Protests and Knockers -- We Must Be in Vegas!

We have arrived in Vegas. Not without some of the typical travel troubles that plague those of us who haunt the halls of airports with startling regularity, but we’re here at last. Along with all the dressage and show jumping riders and all the fans that will gather over the next four days to watch them go head to head in the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals.

And we’re staying at Hooters.  Yep, you read that right, Hooters Casino and Hotel. Hey, it was cheap and close to the Thomas & Mack Arena. How could we go wrong? As it turns out, Hooters is actually a pretty nice little establishment. We don’t think we’ll ever beat the nudist hotel we stayed in for the 2006 World Equestrian Games in a small town in Germany. But Hooters made us laugh when we booked it. And it’s already provided us with plentiful entertainment.

Our “Do Not Disturb” sign reads “No Knockers.” No joke. And the remote control for the television is cased in a cardboard sleeve advertising the all-male stripper revue appearing nightly downstairs. Of course, there are the de rigueur cocktail waitresses roaming the premises in the skimpy orange shorts, pantyhose and slouch socks. We remarked that their outfits were actually less revealing than those of cocktail waitresses in other casinos on the strip.

When the lovely JetBlue baggage employee (you might think I’m being sarcastic terming an airline employee lovely, but she really was more than pleasant) asked me where she could ship my bag that didn’t arrive with me, she snickered right along with us when I replied “Hooters!”

We traveled back to the airport to pick up our partner in crime, photographer Amy Dragoo, and on the way from there to the Thomas & Mack Arena, we went on an impromptu tour of the “local” side of Vegas. The area where Office Depot and Applebee’s line the streets instead of dueling pirate ships.

And we ran smack into a crowd of enthusiastic protesters. It’s April 15th, remember? Some Vegas citizens have an extreme aversion to paying taxes, it seems. We were highly amused by the man in a giant pink pig costume gesticulating with the sign “No More Pork!” Police directed traffic around the crowds, horns honked wildly, and professional photographer Amy Dragoo snapped photos with her iPhone. You do what you have to do to document the moment!

But we’re finally all settled into our tropical-themed room and ready to take on the weekend. All the action starts tomorrow with the dressage Grand Prix and the show jumping speed leg. We’ll be there to document all the action for you!