Las Vegas, Day Three.
The following is a description of the exploits of a certain twenty one year old individual during his hiatus from his university during which he made the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada for a period of three days in which he had one of the most enjoyable weekends of his life. Sunday’s description follows, see below for the previous two installments.
Check out time was at 11am, but due to some late night activities the previous night, I ended up pounding my fist into the alarm clock one too many times, and sleeping through it. Luckily that didn't become a major problem, I was able to call down to the concierge and they checked me out without a problem. Was quite depressing as I looked out over the expanse one more time through the window and slowly closed the curtains, knowing it was the beginning of the end. Still had a few hours left to live it up though, so after checking my bag, I headed upstairs to the entrance to the Stratosphere Tower. Ended up screwing myself out of four bucks by checking out a few minutes before that, since you need to show your room key at the ticket counter to get the discount. It happens. I bought the entrance to the Tower fee along with a dual ride pass, ended up $16 total. A bit steep given I'd already seen the view, but if its your first time seeing it I HIGHLY recommend it. Decided to test fate with the High Roller coaster first, the roller coaster that makes its way along the outer rim of the top of the tower. I can now add the world's highest roller coaster onto my list of conquests, which was already populated by the world's fastest and the world's tallest, among various other impressive stats. The ride is relatively weak on the scream machine scale, about the same speed as the Matterhorn at Disneyland. The difference of course being that you're a thousand feet above the ground. Riding on the outside is fun, but you don't really feel like you might go careening off into space, since just below you and to the outside is the outdoor observation deck, blocking most of the "straight down" view. The ride circles the top three times, and does two loops of the full track, but still is only a minute or two long. It's a good warmup for the main attraction on top, but might not be worth the price for anyone other than the die hards trying to add that notch to their stick.
Following the first ride you're led into an area where you can buy pictures of yourself, which leads directly into the waiting area for the "big cahuna," the Thrill Shot. This is a type of ride seen in many places, I've personally ridden one at Cedar Point in Ohio called the Power Tower, and there's another at California Adventure in Anaheim. Its a variation on the ride called Supreme Scream at Knott's Berry Farm, in that one you are slowly lifted to a height of something like three hundred feet, and after being held at the top for a few seconds, are slammed downward with a force even greater than gravity, before bouncing up before hitting the ground, and getting to a height smaller and smaller each time before slowly coming to a rest of the ground. The Thrill shot is the opposite, you go from sitting in a chair minding your own business a foot or two off the ground, to being launched by compressed air with a force of 4 G's up a huge needle protruding from the top of the Tower, eventually slowing down in a hurry and plummeting down again, which allows for a period of weightlessness each time you reach the peak height and begin to fall again. Many rides such as the ones at Cedar Point and California Adventure are made up of four of the pillars, two to raise you up and then drop you, and two to launch you up before letting you fall. Having ridden both, I can't really decide which is more visually intimidating or causes me to be more apprehensive. They're both quite intense. The Thrill Shot however, had me quite worried. In sheer size it was only about half the height of the types of these rides I'd been on before, but when you tack 150 feet onto a thousand foot tower, you're ending up 1150 feet above the Strip in broad daylight, and that's a long way down. Luckily, I happened to be getting on the ride at the same time as two twelve year old or so girls, so that was enough of a blow to my ego to get me onto the thing and locked in without much of a fuss. My goal as a kid was just to get into the car and get the safety restraint down, and then scream bloody murder if necessary. I chose an end seat facing the strip (there are four on each side) and I highly recommend that position for future ridegoers. On the way up if you're on the edge you can't really see the tower or the side perpindicular to you in your peripheral vision, so other than the restraint of the person next to you, it literally seems like you're being launched to the moon, with no apparent falling point in sight. Within one second or so you also can't see the platform you were launched from since its blocked by your seat and feet, so no evidence exists that you even have somewhere to fall to. Needless to say, it's quite exhilerating. They play rave-like music during the loading period and while you wait, which then climaxes with a hard low bass note, about a half a second before you're flying. I wasn't quite as loud as the girls next to me, although I put up a good fight.
After returning to earth from my spacewalk I called my parents from the pay phone they have on the outdoor observation deck, and proceeded to brag about how I was higher than them, and discussed some of the PG-13 versions of my exploits over the past few days. I then wandered around enjoying the view one last time, before heading back down to the elevator to the normal world. This was the first day I wasn't spiffed out, and I was glad, it was maybe 90 degrees outside, and a t-shirt and jeans were much more appropriate. I decided walking would be fastest in order to get over to the Sahara, the location of my next conquest. Speed: The Ride, actually ended up being my favorite roller coaster in Vegas (Thrill Shot fitting into the thrill ride category, but isn't a traditional roller coaster). For 8 bucks you can buy a double ride, which is good because the ride itself is about a minute long. This one is very comparable to Superman: The Escape at Six Flags Magic Mountain, in that you are accelerated by magnetics to a great speed almost immediately, before flying through the ride and up a vertical tower, and then returning through the same track and slowed down by the same magnets to arrive back at the station. The additions to this one were many however. Rather than a pure up and back ride focusing purely on speed (Superman is the world's fastest at 100mph) you immediately go into a diving curve once you're out of the station, through a tunnel, and up into a huge loop. You then reach a section of the track that's straight and uphill, which proceeds to FURTHER accelerate to an even greater speed, before you're slung around a curve and up the tower. This acceleration in the middle of the track is something I've never experienced before, and that "pedal to the metal head slammed back against the seat" feeling was quite awesome. You then experience similar weightlessness to Superman and are decellerated by the same track before procedding backwards through the loop, always a cool feeling, and returning through the tunnel and curve to the station. Short, but very satisfying. The second ride is merely an added bonus. After clinging on for dear life the first time, I decided to keep my hands up the whole time during the second go round, and that just doubled the fun. Waving your arms in circular motions as you fall backwards through a loop gives you a sense of chaos, of course if you're worried about the shoulder restraint failing I recommend avoiding this tactic like the plague. :)
From the Sahara I headed back to the Stratosphere to pick up my bag, and then took a taxi back down the Strip to the New York New York, in order to complete the Vegas coaster trilogy. Checking my bag there almost became an issue as they asked me whether I was "checking out or checking in." Not being a guest I replied I'd just checked out, but unfortunately they went to check my name in the computer. As luck may have it, someone with the same first and last time had just checked out that morning, and when they asked if the room number was correct I just said "Yeah, that sounds about right." Bent the rules a bit, but it worked out. Headed upstairs to ride the Manhattan Express, the major roller coaster the circles around the manmade skyline of the New York New York. I'd heard rave reviews about it, and was looking forward to the section of the roller coaster they call the heartline roll, where the track literally just rotates lengthwise so you're inverted for about a second before you hit a curve that returns you to an upright position. You end up traveling back the way you came just below the track you entered on, and that wasn't a manuever I'd experienced before, other than a somewhat similar style curve on the Six Flags Magic Mountain coaster Flashback, which became unpopular in a hurry after it caused more headaches than it was worth. The restraints on this one were unlike any I'd seen, instead of your classic U shaped shoulder restraint, it was if they'd cut off the bottom part of the U, so you just had two curved padded bars that rested on your shoulders, and then a waist bar you pulled down to take the place of where the lower part of the U would have been. It looked comfortable until I actually got on, and then I found it to be not as cool as I thought. The first part of the ride shows promise, you get carted up a large lift hill next to the structure of the hotel, and can see your reflection in the wall of glass, so you can see how far you have to go up the hill, a neat effect. It isn't anywhere near the height of such other rides I've experienced like Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain (I don't work for them, its just an awesome place thrill rides wise so I'll continue to plug it), but after a somewhat small drop down the first hill you go over another and go down a much larger drop the second time, still didn't seem that humongous or anything. This is where the ride started getting violent, and I'm going to have to give it about an 8 on a violent scale of 10. Through the loop, and especially through a lot of the curves, I was banged around quite a bit. The fact that it includes a Flashback like turn probably means it had to involve Flashback style cars or track, causing it to be a bit painful. It's a relatively long ride by way of pure length, and yes that one turn is a pretty neat feeling as you remain inverted a bit longer than your traditional loop, but I came off it with a bit of a headache. I'd decided to buy a double ride like on Speed, which unfortunately came at double the price at $15. The second time through I tried putting my hands up, but rather quickly had to reluctantly grab onto the shoulder restraints again, trying to keep my head from slamming into them as much as possible. Gave me a decent workout anyway, and I got to ride on the other side of the car and closer to the back, but it still was far below what my expectations were. I recommend once on this ride if necessary, otherwise head down the Strip for Speed or the view and thrill rides on top of the Stratosphere, for a much more comfortable and exhilerating experience.
Unfortunately due to my late wakeup I ended up having to nix a couple of the other activities I had planned for the day, as well as due to the horror stories I'd heard about security at the airport taking up to two hours on average. I did get a chance to go over and see the lions at the MGM Grand, which is free, but I didn't think it to be anywhere near as amazing as the Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage. The crowd around the glass enclosed cage was about four people deep, so it was hard to get a good view. The hotel had been redesigned since I last visited, you no longer walked through the legs of the giant lion out front, which is what I thought was the coolest part back then. Ended up deciding to just hang out there until it was time to head for the airport, I'd been hoping to get down to the Eiffel Tower at Paris and hopefully get a look at the Fountains at the Bellagio, but I wasn't even sure if the Fountains would be running as they'd been off for the previous two days, and I wasn't sure how long the Eiffel Tower would take, and paying the $9 just to rush up and down didn't sound like too much fun. So there's plenty to do on the next trip anyway. :) Kept winning the "last hand" on Blackjack and then the next two, before losing a couple and coming back to the "last hand" and winning again, so I finally just had to pry myself away and head for the door. I did throw in a random dollar "on the way out" into this one machine with like four separate reels, and ended up winning on two of them, and cashing out at $15. So I left a winner, always a good feeling. After snagging my bag and a taxi the trip to the airport was relatively uneventful, other than me throwing longing glances towards the Strip, as it became further and further away. It turned out the wait at the airport was minimal, and so I killed about an hour with a personal pan pizza and yummy TCBY yogurt with M&M's mixed in, always a good combination. And yes I spent a couple more bucks at the airport slots, and no I didn't win a million. :)
For the flight out I was on the window seat Strip side this time, so I was able to see the Luxor Pyramid, Eiffel Tower, and lastly the Stratosphere all disappear into the fading light. Was I sad? Very. The return to the real world was not a welcome one after living like a king for a period of three days. Anyone heading that direction? Need a tagalong? [wink] Frankly I think that trip was one of a kind. I hope someday I'll be able to afford to take myself back on my own bill, and try to recapture some of the glory. When I'm old and gray though, I'll be able to think back to my 21st birthday, and remember what it felt like to have the time of my life.
