We had tickets to see Yo-Yo Ma at the new Smith Center for the Performing Arts last week. It is an awesome art deco building, definitely something classy for the Vegas locals to go to. Plus our seats were great, even if we were in the last 3 rows. Yo-Yo Ma's concert was in the main hall, but there is also a small theatre space for small productions as well as a cabaret jazz kind of venue too. We hope to be able to check those out soon!
The Smith Center is north of the Strip but in the area with all the other city government buildings. On our way to the Smith Center we drove by a ghastly looking building that reminded us of the Stata Center at MIT. Here's a picture of what we saw:
(Photo by Flickr user asangna2001)
That building is the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. And if you guessed, you are right -- both this building AND the Stata Center were designed by architect Frank Gehry!
I honestly don't know what the thinking/inspiration was to create a building for a brain center that looks like this. Maybe if you look at this building and think it looks normal, it's a sure sign you have brain damage?
I head back to Boston next week for work! It will be interesting to go back to cloudy 60-degree weather. In Vegas it's starting to heat up (although it's still cool at night, so we haven't officially started summer yet). In the high 80s to mid 90s here. Last week we touched in the 100s in the valley! Bring it on, the A/C in the office is frigid!
The Smith Center is north of the Strip but in the area with all the other city government buildings. On our way to the Smith Center we drove by a ghastly looking building that reminded us of the Stata Center at MIT. Here's a picture of what we saw:
(Photo by Flickr user asangna2001)
That building is the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. And if you guessed, you are right -- both this building AND the Stata Center were designed by architect Frank Gehry!
I honestly don't know what the thinking/inspiration was to create a building for a brain center that looks like this. Maybe if you look at this building and think it looks normal, it's a sure sign you have brain damage?
I head back to Boston next week for work! It will be interesting to go back to cloudy 60-degree weather. In Vegas it's starting to heat up (although it's still cool at night, so we haven't officially started summer yet). In the high 80s to mid 90s here. Last week we touched in the 100s in the valley! Bring it on, the A/C in the office is frigid!
We spent a day visiting Pahrump with our friends Judy & Dan one weekend! Pahrump is a town that lies over the mountains about an hour from Las Vegas, and it's the midpoint between LV and Death Valley, as it lies right next to the NV-CA border. It was fun because we started in Vegas, drove up the mountain pass where there was a snow flurry or two, and then down into Pahrump Valley where it was sunny and dry again.
Pahrump is known out here because of its various "cathouses" (codeword: brothels) which are legal in Pahrump's area of Nye County -- LV is in Clark County which doesn't allow prostitution; only certain areas of Nevada legalize it. FYI! I learn lots of new things now that I've moved to Vegas.
The reason Judy & Dan took us out to Pahrump is to do a tour of the wineries. That's right, WINERIES plural! There are TWO wineries in Pahrump. They grow grapes and everything. They have to import most of their grapes/juice from California to complete the wines, but they do make the wine in Pahrump. I'm not exactly sure why, other than it's fun and they're small operations and so they make creative boutique wines for tourists.
Before we toured the wineries we had to stop off at one of the most famous cathouses in Pahrump, Sheri's Ranch (note: link takes you to the Wikipedia page!). I was glad that we were with Judy & Dan, who are nice older married couple, when we went in to take a look. It was a dark bar, no one was in there (except the bartender and an "employee" or two) and a tiny gift shop. For laughs, I got a mug. We'll be sending it to one of our friends who's getting married next month as a gag wedding present!
So the first winery we went to is the more established one called Pahrump Valley Winery. It's a nice winery with some excellent free tastings and a short tour of their barrel room. Pahrump Valley Winery is known for creating the first commercial red Nevada-grown wine (a zinfandel called Nevada Ridge -- apparently the conditions in Pahrump make it easy to grow zinfandel grapes). They also are known for their restaurant, Symphony. We had lunch there and it was pretty delicious.
Pahrump Valley Winery has a few lines of vines in the front of their winery, but mainly for show. I don't think they've been able to harvest any of the grapes there yet. Their actual vineyard is further out from the winery itself, behind it.
