Hello Rat Packs, and welcome to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada, where the fun never ends, as long as you have a couple of bucks in your pocket and a can of black beans nearby to bring you luck. Yes, it's the city made famous by Frank, Dean-o, and Sammy, and of course some guy named Elvis, but there's more to Las Vegas than slots, 99-cent buffets, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigators. Spanish for "The Meadows", Las Vegas has grown at an enormous rate over the past few years, and now boasts close to 485,000 residents within the city limits and 1.4 million in the general area, but it's the out of towners who really bring the oomph to Vegas. Upwards of 37 million people a year come to town for business and/or fun, and with more than 125,000 hotel rooms are waiting for them, you'll find more places to take a nap here than anywhere else. Of course, the beans don't have time for something as trivial as sleep, so let's moving!

Everyone knows that if you're in the desert and you wanna look cool while cruising the Las Vegas Strip, could there possibly be any better way than by riding around in one of these babies? The beans don't think so, unless perhaps this classic car was hot pink... But still, beggar beans can't be choosy, so let's hit the road and what there is to find in town!

Our first stop on the tour is here at the Bellagio Hotel and Resort, which sports the coolest water show you'll find anywhere. The fountains span 1,000 feet of water and soar as high as 240 feet in the air, and are synchronized with music, with everything from classical to the how-appropriate "Singin' in the Rain". The Bellagio also has 3,000 guest rooms, a 116,000 square foot casino, a 1,800 seat showroom where you can check out "O", the Cirque du Soliel show, a spa, and 16 restaurants, including Le Cirque. The beans had a great time in front of the Bellagio fountains, but since they had just seen "Oceans 11", they were a little sad that they didn't meet up with George or Brad out front, but they quickly got over it when they saw a woman who looked like Julia...

Up next, the beans check out the Mandalay Bay Resort, which has 3,309 rooms, 14 restaurants, and a 1.5 million gallon saltwater aquarium, which hosts more than 1,200 different species, including 16 different species of sharks, tropical and fresh water fish, reptiles, marine invertebrates and rays. (None of which have to worry about those 14 restaurants...) The Mandalay Bay is also where you're likely to find the beans on a Saturday night, watching their favorite sport, World Championship Boxing. A lot of the really big fights (De La Hoya, Trinidad, Lewis) take place here, and ringside seats can run you a couple of grand apiece, unless you've got friends in the right places, like the beans do... Of course, in exchange for their tickets the beans have to occasionally hang out with Don King, but for good seats the beans are willing to do whatever it takes.

Just down the road you'll also find the legendary MGM-Grand Hotel, which packs in 5,005 rooms, a recreation of the Studio 54 nightclub, and an actual honest-to-goodness lion habitat, which is home to several of the big cats. (Just make sure you pay your bill on time; otherwise you might see to see them up close...) As you can see, during the bean's visit comedian-turned-TV-Star-turned-comedian Howie Mandel was performing. The beans thought it would be fun to go see Howie, but they had a hard time blowing up a surgical glove and fitting it over their top, so instead they went to see EFX instead, which stars Rick Springfield. The beans thought this was twice as cool, especially once they found out that they got to sit next to Jesse's girl...

I don't know about you, but let me tell ya - the beans are in love. Our eternal thanks go out to this beautiful showgirl for bringing a smile to a lucky can's label... :)

Since they were already in the casino, the beans decided to try their luck at one of the many games of chance. And although they're much better at 21 than they are at the slots (the beans are a wiz at counting cards), our frijoles were able to walk away with a large tub of dollar tokens, which they promptly blew on some really cool sunglasses and a pair of fuzzy dice for the convertible.

Now, there are several reasons why Las Vegas is known as "Sin City", and the beans are checking out two of them right now... But being the well-behaved vegetables that they are, the beans resisted the urge to pick up one of these catalogs/magazines. Still, the beans do appreciate the cleanliness of these fabulous college girls -- just look at all those bubbles!

And since beans are always appropriate for dining around the chuckwagon, our frijole friends had to stop by this wagon wheel. Although they weren't able to gamble while here, they did get to recreate one of their favorite scenes from "Blazing Saddles". (And if you don't know which one we're talking about, well shame on you...)

Finally, the beans stopped off to check out all of New York City - in just one city block! (And you thought Manhattan was packed in tight!) Yes, here's the New York, New York Hotel and Casino, which captures the flavor and color of the Big Apple, only without the smell of garbage in the streets. The NY-NY Hotel has just over 2,000 hotel rooms, a roller coaster, 10 specialty restaurants (including Nathan's Coney Island hot dogs), and amazing facades of actual NYC buildings. The beans had a great time in Vegas, and can't wait to go back. only next time, let's all make sure that they don't put the entire nest egg on number 22...