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Las Vegas, Day Two.
The following is a description of the exploits of a certain twenty one year old individual during his hiatus from his university during which he made the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada for a period of three days in which he had one of the most enjoyable weekends of his life. Saturday’s description follows, Friday's is below, the next installment will come later.
I was unconscious pretty much instantly upon hitting the pillow on Friday. It had been close to a twenty four hour day, and it was finally hitting me. With the amount of incredible things I did that day, I really didn’t think it was going to get any better. I was of course, dead wrong.
Saturday morning consisted of me slamming the alarm clock around the nightstand and eventually onto the floor trying to figure out how to turn the friggin thing off, eventually crawling over to its socket and ripping the cord out of the wall… With that task completed I immediately dropped back into bed, only to remember where I was, and bolt upright like a cannon. Into the shower I went and spiffed up again I became, ready to get the fun rolling again. I decided to try the public bus system since I had some extra time and it was theoretically cheaper, and managed to get on the express going the wrong direction to the point I ended up downtown… I was hoping it would loop around and head back down the Strip so I wouldn’t have to pay again, but no such luck. Two more bucks were forced out of my pocket and about a half hour was wasted as I eventually made my way down to the Bellagio. The ride was actually pretty interesting, when I entered for the return trip a bearded African-American man near the back on the aisle called out to me, and pointing at my sunglasses, asked me if I had “X-Ray Vision.” Not really the type of person to randomly respond to weird looking strangers I pondered ignoring him, but given the dead silence on the rest of the bus and the number of pairs of eyes staring at me awaiting my response, I said no. He said good, and proceeded to whip out a newspaper on which had three bottle caps, under one of which was a small ball. I’m sure you’ve all seen this game before, around and around they go, where does the ball end up is the question they asked. I humored him, and after some attempted rapid movement by him it was still relatively easy to tell the ball ended up in the middle, which was my answer when he posed the question as to where it was. He said congratulations, and handed me a hundred dollar bill. First thing I did was check to see if it was fake, but it wasn’t. Of course there was a catch, and his goal was to have me put up a hundred dollar bill of my own, and if I could correctly locate the ball a second time, both bills would be mine, otherwise he’d keep them both. Double or nothing if you please. I had the money, but pretended not to. I generally don’t make bets I’m not relatively sure I’ll win. So he took the money back and found a taker a few seats away from where I was standing, and did the same thing with him. The second time he made the movement much more difficult to track, but I was still able to tell where it ended up. The guy however got it wrong, and lost his hundred. Then he gave the guy next to him a chance to guess from the remaining two, and he too got it wrong, although he had only put up a twenty. Eventually after several stops by my guess he’d made about two hundred bucks off of people, and had to pay out about a hundred and twenty, two bills to people who ended up guessing right. It seemed to be relatively legit, when it was in my clear view I was able to tell where it ended up, and there was no sleight of hand or anything involved. Obviously his goal was to pay people out who won, but find more suckers than winners. Probably makes a hundred bucks an hour doing it all day long riding the buses. I never did give it a shot, but I’m pretty sure I would have taken a Benjamin off his hands. :)
Anyway, eventually I arrived at the Bellagio, to pick up tickets for the show I was seeing that evening. I’d gotten up earlier than expected, so I had some extra time to wander around, and enjoyed the sights of one of the more ritzier hotels on the strip. I must say, Las Vegas is definitely not lacking attractive people. I must have walked into at least three telephone poles, and probably more like fifteen slot machines, stools, and chairs, while my gaze was averted elsewhere. The only thing I said more often than “Oops I’m sorry” during my stay was “Excuse me, would you be kind enough to direct me to ____” with the blank filled in with whatever I was looking for at the time. Generally I’m pretty anti-asking for directions, but I got over it with flying colors during this trip, as from the get go it was clear that if I wanted to get anywhere in Vegas in a timely manner, it was going to require directions the majority of the time.
Now we come to my two pet peeves involving Las Vegas, both of which I first noticed while wandering around the Bellagio. The first being the fact that these casinos involve wandering around beautiful padded carpets all day long, and then proceeding to touch a metal slot machine, door handle, or elevator button. Needless to say, I received the shock of my life literally countless times. By the third day I eventually started catching myself and using the back of my hand or something a little less surprising, but it was pretty ridiculous how often it occurred. The second one is unfortunately the weather, not necessarily the heat, but definitely the dryness. I’ve never had a problem with chapped lips, and literally have used chap stick like twice in my life and not because it was necessary, but by trip’s end my lips were pretty irritated. It’s two days later now and they’re just now getting back to normal. It’s an awesome city, but the whole desert concept is a big negative when it comes to living there on a more permanent basis. At least, for those of us spoiled enough to live in basically perfect weather all the time. :)
From the Bellagio I wandered next door to Caesar’s Palace, on the way discovering that due to high winds the fountains at the Bellagio would not be operating that evening. As it turned out they weren’t operating on either night that I was in the area, and thus I was forced to miss out on what I’ve heard is one of the Strip’s more amazing attractions. Unfortunate, but I was pretty busy as it was. At Caesar’s I stopped by the exact replica of Michaelangelo’s David, and was pretty amazed by its size. The idea of taking a block of marble that huge (like twenty feet tall) and creating a frozen image of a human being is definitely beyond my comprehension. I also checked out the Fall of Atlantis show in the Forum shops. That one involved a lot of animatronics, fountains, fire, and lights, and drew quite a crowd. I read somewhere that the Forum shops at Caesar’s are the most successful retail operation in the nation, at almost double the total sales per square foot of second place. I didn’t doubt it, the place was pretty incredible when it comes to shopping. I’m glad I’m not a compulsive shopper, or I woulda had a tough time getting out of there without spending loads of money. Luckily throughout the trip whenever I had the urge to buy something I’d realize I had nowhere to put it, and was able to talk myself out of it relatively easily. Caesar’s was the only casino where I tried one of those machines with the rotating car on top, mainly because it was a convertible Mustang, rather than some ugly PT Cruiser or something as in most of the other ones. Yeah, I lost. DOH. I also saw the brand new Coliseum they’re constructing mainly for Celine Dion’s upcoming show, the thing looked GIGANTIC. Of course I hadn’t seen the inside of Bellagio’s theater, which ended up about the same size. Wondering how much they’re going to charge for Dion’s show, I’m guessing upwards of $100, maybe even upwards of $150, which would make it the most expensive show on the Strip.
From there I continued my northward trek up the western side of the Strip and ended up at the Mirage. I had been hoping to catch Siegfried and Roy’s show there, but I’d managed to pick the weekend that they were dark, and decided to replace it with the show I saw at Treasure Island, which ended up being my favorite anyway. I did however get a chance to see the habitats at the Mirage, and got to see many of the animals involved with the show. On the backside of the hotel they have a dual attraction they call the Dolphin Habitat and the Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy, which they charge you $10 admission for in order to tour both. At first I had somewhat of a “I’ve been to Sea World and the Zoo, this probably won’t be that interesting” attitude, but that quickly changed. The underwater viewing areas in the dolphin habitat were quite cool, the dolphins were trained to swim right up to the windows and make sounds, flap their fins, and even carry around a Frisbee to play with. The tour guide showed us video of two of the dolphin’s actual births that had taken place in that very tank. Always interesting to see the miracle of life take place in other species, watching the cute little dolphin pop out and struggle up to the surface for his first breath of air was quite adorable. After that they led us outside, and had the dolphins do a bunch of flips and tricks, such as launching a beach ball up into the crowd or spitting water all over the tour guide. Was quite fun, I’ve always loved Sea World and those types of shows, and this was no different. Afterward I headed into the Secret Garden, which was even more impressive. The animals there were the most tame I’ve ever seen, they had no problem lounging behind the glass wall just two or three feet from dozens of onlookers. Many of the animals I’d never even seen before, so it ended up being a real treat. Among the creatures were these gigantic lions, just chillin out in plain view, much unlike the ones I generally see at the zoo, who tend to be cowering in the shade or their cave and make it basically impossible to get a decent view or picture. The whole garden was in the shade basically, and all the animals seemed right at home in front of people. The snow white tigers were equally cool, their ice blue eyes seemed to always be staring back at me, it was almost as if they were big kittens. There was also a gigantic Asian elephant bathing itself in a large pool, and a black panther stalking the grounds in another area. One of those times I would have liked to have had a camera, but alas. I hung out in there for quite a while, not too often I’m just chillin out on a park bench next to a huge Bengal tiger, or a gigantic elephant. Riding one of those is on my life to do list, gotta get around to that at some point. :)
Next I hopped on the tram over to Treasure Island, and to my absolute delight, found a Krispy Kremes right outside the tram’s exit. Here I thought I was hundreds of miles from the nearest outlet, but no, I was able to down two original glazed in quick succession. I picked up tickets for the show I was seeing later that night, and then wandered out front to the area in front of the casino where the Pirate Battle is peformed on a nightly basis. Unfortunately as luck would have it, due to high winds that one was cancelled as well. I guess this just leaves me various things to do the next time I return. :) I ended up enjoying the buffet instead, stuffing myself on a little of everything, for a mere $13.99, much better than the similar fares offered at prices closer to $22.95 at other hotels. I basically had one big meal each of the days I was there, surviving the rest of the day with random smoothies or stops at Haagen Daz (can’t say I know how to spell it, that’s a guess) for some of the world’s yummiest ice cream. Killed time with some machines while I waited for the show I had picked up tickets for, and had some pretty amazing luck on The Big Cheese machine there, getting the three 7’s in a row, which on that one pays you $25.00 and then multiplies it by a number between 2 and 25 that gets selected from a wheel. At the Chumash casino here I’d gotten the 7’s two other times and gotten the 25x and the 10x, the two highest values, paying a total of around $900 combined, but unfortunately there I managed to only get the 2x, turning a huge payout into still a decent one, but much smaller. That’s basically why I was even for the trip, I had several opportunities where I had great odds of getting a huge payout because I only needed one spin or one more card, but alas, it became a big fish story as they generally do. :)
After a quick stint at the Blackjack tables where I was of course in a hurry and thus ended up tripling my money very quickly, I hopped on over to Mystere, the Cirque Du Soleil show performed at the Treasure Island. I pronounced the name of it wrong for most of the weekend, it turns out its “misstear” rather than the “mystery” and “missteeeeer” that I’d been butchering it as. Luckily I got there early, because soon after I arrived a guy who eventually became part of the show began posing as an usher, and leading people on wild goose chases around the theater pretending to be leading them to their seats. One unlucky couple’s tickets got pulled up to the ceiling on a string, and shredded into a thousand pieces, another elderly couple was ejected from their seats in the front row nearby me so that an African-American couple could have those prime seats, in order to secure “proper representation” in the audience. It was all in good fun, popcorn and champagne ended up being sprayed in various directions, and the audience had a good laugh before the show began.