We then decided to stop by Sanders Family Winery (website is currently under construction). Jack the owner was working the tasting room, and no one else was there, which was the best of occasions so we could taste in private while Jack told the story of the winery. Jack had started Pahrump Valley Winery, but in 2003 ended up selling it and starting up his new one.
I have to say I really liked all of the wines from Sanders Family Winery. They were all delicious and you could tell that each one was made with care! I understand that all of the wines that Jack makes are made from grapes that he's grown in his vineyard here in Pahrump! They aren't available for commercial shelves yet but that's pretty awesome to have 100% Nevada wines (of varieties that use zinfandel grapes). The highlights of the list were cream sherry and ruby port -- I like a nice dessert wine but these were amazing! After we had a few sips Jack then poured ice and ginger ale with a squirt of lime into a few ounces of cream sherry or port and showed us how to make a cool refreshing party drink. Yum.
I was so impressed with the Sanders winery I failed to take ANY pictures of the place! I suppose I'll have to make a trip back to Pahrump some day!
Pahrump is known out here because of its various "cathouses" (codeword: brothels) which are legal in Pahrump's area of Nye County -- LV is in Clark County which doesn't allow prostitution; only certain areas of Nevada legalize it. FYI! I learn lots of new things now that I've moved to Vegas.
The reason Judy & Dan took us out to Pahrump is to do a tour of the wineries. That's right, WINERIES plural! There are TWO wineries in Pahrump. They grow grapes and everything. They have to import most of their grapes/juice from California to complete the wines, but they do make the wine in Pahrump. I'm not exactly sure why, other than it's fun and they're small operations and so they make creative boutique wines for tourists.
Before we toured the wineries we had to stop off at one of the most famous cathouses in Pahrump, Sheri's Ranch (note: link takes you to the Wikipedia page!). I was glad that we were with Judy & Dan, who are nice older married couple, when we went in to take a look. It was a dark bar, no one was in there (except the bartender and an "employee" or two) and a tiny gift shop. For laughs, I got a mug. We'll be sending it to one of our friends who's getting married next month as a gag wedding present!
So the first winery we went to is the more established one called Pahrump Valley Winery. It's a nice winery with some excellent free tastings and a short tour of their barrel room. Pahrump Valley Winery is known for creating the first commercial red Nevada-grown wine (a zinfandel called Nevada Ridge -- apparently the conditions in Pahrump make it easy to grow zinfandel grapes). They also are known for their restaurant, Symphony. We had lunch there and it was pretty delicious.
Pahrump Valley Winery has a few lines of vines in the front of their winery, but mainly for show. I don't think they've been able to harvest any of the grapes there yet. Their actual vineyard is further out from the winery itself, behind it.
We then decided to stop by Sanders Family Winery (website is currently under construction). Jack the owner was working the tasting room, and no one else was there, which was the best of occasions so we could taste in private while Jack told the story of the winery. Jack had started Pahrump Valley Winery, but in 2003 ended up selling it and starting up his new one.
I have to say I really liked all of the wines from Sanders Family Winery. They were all delicious and you could tell that each one was made with care! I understand that all of the wines that Jack makes are made from grapes that he's grown in his vineyard here in Pahrump! They aren't available for commercial shelves yet but that's pretty awesome to have 100% Nevada wines (of varieties that use zinfandel grapes). The highlights of the list were cream sherry and ruby port -- I like a nice dessert wine but these were amazing! After we had a few sips Jack then poured ice and ginger ale with a squirt of lime into a few ounces of cream sherry or port and showed us how to make a cool refreshing party drink. Yum.
I was so impressed with the Sanders winery I failed to take ANY pictures of the place! I suppose I'll have to make a trip back to Pahrump some day!
It's funny that now that we live out in the desert, we saw time to visit TWO ski resorts this "winter" season. I haven't skiied in probably 3 years, but getting back into it was just like riding a bike.
It's probably the case for pretty much every ski resort across the country, but this particular winter was a BAD ski season. There just wasn't enough snow! I'm glad we chose not to plan a ski trip to Colorado or Utah this year. But maybe next year will be better.
