Bob and I had an afternoon of fun and frolics on Sunday, February 11, 2007 during our stay in the beautiful town of Las Vegas, Nevada. Early in the day we had visited Our Gang member Jack Hanlon, (which you may read about here) but before we showed up at his place, we swung by the Palm Valley View Memorial Park to see the gravesite of Redd Foxx of “Sanford and Son” fame. I naturally took the opportunity to pose for the completely inappropriate photo seen below.
This was the big one
After our visit with Jack, we swung by a mobile home complex to see the former home of another silent Our Gang member, JR Smith. This was an especially eerie location to behold, as it was the home where Bob had often visited JR…and it was also the home in which Jay was brutally murdered by some homeless asshole who JR, out of the kindness of his heart, had taken in with intent of helping him get cleaned up and find a job.
JR’s former home
After our morning’s activities, we were finally able to make it to the Sushi Factory all-you-can eat sushi bar. Of all of the wonderful and memorable things that I did during this trip, this is the afternoon that my mind returns to almost daily. It was probably the single best eating experience I have ever had. Bob and I completely and literally engorged ourselves with sushi roll after sushi roll. Baked, deep-fried, raw, covered in cream cheese, avacado, eel sauce, mayonnaise sauce, dynamite, sauteed, unagi, salmon, crab, shrimp, you name it – it still makes my mouth water just thinking about it. If you ever go there, try the “Japanese Pizza” roll! You won’t be sorry. The odd picture of Bob above is him showing off his Japanese ice cream. I also tried sake for the first time and didn’t care for it at all. I didn’t even know it would be hot, or so strong. I stuck to water. Behind Bob, the NFL Pro Bowl was playing, but I was so wrapped up in the sushi, I scarcely noticed.
After lunch, we headed over to the Venetian and browsed some of the shops, gondolas, art displays, and live statues. This was also where we saw the new Las Vegas performance of Phantom. They had condensed the show to a one-act 90 minute version, which, in my opinion, was tighter and more enjoyable than the original version that I had seen in Los Angeles in 1992. All of the performers and the live orchestra were wonderful and the set pieces where spectacular. The falling chandalier occurred right over our heads!
The Phantom of the Opera is here…inside my mind
Bob and I were originally going to enjoy a nice steak dinner at Bally’s, but since we had eaten such a large – and rather late – lunch at the sushi factory, we decided not to waste the dining experience when we were so full. Bob went down to the lobby for some dessert (and a prime rib), while I went up to the room to lay down for a bit. Soon we would be going on our last Vegas adventure – seeing Penn & Teller live…
Our room
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