There are numerous reasons to travel...and plenty of people will espouse the virtues of seeing new places, immersing oneself in different cultures, and altogether having a very deep and meaningful experience. All perfectly valid...but when I knew that I was going to Vegas my first thought was "oh goody, now I can make a pilgrimage to Circus Circus and pay homage to one of the locations from Diamonds Are Forever (aka one of my favorite Bond films)".

Sadly the Circus has...well...deteriorated...a little since 1971. The inherent whimsy of the place has been subdued and it's difficult to not feel a little like a Miss Havisham who ran away to join the circus but was unable to escape the decay which surrounded her.

Regardless of which, I hasten to add, I got a nerdy "I watch too many old movies and definitely need to get a life" kind of thrill from visiting the place. We even made it to the midway...too early for the clowns...and the merry-go-round cocktail bar...but I didn't care...because, tucked in a corner, we found the clown water balloon stand (where Tiffany Case wins the prize thanks to a rigged system).

Mr. Heb and I aimed our weapons...and fired. Unlike Tiffany I lost...twice...but I still got the prize thanks to the chivalry (and generosity) of Mr. Heb. I've named him Mr. Kidd (after one of the henchmen in the movie and to celebrate the kid in all of us).