To get back into skiing, Jon & I decided to check out the local Nevada ski resort in Mt. Charleston. It's about an hour and a half away, but the drive isn't too bad -- fast highway lanes and then a nice scenic road up the mountain (if the weather was very wintry, it might be a bit dicey getting up here). It's so weird to go from 50-degree weather to the low 30s at the top of the mountain, and from sand to snow in just 20 minutes!
Overall, the ski resort probably isn't worth it if you're a decent skiier. There aren't too many trails, just 2 lifts (besides the bunny lift), and maybe 2 of the trails were in decent condition -- the rest were ice or made for snowboarders. However, maybe if you were a snowboarder you would probably like this place. They maintain a snowboarding trail with ramps and rails and there seem to be a fair amount of kids to run around. What gets me is the price -- $50 for a half-day lift ticket? ($60 for a full-day, i.e. 9am to 4pm) For what you get, it's pretty much a ripoff. Luckily Jon & I had our own gear so we didn't have to rent equipment.
We had a lot of fun adjusting to the altitude. The lodge is at 8500 ft and the top of the lift is at 9300 ft. We sat down for a break and had a beer and all of a sudden we got slightly dizzy, which made for an interesting time when we got back out on the trails. It was also interesting to see the locals out on the snow -- people would come to ski or snowboard wearing jeans. Why? Do they dry out quickly when we're out in the desert?
A few weeks later, we went to ski at Brian Head Resort, which is a 4 hour drive from Las Vegas. We got an awesome Groupon deal from Power Sport Packages -- a round-trip coach bus ride from the nearby M Resort Casino plus lift ticket for only $45! It's such a steal because a full-day lift ticket to Brian Head is $49 alone. Plus the bus was stocked with free drinks and snacks and we were each given a 4-pack of Red Bull. We had to meet the bus at 4am and got back into Vegas at about 8:30pm, so it's a loooong day. But it's definitely the way to go if you want to spend the day skiing but don't want to drive.
Anyway, I'd never been to a bigger ski resort before -- just Wachusett and Mt. Charleston. So having multiple peaks where you ski to travel from one peak to the other was intimidating to me, but it was very easy. And the place was great! Lots of blue square trails (which is my level -- I have been down a couple of black diamond trails but I just don't think they're as fun) and plenty of lifts that go waaaay up the mountain. There was nobody there either! Well I saw plenty of people on the bunny hill, but we never had to wait in line on the lift. The snow wasn't perfect -- icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon -- but the trails were nice and wide.
And all of the staff members were so friendly. This could be attributed to the fact that we were in Utah, so they could all be friendly Mormons, but I was very happy with the resort. I am definitely going back again next year, even without the Groupon deal I'll still catch a ride with Power Sport Packages.
Here's a picture of Jon out on the slopes at Brian Head. It looks like he's growing a mustache, but he just hadn't shaved in a while and his head sock was covering the rest of his beard. The next day he had this horrific windburn/sunburn on his face that made him look like the Joker! (WHY SO SERIOUS)
It's probably the case for pretty much every ski resort across the country, but this particular winter was a BAD ski season. There just wasn't enough snow! I'm glad we chose not to plan a ski trip to Colorado or Utah this year. But maybe next year will be better.
To get back into skiing, Jon & I decided to check out the local Nevada ski resort in Mt. Charleston. It's about an hour and a half away, but the drive isn't too bad -- fast highway lanes and then a nice scenic road up the mountain (if the weather was very wintry, it might be a bit dicey getting up here). It's so weird to go from 50-degree weather to the low 30s at the top of the mountain, and from sand to snow in just 20 minutes!
Overall, the ski resort probably isn't worth it if you're a decent skiier. There aren't too many trails, just 2 lifts (besides the bunny lift), and maybe 2 of the trails were in decent condition -- the rest were ice or made for snowboarders. However, maybe if you were a snowboarder you would probably like this place. They maintain a snowboarding trail with ramps and rails and there seem to be a fair amount of kids to run around. What gets me is the price -- $50 for a half-day lift ticket? ($60 for a full-day, i.e. 9am to 4pm) For what you get, it's pretty much a ripoff. Luckily Jon & I had our own gear so we didn't have to rent equipment.
