Las Vegas

"A bloody nose, empty pockets, a rented car with a trunk full of guns
It ain't true that the sun don't rise in Vegas,
I've seen it once"

Checkout Time In Vegas by Drive-By Truckers

Okay, so there was no bloody nose involved or guns. Almost on the bloody nose, but that was purely dryness-induced from spending three full days at Interbike's Outdoor Demo in hot and windy Boulder City from Sunday through Tuesday.

But overall the show and experience were very good - not great like Eurobike, but much better than any previous Interbike with my last employer. And with this being my thirteenth trip to Interbike, there are very few surprises anymore. Because of that, I didn't really go out of my way to do much in the way of exploring or shooting photos of anything other than bicycles and bicycle accessories.

"Ooh, Las Vegas, ain't no place for a poor boy like me
Ooh, Las Vegas, ain't no place for a poor boy like me
Every time I hit your crystal city
You know you're gonna make a wreck out of me"

-Ooh, Las Vegas by Graham Parsons

Cool Vegas find - Bauman Rare Books

Most of you know that I loath pretty much everything associated with Las Vegas and am always looking forward to returning home. However, one bright spot this year was discovering Bauman Rare Books on the walk back to my room at the fancy-pants hotel casino where I stayed during my trip to Interbike.

Bauman Rare Books is located in the Shoppppeeeseses at the Palazzo. Most of their neighbors are selling hyper-expensive jewelery or evening wear. This place had infinitely more soul.

Check out a few of my favorite finds below, click on the image to blow it up so that you can read the card that explains why the particular book is so valuable.

First edition of first cookbook printed in Mexico, $8000
I wonder if there are reicipies for Volcano Tacos and Cinnamon Crispas?

Walt Whitman, Leaves Of Grass (1855), limited first edition, one of 795 copies, $175,000

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender Is The Night (1934), signed first edition, $70,000
I liked this one for the dust jacket artwork, it'd make a great poster.

And a couple for the kids:

Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (1963), signed first edition w/ small sketch of "wild thing", $28,000

Charles Schultz, Happiness Is A Warm Puppy (1962), first edition, $1,500

The staff was very accomodating and was opening the display cases so that some of my coworkers could leaf through the rare books. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to offer next year.

On my way home

I'm about ten minutes from experiencing my favorite part of being in Las Vegas - when I click my seatbelt for the flight back home.

Nice that The flight from here to San Diego is now only 75 min or so, too bad it's on US Scareways. Blech, what a wretched airline.

Had a fantastic Interbike, the bike industry has a lot of very, very good people in it.

And pleasant to find free WiFi at the airport here.