TEXAS TOAST AND LAS VEGAS September 18, 2026

Texas Toast and Las Vegas have something in common.

Texas Toast is white bread cut to a thickness of about one inch. Why? Because many Texans believe that bigger is better. 

I’m not knocking Texas. I lived there long ago. The Lone Star State’s fascination with size goes way back. After all, it’s the biggest state among the continental 48. So they call Dallas “Big D.” Houston is bigger! (Gigantic.) 

But Texas Toast has no appeal to me. It’s bland any way you slice it. 

Which leads me to Las Vegas.

Two weeks ago, I joined Carolyn in Vegas following her sixth stint at Burning Man. In Vegas’ early days, casinos weren’t supersized, including the new resorts built on the strip. Today?

We stayed (again) at Bellagio, a lovely hotel. Also big. You walk a long way—in air-conditioning, thankfully; outside temperatures reached 100 degrees-plus—to get to wonderful restaurants (one not so much) and the pool. Make that pools (plural). You often wend your way through the big casino. (Okay, that’s Vegas.) You trek through a big commotion—big crowds with music constantly blaring. 

Still, Bellagio resembles an oasis given some of Las Vegas’ really big attractions. I’ll start—and be brief—with the Aria resort hulking next door. I haven’t been in Aria, but I’m sure the luxury is overwhelming. Its size sure is. The Aria complex includes two curvilinear towers of dark glass rising up to 50 floors. It houses 4,004 rooms and suites. In fact, the Strip is jammed with high rises and big crowds of pedestrians crammed into constraining sidewalks, escalators and stairways 

More big: We attended Cirque du Soleil’s “Ka” in the MGM Grand. The hotel has a giant footprint. Walking from the casino entrance on the Strip to the theater gave us a lot of steps. The Ka Theater? I loved Cirque in their famous tent on what once was the Oracle Park parking lot in San Francisco. The setting was colorful and intimate. 

The Ka Theater dwarfs the audience with its huge volume and incredible height that could host a space rocket standing up. The show offered some great acrobatics and incredible stage technology, but I found the theater’s size inhuman, its dark performance environment depressing.

Sphere came out better. The venue also is huge. We rode three escalators up to our seats. Then we saw “The Wizard of Oz” in a planetarium-like environment with the screen ahead, above and to the sides. The theater, if not the rest of the venue, worked. We felt like we were in Kansas, on the Yellow Brick Road, and in Oz. 

My point? Small can be beautiful. Witness the Neon Museum in North Las Vegas. Outdoors (we went at night), it exhibits old hotel, casino and other neon and bulb signs in a compact, uncrowded setting. An optional show features old neon and bulb signs that no longer work. No worries. Eight projectors light the signs—down to the individual bulb—revealing how they once appeared. Bonus: Classic Vegas songs played, including those featuring Frank, Sammy, Dean and Elvis. 

Americans will always be fascinated by big things. We’re a big country hosting big dreams and dreamers. But we do ourselves a disservice when we equate quantity with quality.

Sometimes, size matters in the reverse.

For you who are observing the Jewish High Holy Days, may this New Year be a good one. And for everyone, may 5787 bring health, peace and fulfillment. 

Enjoy a great read about America’s 20th-century flirtation with authoritarianism in my novel RIDE THE TYGER. Order from Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, iuniverse.com, or your favorite bookstore. My new novel, THE DOUBLE, will appear in late October.