The show itself ended up my favorite part of the vacation, it was utterly amazing. Some of the most simple looking acts became the most astounding. One example was these two amazingly buff guys, who just did this ten minute or so set of strength poses, the easiest of which was one guy standing vertically with his arms over his head, and the other guy doing a handstand on his hands inverted, basically forming a two person tower. I say “easy” sacrasticly, of course. There were several minute sections where the upper guy would hold a pose like this, while the lower guy maneuvered in insane ways, with impressive feats of strength and balance. Some of the poses just left me with my mouth gaping open, in disbelief that someone could possibly be that strong and be able to hold that kind of position. The most amazing one in my mind was when the lower guy laid on his stomach, but with his heels in the air thus forming his legs into an L shape. The upper guy balanced on his hands as usual vertically, but holding on to the lower guy's feet. The lower guy then proceeded to excruciatingly slowly lower his feet, until his entire body was horizontal, basically supporting the entire weight of the upper guy on his calves as he did so. As if that wasn’t insane enough, he then let out a grunt and began to slowly raise his legs again, again lifting the entire weight of the upper guy with solely his calves, as they bulged and appeared about to explode. The crowd went nuts with amazement, and when the two guys finally relaxed and just stood side by side in their final pose flexing, they got a standing ovation. I’ve always said there are buff guys, and then there’s people who work at Cirque Du Soleil. There are amazingly built guys, and then there are Cirque Du Soleil performers. They’re great at what they do, and it impresses me every time I see it. One thing did happen however that I had never seen at a Cirque Du Soleil show, and that was the fact that they screwed up a stunt. You know they’re going to do something difficult when they lock themselves into a bungee cord or safety mechanism, because of all the insane things they do with no net, you know if they require an extra level of safety that the stunt must be especially difficult. This particular one involved a seesaw type mechanism in the middle of the stage onto which they were having pairs of people leap, launching someone on the other end high into the air into a somersaulting twisting thing and eventually landing someplace far far away. Near the end of this section they moved a three person tower of people standing on each other’s shoulders into position, as a young woman strapped herself into a safety mechanism and positioned herself on the end of the seesaw. Off went a pair of guys, launching her into a double somersault and then an attempt to land on the tower, and she basically just missed. She landed shakily, causing the whole tower to wobble and eventually collapse. The whole crowd gasped as she fell, but the cord caught her and she was gently lowered to the stage. “What are they gonna do now?” was the thought running through my head, but to my amazement, the live band playing the soundtrack just continued playing the same measure for several seconds, the same rhythm, and nearly before you could tell what had happened, they were back into the same position for the previous stunt, the pair slammed the board down, up she flew, and she nailed the landing. The awesome thing about the front row is not only could I see the disappointment on the faces of the performers when they screwed up the stunt, but I could see the utter joy and excitement when they nailed it the second time. The crowd just went crazy. Many people stood up, the rest just cheered and whistled, basically the loudest I heard a crowd during the entire trip. The music for this show was quite fitting, the rhythms and strong bass with crescendos during the climax of the different stunts was icing on the cake to go along with the great performance. The entire stage was made up of many platforms that raised and lowered, leading to some cool effects involving fog, and people flying in and out of pits, and disappearing into holes that didn’t appear to be there in the first place. I didn’t look at my watch once, and the hundred minute or so show seemed shorter than it really was. At the end the entire cast came out and took off their masks, standing all around the edges of the stage, literally three feet from me. I felt like a teeny bopper near her favorite pop star, I was so excited. The standing ovation was inevitable, the performer’s huge grins showed they were affected by the audience’s shameless display of their appreciation for the incredible performance. To describe all the amazing things they did though, and the hilarity of the clowns during the interludes, would take a lot longer than I’m willing to devote to it, and ruin the fun for those planning to see the show for themselves. At $88 it isn’t the cheapest thing in the world, but I felt it was money well spent. If you’re only going to see one major show in Vegas and you’re pondering the ones I saw, make it this one.
Crazily enough, that was only the first of two shows on my agenda for the evening. I ended up screwing up the timing, thinking the second one at the Bellagio was at 10pm, when it turned out it was at 10:30. So here I am basically jogging between the Treasure Island and the Bellagio around 9:20 thinking they’re going to be seating at 9:30, when really I had an extra half hour. The casinos look like they’re pretty close together, but it’s a pretty decent distance if you’re hoofin it. I ended up there in plenty of time, and ended up making small talk in the little lobby area outside the theater doors, wandering around pretending to be someone who’d just inherited millions, or something. Just about everyone there was decked out, golden jewelry abounded, as did large security guys for some individuals. I didn’t recognize anyone, but it was clear that this wasn’t a poor man’s show. At $121 a pop, it had been a tough decision for me as to whether it was worth it, but given the multitude of reviews making it the highest rated show in Vegas, I decided to see what all the hubbub was about. After the quick walk/jog from Treasure Island I was quite thirsty, so I waltzed on over to the bar and asked if they charged for water. “Would you like some bottled water Sir?” was the reply, as he displayed about a sixteen ounce bottle or so. “Sure” I said, pulling out a buck, “How much?” “That’ll be $4.10, Sir.” I wasn’t able to hide my disgust, as I pointed out the soft drinks (poured into a much larger glass) were a mere $3.50. “This is really good water” the bartender replied curtly. Let me go on record saying that it didn’t taste any different than tap water around here. The Bellagio label is apparently pretty expensive to make, or something. Hmph. Worse yet was the fact that they were trying to sell programs for $8 or something. You’d think paying $121 to get in you’d get a program and a glass of water. Sheesh, the amount of money some people are willing to spend without blinking is just pathetic. I’m really not a fan of people buying $300,000 cars they don’t drive, or $10,000,000 houses with rooms they’ve never been in. That’s just living in excess, and I don’t think it’s necessary. I know I’m lucky to be able to afford this kind of trip, a trip many people only dream about, and I appreciate that fact. That doesn’t mean I take advantage of it on a regular basis. Anyway, eventually I got into the theater, and quite the gigantic and lavish theater it was. Unfortunately this was the one show I wasn’t able to secure front row seats to, as it sells out generally a month in advance and I was only able to yoink a seat in the upper orchestra. This didn’t turn out too bad, as much of the action was in the back part of the stage and below the surface of the water, and it was more clearly seen from the height I was at. If you have a choice though, I’d recommend a seat in the lower orchestra a few rows back, so you can clearly see the performer’s facial expressions, and yet are still able to see both the action right in front of you, at the back of the stage, and up in the rafters. The focal point of this show entitled O, was the fact that a gigantic circular section of the stage was made up of several hydraulic platforms, which when lowered revealed a pool that rose to the height of the surrounding stage. This allowed for some neat effects, at times people would be diving from great heights into the water, at others they’d raise the platforms to just below the surface, so when a performer ran across and you expected him to fall into the water, it would give the appearance that he was walking ON the water. The performance was very elaborate and clearly expensive, with many of the same types of stunts as the show I’d previously seen. The addition of water to the mix created new possibilities, but overall, I just wasn’t as impressed by O as I was by Mystere. Its possible this was because I’d just seen the other one immediately previous and was just blown away, and it's also possible I was bitter about this one being so much more expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the show was good, it just wasn’t astounding or anything. I much preferred the intimate atmosphere of Mystere, with the audience basically surrounding the stage and the action taking place all around you and above you, than the O theater that was basically designed to cram as many $121 paying customers into one space, even if they’re basically segregated from the performance itself. The theater for O was beautiful, as were some of the effects and the costumes, but it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. I guess living up to being the “highest rated show in Vegas” is hard to do. I didn’t regret the ticket purchase, I’m glad I saw it once, but I wouldn’t pay that much to see it again.
After the show I wandered out to the taxi pickup, and the line was about sixty people long, so I decided to go waste some time at the Blackjack tables. This ended up making me a decent amount of cash, and after a quick few machines I decided to check the line again. My eyes sometimes give me problems when a lot of bright light is involved, so I’ve been known to don shades even in the evenings when in areas of bright lighting. Yeah, I’m weird, sue me. So anyway, out I come in my long sleeve silk shirt, slacks, and shades, pausing outside the revolving door as I survey the fact that the line still has about thirty people in it. “Excuse me Sir, can I help you?” asked the suited worker running the line. “Yes, I was planning to take a taxi to…” “Right this way Sir” he interrupted, waving me towards the area in front of the line. Confused I stepped forward, as he let out a whistle towards a waiting cab in a different area than the huge line of others waiting to pick up passengers in the line. Within seconds I was in, and being whisked away to my next destination. I’m still not sure what it was that allowed me to cut the line, and I felt bad. Well, for a few seconds anyway. :) Apparently my attempts to look regal succeed at times. Made me feel pretty cool.
