I was so anxious Thursday night/Friday morning I didn’t get much sleep with the excitement and working really hard that week to get all 5 days worth of work in 4 days.
Denver to Las Vegas got off to a real quick bang when one of the cabinets at the McDonald’s blew a hose and all the crew came running out of the back. Dang now where should I get some breakfast.
1st time flying Southwest (Airlines) and the flight crew were really friendly, courteous, etc. Oh, also my first time flying since the tragedy of September 11th so I wasn’t ready for all the “new” security procedures, i.e. taking of shoes, etc & I just bought new shoes and they weren’t even close to be broken into and still a little hard to slip on and off.
Okay get to Vegas and I didn’t think it was THAT hot but you could definately feel it. Also, what a busy city; everyone hustling around getting from place to place.
Friday, go to the hotel and we all were able to check in early which was nice. We went lunch at the Peppermill Grill was was really really good food and then we got tickets for “The Rat Pack”. The show as really funny & great and we all got some good jokes to tell over and over again.
After the Rat Pack we walked down Freemont Street and went to Binion’s and had a late late dinner. Afterwards Audi, Charlie, Nancy, Kathryn (and their dogs of course), and myself made it to the Deuce bus and amazingly made it to back to the hotel after how long it seemed to take to get on the bus and how long it took once on the bus. At least they let us get on the bus first because of the service dogs.
Saturday… breakfast… then over to Tix4Tonight to get Penn & Teller tickets; David, Ed, & Myself. The others got in line to set us up for all the things at Star Trek The Experience. So we got back and then went to the museum and then in line for the Klingon Encounter which I would have to say was one heck of ride! It really throws you around & I thought, “No way are my sunglasses are going to fall off my head.”, but they came awful close.
Then to the backstage tour which was really great. Melvin, our tour guide, gave us a lot of info and made it really interesting. The Borg 4D ride, one comment, “That ain’t right”. One of the “probes” in the seats needs to be turned off because at least one of mine went somewhere that was not comfortable. LOL
Then over to the Rio for Penn & Teller after the horrible food at Paris and I can’t believe how those two can do some of those illusions with a live audience. We even got pictures with them after the show. We stayed at the Rio so some of them could play and keep their cards active and we even got to see the “Show in the Sky” where they ride these gondalas that went around tracks in the ceiling. After THAT show then the Chippendales set up a backdrop right behind where Ed was playing where he won some moola.
Sunday… get up early to get all our boarding passes printed. Then to The Experience to get our pictures taken and that was fun and we found our “Crewmen #6″. Eating at Quark’s Bar was fun even with the limited menu.
After that Ed & I went exploring down the strip or should I say that Ed took me to a few interesting casinos & places. We went to the Fashion Mall & I went to the Apple store. We also went to Bally’s, Paris, & the Venetian and saw the inside part of the gondolas and got to see them do the gondoliers shift change with them singing and dancing. We also went to Caesar’s Palace where I put down $5 for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series.
We got back and Ed wanted to get his picture redone so he got that done while David, Debby & myself headed to the airport but Ed was able to catch up with us with plenty of time to spare.
So overall I’m sad that The Experience is closed (hopefully for just a short time) now that I’ve been there. And now I figure I’ll have to go back because you can not see all that you need to see in 3 days.
