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. :)