Eventually, back to the hotel I went, utterly satisfied with the day and all its glory. And alas, although this would be my final night in Vegas, I had one more day of fun on the way. I mean come on, I hadn’t even ridden a roller coaster at that point. :)
The following is a description of the exploits of a certain twenty one year old individual during his hiatus from his university during which he made the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada for a period of three days in which he had one of the most enjoyable weekends of his life. Saturday’s description follows, Friday's is below, the next installment will come later.
I was unconscious pretty much instantly upon hitting the pillow on Friday. It had been close to a twenty four hour day, and it was finally hitting me. With the amount of incredible things I did that day, I really didn’t think it was going to get any better. I was of course, dead wrong.
Saturday morning consisted of me slamming the alarm clock around the nightstand and eventually onto the floor trying to figure out how to turn the friggin thing off, eventually crawling over to its socket and ripping the cord out of the wall… With that task completed I immediately dropped back into bed, only to remember where I was, and bolt upright like a cannon. Into the shower I went and spiffed up again I became, ready to get the fun rolling again. I decided to try the public bus system since I had some extra time and it was theoretically cheaper, and managed to get on the express going the wrong direction to the point I ended up downtown… I was hoping it would loop around and head back down the Strip so I wouldn’t have to pay again, but no such luck. Two more bucks were forced out of my pocket and about a half hour was wasted as I eventually made my way down to the Bellagio. The ride was actually pretty interesting, when I entered for the return trip a bearded African-American man near the back on the aisle called out to me, and pointing at my sunglasses, asked me if I had “X-Ray Vision.” Not really the type of person to randomly respond to weird looking strangers I pondered ignoring him, but given the dead silence on the rest of the bus and the number of pairs of eyes staring at me awaiting my response, I said no. He said good, and proceeded to whip out a newspaper on which had three bottle caps, under one of which was a small ball. I’m sure you’ve all seen this game before, around and around they go, where does the ball end up is the question they asked. I humored him, and after some attempted rapid movement by him it was still relatively easy to tell the ball ended up in the middle, which was my answer when he posed the question as to where it was. He said congratulations, and handed me a hundred dollar bill. First thing I did was check to see if it was fake, but it wasn’t. Of course there was a catch, and his goal was to have me put up a hundred dollar bill of my own, and if I could correctly locate the ball a second time, both bills would be mine, otherwise he’d keep them both. Double or nothing if you please. I had the money, but pretended not to. I generally don’t make bets I’m not relatively sure I’ll win. So he took the money back and found a taker a few seats away from where I was standing, and did the same thing with him. The second time he made the movement much more difficult to track, but I was still able to tell where it ended up. The guy however got it wrong, and lost his hundred. Then he gave the guy next to him a chance to guess from the remaining two, and he too got it wrong, although he had only put up a twenty. Eventually after several stops by my guess he’d made about two hundred bucks off of people, and had to pay out about a hundred and twenty, two bills to people who ended up guessing right. It seemed to be relatively legit, when it was in my clear view I was able to tell where it ended up, and there was no sleight of hand or anything involved. Obviously his goal was to pay people out who won, but find more suckers than winners. Probably makes a hundred bucks an hour doing it all day long riding the buses. I never did give it a shot, but I’m pretty sure I would have taken a Benjamin off his hands. :)
Anyway, eventually I arrived at the Bellagio, to pick up tickets for the show I was seeing that evening. I’d gotten up earlier than expected, so I had some extra time to wander around, and enjoyed the sights of one of the more ritzier hotels on the strip. I must say, Las Vegas is definitely not lacking attractive people. I must have walked into at least three telephone poles, and probably more like fifteen slot machines, stools, and chairs, while my gaze was averted elsewhere. The only thing I said more often than “Oops I’m sorry” during my stay was “Excuse me, would you be kind enough to direct me to ____” with the blank filled in with whatever I was looking for at the time. Generally I’m pretty anti-asking for directions, but I got over it with flying colors during this trip, as from the get go it was clear that if I wanted to get anywhere in Vegas in a timely manner, it was going to require directions the majority of the time.
Now we come to my two pet peeves involving Las Vegas, both of which I first noticed while wandering around the Bellagio. The first being the fact that these casinos involve wandering around beautiful padded carpets all day long, and then proceeding to touch a metal slot machine, door handle, or elevator button. Needless to say, I received the shock of my life literally countless times. By the third day I eventually started catching myself and using the back of my hand or something a little less surprising, but it was pretty ridiculous how often it occurred. The second one is unfortunately the weather, not necessarily the heat, but definitely the dryness. I’ve never had a problem with chapped lips, and literally have used chap stick like twice in my life and not because it was necessary, but by trip’s end my lips were pretty irritated. It’s two days later now and they’re just now getting back to normal. It’s an awesome city, but the whole desert concept is a big negative when it comes to living there on a more permanent basis. At least, for those of us spoiled enough to live in basically perfect weather all the time. :)
From the Bellagio I wandered next door to Caesar’s Palace, on the way discovering that due to high winds the fountains at the Bellagio would not be operating that evening. As it turned out they weren’t operating on either night that I was in the area, and thus I was forced to miss out on what I’ve heard is one of the Strip’s more amazing attractions. Unfortunate, but I was pretty busy as it was. At Caesar’s I stopped by the exact replica of Michaelangelo’s David, and was pretty amazed by its size. The idea of taking a block of marble that huge (like twenty feet tall) and creating a frozen image of a human being is definitely beyond my comprehension. I also checked out the Fall of Atlantis show in the Forum shops. That one involved a lot of animatronics, fountains, fire, and lights, and drew quite a crowd. I read somewhere that the Forum shops at Caesar’s are the most successful retail operation in the nation, at almost double the total sales per square foot of second place. I didn’t doubt it, the place was pretty incredible when it comes to shopping. I’m glad I’m not a compulsive shopper, or I woulda had a tough time getting out of there without spending loads of money. Luckily throughout the trip whenever I had the urge to buy something I’d realize I had nowhere to put it, and was able to talk myself out of it relatively easily. Caesar’s was the only casino where I tried one of those machines with the rotating car on top, mainly because it was a convertible Mustang, rather than some ugly PT Cruiser or something as in most of the other ones. Yeah, I lost. DOH. I also saw the brand new Coliseum they’re constructing mainly for Celine Dion’s upcoming show, the thing looked GIGANTIC. Of course I hadn’t seen the inside of Bellagio’s theater, which ended up about the same size. Wondering how much they’re going to charge for Dion’s show, I’m guessing upwards of $100, maybe even upwards of $150, which would make it the most expensive show on the Strip.
From there I continued my northward trek up the western side of the Strip and ended up at the Mirage. I had been hoping to catch Siegfried and Roy’s show there, but I’d managed to pick the weekend that they were dark, and decided to replace it with the show I saw at Treasure Island, which ended up being my favorite anyway. I did however get a chance to see the habitats at the Mirage, and got to see many of the animals involved with the show. On the backside of the hotel they have a dual attraction they call the Dolphin Habitat and the Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy, which they charge you $10 admission for in order to tour both. At first I had somewhat of a “I’ve been to Sea World and the Zoo, this probably won’t be that interesting” attitude, but that quickly changed. The underwater viewing areas in the dolphin habitat were quite cool, the dolphins were trained to swim right up to the windows and make sounds, flap their fins, and even carry around a Frisbee to play with. The tour guide showed us video of two of the dolphin’s actual births that had taken place in that very tank. Always interesting to see the miracle of life take place in other species, watching the cute little dolphin pop out and struggle up to the surface for his first breath of air was quite adorable. After that they led us outside, and had the dolphins do a bunch of flips and tricks, such as launching a beach ball up into the crowd or spitting water all over the tour guide. Was quite fun, I’ve always loved Sea World and those types of shows, and this was no different. Afterward I headed into the Secret Garden, which was even more impressive. The animals there were the most tame I’ve ever seen, they had no problem lounging behind the glass wall just two or three feet from dozens of onlookers. Many of the animals I’d never even seen before, so it ended up being a real treat. Among the creatures were these gigantic lions, just chillin out in plain view, much unlike the ones I generally see at the zoo, who tend to be cowering in the shade or their cave and make it basically impossible to get a decent view or picture. The whole garden was in the shade basically, and all the animals seemed right at home in front of people. The snow white tigers were equally cool, their ice blue eyes seemed to always be staring back at me, it was almost as if they were big kittens. There was also a gigantic Asian elephant bathing itself in a large pool, and a black panther stalking the grounds in another area. One of those times I would have liked to have had a camera, but alas. I hung out in there for quite a while, not too often I’m just chillin out on a park bench next to a huge Bengal tiger, or a gigantic elephant. Riding one of those is on my life to do list, gotta get around to that at some point. :)
Next I hopped on the tram over to Treasure Island, and to my absolute delight, found a Krispy Kremes right outside the tram’s exit. Here I thought I was hundreds of miles from the nearest outlet, but no, I was able to down two original glazed in quick succession. I picked up tickets for the show I was seeing later that night, and then wandered out front to the area in front of the casino where the Pirate Battle is peformed on a nightly basis. Unfortunately as luck would have it, due to high winds that one was cancelled as well. I guess this just leaves me various things to do the next time I return. :) I ended up enjoying the buffet instead, stuffing myself on a little of everything, for a mere $13.99, much better than the similar fares offered at prices closer to $22.95 at other hotels. I basically had one big meal each of the days I was there, surviving the rest of the day with random smoothies or stops at Haagen Daz (can’t say I know how to spell it, that’s a guess) for some of the world’s yummiest ice cream. Killed time with some machines while I waited for the show I had picked up tickets for, and had some pretty amazing luck on The Big Cheese machine there, getting the three 7’s in a row, which on that one pays you $25.00 and then multiplies it by a number between 2 and 25 that gets selected from a wheel. At the Chumash casino here I’d gotten the 7’s two other times and gotten the 25x and the 10x, the two highest values, paying a total of around $900 combined, but unfortunately there I managed to only get the 2x, turning a huge payout into still a decent one, but much smaller. That’s basically why I was even for the trip, I had several opportunities where I had great odds of getting a huge payout because I only needed one spin or one more card, but alas, it became a big fish story as they generally do. :)
After a quick stint at the Blackjack tables where I was of course in a hurry and thus ended up tripling my money very quickly, I hopped on over to Mystere, the Cirque Du Soleil show performed at the Treasure Island. I pronounced the name of it wrong for most of the weekend, it turns out its “misstear” rather than the “mystery” and “missteeeeer” that I’d been butchering it as. Luckily I got there early, because soon after I arrived a guy who eventually became part of the show began posing as an usher, and leading people on wild goose chases around the theater pretending to be leading them to their seats. One unlucky couple’s tickets got pulled up to the ceiling on a string, and shredded into a thousand pieces, another elderly couple was ejected from their seats in the front row nearby me so that an African-American couple could have those prime seats, in order to secure “proper representation” in the audience. It was all in good fun, popcorn and champagne ended up being sprayed in various directions, and the audience had a good laugh before the show began.
