What a Weird Teacher Does For Fun in Vegas

**Not a chapter from the book (maybe the second book though...)**
I'm in Las Vegas for the SDE Differentiated Instruction National Conference, at which I'm presenting a talk on Discovering Seuss: Using the Good Doctor in Your Classroom.
I'm lame. I don't drink. I'm too poor to gamble. I don't really enjoy crowds. And while I've met some very nice people we haven't made plans to hang out outside of the conference. So I'm alone a lot.
How alone? I went to the gym today. Yep, go to Vegas, go to the gym.
But that isn't the nerdiest thing I did today.
I was wandering around the Venitian looking for something to eat and I saw a sign for a place called I <3 Burgers. Sounds like my kind of place so I made my way in that general direction. By the way, one of the best, if not the best burger I've ever had. I got the Oregon Trail. So yummy.
On the way, I had to pass through some shops. Expensive shops. We're having a sale and you can get a shirt for only $99 shops. And in the midst of all these places a vision...
A Rare Book Store.

 Some people are suckers for clothes or movies. I'm a sucker for rare books and music. Hours. Hours and hours and hours. It's like crack. I love first editions. I don't know why. Because I love books, and a first edition, especially the old ones where you can tell the work that went into the binding and gluing. I love the smell.
So in the middle of one of the prettiest, most expensive hotels on The Strip, I wandered around a rare book store, took pictures, and made small and not-so-small happy noises. Keep in mind, these are first editions and signed copies. These are crazy expensive, like with a comma, sometimes a big one. They are kept behind glass.
So cool.

Two Vonnegut books Cat's Cradle  and Slaughterhouse 5. Signed and drawn in my the man himself. Come home with me.

First Edition Twains.

Chronicles of Narnia. Winnie the Pooh.

The Raven!!! With woodcut illustrations. Gah!

To Kill a Mockingbird. War of the Worlds. Huck Finn. Holy crap.

Catcher in the Rye!

Signed Maurice Sendak drawing of Max holding a sign, "For Jessica". Be on my wall. Now!

Honestly made an out loud happy noise at these.

Two first edition Seuss books. I could touch and smell them. They smelled wonderful.

Leather-bound Macbeth script. Shakespeare Works. Moby Dick.

Catch-22! The Shining. More excited about Heller, but King is great too.

Leather bound and embossed Tom Sawyer.

The big thrills for me were the Macbeth, the Sendak art, both Vonnegut books, and The Raven. I might walk back there tomorrow.