What happens in Vegas

They say that what happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas. I spent last week there and I am revealing to you - I did not marry an Elvis and I did not get married by an Elvis (though there were many Elvis' there to select from!)

My sister, her daughter and I went there to celebrate our "decade" birthdays - my sister is 10 years older than me, her daughter 10 years nearly to the day younger than me. We decided several years ago we would get together and celebrate these milestones together. The last time we did, however, was 12 years ago when we reached 30, 40 and 50. We missed the next decade birthday and have decided now that we probably need to celebrate every five years; even though we are aging gracefully we are not as graceful in our steps and if we were to wait eight years to our 50, 60, 70 birthdays, some of us may be in wheelchairs.

Of all places, we chose Las Vegas - the city that never sleeps.

We arrived at 10 p.m. and immediately became a part of the glamour - lasting until 3 a.m.! Not bad for the two of us that when home have been sleeping for hours by that time.

It was totally amazing the number of people out just walking at that time of night amid the lights; there was no trouble and everyone was courteous of each other and friendly (mainly because intoxication had made many of these people happy hours before.)

We were up by 7 a.m. not wanting to miss a single moment of our new surroundings. It was a different crowd but still a crowd already; street cleaners were finishing up their night shifts and even some property owners had sidewalk moppers out sprucing up their areas. It was amazing - the city never had a chance to look dirty.

The lights are awesome, the architecture of the many, many casinos spectacular and the food delicious but it really is the people that makes Las Vegas the most unique city around.

My niece was asked by one fellow if she could cut his hair for him - he had a clippers and another day she was asked by a fellow if she would marry him.

There were many people, unkempt with signs claiming to be homeless. It was difficult to swallow as we and most others in my sight passed them by without a gesture. One sign caught our attention, however, and made us laugh, though sad, "Why lie, I need beer," the sign said.

And then there were all the people out dressed in costume, also trying to make a buck. Besides the Elvis characters - by the way, one of them we saw looked like a chew toy for a dog, the costume was of the same plush material - we saw Whoppi Goldberg, Edward Scissors Hands, Batman, Darth Vader, Marilyn Monroe and even Barney, Sponge Bob and Hello Kitty. At the end of our trip, we saw a gorilla costume for sale in a store - had we seen it earlier, we could have gotten out, taking turns ourselves, to make a few extra dollars.

Gambling was fun; my sister won $150 at one machine, another $50 at another. I doubled my money at one machine as well - I put in a buck at the penny slots and finished with two!

We had a fun time and will look back on the adventure and laugh. And next time? Who knows!