The show itself ended up my favorite part of the vacation, it was utterly amazing. Some of the most simple looking acts became the most astounding. One example was these two amazingly buff guys, who just did this ten minute or so set of strength poses, the easiest of which was one guy standing vertically with his arms over his head, and the other guy doing a handstand on his hands inverted, basically forming a two person tower. I say “easy” sacrasticly, of course. There were several minute sections where the upper guy would hold a pose like this, while the lower guy maneuvered in insane ways, with impressive feats of strength and balance. Some of the poses just left me with my mouth gaping open, in disbelief that someone could possibly be that strong and be able to hold that kind of position. The most amazing one in my mind was when the lower guy laid on his stomach, but with his heels in the air thus forming his legs into an L shape. The upper guy balanced on his hands as usual vertically, but holding on to the lower guy's feet. The lower guy then proceeded to excruciatingly slowly lower his feet, until his entire body was horizontal, basically supporting the entire weight of the upper guy on his calves as he did so. As if that wasn’t insane enough, he then let out a grunt and began to slowly raise his legs again, again lifting the entire weight of the upper guy with solely his calves, as they bulged and appeared about to explode. The crowd went nuts with amazement, and when the two guys finally relaxed and just stood side by side in their final pose flexing, they got a standing ovation. I’ve always said there are buff guys, and then there’s people who work at Cirque Du Soleil. There are amazingly built guys, and then there are Cirque Du Soleil performers. They’re great at what they do, and it impresses me every time I see it. One thing did happen however that I had never seen at a Cirque Du Soleil show, and that was the fact that they screwed up a stunt. You know they’re going to do something difficult when they lock themselves into a bungee cord or safety mechanism, because of all the insane things they do with no net, you know if they require an extra level of safety that the stunt must be especially difficult. This particular one involved a seesaw type mechanism in the middle of the stage onto which they were having pairs of people leap, launching someone on the other end high into the air into a somersaulting twisting thing and eventually landing someplace far far away. Near the end of this section they moved a three person tower of people standing on each other’s shoulders into position, as a young woman strapped herself into a safety mechanism and positioned herself on the end of the seesaw. Off went a pair of guys, launching her into a double somersault and then an attempt to land on the tower, and she basically just missed. She landed shakily, causing the whole tower to wobble and eventually collapse. The whole crowd gasped as she fell, but the cord caught her and she was gently lowered to the stage. “What are they gonna do now?” was the thought running through my head, but to my amazement, the live band playing the soundtrack just continued playing the same measure for several seconds, the same rhythm, and nearly before you could tell what had happened, they were back into the same position for the previous stunt, the pair slammed the board down, up she flew, and she nailed the landing. The awesome thing about the front row is not only could I see the disappointment on the faces of the performers when they screwed up the stunt, but I could see the utter joy and excitement when they nailed it the second time. The crowd just went crazy. Many people stood up, the rest just cheered and whistled, basically the loudest I heard a crowd during the entire trip. The music for this show was quite fitting, the rhythms and strong bass with crescendos during the climax of the different stunts was icing on the cake to go along with the great performance. The entire stage was made up of many platforms that raised and lowered, leading to some cool effects involving fog, and people flying in and out of pits, and disappearing into holes that didn’t appear to be there in the first place. I didn’t look at my watch once, and the hundred minute or so show seemed shorter than it really was. At the end the entire cast came out and took off their masks, standing all around the edges of the stage, literally three feet from me. I felt like a teeny bopper near her favorite pop star, I was so excited. The standing ovation was inevitable, the performer’s huge grins showed they were affected by the audience’s shameless display of their appreciation for the incredible performance. To describe all the amazing things they did though, and the hilarity of the clowns during the interludes, would take a lot longer than I’m willing to devote to it, and ruin the fun for those planning to see the show for themselves. At $88 it isn’t the cheapest thing in the world, but I felt it was money well spent. If you’re only going to see one major show in Vegas and you’re pondering the ones I saw, make it this one.
Crazily enough, that was only the first of two shows on my agenda for the evening. I ended up screwing up the timing, thinking the second one at the Bellagio was at 10pm, when it turned out it was at 10:30. So here I am basically jogging between the Treasure Island and the Bellagio around 9:20 thinking they’re going to be seating at 9:30, when really I had an extra half hour. The casinos look like they’re pretty close together, but it’s a pretty decent distance if you’re hoofin it. I ended up there in plenty of time, and ended up making small talk in the little lobby area outside the theater doors, wandering around pretending to be someone who’d just inherited millions, or something. Just about everyone there was decked out, golden jewelry abounded, as did large security guys for some individuals. I didn’t recognize anyone, but it was clear that this wasn’t a poor man’s show. At $121 a pop, it had been a tough decision for me as to whether it was worth it, but given the multitude of reviews making it the highest rated show in Vegas, I decided to see what all the hubbub was about. After the quick walk/jog from Treasure Island I was quite thirsty, so I waltzed on over to the bar and asked if they charged for water. “Would you like some bottled water Sir?” was the reply, as he displayed about a sixteen ounce bottle or so. “Sure” I said, pulling out a buck, “How much?” “That’ll be $4.10, Sir.” I wasn’t able to hide my disgust, as I pointed out the soft drinks (poured into a much larger glass) were a mere $3.50. “This is really good water” the bartender replied curtly. Let me go on record saying that it didn’t taste any different than tap water around here. The Bellagio label is apparently pretty expensive to make, or something. Hmph. Worse yet was the fact that they were trying to sell programs for $8 or something. You’d think paying $121 to get in you’d get a program and a glass of water. Sheesh, the amount of money some people are willing to spend without blinking is just pathetic. I’m really not a fan of people buying $300,000 cars they don’t drive, or $10,000,000 houses with rooms they’ve never been in. That’s just living in excess, and I don’t think it’s necessary. I know I’m lucky to be able to afford this kind of trip, a trip many people only dream about, and I appreciate that fact. That doesn’t mean I take advantage of it on a regular basis. Anyway, eventually I got into the theater, and quite the gigantic and lavish theater it was. Unfortunately this was the one show I wasn’t able to secure front row seats to, as it sells out generally a month in advance and I was only able to yoink a seat in the upper orchestra. This didn’t turn out too bad, as much of the action was in the back part of the stage and below the surface of the water, and it was more clearly seen from the height I was at. If you have a choice though, I’d recommend a seat in the lower orchestra a few rows back, so you can clearly see the performer’s facial expressions, and yet are still able to see both the action right in front of you, at the back of the stage, and up in the rafters. The focal point of this show entitled O, was the fact that a gigantic circular section of the stage was made up of several hydraulic platforms, which when lowered revealed a pool that rose to the height of the surrounding stage. This allowed for some neat effects, at times people would be diving from great heights into the water, at others they’d raise the platforms to just below the surface, so when a performer ran across and you expected him to fall into the water, it would give the appearance that he was walking ON the water. The performance was very elaborate and clearly expensive, with many of the same types of stunts as the show I’d previously seen. The addition of water to the mix created new possibilities, but overall, I just wasn’t as impressed by O as I was by Mystere. Its possible this was because I’d just seen the other one immediately previous and was just blown away, and it's also possible I was bitter about this one being so much more expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the show was good, it just wasn’t astounding or anything. I much preferred the intimate atmosphere of Mystere, with the audience basically surrounding the stage and the action taking place all around you and above you, than the O theater that was basically designed to cram as many $121 paying customers into one space, even if they’re basically segregated from the performance itself. The theater for O was beautiful, as were some of the effects and the costumes, but it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. I guess living up to being the “highest rated show in Vegas” is hard to do. I didn’t regret the ticket purchase, I’m glad I saw it once, but I wouldn’t pay that much to see it again.
After the show I wandered out to the taxi pickup, and the line was about sixty people long, so I decided to go waste some time at the Blackjack tables. This ended up making me a decent amount of cash, and after a quick few machines I decided to check the line again. My eyes sometimes give me problems when a lot of bright light is involved, so I’ve been known to don shades even in the evenings when in areas of bright lighting. Yeah, I’m weird, sue me. So anyway, out I come in my long sleeve silk shirt, slacks, and shades, pausing outside the revolving door as I survey the fact that the line still has about thirty people in it. “Excuse me Sir, can I help you?” asked the suited worker running the line. “Yes, I was planning to take a taxi to…” “Right this way Sir” he interrupted, waving me towards the area in front of the line. Confused I stepped forward, as he let out a whistle towards a waiting cab in a different area than the huge line of others waiting to pick up passengers in the line. Within seconds I was in, and being whisked away to my next destination. I’m still not sure what it was that allowed me to cut the line, and I felt bad. Well, for a few seconds anyway. :) Apparently my attempts to look regal succeed at times. Made me feel pretty cool.
