HI from Vegas

[cornerofmadness]

Well not really (since the Luxor wanted gobs to go online). I'm BACK! Here's the whole trip sans pictures (since i have to sort thru the hundreds of them). Yes it's very long since this post is for me and my memories as much as anything. Skim or dive in as you care to. Also, i'll never catch up with a week of Flisting so if I missed anything POINT ME TO IT!!!



My birthday luck held throughout the day. I learned Southwest Airlines does things weird; open seating. This leaves you standing in line for an hour unless you want a middle seat and no place to stow your luggage (I pity people trying to fly together or the older folk who can’t stand that long). The shuttle guy at the Las Vegas airport had me laughing since I made a face, thinking he was leaving me. He thought I was afraid of being left behind. I’m like ‘no, it’s hotter than the face of the sun out here, let me into the a/c. He laughed at that.

The Luxor, of course, is mondoly cool. However, I did have a bit of a problem with the room. I reserved a king bed in the pyramid and ended up with two queens in the tower (and no fridge even though I asked for it at reservation and again at check in then had to call a third time). I call down and ask why I was in the wrong room and they said, you don’t reserve rooms at the Luxor, you can only request them. Oh, that pissed me off. They should have said that when I made the reservations. I wanted the pyramid for a reason but they could only give me a smoking room the next day. Since that’s like living in an ashtray and having had so much trouble getting the fridge I decided to keep my free upgrade to the stupid tower (but I was sad I didn’t get to ride the inclinator).

That night I explored a little but since it was 2 AM my time I crashed and of course, woke up at 5 AM Vegas time. I did manage to get back to sleep for a little while then embarked on my adventure. I puttered around the Luxor for breakfast (when did a Danish and a mocha at Starbucks get to be 9$?) I asked for the trolley to go to the other casinos and the help at the Luxor tells me that it doesn’t exist (it did, the Excalibur told me where) and she finally coughs up that I must mean the monorail (I didn’t but this was better anyhow) and I have to go through the Excalibur to the Tropicana and then to the MGM.

I spend time in all three casinos. (That’s the day’s plan; just go look at the casinos)
I’m very impressed by the sheer size of the MGM. Figures the one Cirque du Soleil show that I didn’t look at online while planning the trip, happens to be at the MGM and is an Asian-themed adventure so I decide to make this the one I see.

Coughed up my 8$ for the monorail and go to Caesar’s. Oh. My. God. I’m thoroughly in love with this place. I took so many pictures (from all over, still need to go thru them since so many are too dark to use) I had an expensive (long gone are the cheap eats in Vegas let me tell you) lunch at Trevi (done up to look like the famous fountain of course). This whole area looks like a roman forum complete with blue sky and clouds that goes from night to day complete with sunsets/rises. Very cool. I also got to see the talking statues at the forum

I went from there to the Flamingo (less impressive but it’s older). I went from there to Bally’s (eh) and the Bellagio, which was stuffed with that Chihuly glass (I’ve shared his work with you all before). This was the only place that I kept getting lost in. I didn’t gamble there since it felt…odd somehow. It’s very pretty though. By the time I was done with this, it was nearly four pm and I was exhausted (since I’m still three hours ahead of this, dumb jet lag) so I headed back to the Luxor and kicked back for a half hour then headed to the pool for an hour. It’s nice. I liked the spitting ram’s heads.

I had a 30$ dinner coupon for the Fusia, an Asian themed restaurant (as I soon learned was the theme for the strip. I’m not sure I saw a casino without a half dozen Asian restaurants). I could have killed that coupon with two sushi rolls at this place. I aimed for getting the most for my money which included, Akadama plum wine (yum), macadamia nut glazed chicken with these delicious flat rice noodles and the best brown rice I’ve ever had and for dessert a trio of crème brulee including green tea with had one of those lacy sugar art toppers.

Day two proved that even though I research things, I don’t remember them. Luckily I stopped to get my dinner theatre tickets before going to get my Ka by Cirque du Soleil tickets because I had forgotten that the tournament of kings was dark on Tuesday so I ended up with primo front row tickets for Wednesday. I trundle over to get the tickets for the Ka but sadly the 9 pm show was sold out so I had to go earlier so I canceled plans for the Star Trek ride until the next day since I knew I’d be there all day and wouldn’t want to be back by six in order to get ready for the show.

I went casino hopping again. I hit Harrah’s (eh, not impressed) then the Mirage. I really liked that one and got some cool shots of the white tiger. I hit Treasure Island next, which is a very cool casino. Too bad the sinking ship show is only at night since my nights were now booked. I hiked over to the Venetian and ooooo, but I liked this one (figures my two favorites are the two most expensive ones on the strip). I would have liked to have eaten at the Tao there since it looked so pretty but I decided while I refused to cheap out on food for my birthday bash I was not going for a 30$ lunch. I did eat at Noodles Asia (I’m not sure I DID see an Italian restaurant in the Venetian which should have been a no brainer). I picked Noodles because they had congee (rice porridge) which I’ve been inflicting on characters for a while now and wanted to try. I’ve never seen Chinese restaurants that carry it until Vegas and all of them but this one were in the 50$+ range since they had abalone in them. Personally I don’t want to eat something that’s nearly endangered. It was delicious though.

I hit Madame Toussand’s wax museum. On your own, this isn’t much fun since you have to bother people for pictures but the ones I took came out nice with one exception. I didn’t realize I was having a very bad hair day (damn heat). If I had one major bitch about the Strip besides the blindingly high food prices, was that all the casino museums were overpriced. When you’re raking in tens of thousands a day, museums don’t need to be 25-50$ for entrance. MT’s was too short for it’s 25$. I did find them very fascinating though. The haunted house one was a bit of a bust since not much was used in the way of wax. It was like a mini version of Isle of Adventures Halloween haunted houses with a live-actor Freddy, Jason and Chainsaw massacre guy. We had to walk through hands on shoulder of those in front of us. An Aussie had me by the neck most of the time. Apparently they don’t grow them too brave there. I thought about the gondola ride but passed when a) found out you had to reserve it in advance b) so the over inflated price c) realized it didn’t go anywhere to warrant either a or b.

I trudged up to the Tropicana from there and on wildrider’s advice, hit Bodies. Now, I almost balked at the 30$ cover price (thankfully I found a coupon book for most of the museums) since I’ve seen dissected humans before. Hell, I’ve dissected humans myself but to see the utterly amazing dissecting skills at work was worth it. Astonishing. The polymer injections into the arterial system which had been teased out so there was nothing but full limbs and one whole body of ,not just the major vessels like cadavers I’ve worked on, but the 60,000 miles worth of capillary beds. They were like fine lace. I wish I could have gotten professional images of this for class. Even more enjoyable was watching the faces of the crowd, people without my life experiences getting to see what’s inside their own bodies for the first time.

I went home and dressed for the cirque du Soliel’s Ka performance. The storyline for this was, as mentioned earlier, Asian themed, a set of imperial twins, brother and sister who are separated when an evil archers kills their parents. Really trying to describe it is pointless. It’s so visual. My one regret was in seeing so many shows and museums I didn’t feel comfortable with springing for better seats. Next time I will. Part ballet, part gymnastics, I just loved it. I have the sound track, which I wish I could upload, but since I have dial up that’s not happening (if you really want to hear, just email me and we can work something out). I’ll admit the Ka wouldn’t be for everyone. If you don’t like gymnastics or ballet, then avoid this since it’s not even remotely cheap. If you’re into it, don’t miss this one. The only part I didn’t love was an overly long clownish segment when the princess washes up on the beach and her servants clown around with anthropomorphized sea life (then again I don’t like clowns). Maybe if it had been shorter…The final battle scene on a vertical wall was just amazing.

I went for a late dinner at the Pharaoh’s buffet. This one might actually get a letter of complaint. 20$ is average for a buffet and I know it closed at 10 pm. I was there just before nine. People came in after me. They started taking away ALL the food at about ten after nine. I was pissed. Either waiting so late to eat or getting pissed gave me a migraine so I went to bed early.

My last full day in Vegas was dedicated to the Star Trek experience. Oh My God, I can get married on the bridge of the Enterprise. Now to find a sucker… In my geekish excitement I got there an hour early (though tickets went on sale at 1130) I find a Star Wars slot machine. Whee! It paid off big time for a penny machine (put in twenty and doubled it). I get my ticket to get into the ride and was on the first go around for the Next Generation themed Klingon Encounter (why them and not Romulans I don’t know, probably because Klingons are actually scarier). This was a flight simulator ride and yes I got a little side but not too bad. Hopped off and went on the Voyager themed Borg encounter. Janeway to the rescue in this 3-D ride (a lot like Isle of Adventure’s Spiderman ride). Like a little kid, I spent the day hopping back and forth from line to line until they shut the Borg one down at 2 pm (they shut it down every so often). So off to Quark’s for lunch. I had the best coupon in that book, buy an entrée and get a free mini-Warp Core Breach and since it’s a 15$ drink that was cool. Nothing like a smoking drink with five flavored rums, razzamatazz and other liquors (ten shots total). Got a Sulu Toss for lunch (stir fry). You’d know the only time I met the Klingon outside of the line where picture taking was nearly impossible (he was funnier there, telling everyone the Batlith was for circumcisions, no no, I’m joking, It’s much too small for that), would be when he came down the bar and told me that I should send back my lunch since it wasn’t moving. I, of course, have chopsticks in my mouth and by the time I chew, he was gone, never to return (only one actor for the whole area!) The Borg actor was all over but I didn’t want a picture of him.

Since the Borg ride was on hiatus until 3 and I didn’t want to give Sulu Toss a new meaning by going on the flight simulator, I got my picture taken on the bridge of the enterprising (slightly disappointing since when Mom was there and she got her head photoshopped into a scene and they don’t do that any more) You get to see me in all my pudgy glory in street cloths but at least it’s a decent shot of me. I then decide to ride the monorail to the Sahara and to the Stratosphere since I wanted to see that landmark. Ugh. Bad choice. The Sahara wasn’t bad but I asked for directions to the Stratosphere and they send me out a side door filled with trash and broken building bits onto the street. The doors have no handles and the monorail exaggerated how close the Stratosphere was to the stop. This was the skuzziest section of Vegas I had seen. No way was I walking there alone so I ran back around into the Sahara and onto the monorail back to the Hilton so I could geek out some more.

Finally I had to wrap up the ride to get back for the dinner theatre so I hit Garak’s Clothier and oh boy the gold-pressed latinium I spent there! Melted the gold card then went back to Quarks for another drink (and a souvenir cup) I got a ‘systems overload’ because I had to see black vodka. It was a pousse café martini that had black vodka, 99 apples, and Midori with sour apple sugar on the rim. Heaven.

On the way to the Luxor I stopped at the Excalibur and Luxor gift shops (halfway set for Christmas) then headed to the Tournament of Kings medieval dinner show. I was front row in Russia with a family that promised me I’d be sorry because they’re loud. (oh yes they were to the point that the MC worked in a ‘chill out’ into his act for them and that’s including the 50-something mother. They were amusing though but when our Russian Czar isn’t fighting, you don’t have to keep screaming his name). IT was a fun show with some amazing male gymnasts, hot knights (mine kept cheap-shotting the others and Ireland was better looking but hey I got to root for the bad boy), but the man I wanted to haul into the stands was one of the black leotard, leather cod-pieced, bar chested, tan Japanese thrall with hair to his waist. Delicious and so was dinner, a whole little chicken, ‘dragon’s blood tomato basil soup, Parmesan steak fries, broccoli and strudel (though my companions had no idea they wouldn’t get silverware, hee!). I had to get a proper toasting souvenir mug filled with margaritas (the only ‘ale’ was bud lite, please, blech)

I went home and started gambling since if I got 200 points I’d get a free Luxor t-shirt. I ‘won’ that. I also hit for more than I lost but I was so wired I couldn’t sleep. I packed, angsting over how to carry on all the glass I ended up buying. I was going to just carry it on in the plastic bag. At 2 AM it sounded good. Woke up and said ‘moron, stick it in the carry on luggage and don’t check it like last time. Well I did that luckily.

I had hours to kill before I went to the airport so I went to Mandalay Bay at long last. Was going to do the shark reef encounter but it was so insanely packed with kids, I didn’t even bother going to find out how much it cost. I found a ‘Dark side of the force’ Star Wars slot and it also paid off (70$ in pennies…okay a ticket. I LOVE the tickets, no more coins!)

I went back to the MGM to finally see the lion habitat (it had been closed) and watched the lionesses play with balls. Headed to the Luxor and took the King Tut tomb museum tour then gambled and won consistently.

Apparently Las Vegas people are nuts and/or like having tourists on. As I go home the baggage carrier, a guy taking a breather from working on the Luxor’s outside and the skycap all told me today was kind of chilly. It’s 105. Chilly? I’m pretty sure when I die and go to hell I’ll be on the Las Vegas strip walking and walking and never getting to the a/c inside a casino.

Remember my packing angst? Well thank god I packed it in the carry on. I thought I had removed the Romulan Ale and put it in the big suitcase. I hadn’t (don’t pack at 2 AM boys and girls) I was given the option of checking that bag. Gah. I had to walk ALL the way back to the sky cap (no line there like inside) Dug out the stupid ale bottles and send them in the carry on to the belly of the plan (forgetting to take my book out so thank god I had my paper and pen for the 4 hour flight back) and carried the glass bag in the shopping bag all the way back through security a second time.

As I wrote all this down on the plane it was passing from sun to night in a blink of an eye as I winged eastward. I got to see the Grand Canyon from the air. Hey, it was a good trip. It was so hot on the plane my happy hippie hemp/patchouli limp balm liquefied. I got home (the plane was delayed) at 2 AM. I’m of course still on Vegas time and wide-awake. Today I counted my money. I only lost 40$ (not counting the melted credit cards). So while I only had 200$ left of my original seed money, I had won back that much. Pretty sweet. (seeing as I went there prepared to drop 500$) Good luck there. Didn’t hit it big but didn’t lose either. I had a great time and I could go back again…in August when SEVENTY Star Trek actors from all the shows (pretty much all the living cast of the first one) will be at the Hilton. Whines.


hope to be back tomorrow with pictures. Gonna try to just link to a whole album (suggestions?) and let you look on your own

Comments

[nowhere-winry.livejournal.com]

WHEEEE.

It sounds like you had a great time. I'm almost jealous. *grins*

WHere's my postcard?

[anguisel.livejournal.com]

My you were busy. I've never been to Vegas but my parents go there every 2 years I believe. The construction company my dad works for pays for the trip and dinner, you just have to pay for everything else. Honestly, I'd die in Vegas, way too many people. (I'd have one helluva panic attack) I'm glad you glassware came back in one piece. I can just imagine the chaos that would've happened if it hadn't.

Just to let you know, it's 7:18 and 93 degrees in the area where I'm living. Screw this, I'm turning the a/c on. *skitters away*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i'm always busy. I don't take vacations where you know know, actually relax.

I'm not much for people either but when my career took me to Cleveland and then Harlem i had to learn to cope. But the memorabalia shop for the Ka pushed me over the limit i had to get out

[ishte.livejournal.com]

Wow, looks like you had a BLAST. ^_^ I so so SO hope I get to go on vacation this year.. but mine plans to involve lots of serious down time... visiting the boonies of Missouri and hopefully camping too.. ^_^ Wonder if I can get a solar charger for my laptop... does it still count as camping if you take your laptop? ^__^

Missed my ranting hahahah..

Edward made Goku some icons, but I think he found them all. What a couple of geeks. hee.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes thanks for the icons. They are very cool. This is my first real non-weekender vacation since 1993. I'm not a relaxer. And i think laptops negate camping (so says the person who borrows her uncle's at the lake)

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Boy, you packed like FOUR of my trips into one! I still haven't done all of the Luxor.

The only cheap eats in Vegas are downtown - and you have to look there, too. But it sounds like you really had a grand time, heat notwithstanding. *g* The Bellagio is one of the places I know my way around best - but we've stayed there a few times. The Luxor is about the last one I know well. I haven't seen Ka yet - we saw The Beatles' Love, and a few other shows up and down the Strip.

God, I love Las Vegas. I wish they hadn't stripped down the Aladdin for, blah, Planet Hollywood. It's so totally drab and boring now, when it was so lovely with desert motives and minarets before...

The best time to walk the Strip is in November - even in May it was too hot!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I know I didn't even bother with the Aladdin knowing who bought it. Oh yeah my vacations mostly include me flying all over the place to see everything all at once. I'm not a relaxer. My brother wants me to go to a sandles resort in the caribbean with him and his wife next year and it's like lie on a beach? I'd die of boredom.

The Ka was so worth it. There were a few others that I would have liked and others like Zumanity, that had no appeal to me.

Even in that heat i walked all over kingdom come

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

the postcards are in my purse on the floor waiting to kill me when i go to bed.

it was a lot of fun.

[lyricnonsense.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a fantastic time! Glad the Trek stuff was fun, though I have to admit you probably shouldn't think too much about the Treasure Island sunken ship show. My friend went last year and told me they changed it from a piratey show with cannons and fighting to basically strippers in pirate outfits pole dancing.

Go ahead and link the album! I want pictures!

(Caesar is one of my favorites for sheer prettiness. Gotta love the talking statues laser light show, which is so tackily Vegas and yet so grandiose and expensive looking.)

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I'll be back again at the end of July. Not sure what we're going to do this time. Since MGM/Mirage bought out the end of the Strip (Luxor/Excalibur/Mandalay Bay), Mom's been waiting for them to send her an invitation to stay there, but hasn't gotten one yet - not sure if they're all hooked up. We'll probably stay at MGM this time, or MGM and the Mirage, depending on what she gets.

The best of the Asian/fusion places we've tried so far is Noodles at the Bellagio - some of the others are heavy on the "fusion" and light on the "Asian," other than tea and motif. I'm sure there is an Italian restaurant at the Venetian, but we ate at the Cafe there, and it was beyond excellent.

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an awesome trip. The Cirque Du Soleil and the Star Trek stuff sounds fun. I didn't actually know there was so much to do in Vegas. I just thought it was all gambling and hookers and impulsive marriages. Hah!

[0-mother-0.livejournal.com]

Yay! Glad you're back safe and sound and that you had such a good time. The Star Trek place sounds awesome - I'd love to visit there some day. The original Star Trek set would probably send me squeeing into a geek coma.

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

Cool, sounds like you had some much needed fun. Aside from the room switching and the ridiculously priced food/entrance fees Vegas sounds awesome. Went there once myself for an hour or so while my flight to Pheonix was delayed. Unfortunately I was 12 at the time and nobody spoke English. So gotta go there.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah I did notice MGM's monopoly on things there. I'd love to go back and stay at Caeser's but it's so much more expensive than others.

Outside of Luxor's dinner buffet I didn't get a bad meal. I guess i can swallow expensive when the food is good and I get enough to eat

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

ewww I would not have liked to see stripper pirates. Caesar's really was beautiful

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh there are so many languages being spoken there. It was a lot of fun

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

it was a lot of fun. I just loved the Star Trek ride

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

It was a lot of fun. There are tons of things to do in Vegas. strippers and gambling and impulse marrying is just a small part

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Buffets can be hit or miss - some of the best are the Mirage, the Flamingo, and (downtown) the Fremont; avoid the Imperial Palace (and, apparently, the Luxor!). The Golden Nugget (also downtown) isn't too bad, either.

Some of the newer places don't even have buffets anymore - there isn't one at the Bellagio or the Wynn; not sure about the Venetian, and I don't think there was one at New York New York, either (although they have a "food court" area with a lot of choices).

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I actually hate buffets for the most part but most of the other restaurants had already stopped serving or needed reservations at that late h our. I'll keep your suggestions in mind next time

[nowhere-winry.livejournal.com]

I shall send you addresses anon. Do you need both? (Do I have both?)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

well i'd hope you have your adress...Megs

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I did have a blast. And to see the inside of the casinos is really the only reason i went. I can gamble here at home now