There Is More To Vegas Than Casinos

Okey-dokey.  We're in Vegas, for better or worse.  Got a deal at Palm's Place Resort, I go in to register, and they won't let me.  Reservations were made in John's name - gotta be John.  Back out to the car, he grabs his camera bag and overnight suitcase and goes in while I park the car.  He's done and waiting for me when I walk through the door.  Up to the 12th floor and we walk into our huge room.  A little worn, but nice.  The monster flat-screen TV's have a personalized welcome for John. (They could have made it a bit more personal by saying "Welcome, John Watts..." but John liked it.)

There are in fact TWO huge flat screens practically side by side.  One is for watching from the sofa, the other is for watching from bed.  Oh, and there's one in the bathroom, too, for watching from the Jacuzzi tub.

There's a full stainless steel kitchen, but we're only going to be there one night, so no cooking going on.  The view of The Strip is pretty good. 

The sun is setting, so I ask Granpa to take some pictures from the balcony before it gets dark. Lookin', lookin', lookin'. The camera bag is NOT in the room.  We both know that he had it on his shoulder when he went in to register.  Obviously he left it in the lobby where he was sitting waiting for me.  He's sick with misery!  While he goes down to the lobby to ask if the camera was turned in by some good Samaritan, I spend some private time musing on how much I don't like Las Vegas. (But, of course, it was our fault, not Vegas's.)  This actually makes us even - I left a camera bag on the plane the last time we came home from Hawai'i.  He didn't fuss at me then, no need for me to fuss at Granpa now.  Besides, he's mad enough at himself.

He's not any happier when he comes back, so I know instantly there was no camera turned in.  No worries I say.  It's okay.  We have the old Olympus and both cell phones, too.  But he's not a happy camper.

I give him time to settle his stomach and deal with the misery, and then suggest we go on out to eat. We find a really nice Chinese restaurant with super nice staff and great food.  That helped to settle Granpa down, but now he's got the same gut instinct about Vegas that I had.  The people may be great, but the vibes are not so good.

When we check out, I ask about the camera again.  The desk clerk off-handedly said that we could get on the hotel website and register with their lost-and-found.  If it's located they will ship it to us. That wasn't the most encouraging conversation, but I did exactly that when we got back to Kingman. 

Almost two weeks went by without a response.  We bit the bullet and ordered another camera.  I managed to get Granpa to upgrade from the lost Nikon -- but he would only order a refurb.  It took a week to receive the new one, and Granpa was walking around feeling naked without his camera.

The day the new Nikon was delivered ... the old, lost Nikon was also delivered to us.  We are now the proud owners of TWO Nikons (so I guess I get the old one??)