Eventually, back to the hotel I went, utterly satisfied with the day and all its glory. And alas, although this would be my final night in Vegas, I had one more day of fun on the way. I mean come on, I hadn’t even ridden a roller coaster at that point. :)
Monday, May 13, 2002
Las Vegas, Day One.
The following is a description of the exploits of a certain twenty one year old individual during his hiatus from his university during which he made the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada for a period of three days in which he had one of the most enjoyable weekends of his life. Friday’s description follows, the next two installments will come later.
Disclaimer: There is the possibility that certain aspects of the trip will not be brought to light here, for reasons that will not be disclosed. For the most part, it's just to allow the reader to wonder about what aspects those might be, and why they will not be disclosed. I have no doubt that due to length the majority of the people who read this will be skimming for interesting portions, but I’m doing this more for myself so years down the road I can look back and read about how much fun I had. :)
Literally feels like two weeks ago that I was driving down Highway 1 last Thursday night on my way home for the trip, I vaguely remember singing very loudly to whatever was on the radio or the various tapes in my car from the 80s… (I have no cd player, and the last time cassette tapes were around was basically the 80s) That section of the trip was relatively uneventful, ended up going to bed early and getting up early, sailing over to the airport in basically no traffic and discovering the lines for security and whatnot were actually not as long as expected, and ending up with an hour or so to kill before boarding. The one hangup was when I discovered I’d forgotten to take my swiss army knife off my keychain, this poses a problem given the level of security and the fact that anything even resembling a sharp object cannot be carried on. I only had my one duffle, and although it wasn’t dinky I was carrying it on, so I figured if they caught me I’d just have it checked, no biggy. I was pretty sure they’d noticed the knife when they pulled my bag off the conveyor belt and held everything up while they sent it through again, and had my speech about “Oops I forgot” all ready, but eventually they said “You’re clear Sir” and waved me on. Go figure, you can’t take box cutters or portable drill sets on board planes, but a large bladed knife can be taken on by any Joe Schmoe. I was sure I had it made until I got to the gate and noticed that they now have a section set aside to random security checks as you hand them your ticket, the whole “Terrorist for a Day” process in which they go through every nook and cranny of your bag, checking cameras, pagers, and cell phones for function, and doing basically everything short of a strip search to try to find something bad. For some reason, although the people in front and behind me got “lucky” and were chosen for a search, I got waved right onto the plane. Works for me.
The flight over was also relatively uneventful, I had a window seat as usual and spent most of the time either staring out of it or flipping through the SkyMall magazine gasping at how expensive the most retarded items were… Anyone for a seven hundred dollar ear hair trimmer? :/ Upon disembarking I was welcomed by the sight of the first slot machines I’d ever seen in an airport, it makes sense though, what else are you supposed to do if your flight gets delayed. Popped in a buck, on the last hand got a four card straight flush dealt, didn’t come through though. :/ The shuttle trip to the Stratosphere where I was staying consisted mostly of me staring out the window at the huge hotels, signs, and everything that is the Strip in Vegas. Now I’m a city boy, spending most of my life in Los Angeles, so the thought of big buildings isn’t a strange one, but I felt like a kid in a candy store, a country boy who had never been to the big city before, clawing the window, eager to get out and enjoy the scenery. Eventually I made it over to the Stratosphere, which happened to be the last stop for the shuttle out of about ten hotels. I didn’t mind too much, got to learn my way around and see a lot of the places I’d be visiting and how to get to them, and the driver was friendly. That’s one thing that was very enjoyable about the trip, nothing but very friendly drivers when it came to taxis and so forth. I heard one horn honked the entire trip, and that was because some car with Virginia plates blatantly cut off the taxi I was in and almost caused an accident. Other than that, it was nothing like L.A. or NYC, everyone seemed cheerful, letting each other into and out of the right turn only lane, waving their thanks, and going on their way. Going to be using a lot of “anyways” due to the fact I foresee myself interrupting myself very often to tell side stories. It happens in real life too, it really sucks when I can’t remember what I was originally talking about.
ANYWAY.
So I arrive at the hotel and try to check in, only to find out the computer is down. Its about noon, and they tell me to try back in an hour or so, so I check my bags and ponder what to do with my time. Well I didn’t really ponder too long, given I was standing in the middle of a casino. I won’t go into detail about all my gambling experiences, basically had absolutely loads of fun, and ended up close to even on the trip, quite a feat given the fact that I was in Vegas for three days, and they’re notorious for robbing people blind. Played just about anything and everything at some point on the trip, the majority going into my favorite types of big money machines, and another large portion to tables, be it Blackjack or Let it Ride, along with some other random stuff here and there. I was keeping track on paper all the money that was going into machines and onto tables, and everything that was coming out, so I always knew where I stood, and what was paying and what wasn’t. The big winner machine wise was one called Razzle Dazzle, a really fun but rather expensive one that seemed to pay much more often than not. It’s a quarter slot and to make the big money you have to play all five lines, so at $1.25 a pop its not for your typical nickel player. It seems to pay at least your money back at least 50% of the time, and thus lasts a lot longer than your typical slot. However if you get the word Spin anywhere on the third reel, not JUST on the payline like the majority of your money yoinking slots, it spins a second wheel and pops out a number from ten to fifty, multiplying that by your bet (most likely five) and spitting out that many credits. There’s also a Razzle Dazzle symbol on that wheel, which if you manage to hit pays eight hundred times your bet, which for those math whizzes is four thousand credits, or a cool grand. I never hit it, but I got the 50x a few times, and ended up making almost two hundred bucks on that machine overall. So for those of you gambling phenoms out there, I recommend it.
It was actually quite strange, whenever I was going to be in the casino for a while and was trying to win so my money would last longer, I’d usually lose. Whenever I had like an 11:30pm dinner reservation and absolutely HAD to be at the taxis in like five minutes, and just randomly put a five or ten in a Razzle Dazzle machine on the way out, I win like seventy bucks and have to go cash it, then find another one and do it again, and end up almost late for whatever I was going to, although with much heavier pockets. The “Hurry Up And Win” strategy ended up making me more money than anything else, go figure. The one frustrating thing about Vegas when compared to the Indian casino here is that nothing is computerized and prints tickets, they all just pop out buckets and buckets of nickels or quarters you have to collect. Thus every time you win you have to go stand in the line to get bills again since you can’t carry more than one bucket without leaving one someplace accidentally or getting it jacked. It’s much easier to just collect tickets and bring them all at once to exchange for bills, without ever having to worry about dropping a random nickel and ending up with $19.95 or some lame total. Anyway rant over.
So eventually I get checked in, was a bit disappointed to be facing the downtown area of Vegas rather than the Strip, but I got over it since I was on the 23rd floor out of 25 or so, and thus could see quite the beautiful view out the window. The room wasn’t extravagant or anything, but I’m not too picky when it comes to such things, if it serves my purposes then it does fine in my book. Eventually I got spiffed up in my nice clothes and headed toward the south end of the strip, itinerary in hand. Yes I’m obsessed about these types of things, I like doing the maximum amount of stuff in the minimum amount of time. I’m not a tightwad though, well I am at times, but I’m also capable of going to a theme park with someone who isn’t quite so gung ho, and just wandering around doing whatever. When given the choice though, I’d rather have the most fun possible. :) The first thing on my list was picking up tickets for the show I was seeing that night at the New York New York, and then checking out the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay, which was quite cool. I’d never seen a golden alligator before (there’s only like twenty in the world or something), and at one point you’re in a glass tunnel with gigantic sharks swimming above, below, and all around you. The windows were floor to ceiling in many sections, and at times the sharks would swim right up to them, to the point you could see every row of teeth when they party opened their mouths to grin at you. I was glad there was glass there, anyway. At $14.95 it was quite expensive though, there were cheaper exhibits at other hotels of different kinds of animals and wildlife that were just as good.
I’m going to be including prices along with my personal opinions on the different attractions and stuff I did, just so those planning trips themselves can decide whether its worth it or not and make decisions about what to see and what not to. Its going to seem like I spent a truckload of money, and basically I did, but this was literally a once in a lifetime experience for my 21st birthday, and to me worth every penny.
After the Mandalay Bay I took the tram over to the Luxor, the pyramid shaped casino with the huge spotlight shining over the top each night visible from miles away. The tram station led right out under the huge Sphinx, was a pretty neat effect. One thing I didn’t do during my trip was take any pictures, I figured since I was by myself there wasn’t really any point, and the different sights would live on better in my memory. If I ever go back with family or friends I’ll be sure to be hammering away at the shutter button though. :) My plan was to see Beauty and the Beast at the IMAX theater there, but it turned out the last showing of it had been the day before, and had been replaced with a different film. I was bummed, that was one of the only Disney movies we didn’t have on VHS back in the day, so I’d only seen it once or twice, and I’d never been to an IMAX theater and wanted to see what forty thousand watts of sound or what not sounded like. :) It turned out okay though, I ended up spending some of the extra time hitting up the casino downstairs, and finding a machine called Little Green Men much like the ones at the Chumash casino here, but with notable positive differences such as the bonus lines working right to left as well as left to right, and payment amounts being higher. Mobbed those machines of fifty bucks or so, and the Luxor was where I first discovered the Razzle Dazzle machine, taking fifty bucks off it too on the way out over to the New York New York.