We had a lot of fun adjusting to the altitude. The lodge is at 8500 ft and the top of the lift is at 9300 ft. We sat down for a break and had a beer and all of a sudden we got slightly dizzy, which made for an interesting time when we got back out on the trails. It was also interesting to see the locals out on the snow -- people would come to ski or snowboard wearing jeans. Why? Do they dry out quickly when we're out in the desert?
A few weeks later, we went to ski at Brian Head Resort, which is a 4 hour drive from Las Vegas. We got an awesome Groupon deal from Power Sport Packages -- a round-trip coach bus ride from the nearby M Resort Casino plus lift ticket for only $45! It's such a steal because a full-day lift ticket to Brian Head is $49 alone. Plus the bus was stocked with free drinks and snacks and we were each given a 4-pack of Red Bull. We had to meet the bus at 4am and got back into Vegas at about 8:30pm, so it's a loooong day. But it's definitely the way to go if you want to spend the day skiing but don't want to drive.
Anyway, I'd never been to a bigger ski resort before -- just Wachusett and Mt. Charleston. So having multiple peaks where you ski to travel from one peak to the other was intimidating to me, but it was very easy. And the place was great! Lots of blue square trails (which is my level -- I have been down a couple of black diamond trails but I just don't think they're as fun) and plenty of lifts that go waaaay up the mountain. There was nobody there either! Well I saw plenty of people on the bunny hill, but we never had to wait in line on the lift. The snow wasn't perfect -- icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon -- but the trails were nice and wide.
And all of the staff members were so friendly. This could be attributed to the fact that we were in Utah, so they could all be friendly Mormons, but I was very happy with the resort. I am definitely going back again next year, even without the Groupon deal I'll still catch a ride with Power Sport Packages.
Here's a picture of Jon out on the slopes at Brian Head. It looks like he's growing a mustache, but he just hadn't shaved in a while and his head sock was covering the rest of his beard. The next day he had this horrific windburn/sunburn on his face that made him look like the Joker! (WHY SO SERIOUS)
This all started because Jon's brother Ken asked our friend Geoff to be their tour guide to Walt Disney World. See, Geoff and his wife Megan are Disney park experts. Ken has a family of 4 girls under the age of 7 (two of the girls are identical 3-year-old twins, the youngest is a baby). Jon has never been to Disney World (though his parents did take Ken once!), and we hadn't seen Ken in a year or so. Add Jon's parents (who finally get to take their youngest son to Disney World) to the mix and we were all in!
First off, we went the last week of February, and it worked out great because there was hardly any wait in lines. The weather was kind of weird -- cold for the first 2 days, but then 90+ degrees (and humid!) for the rest. Usually it's supposed to be in the 70s and reach the low 50s. But I still maintain this has got to be one of the best weeks to go to Disney World! I'll only run through the highlights of our week, but we did end up doing a lot:
( Click to expand! )
When we got back we were so exhausted, we needed a vacation from our vacation! No rest for the weary, though. Jon and I were headed on a plane from Vegas to Boston the day after we got back! We worked in Boston for 2 days and flew back on a "red-eye" (to us at least -- we got into Vegas after midnight, which felt like 3am to us by that point). Too much travel. Our March was much more sane -- just doing some local stuff. More on that soon!
First off, we went the last week of February, and it worked out great because there was hardly any wait in lines. The weather was kind of weird -- cold for the first 2 days, but then 90+ degrees (and humid!) for the rest. Usually it's supposed to be in the 70s and reach the low 50s. But I still maintain this has got to be one of the best weeks to go to Disney World! I'll only run through the highlights of our week, but we did end up doing a lot:
( Click to expand! )
When we got back we were so exhausted, we needed a vacation from our vacation! No rest for the weary, though. Jon and I were headed on a plane from Vegas to Boston the day after we got back! We worked in Boston for 2 days and flew back on a "red-eye" (to us at least -- we got into Vegas after midnight, which felt like 3am to us by that point). Too much travel. Our March was much more sane -- just doing some local stuff. More on that soon!
Back in February I went to St. Louis for the 20th anniversary of my old acappella group, the Washington University Amateurs. The current Amateurs had planned an alumni reunion event at the same time of their annual concert, Goin Pro. It was a good chance to see some folks I hadn't seen in 10 years so I was excited to go.
