Monday, March 26th, 2007(Please click on photos for enlargements)
Our remaining friends have now left and it is only my wife and I and the neon to keep us company. Wondering if I’ve pressed my luck too far, we decide to simply take the remainder of the afternoon and visit the WPPI tradeshow stretching through Paris & Bally’s. There was so much to see and not enough time to visit every booth. We arrived at 2pm and thought the show closed at 5:30. Unfortunately it closed at 4:30pm and due to a long line forming at the check-in/registration stations, we were only able to walk through the convention for less than an hour and a half. There were so many insightful products, knowledgeable vendors and awe-inspiring displays that I simply couldn’t see everything I’d hoped to squeeze in during one afternoon.
We returned to the hotel in time for dinner – a reenergizing Asian cuisine that filled us up with needed nutrients. One more time past the craps, blackjack and roulette tables before attempting one last gamble: Extending our stay a few more days in hopes of catching more of the tradeshow and subsequent lecturing photographers in town. Unfortunately it would’ve cost nearly twice the amount of our original vacation package price to extend our adventures a mere two more days so we decided to pack our bags and head to bed before returning the car early in the morning and catching an early afternoon flight back to the Windy City.
Ironically, Tuesday’s weather in Las Vegas was the coldest of our 7 day stay with highs in the low 60’s. Chicago - which had been experiencing record setting high 70’s while we were away - was now dipping back down into the mid 50’s again. It was certainly a sign this vacation had come to an end.
Counting our chips and looking at all the photos I captured over the past week, I am thankful for every minute of our stay. What an astounding way to pass from the playful, naïve days of my 20’s to the knowingly evolving, self-aware and hopefully more mature years ahead in my 30’s.
In his later years Pablo Picasso was not allowed to roam an art gallery unattended because he had previously been discovered in the act of trying to improve on one of his old masterpieces. This reminds me that no matter how old you get, you always keep trying to improve. "Experience" is simply the name we often give our mistakes. And age is something that doesn't matter - unless you are a cheese.
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