DLV - My take

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Sarah Charles
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Just a few random comments and observations to add to the mix.

Most simply put, Thank you ALL! To the organizers of the various events,
the participants in my little art tour, the girls that pass so well that
let me walk with them and those that didn't pass well, but were
confident and unself conscious and let me walk along as well, to the
people that were in the city of Las Vegas for those few wonderful days
and to the S.O.s that either went along for the ride or were waiting for
us when we returned home. Thanks.

I heard a few comments from people as we passed near them, most of them
the kind of mindless, off the cuff remark that is easy to brush aside.
It surprised me that the only mean-spirited remark I heard was made by a
drunk young man as we wandered through the Billiago. He went his way
and we went ours, but it did upset one in our group. Most of the time
it was "Ma'am" and "Ladies" and "girls". The three days I was at DLV
were the longest time I've ever stayed en femme.

The confidence I found in every one of the girls I met bolstered me to
the point that on my own I went to the grocery store, gassed and washed
the car, went to the thrift store and tried on a couple of things and
showed up places where I never expected to be, all as Sarah. I'm still
trying to digest the experience, but it is a lot to mull over.

Events;

Soiled Doves - Great time, good company and I even had one of the ladies
at the Chicken Ranch compliment me on my skirt. Good taste too. -- On
to the LVL, yeah, it's low-life, trashy and full of pros, but I'd hate
to miss it. Life, like Las Vegas is a smorgasbord, even the GLBT
community. I guess when it becomes dangerous, then it's time to back
off. My biggest problem is I couldn't talk to anyone when they turned
the sound up.

Star Trek - In the future, I'll only go on these rides with my
grandkids, but I'll go to Quarks Bar just about anytime. I just wonder
why the Klingon didn't talk to us until most of the ladies had left.

HRC - It was very difficult to find a place to park either my car
or my rear-end. I'd never seen quite that many T-girls in one place and
I think the same was true for the HRC folks. It's a shame that to get a
group in a place like that you have to pay more than necessary for the
food, but that's the only way it works.

Goodtimes - Nice casual finish to a full day. If you wanted to listen
to the singers, that was no problem. If you wanted not to, it was easy
to step outside and sip your drink under the stars. It will be nice to
see what they are like when the expansion is complete.

Art Tour - I had as good a group of girls as I could of hoped for. We
started late (my fault) and needed Nora to get us through the last bit
of construction. Once we got to the Museum the gate-keeper (Frau
Blucher) took forever getting us through. The exhibit was great and it
seemed that everyone of the 9 of us found something interesting there.
By the time we were ready to leave, the gate-keeper had found her sense
of humor and was a sweetie. Nice place and very inexpensive. I'll be
happy to volunteer to do another art tour next year.

Lunch with / With out Ginger. Ginger you are a treat, I don't know if
I'm up for 5,000 steps, but I don't intend to miss out on a lunch or two
at your table. All the description of getting to the Sahara buffet is
true, but I never had to stand in line and for the price, it was a fine
feed.

Glamour Boutique - maybe if I go back with money to spend I'll find it
more interesting. I did this year on a shoestring, and that hampered my
potential I think. Thank you Michelle (L.V.) for directing me to their
shop, I'll probably be back one of these days with money to invest in
some of their merchandise.

Limo Tour - What a massive effort to coordinate and what a wonderful job
was done. Yes, it would have been nice to extend it out a while longer
and with one more stop I think we could have been able to enter and exit
the limo like ladies. Practice, practice, practice. Ladies of Limo #2
- Thank you for your companionship and I'll get the photo of you and
our driver to Annie soon. I loved all the folks that wanted to get in
photos with us!! Honestly, it surprised me as much as anything.

Charles bar - Never found it, I wandered off and ended up at that little
bar near the Billiago entrance where a group of girls were doing
"outreach" to a couple of gg's celebrating their shared birthday. It
would be nice if we could get in similar conversations with men, but it
seems we need to pass the information along through the women until the
men are no longer frightened by our existence, the poor dears.

Von's grocery, Terrible's Chevron, the Palace Station, Charleston Outlet
thrift store, LaRues and various other places I went on my own. Never a
problem - Can life really be like this??? Oh My! I did go on. And
there are more stories I need to record before they fade away. But
later. Again, Thanks to all who attended and supported and organized
DLV. It made my world a much better place.

Sarah Charles
Salt Lake City

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(This posting was entered by Sarah Charles, an external user of MyDLV.)