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selizara and I were sharing a room at this new (to me) hotel in the Loop called The Moonrise Hotel, but I showed up way earlier at the airport than she did. So I hiked onto the Metro, took it to the Delmar stop, checked in, got lunch, took a nap, then hiked back on to the Metro (by then it was snowing, wheeeee! SNOW) to pick up Sara at the airport. We then met up with Andrew and Dave for some pizza and beers at Pi, and met Josh for drinks at the Moonrise. Drinks -- always a trend when attending a Goin Pro weekend!After an alumni brunch, we headed over to campus for the alumni event. It was a lot of fun, and we sang some old songs I hadn't sung in over 10 years. I'd like to think that my contribution to the Amateurs was simply being in the front row of a Goin Pro concert and playing around with my new digital camera and happening to catch some of the best performances in Amateurs history. And then uploading them to YouTube and catching the attention of Ben Folds. I look forward to seeing what the Amateurs have in store for them in the future. Good luck guys!
I met up with Andrea P and her husband and we took a tour of the South 40 (palaces, it's unbelievable) and the university while waiting for the Amateurs alumni/group conference to get done. Turns out Andrea's car got hit in the parking garage while we were at the reunion, so I got to experience my first run-in with campus police. Nice guy! Sucks about the damage to Andrea's car, though. We met up with more Amateurs alums for pre-show drinks and dinner at a Thai restaurant before heading over to Goin Pro. It was a good show, nice and loud. I got only one video by my iPhone since I didn't have the greatest of angles:
It was a lot of fun seeing Sara and Andrea along with my fellow Amateurs! Perhaps we'll have a 25th reunion?
I have found the ultimate brunch dish in Las Vegas (so far, at least), and it is served at BabyStacks Cafe! Too bad that it takes 40 minutes to drive out to the sketchy part of Spring Valley (code to non-locals: off-Strip, west of the Rio by 4 miles). But it's so good I've been there twice already.
The dish is ADOBO FRIED RICE -- shredded adobo chicken mixed with fried rice and wrapped in an omelet. OH MY GOD SO GOOD NOM NOM NOM!!
It comes with a side of macaroni salad, which seems to be the norm for Hawaiian-inspired restaurants out here (there's a lot of them, they're all delicious, even the spam & eggs), but you can ignore the macaroni salad. The omelet is massive. And incredible.
BabyStacks is more known for their different flavored pancakes, though, which is how I found the place (we're looking for a decent pancake place for Jon, though so far none seem to beat the pancakes at Comets Diner right where we used to live back in Boston). They have things like bacon, lemon ricotta, and cinnabun pancakes on the menu. Their most popular pancake are the red velvet pancakes. I ordered a short stack to try some -- they were quite red and yummy! Not too sweet, which is what I was hoping for. It came with a cream cheese syrup, which to a pancake lover is a little bit like sacrilege, though. Jon prefers his maple syrup.
I was able to taste a bite of my friend's carrot cake pancakes, which were also delicious but I ended up not taking a picture of it.
Anyway, BabyStacks is delicious but it's way out of our way, and I'm not too into breakfast that I can do JUST FINE with a plate of corned beef hash and toast! But at least I know what I'm getting if I end up going out there again.
The dish is ADOBO FRIED RICE -- shredded adobo chicken mixed with fried rice and wrapped in an omelet. OH MY GOD SO GOOD NOM NOM NOM!!
It comes with a side of macaroni salad, which seems to be the norm for Hawaiian-inspired restaurants out here (there's a lot of them, they're all delicious, even the spam & eggs), but you can ignore the macaroni salad. The omelet is massive. And incredible.
BabyStacks is more known for their different flavored pancakes, though, which is how I found the place (we're looking for a decent pancake place for Jon, though so far none seem to beat the pancakes at Comets Diner right where we used to live back in Boston). They have things like bacon, lemon ricotta, and cinnabun pancakes on the menu. Their most popular pancake are the red velvet pancakes. I ordered a short stack to try some -- they were quite red and yummy! Not too sweet, which is what I was hoping for. It came with a cream cheese syrup, which to a pancake lover is a little bit like sacrilege, though. Jon prefers his maple syrup.
