Absinthe, Wine Trains, Shoe Shops and Needles

Vacations frequently change the course of my life. I often end up packing and moving to wherever it is I’ve been for a couple of weeks.

It happened in Malaysia, Italy, Malta and, er, Belgium.

There’ s a ton of other places still on the to-do list: New York, Bangkok, the Mexican riviera, Copenhagen.

So far on this trip, LA has been a “definitely one day soon”. San Diego a “not really”. Phoenix and Vegas a “definitely no” and the Napa Valley falls into the “would happily retire here one day” category.

It looks like Tuscany here. The food and wine are world-beating. The hotel – the River Terrace Inn – had better do long-term rentals, because it’s exactly the type of place I picture myself in twenty years’ time, pottering around on a pushbike and drinking light whites for lunch, and reds for dinner.

Two days ago I woke up in Vegas, pounded the Strip until the sun pounded me, and retired for a haircut.

There’s a boutique at the Mandalay Place that does a shave for $55. Yep. That’s $55 to shave your face.

Worth every penny.

They also cut your hair, but couldn’t do mine in good time (not that I have a particularly difficult pate, but more of a scheduling issue.) It’s on the bucket list, along with Napa Valley.

We went to see Absinthe in the evening.

It was the best show I’ve ever seen, bar none. So good, it’s getting a post of its own somewhere that people will read it.

If you’re in Vegas, or anywhere near Vegas, or even if you’re far away, and want an old-fashioned, edgy, cabaret-style night out that will leave you crying with laughter and talking about what you saw for days, go and see Absinthe.

The meat of the show is nothing you’ve not seen before. But it’s the lazy, faux-drunk circus performances, the proximity to the action, and the startling profanity that leave you walking away with a headache from the intensity of the experience.

Go and see it.

We went to visit Zappos the following morning. Again: so good it’s getting a post of its own somewhere people will read it. It’s a shoe shop. Just a shoe shop. But so much more. If you don’t leave the offices wanting to work there, you’re either a beer-taster or tit-jiggler by trade.

Nine hours to Napa was a long ride. Lauren, thankfully, didn’t make us walk it.

We stopped for lunch ($6.99 all-you-can-eat buffet) at the Gold Strike just west of Vegas. A fucking dump, but full of character. A good place to take your date if your date is a crack-whore, and for that reason, illicitly appealing.

It’s the second casino I’ve seen with syringe disposal units in the restrooms. The first was a casino attached to a gas station on an Indian reserve outside of San Diego.

And then there was Napa Valley.

To be away from the desert heat is a blessing. To have breakfast on the Wine Train a benediction. To sit by the pool and write this post in the sun a boon.

San Francisco tomorrow. Lock up your mothers.