Viva!

I've come back from Las Vegas with a couple of items off my "bucket list." I rode the roller coaster at New York, New York, crossed the Colorado River via Hoover Dam, and saw my first Vegas style stage show.

Las Vegas might not seem like the first choice for a family vacation, but I'm practicing not caring what people think and we all had a great time. Both boys didn't want to come home.

I got a good chance to practice not caring what people think while we cheered for our Colorado Avalanche amidst a sea of L.A. Kings fans at "Frozen Fury," an NHL pre-season game which we had organized our trip around. I was a little worried my lippy husband would get clocked by a beefy drunk guy in a Kopitar jersey, but we left the MGM Grand with only our pride bruised. We lost 2-3.

The worst part of any roller coaster is the initial "climb" - that slow eeking your way up the first hill that will then plunge you screaming into the whirlwind ride. Its during that slow climb that your fears assault you, when you realize that you could start screaming, crying, barfing or wetting your pants and nobody would stop the train for you. The only thing to do is hang on.  I closed my eyes for that part but kept them open for the corkscrew and the loop. It helped that my 13 year old was next to me screaming for joy and laughing at the top of his lungs. My 10 year old, on the other hand, in the seat behind me (with his dad) proudly survived his first big roller coaster ride but didn't particularly enjoy the experience.

View from the ventilation grate.

Me peeking out the grate

Its funny that I've never noticed the beautiful desert and rock formations that surround Vegas, but we got an eyefull of them when we drove to Hoover Dam.  We took the "big" tour and got to climb through a ventilation tunnel and peek out the grate in the middle of the dam. I always thought of Hoover as such a source of hydroelectric power, so was surprised to learn that electricity is really just a by product of the dam's original and main purpose which is water control.  There would be no Vegas, no agriculture, no nothin' but bare dirt and rock out there if they hadn't built the dam to control the water flow.

Aphrodite

We walked and walked and walked - the kids loved the other-worldliness of some of the resorts like the Venetion and the Paris - Bailey's fave was the Mirage with its indoor jungle oasis, while Gav loved the Luxor and its hieroglyphics that covered every square inch. My introduction to the divine fem happened since the last time I visited, so I re-fell in love with Caesars and all the statues of caryatids and goddesses. I almost jumped out of my skin when I found Aphrodite holding the apple of discord and a huge lone statue of the mother earth harvest goddess, Demeter.

Demeter

It was interesting being there with a new perspective on femininity and pleasure as a power tool, and especially woman's connection between the physical body and the divine. A lot of the time I walked around not being sure how I felt about stuff, but noting with interest that I was conscious of this - which must mean how I felt about it had changed.

For one thing, I was very aware that I had moved outside of the limitations of the Virgin & Whore archetypes. That women being very aware and comfortable with their bodies and their sexual power did not necessarily make them harlots, nor did it mean they had given their power away. In fact, sometimes I wondered if they were not more spiritually aware than I have been most of my life, simply by virtue of the fact that they are tuned into their own bodies. On the other hand, I wondered where that fine line is that some of them may have crossed. Where they are so identified with their bodies and their sexuality that they do not know who they truly are. Back and forth I went - mostly finding my internal wonderings to be the most interesting conversations I've had with my Self in a long time.

All of this leads up to our final night in Vegas where we secured the boys in the hotel room with the WWE on TV and went to see "Fantasy" the sexy house show at the Luxor. I don't think those women were power-less. They were actually very talented singers and dancers, gymnasts and athletes - but, like the ancient Greeks, they performed naked. Well, mostly.  And, yes there were men in the audience leering at them and having fantasies about them - but I honestly think those women were happy in their chosen profession. They were getting to do what they love - and nobody was making them do it or abusing them. Their job alternatives probably went from the yucky kind of strip bars downtown or Burger King. They chose what makes the most sense to them.

Well, the bright lights are behind us and we're back home. I'm off tonight to my first GirlfriendCircles.com Connecting Circle. Vacations are easy - real life is when commitment to Pleasure takes discipline and consistency. As the knights at Excalibur's Tournament of Kings would say, "Huzzah!"

Keep pouring in the Red.

In Grace,

Kell