I was able to taste a bite of my friend's carrot cake pancakes, which were also delicious but I ended up not taking a picture of it.
Anyway, BabyStacks is delicious but it's way out of our way, and I'm not too into breakfast that I can do JUST FINE with a plate of corned beef hash and toast! But at least I know what I'm getting if I end up going out there again.
So the big thing I did in February was travel -- I went on two separate trips to St. Louis to visit the ol' alma mater WashU and then went on a week-long vacation. But since I'm too lazy to upload any of the pictures yet, I'll do a picture post of Jon's parents trip to Vegas back in January.
Jon's parents' visit was pretty much the culmination of our family/friends visits for a while -- we had Charlie, my entire family, Jonah, and Dave P out pretty much back-to-back prior to Bill and Cheryl's arrival. Needless to say, we were tired! But in the spirit of being good hosts, we had to showcase Vegas to his folks, who by the way aren't interested in gambling at all. So it was a weekend of eating delicious food and seeing the sights!
Museum-wise, we visited the Shelby Auto Factory and the Atomic Testing Museum. If only the Mob Museum had opened by then, but not to worry we will definitely be visiting that soon!
We spent an afternoon at the Valley of Fire State Park, which is about an hour or so north of Vegas. They have some gorgeous red rock formations and walking on the trails to look at petroglyphs is like walking on a beach (very sandy!). One famous formation here is called the Elephant Rock:
The park seems to discourage you from messing with the prehistoric petroglyphs and probably frowns on climbing over the rock formations, but that didn't stop Jon from riding the Elephant:
As for Vegas shows, we did a magic show and a Cirque show. I think the best magic show in Vegas is probably Penn & Teller (how's Penn doing on Celebrity Apprentice? I saw that he won some money for his charity, which is awesome!), especially since they're nice and you get to meet them after the show. We also took Jon's parents to see the best (and most expensive) Cirque show on the Strip, O at the Bellagio. It's a beautiful performance, all water-based, and I definitely want to see it again if I can manage to get better seats than all the way up in the last row of the balcony.
As a final hurrah, Jon took his parents to the Hoover Dam (and went on "the dam tour") as well as a flying trip. After all this we were so exhausted, but I think his parents left with a good impression of Vegas! I'd really have to think and plan where else we'd take them to if they visit again, but I'm sure we'll think of something!
Jon's parents' visit was pretty much the culmination of our family/friends visits for a while -- we had Charlie, my entire family, Jonah, and Dave P out pretty much back-to-back prior to Bill and Cheryl's arrival. Needless to say, we were tired! But in the spirit of being good hosts, we had to showcase Vegas to his folks, who by the way aren't interested in gambling at all. So it was a weekend of eating delicious food and seeing the sights!
Museum-wise, we visited the Shelby Auto Factory and the Atomic Testing Museum. If only the Mob Museum had opened by then, but not to worry we will definitely be visiting that soon!
We spent an afternoon at the Valley of Fire State Park, which is about an hour or so north of Vegas. They have some gorgeous red rock formations and walking on the trails to look at petroglyphs is like walking on a beach (very sandy!). One famous formation here is called the Elephant Rock:
The park seems to discourage you from messing with the prehistoric petroglyphs and probably frowns on climbing over the rock formations, but that didn't stop Jon from riding the Elephant:
As for Vegas shows, we did a magic show and a Cirque show. I think the best magic show in Vegas is probably Penn & Teller (how's Penn doing on Celebrity Apprentice? I saw that he won some money for his charity, which is awesome!), especially since they're nice and you get to meet them after the show. We also took Jon's parents to see the best (and most expensive) Cirque show on the Strip, O at the Bellagio. It's a beautiful performance, all water-based, and I definitely want to see it again if I can manage to get better seats than all the way up in the last row of the balcony.
As a final hurrah, Jon took his parents to the Hoover Dam (and went on "the dam tour") as well as a flying trip. After all this we were so exhausted, but I think his parents left with a good impression of Vegas! I'd really have to think and plan where else we'd take them to if they visit again, but I'm sure we'll think of something!
