I have a remarkable sister-in-law. Her name is Clara. In real life she teaches learning-disabled children.

Clara has free sway over my wife's credit card and books trips all over the world. Sometimes we are informed where we are going (and the cost) when we receive the monthly Visa statement.

This particular column is being written from the 33rd floor hotel room at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Maybe Las Vegas was a poor choice in July, because the outside temperatures are hovering between 110 and 115 degrees. At those numbers nobody cares about dry heat.

It is hot!

A blast furnace is cooler than Las Vegas Boulevard.

However, we are having a great time.

Las Vegas is gaudy - sin city - a gambler's paradise, with a low morality, but it is fun. Losing money is never fun but last night Clara found a dream slot machine in Caesar's Palace that paid like a cash cow. Over and over again the machine kept spewing forth 25-cent pieces. Today we are returning to that machine in the hope that it has not forgotten Clara.

Even in July, the broiling streets of Vegas are crowded with thousands of tourists from all over the world. The pirate ships battle every night at Treasure Island, the waters dance rhythmically at the Bellagio, Steve Wynn's new and elegant venture, Wynn, is now added to the skyline.

The World Series of Poker (Texas Hold 'Em) is at the Rio. At the Venetian you sit under a painted Italian sky as gondolas float by with stripe-shirted oarsmen singing O Sole Mio to bedazzled tourists.

Donald Trump is in town to open a multi-million dollar condominium (so also is Ivana, his ex-wife, buying property).

We took a side trip to Sedona, Arizona, under Clara's direction. It was a five-hour trip each way. Clara drove the Dodge van all the way. The hotel she chose, the Amara, was set into the red mountains like a jewel. It was an art lover's paradise. Sedona is filled with southwestern treasures which cannot be acquired cheaply.

Clara hit the jackpot again!

Coming home soon.