We mainly went to Vegas to see the Eagles but we also did a few other touristy stuff like go on the High Roller. That is what Vegas calls their gigantic ferris wheel which is the tallest in the world. Here we are in our car that some people took for us that we met standing in line. And then we took their photo, too.
And here we are with the Sphere in the background. This was on Saturday, the day we were going to the concert so we were very excited. We kept hearing about the concert from people who had been Friday night so that just made us anticipate it more.
We arrived Friday night and spent that night eating at our favorite restaurant, Mon Ami Gabi, that I wrote about last time. It is located right on The Strip at the Paris Resort where we stayed so it was easy access. We ate dinner there both Friday and Saturday! People watching is the best here, too, which is entertainment alone.
We had to get their French Onion Soup
and my favorite; their crispy free-range half roasted chicken a la grand-mere with thick-cut bacon, sautéed mushrooms and mashed potatoes with chicken au jus. My mouth started watering the minute we stepped off the plane thinking about going here.
Of course, you can't go wrong with their steak and frites, either. They serve it three ways. The second night I ordered it with classic béarnaise sauce and ate every bite.
I always work up an appetite when in Las Vegas because there is so much walking. I walked between six to ten miles everyday so my meals were justified. The first night we walked across the street to the Bellagio and walked all around the fountains enjoying the music and show. The view from our room inspired us to get out as soon as possible to see everything
It was a lovely evening for our first few hours in Vegas. You're always just a little bit in awe when you first arrive because everything is so magnificent.
We also explored Caesar's Palace while we were in town since I hadn't been there in years. Most of the shops are famous designers or boring chain stores so the shopping wasn't that great but the air conditioning felt good since it was in the 90's while we were there. Not bad for Vegas, but hot for us Seattleites.
We also walked through my favorite hotel, The Venetian, which is how we got to and from the concert.
This time we took an extra look at the gondolas after our wedding anniversary experience: verdict - they are way too small and fake!
Here's a real one we rode on our anniversary:
And since we were there for Bruce's 70th birthday, I had to let him fool around a bit with some sexy girls. They were cops, after all, so I was sure he was in good hands.
Handcuff me, please! These cops loved that it was Bruce's birthday celebration so decided on a few spankings, too. Yep, lots of nice, clean fun in Las Vegas. What can I say? You never know what's around the corner.
Our last day was a pool day since our flight didn't leave until 7:30 pm so we just relaxed and reminisced about it all. We figured this would be the last of nice weather before our long, dark winter in Seattle.
I bought Bruce his favorite carrot cake from our favorite Bakery Nouveau. Of course, I gave Bruce an Eagles t-shirt in anticipation to our Vegas trip.
My sister had another dinner at her house with other family members to celebrate Bruce's big 7-0 the next week which was a really fun time, as usual.
Bruce was feeling pretty special by this time and loving all the cake and presents.
And I should mention that his golf buddies also had a little celebration for him at one friend’s house with a wonderful barbecue and more gifts.
Bruce is such a special guy, what can I say? His birthday was a whole month of celebrations. We are both feeling so fortunate that even though turning 70 seems old, neither one of us have any complaints about getting older. We are both feeling very fit and energetic and enjoying life. I hope we can keep it going a little longer. Happy birthday, Bruce, you youngster!
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