While I prefer to sit on the beach in Maui with a cold drink in one hand and a good book in the other, she would rather brave the Pacific in full snorkel gear in pursuit of colorful fish.

While I prefer to sit on a deck overlooking Lake Tahoe with a hot cup of coffee and a local newspaper, she's checking out the maps to discover the best hiking trails.

And while I prefer to sit by the pool in Coronado with a cold drink and a magazine, she wants to browse the shops in the Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego.

So how do we solve this vacation crisis we run into everywhere we go? It's simple, really. We do what most married couples do--we compromise. And that generally means we do what she wants to do.

Such was the case when we took an after-Christmas trip to Las Vegas for a few days. It was my first trip to Sin City, so I wanted to see the sights. But I also was hoping for a little R&R after a busy few months at work and a hectic holiday season. Natalie had been to Vegas a number of times through the years, so there was plenty she wanted to show me.

"Let's see, now we need to see New York New York, and you can't miss Treasure Island," she said. "And the Bellagio is beautiful this time of year."

"That's great, but when do we get a chance to relax?" I asked.

"Oh, and we've got to see the MGM Grand and Excalibur, and there's the Luxor and the Aladdin," she added.

"Great, but will we get a chance to relax?" I asked again.

"And then there's the Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, Circus Circus, the Paris ... "

"Boy," she interrupted herself. "We have an awful lot to cram into three days." So much for R&R, unless of course you mean racing and running!

Well, we saw New York New York and the Aladdin, and the MGM and the Bellagio ... and just about every other hotel and casino there was to see. We caught a couple of shows, browsed the shops buried in the bowels of the casinos, walked the strip and took in the sights. The only thing we really didn't do, besides rest and relax, was gamble.

But that was OK with me, because I'm not exactly what you'd call a player. Dropping a roll of quarters into a slot machine is what I call wasting 10 bucks. Some might say it's because I'm cheap, but that would just be my friends (such as Jim, who calls me "Alligator Arms" because he says that every time the dinner check arrives at the table my arms immediately become too short to reach for it).

Natalie, on the other hand, enjoys an occasional game of chance. It's not like she's on the Harrah's list of regulars, and she not playing the ponies at Golden Gate Fields every weekend, but she's intrigued by a hand of blackjack and the roll of the dice on the craps table.

So we made a deal. I would give her a $100 bill to blow in the casino if I could find a comfortable chair in a sports bar and enjoy a game, a cold one and my semi-annual cigar.

"It's a deal!" she said with a broad smile and her eye on the tables.

"I'll be right over here when you're done," I said, pointing to what appeared to be an especially comfortable, overstuffed chair right in front of a big screen TV showing wall-to-wall college football.

"Hey, buddy, you'll have to come looking for me," she said as she walked off for the casino floor. "I'm feelin' lucky!"

Finally. A chance to relax. Just me, the football game, a corona cigar and a Corona beer.

But no sooner did I light up the one corona and stuff the lime into the other, I saw Natalie picking her way through the thick smoke of the bar.

"That's it, let's go," she said abruptly.

"Why ... what happened," I said, somewhat startled. "It's barely been 15 minutes."

"I lost it ... let's go," she said.

"You lost $100 in 15 minutes?" I asked. "You'd better stop ... you really suck at this."

"I only lost $60," she snapped.

Realizing that was probably not the smartest thing I could have said at that precise moment, I quickly added, "Why don't you go play the slot machines with the other 40 bucks ... it will probably last longer."

She did. It lasted long enough for me to finish my beer, my cigar and the football game, and my relaxing vacation had come to an end. And the next day we headed home after leaving $100 in the casinos and a lot more in the casino shops.

In fact, all I came home with was a raging head cold. I guess not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Want to talk? Give me a call at 408.354.3110, or write to dsparrer@community-newspapers.com.