I think the best tip so far for here (where I happen to live) is to have breakfast/brunch at a buffet, which WILL hold you till dinner. Then check out some of the nicer places for dinner. Even the coffee shops in the hotels are known to have good food. If you have never been to a Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, I always say it is a must see. Going to Taqueria Canonita and watching the gondolas will be a very relaxing time. The "old town" show is Fremont Street experience. But please, do not walk down there at night. Please take a taxi. I haven't been there in a while, but the show has always been entertaining. Oh...and at the RIO, they have Masquerade in the Sky, which is a free show. I understand it has become a little risque since they re-opened it. Have fun while you are here.

I think I'd like to spend two weeks in San Francisco and Sonoma county. I have friends there that I haven't seen for a few years, plus I'd like to visit some of the antique and home decor shops. If teleportation ever becomes a reality, I'd love to visit Australia and New Zealand. I don't care to fly for that many hours, though.

There's a lot of great advice here. I just wanted to share my first thought which is, "Yikes!" Additionally, here's a story/fable I've always loved that you could share with your family about a Mexican fisherman: An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?” The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.” The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?” To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.” “But what then?” Asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!” “Millions – then what?” The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

"O.P. stated in the beginning - as people often do - that they don't want anything poisonous or messy. Which eliminates many items on preceding list, which is full of fruiting plants." Yes, I was aware of that. But that mainstream, fast food, McLandscape mentality of wanting "fast-growing and not messy" plants is also what's helping to drive our current 6th mass extinction of wildlife on this planet - cutting their populations down in HALF over just the last 40 YEARS!!! The situation is EXTREMELY dire now - as we are literally creating a sterile, inert dystopia! And there's no way you can overstate that fact - or ever UNDO it once it's done! "Bird populations across the French countryside have fallen by a third over the last decade and a half, researchers have said. Dozens of species have seen their numbers decline, in some cases by two-thirds, the scientists said in a pair of studies The primary culprit, researchers speculate, is the intensive use of pesticides on vast tracts of monoculture crops, especially wheat and corn. The problem is not that birds are being poisoned, but that the insects on which they depend for food have disappeared. “There are hardly any insects left, that’s the number one problem,” Recent research, he noted, has uncovered similar trends across Europe, estimating that flying insects have declined by 80%, and bird populations has dropped by more than 400m in 30 years. Shrinking woodlands, the absence of the once common practice of letting fields lie fallow and especially rapidly expanding expanses of mono-crops have each played a role." So, given that we have already logged all the old growth native forests and replaced them with suburban lawns...we really need to start stewarding our lawns LIKE old growth native forests now. Because there are basically no old growth forests LEFT. So, we need to think more "old growth" instead of "fast-growing," "productive" instead of "not messy," and to promote more natives and no invasives... I mean, who cares if you're not there in a few years anymore? Leave a sustainable legacy!!! "The population of the U.S., now over 300 million people, has doubled since most of us were kids and continues to grow by 8640 people per day. All of those additional souls, coupled with cheap gas, our love affair with the car, and our quest to own ever larger homes have fueled unprecedented development that continues to sprawl over 2 million additional acres per year (the size of Yellowstone National Park). The Chesapeake Bay watershed has lost 100 acres of forest each day since 1985. We have connected all of our developments with 4 million miles of roads, the paved surface is nearly five times the size of New Jersey. Somewhere along the way we decided to convert most of our living and working spaces into huge expanses of lawn. So far we have planted over 62,500 sq miles, some 40 million acres, in lawn. Each weekend we mow an area 8 times the size of New Jersey to within 1 inch and then congratulate ourselves on a job well done. And it’s not like those little woodlots and “open spaces” we have not paved over or manicured are pristine. Nearly all are second-growth forests that have been thoroughly invaded by alien plants like autumn olive, multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, and Japanese honeysuckle. Over 3400 species of alien plants have invaded 100 million acres of the U.S, and that area is expected to double in the next 5 years. To nature lovers these are horrifying statistics. I stress them so that we can clearly understand the challenge before us. We have turned 54% of the lower 48 states into cities and suburbs, and 41% more into various forms of agriculture. That’s right: we humans have taken 95% of nature and made in unnatural. But does this matter? Are there consequences to turning so much land into the park-like settings humans enjoy? Absolutely, both for biodiversity and for us. Our fellow creatures need food and shelter to survive and reproduce and in too many places we have eliminated both. At least 40% of Delaware’s plant species are rare or extinct, and 41% of its forest birds no longer nest in the state. Over 800 plant and animal species are rare, threatened, or endangered in Pennsylvania and 150 have already disappeared entirely. Many of those that haven’t suffered local extinction are now too rare to perform their role in their ecosystem. These can be considered functionally extinct. The song birds that brighten spring mornings have been in decline since the 1960s, having lost 40% of their numbers so far. Birds that breed in meadows are in even more trouble. Once common species such as the northern bobwhite, eastern meadowlark, field sparrow, and grasshopper sparrow have declined 82%, 72%, 68%, and 65%, respectively, in total numbers, and are completely absent from many areas that used to support healthy populations." Anyhow, yes, the Texas Mountain Laurel is poisonous. However, its seeds are only toxic if cracked open - which is really difficult because of how hard their shells are. Hence: "The beans cause hallucinations at low levels. The beans are also very poisonous if the alkaloids within are released. The same seed coating that protect the seed from drought, however, will allow it to be swallowed and pass through our bodies without harm, in most cases." So, it's not as risky as it sounds - but of course could simply be omitted just to be safe. As could the Eve's Necklace, which is also reputed to have poisonous seeds if ingested. But all the other plants I recommended ARE non-toxic, mostly natives (with a few foreign, but at least not invasive) with high ornamental and/or edible/utilitarian value (i.e. "MESSY"). As this PRODUCTIVITY helps us to make the most of our diminishing resources, for both us and all of our wildlife companions. OK, PSA over. Just addressing a larger issue at hand here, that I think needs to at least be considered every time a homeowner reaches this point of deciding how to landscape their yard? Which I thank Kimberly for even asking! As it may seem inconsequential...but when multiplied by BILLIONS of other people too - is actually of immense, PLANETARY consequence!!!