vegas vacation

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jonathan Tavernari hit five 3-pointers while scoring a career-best 29 points, and Brigham Young capitalized on No. 6 Louisville's injuries and weariness for a 78-76 victory Friday night in the Las Vegas Invitational.

Trent Plaisted added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Cougars (5-0) as they held a narrow lead for most of the game with the inside-outside punch of their top two scorers, who scored all but six of BYU's second-half points. Tavernari's 3-pointer with 2:27 to play put BYU up 74-67, and the Cardinals couldn't rally to avoid the upset.

Louisville is the highest-ranked opponent beaten by the Cougars since Dec. 21, 1965, when BYU knocked off No. 2 St. Joseph's.

Derrick Caracter scored 24 points and Earl Clark added 19 for the Cardinals (3-1), but Clark missed a potential tying 3-pointer with 3 seconds to play. Caracter went 10-for-12 while filling in admirably for injured captain David Padgett, but forward Terrence Williams' poor shooting and seven turnovers didn't help.

The Cougars' fourth win in their last 40 games against ranked opponents spoiled Louisville's expected matchup with top-ranked North Carolina on Saturday night in the final at the Orleans Arena. Instead, BYU will meet the winner of the Tar Heels' game against Old Dominion.

Louisville opened its Vegas vacation with a 20-point win over UNLV on Wednesday night, but the Cardinals' toughest nonconference schedule in several years is even more difficult because of injuries.

They're still getting used to life without Padgett, who could miss the season after breaking his kneecap last weekend, and forward Juan Palacios, who still hasn't played with a knee injury.

Tavernari, the Brazilian forward who was named the Mountain West's top freshman last year, was easily the standout player in the schools' first meeting since Christmas 1994. He scored 17 points in the second half, and Plaisted added 14 after halftime.

Lee Cummard had nine points for the Cougars, the preseason pick to win the Mountain West Conference. BYU's long-stagnant program is in its third season of revitalization under coach Dave Rose.

But only a few hundred BYU fans made the six-hour drive south from Provo, perhaps staying home for Saturday's football game against archrival Utah. They were well outnumbered by the Louisville fans enjoying three Cardinals games in four days — and a turkey dinner with the team Thursday at their host casino.

But the Cougars opened with more energy and focus, leading for most of the first half and opening up a 10-point margin with 3 minutes left. Louisville, which got 13 fewer shots than the Cougars in the first half, cut the lead to 41-37 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Will Scott.
Religion-themed tours are growing ever more popular. The tour operator Globus says bookings for its trips themed on religion and spirituality have increased 74 percent from last year. The company started a division for religious or faith-based travel in 2004 and is offering a variety of trips next year, including a seven-day "Legacy of Pope John Paul II" trip in Poland, from $1,249; a 10-day trip to Jordan and Egypt exploring the roots of the Bible, from $1,649; and a nine-day trip themed on "Christian England & the World of C.S. Lewis," from $1,889. Prices include hotels, tours and some meals but not airfare. Other Globus faith-themed trips visit Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Catholic Germany and the Alps. Details at www.globusfaith.com.

Thanksgiving In The Southwest
Thanksgiving in New Mexico means the smell of roasting chilis and piñon wood and the start of ski season. On Thanksgiving Day in the Albuquerque area, the Zuni Pueblo hold a Christmas light parade, and the Albuquerque Botanic Gardens kicks off its River of Lights, a holiday display with music and hot chocolate; details at www.cabq.gov/biopark. Over the weekend, you can go Christmas shopping during the Annual Sky City Arts & Crafts Show and Auction, Nov. 24 to 25 at the Sky City Cultural Center on Acoma Pueblo. For tourism information on Albuquerque, visit www.itsatrip.org.

If you're out and about, you may smell green chilis roasting at farmers' markets and outside grocery stores, or the scent of piñon wood being burned in fireplaces on a chilly day. For a scenic autumn drive, try the Turquoise Trail Highway 14, on the east side of the Sandia Mountains. If it's snow you're after, head to Taos Ski Valley, which opens Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22). Details at www.skitaos.org.

At the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, on the Santa Ana Pueblo reservation between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, a "Fall Feast Festival" package is available between Friday and Nov. 25, starting at $199 per room, per night. Thanksgiving Day meals feature chilies and blue corn; options include $45-a-person dinners at the Santa Ana Cafe or $60-a-person dinners at the Corn Maiden restaurant (kids under 12 are half-price). Details at www.tamaya.hyatt.com.

Las Vegas Specials
Connecticut has many Las Vegas fans who might want to take this discount offer: Book a complete air/hotel Southwest Airlines Vacations package of three nights or longer now through Nov. 22 at any Las Vegas hotel and save $75 instantly. You can also save another $100 on your next Las Vegas vacation of three nights or longer. For the $75 savings, you must travel between now and Dec. 20 or Jan. 15 through Feb. 28. Save $100 by booking travel Dec. 1 through Feb. 28 for travel Jan. 15 through June 15, 2008. To book these discounted packages, visit www.southwest.com, and click on Special Offers, then on Vacation Package Vegas Vacation (1997, Warner Bros.) is the fourth part of the Vacation film series centering around the fictitious Griswold family, following National Lampoon's Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It is also the first film in the series not licensed with the National Lampoon moniker. Chevy Chase again reprises his starring role as Clark Griswold, the patriarch of the family.

Contents
1 Plot
2 Production
3 Tagline
4 External links



[edit] Plot
Griswold, after receiving a bonus, announces to his family that he is taking them on vacation. Enthusiasm wanes, however, when they hear they are headed to Las Vegas, Nevada. His wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) and teenage daughter, Audrey (Marisol Nichols) have their doubts, as Las Vegas is not known for its family-friendly atmosphere, while Rusty (Ethan Embry) appears more eager, even asking if prostitution is legal there.

Upon arriving in Vegas, the family embarks upon a series of mishaps and adventures that bring them in contact with many famous people, as well as returning cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) and her eccentric husband Eddie (Randy Quaid) and vulgar children, whom they visit at their trailer park in the desert. While on a group tour of the gigantic Hoover Dam, macho Clark foolishly leaves the group after accidentally creating a leak in the dams underground walk ways, is forced to climb the scaffolding to the very top of the dam, his cries for help cannot be heard over the roaring water.

Ultimately, the family begins to fall apart, thanks to Clark's - and later, Rusty's - obsessive gambling (to varying degrees of success), Ellen's infatuation with Wayne Newton, and Audrey's desire to hang out with sexually-charged Cousin Vicki (Shae D'Lyn), rather than her conservative family. The Griswolds must learn how to come together as a family, or "Sin City" will destroy their very fabric.


[edit] Production
The Mirage Resort on the Las Vegas Strip was a major filming location for this movie.
Filmed during the busy tourist season, from mid-June, through late September 1996.
Several sections of the movie are filmed at Shenandoah, the home of entertainer Wayne Newton, who also appears in the film.
Producer Jerry Weintraub makes a cameo appearance as "Gilly from Philly".
Siegfried and Roy's world-famous stage show is featured, with the entertainers (and tigers) interacting with Chase.
Wallace Shawn, Julia Sweeney, and Toby Huss have small roles; Sid Caesar appears in a cameo. Toby Huss portrayed a young Frank Sinatra impersonator/fake i.d. salesman. The role was similar to a number of MTV commercials from the early 90's that featured Huss as a Vegas crooner.
The "Cousin Vicki" and "Cousin Dale" characters appear here for the first time since the original Vacation film (though both are played by different actors).
Early working titles included National Lampoon's Las Vegas Vacation and National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation.