6/17 to 6/21 Days 3,4 &5

Tried to finish up my report some time ago, but something happened and it did not post.

Day 3 June 19

Checked out of TI and into Bellagio (wager works) We asked for a Lake view room and that was just what we got. Fourth floor facing the lake. All we could see was the roof of the lower buildings--no water at all--husbands were not pleased. Went back down to the front desk and told the girl that this would not do at all. The only thing available was the 10th floor with a pool view. Fine, just bring up my bags because I have a lot to do today. Finally got settled and we were going to go to the Hilton for the Star Trek Experience, but hubby lost his bus pass so we had to spend time looking for it. My sister and her husband went on without us. This was really okay with my husband since he does not like Star Trek at all and I have been to it twice. If you are a Star Trek fan this is a must see. Even if you are not a big fan, it is still very fun. It cost $25/person (there are $3 off coupons available). Admission is an all day pass. There is a history of space travel mesuem which covers space travel starting with real earth history. Gallelao, sputnik, etc.. all the way through the original Star Trek show, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation and Voyager. There is lots of memorabilia, props, costumes and tv/movie clips. Finally you get to the ride part where you are beamed on board the Enterprise (from Next Generation). The details are wonderful and the actors do a great job. For those who have not done it, I won't give away the story.

When we finally found the bus pass and decided instead of Star Trek we would head back over to Casino Royale. Played craps there until it was time to meet our group. I bouth in for $10 and hubby bought in for $20 (high rollers I know) and we played for about 4 hours and left with more than we started with.
Next came the Venetian. Had a snack at the food court while waiting for the Gondiolier March. This was disappointing. The travel channel made it out to be some big thing, but basically it was the shift change. We also wanted to check out WB Stage 16. This is a restaurant where you can eat on the sets of different movies. The menu prices were very expensive. We wanted to go in and look around, but were told we could not unless we were planning to eat. We did not eat there, but we did catch a glimps of the outside of the cafe in Casablanca.
We then went over to the Flamingo to check out the wild life habitat. Another big disappointment! It is basically a glorified walk to the swimming pool. The flamingos need more shrimp in their diet. They were not pink at all.
The Imperial Palace smelled funny so we decided to skip the Auto Collection.
Finaly decided we needed to eat some real food, so headed over to the Bellagio Buffet (wager works). The cost for the dinner buffet is $25/person. The decor was very disappointing. A half-assed attempt at a medeteranian outdoor cafe. The food selection is perfect for those who will try anything. Beef, Turkey, Sturgeon, Sushi, Buffalo, crab legs, and many more things I could not have identified if they did not have little signs next to them. Much of the food was only luke warm and sometimes cold. The desserts were wonderful though. I had about 6 or 7 of them. They looked good and tasted even better. My favorite was a chocolate mousse in a white chocolate bowl. Over all, I was disappointed. For $25 I would rather eat somewhere else.
After dinner we headed up to the room to rest and freshen up.

The last stop of the day was the Stratosphere tower. Having never been to The STRAT before I did not know what to expect. I was pleasantly suprised. The casino is quite large, open and brightly lit. I would not mind staying there at all. The bus stops right in front, which was very convient. We bought our tickets and got in line to go up to the top. The cost was $16 which included tower admission and both rides. This was incredible at night. The city is unbelievable. There is an indoor and outdoor observation deck. Inside, the windows are made so you can look down, not just out. It kind of made me woozy. I think I prefer the outdoor better even if it is windy. I also did the Big Shot and the High Roller. The Big Shot was INCREDIBLE. This is an awesome thrill ride. Words can not describe. The High Roller on the other hand was not as great as I expected. You think it it would be a little more exciting haning off the side of the building like that. Oh well! I did find out that my husband is afraid of heights though. Why did he even go up there???? finally back to the hotel to go to bed.

Day 4 June 20
Today is Hoover Dam Day. And we did the whole dam tour. Really, we did. If you have never been to Hoover Dam, you should. I could have spent all day there. We rented a car from Dollar and picked it up at the Bellagio. The drive was very easy and it took about 30 minutes to get there. We parked in the garage on the Nevada side. The cost was $5. We purchased the discovery tour $10/person. It was self guided and included informationl presentations in 2 different theatres, a tour of the generators in the Nevada tower, Exhibits (excerpts from documentary type shows, memoribilia, maps, etc. My favorite was someone's pay check from Six Companies for 50 cents.) You can tour the dam without paying for the tour, but it is only $10, and IMHO worth it. As we were getting ready to leave, we looked over the edge of the dam and saw some huge fish. They were about 4 or 5 feet. My husband had remebered as a child he had been to the boat docks and had seen lots of fish like that. We went ahead and headed over to the Lake Mead Recreation Area. It cost $5 to drive your car into it because it is a national park. Thank you Bill Clinton! Even so, it was really neat. At the docks, the fish follow you. And there are so many of them, you can't see the bottom of the lake. We bought sodas for us and popcorn for the fish. You throw out a handfull of popcorn and the fish get so thick you could walk across them to the other side of the dock. You have to see it to believe it. We considered renting a boat for a few hours, but my brother-in-law did not want to, and we did not feel right about leaving him in the car....even though he said he did not mind waiting... you know how the story goes. Finally decided to head back to town. If you decide to go out to the dam, go early. When we left at about 3p, the line of cars to go across the dam was over 7 miles long.

Finally back to the hotel to freshen up for the show tonight. EFX Alive! (Wager works) I thought this show was great!! Rick Springfield was great too. It may have been the 13 year old girl inside me, but I really enjoyed it. The dancers and costumes and music were very good. Some of the effects were cheesy, but over all it was good. The show is several different short stories, not one continous story like I thought. The common theme to all the stories was that Rick Springfield is the effects master and with imagination you can go anywhere and be anything. During the scene changes, Rick would sing some of his more famous songs and come out into the audience. There was one girl there who had on a concert T-shirt from 1982 and his first album, which of course he signed. She told him that she got the shirt at his concert when she was 11 years old and she was sitting in the very back row with her mom. He invited her up on stage to have a front row seat. While they were sitting on stage and Rick was singing, she got a phone call on her cel phone. It just got better and better from here. After the show we went over to meet my Aunt and Uncle at Rainforest Cafe. The last time I ate here it was good, but not so this time. The food was poor and the service was horrible!! After dinner we did some more gaming down at Casino Royale and at about 3am called it a night.

Day 5 June 21
My last day in Vegas was spent buying crap for the kids. We headed over to M & M World. We got a coupon from Bill here and we traded that in for another set of coupons. The best of which was a free ice cream (waffle cone. You could pick from al kinds of ice cream with M & M/Mars candies in them. I had twix! Another coupon was for free candy from Ethel M. (a $2.50 value) We down to the candy counter and got our 2 pieces of candy. LOL. We took a cab back to the airport and waited for the plane. Suddenly I was tired. The trip home was long and uneventful. Now to start planing my next trip.

 

You do you know that "fan" was a plant right? That part of the show went on way too long. IMO the show was pretty cheesy, but Rick is still hot.

 

hmmmm....sounds like a "chick-show"....maybe I should take my wife to it next week...

 

We saw EFX a couple years ago (when it was Tommy Tune in it) and I think my husband liked it better than I did....But maybe Rick Springfield makes it more a chick thing