Pinball Hall of Fame: Part 2

This is a continuation of my photo set from the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, featuring Captain Fantastic (AKA Elton John) from the 1975 movie, Tommy.  If you're not familiar, allow me to direct you to the Pinball Wizard.  This video explains all. 

Benny's Bullpen at Binion's

It was during our time downtown on Fremont Street that I had a request to visit a place that accidentally became meaningful on my last trip to Las Vegas in 2010.  Located at the back of Binion's Casino is Benny's Bullpen.  It's a quiet and relatively tame place compared to a lot of the other hangouts close by, but it was here that my friend Dave and I had drinks and a bite to eat during our night in Vegas on our second road trip down to Indio, California.

Since Dave passed away last year it's been easy to find symbolism in random things, but when I entered the bar and saw the same lounge chairs and table empty, almost exactly as we'd left them a few years before, it kind of struck a chord.  The image I snapped of Dave here was the one I used at the top of my Remembering Dave post immediately after he passed.  It was like nothing had changed in the entire bar.  Sitting in the same place and glancing at that empty chair brought back a flood of memories, and I was happy that Mike and Erin were there to renew the experience with me.

It ended up being one of the few breaks on the trip where we didn't talk about the trip. Instead we shared a few stories and mused about our ambitions.  We talked about things we still wanted to do, and about everything that's changed since we said goodbye to Dave.  It was relaxed and familiar, and in a comforting way it made me feel closer to Dave than I had since his funeral. 

The shot I took of Dave in 2010.

This is a brief photo montage of the first part of my trip with Dave in 2010.

Bellagio Fountain Montage 2012

Staying at the Vdara, we were never more than a couple of minutes away from the Bellagio fountains.  I must have watched about ten different fountain shows over the course of the week, and probably would've seen more if there wasn't so much else going on.  The fountains are still a huge draw for crowds along the strip, and it's easy to see why.  I compiled a few minutes of my best footage from the various shows throughout the week and ended up with this.