"make no little plans..."

So, I've been thinking (yes, that IS what that sound was!) - my recent trip to Vegas has left me a little light in the wallet, but fortunately, daydreaming is free! Anyway, I had this idea, and it came to me after a day of wandering the Strip. Aside from the Second City comedy revue, there is nothing Chicago-themed in Vegas. There's Paris, there's Venice, there's Rome. There's a big, freaky circus, and a jungle, and pirate-hookers (whoops, I mean, Sirens). When I was walking around, I was like, well, you know, Chicagoans are hearty and hard-working, and other stuff like that. Not at all Vegasy. But then I got to thinking - Why the hell not? We could be Vegasy if we wanted to - what do all of those other places got that we ain't got (except, perhaps, a better grasp of grammar)? We have a lake! We have Oprah! We have sports teams! We have gangsters and good pizza and lots of great landmarks. When I was taking my gondola ride at the Venetian, my gondolier asked where I was from. When I told her, she, and about 5 of her fellow gondoliers burst into an impromptu rendition of "Chicago (that toddlin' town)" especially for me (it was kind of a slow afternoon.) As I am rather fond of saying - when you say "Chicago" everyone knows what you're talking about. You don't have to name it twice.

So - ladies and gentlemen (and Steve Wynn, if you're listening!) may I proudly present my as-yet-unnamed (but taking suggestions) Chicago-themed Vegas resort! Think of it! A giant ferris wheel out front, a White City themed lobby, and a casino area called "the Midway" - a pool shaped like Lake Michigan, with lovely non-polluted sand beaches, an inside "El train" roller coaster that people could ride, a luxe shopping area called the "Magnificent Mile" and mini-versions of the Sears Tower that people could go up in, the Hancock building, and the Adventures in Babysitting building (you know what I mean!) and the Picasso statue. Our hotel towers would be named after our sports teams (the Cubs wing! the Sox wing!) or our former mayors. We could have a theater with a marquee that look like the iconic Chicago Theater's. We'd have a permanently running Broadway musical in the house (Chicago naturally) And best of all, we'd have restaurants serving the best food in Vegas - Chicago deep dish pizza, hot dogs, an outpost of the Kielbasa King, etc. We could have a Western branch of the Art Institute with glitzed up lions sitting at the entrance, and exhibitions making their way through (who says only the Bellagio can have art?). We'd have to Vegas up the Buckingham Fountain, too - make it bigger, put some flashing colored lights in there, add some music and voila! Instant Vegas attraction. I am loving this!

Oh, it would be great. So who's with me? Oprah? Steve? Anybody?