It was there that I’d managed to snag front row seats to Lord of the Dance at 9pm, a show just about everyone has heard of as being Michael Flatley’s personal spinoff of Riverdance, the wildly successful Broadway show that originated in Ireland, and is based on traditional Irish dancing, most notably their style of tap. Now I’ll admit this type of show isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always been amazed by that type of dancing, where their feet move at a mile a minute and the clicking seems almost continuous at times. The performance was similar to the original one starring Flatley in Ireland, but of course had different performers in the starring roles, all of which were just as talented if not even more so. There were also some different scenes and variations on the theme, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The two fiddlers were very cool, they came down off the stage and were chatting with the front row, smiling away as their bows moved like the wind. The sound system in there seemed incredible, possibly because I was close to the speakers, but whenever the bass boomed you could literally feel your seat vibrating, and your heart vibrating in your chest. Was almost like that one scene in Jurassic Park where they realize the T-Rex is coming from a distance. My favorite part of the show as most people would agree was when the entire cast lined up at the end and hammered away right on the front of the stage, speeding up continuously until the ending crescendo. The audience went crazy, and enough people were yelling encore that they redid the final sequence one more time, with the audience on their feet clapping along in time. The energy in the room was great, I ended up whistling the main theme for the rest of the night.
I walked next door to the Monte Carlo and this is where the “Hurry Up and Win” strategy became most apparent, as I needed to catch a taxi to my 11:30pm dinner reservation and see if “the one” was waiting there for me. It was about 10:45 when I walked in, and what can I say, every time I tried to pop one more bill in and leave it multiplied, reproduced, had grandkids, and continued to make me rich. It was unfortunate, as there were about ten Razzle Dazzle machines there, and I only managed to rob four or so for mad cash before I literally HAD to jog towards the lobby. That was the most of those machines at any casino, so if you’re wanting the big bucks, head there. :) Eventually I did make it to the taxi though, and he took the freeway route and got me to the Stratosphere with five minutes to spare. Its quite a walk from the lower casino to the tower elevators, as you have to walk through this meandering path of about a hundred shops and tourist traps, as they try to weasel as much money out of you as possible while you’re there.
The service I received during the entire dining experience while at the Top of the World rotating restaurant atop the Stratosphere absolutely astounding. There’s a private podium downstairs where they check you in, and once your name matches a reservation you’re whisked up an escalator to a private elevator. The elevators in the Stratosphere tower are double decker, with television monitors in them showing you the interior of the one immediately above and below you. It was just myself and the worker in mine, while the one heading for the observation deck below us was crammed with like fifteen people. I giggled. At the top I made a quick stop in the restroom to make sure I was as spiff as could be, and made my way out to the area to make my appearance known. After fielding the “Um, is anyone else going to be dining with you?” question, and realizing that alas, my call to the world had gone unanswered, the young woman led me to my table. It was during this walk that I must have looked like an absolute idiot, due to the fact that as I came around the corner I finally noticed the view, and stopped in mid stride with my mouth gaping open. The height of the restaurant is about a thousand feet off the strip, and you can see just about all of Vegas from up there. The colorful hotels and signs of the strip lit up like a Christmas tree, and it was quite clear how the restaurant coined its name. Eventually I recovered enough to chase down the woman and arrive at my table, which luckily was right on the edge of the room, literally a foot from the window and the thousand foot gap to the ground outside. The entire area the tables are on rotates completely around about once an hour, so its almost unnoticeable unless you stare at one spot enough. The inner area where you entered and where the kitchen is at remains stationary as does the outer windows, but during the course of the meal you end up getting to see Las Vegas in every conceivable direction, at a height high enough you can basically see the curvature of the earth at the horizon. My waiter was possibly the most ideal waiter you could possibly ask for, I’ve never felt more like royalty than I did during the meal. I knew it was going to be quite the experience when he asked me if “regular” water would be okay for the evening. I was starving having not eaten much of anything all day, knowing I was going to have possibly the most exquisite meal ever that night. I’m grateful I was, because I ended up stuffing myself to the brim. The foods all had really long names and are really hard to describe, the kind that the presentation is almost as important as the taste, and you don’t even want to eat them because they look so pretty. :) The appetizer was jumbo shrimp scampi in like a cream sauce, with these weird triangle shaped pastry things sandwiching them, by far the best shrimp I’ve ever had. For the main entrée I ended up enjoying a type of sea bass which is basically indescribable, it was in this delicious sauce and garnished with yummy spices. Okay this is lame, I can’t think of good enough adjectives to describe the food. I feel like I’ve used the word amazing like eight hundred times. I guess I’ll just say the taste of the dinner as a whole was utterly FABULOUS. Dessert was this ice cream apple tart creamy pastry thing that was not only huge, but utterly beautiful. Yet another time a camera would have been great, because the creation ended up way, way, down in the bottom of my stomach. Well actually the top, since the rest of the meal had filled up the rest. I ended up sticking around a while even after I was done eating, just to stare at the view and daydream. The nice thing about the restaurant is they let you ride the elevator up to the indoor and outdoor observation decks free of charge, when the general public pays eight bucks or so. It was pretty deserted up there, as it was around 1am and very windy. I circled the outdoor deck at least three times, enjoying the feeling of being on top of the world staring out at a gigantic city of lights. There are only a few views that I feel can compare to that one, including the one from the top of Mt. Whitney, and the view that could formerly be seen from the top of the World Trade Center. The feeling of the wind in your face, your shirt flapping away, as you stretch your arms out and pretend to fly, is something any little kid (and some big ones) will always enjoy.
Eventually I reluctantly stepped back into the elevator for the return trip, and after a quick stint at the tables, padded off to bed after the most satisfying evening in quite some time. Alas, this was only the end of the first day however, and I had two more to go.
The following is a description of the exploits of a certain twenty one year old individual during his hiatus from his university during which he made the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada for a period of three days in which he had one of the most enjoyable weekends of his life. Friday’s description follows, the next two installments will come later.
Disclaimer: There is the possibility that certain aspects of the trip will not be brought to light here, for reasons that will not be disclosed. For the most part, it's just to allow the reader to wonder about what aspects those might be, and why they will not be disclosed. I have no doubt that due to length the majority of the people who read this will be skimming for interesting portions, but I’m doing this more for myself so years down the road I can look back and read about how much fun I had. :)
Literally feels like two weeks ago that I was driving down Highway 1 last Thursday night on my way home for the trip, I vaguely remember singing very loudly to whatever was on the radio or the various tapes in my car from the 80s… (I have no cd player, and the last time cassette tapes were around was basically the 80s) That section of the trip was relatively uneventful, ended up going to bed early and getting up early, sailing over to the airport in basically no traffic and discovering the lines for security and whatnot were actually not as long as expected, and ending up with an hour or so to kill before boarding. The one hangup was when I discovered I’d forgotten to take my swiss army knife off my keychain, this poses a problem given the level of security and the fact that anything even resembling a sharp object cannot be carried on. I only had my one duffle, and although it wasn’t dinky I was carrying it on, so I figured if they caught me I’d just have it checked, no biggy. I was pretty sure they’d noticed the knife when they pulled my bag off the conveyor belt and held everything up while they sent it through again, and had my speech about “Oops I forgot” all ready, but eventually they said “You’re clear Sir” and waved me on. Go figure, you can’t take box cutters or portable drill sets on board planes, but a large bladed knife can be taken on by any Joe Schmoe. I was sure I had it made until I got to the gate and noticed that they now have a section set aside to random security checks as you hand them your ticket, the whole “Terrorist for a Day” process in which they go through every nook and cranny of your bag, checking cameras, pagers, and cell phones for function, and doing basically everything short of a strip search to try to find something bad. For some reason, although the people in front and behind me got “lucky” and were chosen for a search, I got waved right onto the plane. Works for me.
The flight over was also relatively uneventful, I had a window seat as usual and spent most of the time either staring out of it or flipping through the SkyMall magazine gasping at how expensive the most retarded items were… Anyone for a seven hundred dollar ear hair trimmer? :/ Upon disembarking I was welcomed by the sight of the first slot machines I’d ever seen in an airport, it makes sense though, what else are you supposed to do if your flight gets delayed. Popped in a buck, on the last hand got a four card straight flush dealt, didn’t come through though. :/ The shuttle trip to the Stratosphere where I was staying consisted mostly of me staring out the window at the huge hotels, signs, and everything that is the Strip in Vegas. Now I’m a city boy, spending most of my life in Los Angeles, so the thought of big buildings isn’t a strange one, but I felt like a kid in a candy store, a country boy who had never been to the big city before, clawing the window, eager to get out and enjoy the scenery. Eventually I made it over to the Stratosphere, which happened to be the last stop for the shuttle out of about ten hotels. I didn’t mind too much, got to learn my way around and see a lot of the places I’d be visiting and how to get to them, and the driver was friendly. That’s one thing that was very enjoyable about the trip, nothing but very friendly drivers when it came to taxis and so forth. I heard one horn honked the entire trip, and that was because some car with Virginia plates blatantly cut off the taxi I was in and almost caused an accident. Other than that, it was nothing like L.A. or NYC, everyone seemed cheerful, letting each other into and out of the right turn only lane, waving their thanks, and going on their way. Going to be using a lot of “anyways” due to the fact I foresee myself interrupting myself very often to tell side stories. It happens in real life too, it really sucks when I can’t remember what I was originally talking about.
ANYWAY.
So I arrive at the hotel and try to check in, only to find out the computer is down. Its about noon, and they tell me to try back in an hour or so, so I check my bags and ponder what to do with my time. Well I didn’t really ponder too long, given I was standing in the middle of a casino. I won’t go into detail about all my gambling experiences, basically had absolutely loads of fun, and ended up close to even on the trip, quite a feat given the fact that I was in Vegas for three days, and they’re notorious for robbing people blind. Played just about anything and everything at some point on the trip, the majority going into my favorite types of big money machines, and another large portion to tables, be it Blackjack or Let it Ride, along with some other random stuff here and there. I was keeping track on paper all the money that was going into machines and onto tables, and everything that was coming out, so I always knew where I stood, and what was paying and what wasn’t. The big winner machine wise was one called Razzle Dazzle, a really fun but rather expensive one that seemed to pay much more often than not. It’s a quarter slot and to make the big money you have to play all five lines, so at $1.25 a pop its not for your typical nickel player. It seems to pay at least your money back at least 50% of the time, and thus lasts a lot longer than your typical slot. However if you get the word Spin anywhere on the third reel, not JUST on the payline like the majority of your money yoinking slots, it spins a second wheel and pops out a number from ten to fifty, multiplying that by your bet (most likely five) and spitting out that many credits. There’s also a Razzle Dazzle symbol on that wheel, which if you manage to hit pays eight hundred times your bet, which for those math whizzes is four thousand credits, or a cool grand. I never hit it, but I got the 50x a few times, and ended up making almost two hundred bucks on that machine overall. So for those of you gambling phenoms out there, I recommend it.
