So far, it looks like Las Vegas is the perfect city to host this year’s Super Bowl. The hotels have pulled out all the stops! For example, the beloved Fountains of Bellagio, directly on the Strip, has been transformed into the Super Bowl broadcast studio for CBS. On February 5, the first of more than 100 hours of programming began from the location, with celebrities, sports figures, and popular CBS reporters all in one place. Other hotels are hosting pre game events. And, there’s enough swag merchandise for everyone!

There are several Bud Light product locations near the Rotunda area at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. In spite of the 2023 boycott of the brand, (after featuring a Transgender woman promoting Bud Light), the beer company is now in Las Vegas offering free tee shirts, ball caps, and miniature footballs, for anyone willing to to take them. People love swag! Plus, for those unable to get tickets to the game, Bud Light’s Super Bowl LVIII merch is as close as some people will get to the big event.

Along with swag, Las Vegas is offering up free food. What better way to introduce your products to a new audience than giving it away for free, in Las Vegas, during the lead up to the Super Bowl! I spotted an orange van, handing out free salads, and went for it. Along with the salad, they offered me a free sticker! I immediately put it on. Later, I uploaded photos to my Instagram account and gave the company a shout out! They replied back with their thanks.

I’ve seen U2 performed twice, once in Minneapolis, in the early 1990s, and the other time, a few years later, in Los Angeles. With the lowest price set at $142.00, to see them perform, at Sphere (the new music and entertainment arena in Las Vegas) a third time was not happening. It’s just as well. I wonder if the cheap seats, over Super Bowl weekend, increased even more. Still, how cool would that have been, to attend both the Super Bowl and U2, in Las Vegas.

Speaking of U2, their video “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” was filmed on Fremont Street, after a concert held in Vegas, back in 1987. Today, Fremont Street has been turned into the Fremont Street Experience. There are hotels, casinos, restaurants, and free live entertainment venues. I took the bus, from the Strip to downtown. The Deuce runs from the South Transit Terminal all the way to Fremont Street.

The upper desk of the bus is great for picture taking. With so many new hotels on the Strip, seeing an old one, like Circus Circus, seemed so odd. The hotel opened back in 1968! When I arrived in Las Vegas, in 1974, there were open spaces and local strip malls between the major hotels, One of the last areas (mid strip) has now been demolished. There was a great soul food restaurant, next to a fish pedicure salon. I really miss that fried okra!

A week in Las Vegas might seem like a long time, but this was also a work trip (of sorts)! My good friends Dale and Paula McKenzie, from the Las Vegas Inside and Out YouTube channel, asked if they could interview me. I jumped at the chance to finally meet them. I began following their channel back when I was serving with AmeriCorps in Sitka, Alaska. Paula has a separate cooking show, Paula’s Kitchen, also on YouTube. She often shows off cookbooks and aprons, sent by followers. I mailed her an apron, from KCAW Radio. She wore it on an episodes.

After that, they sent some Vegas Inside and Out swag and I took it with me on my 2023 trip around the world. I would often take a picture, in Southeast Asia or while walking the Camino de Santiago, with something they’d sent. Meeting them was unreal. Paula picked me up at the Tropicana Hotel. Dale performed there, back in the day. I traveled from Detroit to Vegas, by bus, to see The Osmonds perform, at the Tropicana, back in 1974. Once at their home, we made fast work of the interview and then went to a local spot for lunch.

I’ll be sure to post a link to the interview, once it’s done. I’m so happy that I made this most recent Vegas adventure. Saying goodbye to the Tropicana (it’s set for demolition in April) and hello to Dale and Paula was the perfect way to spend my 50th Las Vegas anniversary celebration! XOXO—GGT