It was actually quite strange, whenever I was going to be in the casino for a while and was trying to win so my money would last longer, I’d usually lose. Whenever I had like an 11:30pm dinner reservation and absolutely HAD to be at the taxis in like five minutes, and just randomly put a five or ten in a Razzle Dazzle machine on the way out, I win like seventy bucks and have to go cash it, then find another one and do it again, and end up almost late for whatever I was going to, although with much heavier pockets. The “Hurry Up And Win” strategy ended up making me more money than anything else, go figure. The one frustrating thing about Vegas when compared to the Indian casino here is that nothing is computerized and prints tickets, they all just pop out buckets and buckets of nickels or quarters you have to collect. Thus every time you win you have to go stand in the line to get bills again since you can’t carry more than one bucket without leaving one someplace accidentally or getting it jacked. It’s much easier to just collect tickets and bring them all at once to exchange for bills, without ever having to worry about dropping a random nickel and ending up with $19.95 or some lame total. Anyway rant over.
So eventually I get checked in, was a bit disappointed to be facing the downtown area of Vegas rather than the Strip, but I got over it since I was on the 23rd floor out of 25 or so, and thus could see quite the beautiful view out the window. The room wasn’t extravagant or anything, but I’m not too picky when it comes to such things, if it serves my purposes then it does fine in my book. Eventually I got spiffed up in my nice clothes and headed toward the south end of the strip, itinerary in hand. Yes I’m obsessed about these types of things, I like doing the maximum amount of stuff in the minimum amount of time. I’m not a tightwad though, well I am at times, but I’m also capable of going to a theme park with someone who isn’t quite so gung ho, and just wandering around doing whatever. When given the choice though, I’d rather have the most fun possible. :) The first thing on my list was picking up tickets for the show I was seeing that night at the New York New York, and then checking out the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay, which was quite cool. I’d never seen a golden alligator before (there’s only like twenty in the world or something), and at one point you’re in a glass tunnel with gigantic sharks swimming above, below, and all around you. The windows were floor to ceiling in many sections, and at times the sharks would swim right up to them, to the point you could see every row of teeth when they party opened their mouths to grin at you. I was glad there was glass there, anyway. At $14.95 it was quite expensive though, there were cheaper exhibits at other hotels of different kinds of animals and wildlife that were just as good.
I’m going to be including prices along with my personal opinions on the different attractions and stuff I did, just so those planning trips themselves can decide whether its worth it or not and make decisions about what to see and what not to. Its going to seem like I spent a truckload of money, and basically I did, but this was literally a once in a lifetime experience for my 21st birthday, and to me worth every penny.
After the Mandalay Bay I took the tram over to the Luxor, the pyramid shaped casino with the huge spotlight shining over the top each night visible from miles away. The tram station led right out under the huge Sphinx, was a pretty neat effect. One thing I didn’t do during my trip was take any pictures, I figured since I was by myself there wasn’t really any point, and the different sights would live on better in my memory. If I ever go back with family or friends I’ll be sure to be hammering away at the shutter button though. :) My plan was to see Beauty and the Beast at the IMAX theater there, but it turned out the last showing of it had been the day before, and had been replaced with a different film. I was bummed, that was one of the only Disney movies we didn’t have on VHS back in the day, so I’d only seen it once or twice, and I’d never been to an IMAX theater and wanted to see what forty thousand watts of sound or what not sounded like. :) It turned out okay though, I ended up spending some of the extra time hitting up the casino downstairs, and finding a machine called Little Green Men much like the ones at the Chumash casino here, but with notable positive differences such as the bonus lines working right to left as well as left to right, and payment amounts being higher. Mobbed those machines of fifty bucks or so, and the Luxor was where I first discovered the Razzle Dazzle machine, taking fifty bucks off it too on the way out over to the New York New York.
It was there that I’d managed to snag front row seats to Lord of the Dance at 9pm, a show just about everyone has heard of as being Michael Flatley’s personal spinoff of Riverdance, the wildly successful Broadway show that originated in Ireland, and is based on traditional Irish dancing, most notably their style of tap. Now I’ll admit this type of show isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always been amazed by that type of dancing, where their feet move at a mile a minute and the clicking seems almost continuous at times. The performance was similar to the original one starring Flatley in Ireland, but of course had different performers in the starring roles, all of which were just as talented if not even more so. There were also some different scenes and variations on the theme, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The two fiddlers were very cool, they came down off the stage and were chatting with the front row, smiling away as their bows moved like the wind. The sound system in there seemed incredible, possibly because I was close to the speakers, but whenever the bass boomed you could literally feel your seat vibrating, and your heart vibrating in your chest. Was almost like that one scene in Jurassic Park where they realize the T-Rex is coming from a distance. My favorite part of the show as most people would agree was when the entire cast lined up at the end and hammered away right on the front of the stage, speeding up continuously until the ending crescendo. The audience went crazy, and enough people were yelling encore that they redid the final sequence one more time, with the audience on their feet clapping along in time. The energy in the room was great, I ended up whistling the main theme for the rest of the night.
I walked next door to the Monte Carlo and this is where the “Hurry Up and Win” strategy became most apparent, as I needed to catch a taxi to my 11:30pm dinner reservation and see if “the one” was waiting there for me. It was about 10:45 when I walked in, and what can I say, every time I tried to pop one more bill in and leave it multiplied, reproduced, had grandkids, and continued to make me rich. It was unfortunate, as there were about ten Razzle Dazzle machines there, and I only managed to rob four or so for mad cash before I literally HAD to jog towards the lobby. That was the most of those machines at any casino, so if you’re wanting the big bucks, head there. :) Eventually I did make it to the taxi though, and he took the freeway route and got me to the Stratosphere with five minutes to spare. Its quite a walk from the lower casino to the tower elevators, as you have to walk through this meandering path of about a hundred shops and tourist traps, as they try to weasel as much money out of you as possible while you’re there.
The service I received during the entire dining experience while at the Top of the World rotating restaurant atop the Stratosphere absolutely astounding. There’s a private podium downstairs where they check you in, and once your name matches a reservation you’re whisked up an escalator to a private elevator. The elevators in the Stratosphere tower are double decker, with television monitors in them showing you the interior of the one immediately above and below you. It was just myself and the worker in mine, while the one heading for the observation deck below us was crammed with like fifteen people. I giggled. At the top I made a quick stop in the restroom to make sure I was as spiff as could be, and made my way out to the area to make my appearance known. After fielding the “Um, is anyone else going to be dining with you?” question, and realizing that alas, my call to the world had gone unanswered, the young woman led me to my table. It was during this walk that I must have looked like an absolute idiot, due to the fact that as I came around the corner I finally noticed the view, and stopped in mid stride with my mouth gaping open. The height of the restaurant is about a thousand feet off the strip, and you can see just about all of Vegas from up there. The colorful hotels and signs of the strip lit up like a Christmas tree, and it was quite clear how the restaurant coined its name. Eventually I recovered enough to chase down the woman and arrive at my table, which luckily was right on the edge of the room, literally a foot from the window and the thousand foot gap to the ground outside. The entire area the tables are on rotates completely around about once an hour, so its almost unnoticeable unless you stare at one spot enough. The inner area where you entered and where the kitchen is at remains stationary as does the outer windows, but during the course of the meal you end up getting to see Las Vegas in every conceivable direction, at a height high enough you can basically see the curvature of the earth at the horizon. My waiter was possibly the most ideal waiter you could possibly ask for, I’ve never felt more like royalty than I did during the meal. I knew it was going to be quite the experience when he asked me if “regular” water would be okay for the evening. I was starving having not eaten much of anything all day, knowing I was going to have possibly the most exquisite meal ever that night. I’m grateful I was, because I ended up stuffing myself to the brim. The foods all had really long names and are really hard to describe, the kind that the presentation is almost as important as the taste, and you don’t even want to eat them because they look so pretty. :) The appetizer was jumbo shrimp scampi in like a cream sauce, with these weird triangle shaped pastry things sandwiching them, by far the best shrimp I’ve ever had. For the main entrée I ended up enjoying a type of sea bass which is basically indescribable, it was in this delicious sauce and garnished with yummy spices. Okay this is lame, I can’t think of good enough adjectives to describe the food. I feel like I’ve used the word amazing like eight hundred times. I guess I’ll just say the taste of the dinner as a whole was utterly FABULOUS. Dessert was this ice cream apple tart creamy pastry thing that was not only huge, but utterly beautiful. Yet another time a camera would have been great, because the creation ended up way, way, down in the bottom of my stomach. Well actually the top, since the rest of the meal had filled up the rest. I ended up sticking around a while even after I was done eating, just to stare at the view and daydream. The nice thing about the restaurant is they let you ride the elevator up to the indoor and outdoor observation decks free of charge, when the general public pays eight bucks or so. It was pretty deserted up there, as it was around 1am and very windy. I circled the outdoor deck at least three times, enjoying the feeling of being on top of the world staring out at a gigantic city of lights. There are only a few views that I feel can compare to that one, including the one from the top of Mt. Whitney, and the view that could formerly be seen from the top of the World Trade Center. The feeling of the wind in your face, your shirt flapping away, as you stretch your arms out and pretend to fly, is something any little kid (and some big ones) will always enjoy.
Eventually I reluctantly stepped back into the elevator for the return trip, and after a quick stint at the tables, padded off to bed after the most satisfying evening in quite some time. Alas, this was only the end of the first day however, and I had two more to go.