Wow, only in Vegas: a man suffered a heart attack while eating at the Heart Attack Grill restaurant! (click link for the news story)
If you look at the amateur video on YouTube, the guy honestly didn't look very obese, so maybe he didn't know that he had a heart condition. Otherwise you're an idiot to eat there when there are huge signs everywhere saying that the restaurant is bad for your health!
Also in the news story, I love how the waitstaff in the restaurant refer to each other as "Nurse" and "Doctor". And how the customers have to wear hospital gowns when they eat.
Don't know how this media storm will play out -- will tourists flock to the place or will they shun it? No idea, Vegas is so weird like that!
If you look at the amateur video on YouTube, the guy honestly didn't look very obese, so maybe he didn't know that he had a heart condition. Otherwise you're an idiot to eat there when there are huge signs everywhere saying that the restaurant is bad for your health!
Also in the news story, I love how the waitstaff in the restaurant refer to each other as "Nurse" and "Doctor". And how the customers have to wear hospital gowns when they eat.
Don't know how this media storm will play out -- will tourists flock to the place or will they shun it? No idea, Vegas is so weird like that!
Crossed one off my Las Vegas to-do list!
Jon is on travel for work so since I'm left to my own devices I decided to check out one of the shows that are consistently offered on houseseats.com. HouseSeats is this membership site that offers free tickets to local Vegas shows for an annual fee. Usually these shows are fairly low-production (definitely not Cirque!) -- comedy shows, some magic shows, variety shows, and once in a while the topless shows (e.g. Chippendales). Since I figured there was no way Jon would want to go, I decided to attend a showing of a famous Elvis impersonator, Trent Carlini, at the LVH (formerly Las Vegas Hilton).
(Photo courtesy of Flickr user elvisthecourt)
First off, I'd never been in the LVH before, but I can safely say that it's not crowded at 6pm on a Wednesday. (Note to self: always valet here, the parking garage is a bit of a walk to the main casino area.) The casino is actually not bad -- little smoke, pretty clean, but LVH is off-Strip (though there is a monorail stop) and I think I can safely say I was probably one of the youngest customers in that casino. I was DEFINITELY the youngest person who attended the Elvis show -- by about 15 years!
The show itself was actually not bad. Trent Carlini and his co-performer (some dancer) did a good job. He even took requests from the audience at one point and would immediately perform the song without any pause. And the audience, despite their age, really got into it. So I had a pretty good time watching these older folks enjoy the show, especially since they probably paid for their ticket. My favorite part was where Carlini invites women to come up to the front of the stage and receive scarves that he wipes his brow with. At that point I felt the show had exceeded my expectations. Hahahaha.
Trent Carlini and his co-performer were available for pictures and to sell CDs after the show, but since I was by myself (and I feared none of my fellow audience members would know how to work a camera phone), I failed to get a picture. I guess I can always grab another HouseSeat ticket.
Jon is on travel for work so since I'm left to my own devices I decided to check out one of the shows that are consistently offered on houseseats.com. HouseSeats is this membership site that offers free tickets to local Vegas shows for an annual fee. Usually these shows are fairly low-production (definitely not Cirque!) -- comedy shows, some magic shows, variety shows, and once in a while the topless shows (e.g. Chippendales). Since I figured there was no way Jon would want to go, I decided to attend a showing of a famous Elvis impersonator, Trent Carlini, at the LVH (formerly Las Vegas Hilton).
(Photo courtesy of Flickr user elvisthecourt)
First off, I'd never been in the LVH before, but I can safely say that it's not crowded at 6pm on a Wednesday. (Note to self: always valet here, the parking garage is a bit of a walk to the main casino area.) The casino is actually not bad -- little smoke, pretty clean, but LVH is off-Strip (though there is a monorail stop) and I think I can safely say I was probably one of the youngest customers in that casino. I was DEFINITELY the youngest person who attended the Elvis show -- by about 15 years!
The show itself was actually not bad. Trent Carlini and his co-performer (some dancer) did a good job. He even took requests from the audience at one point and would immediately perform the song without any pause. And the audience, despite their age, really got into it. So I had a pretty good time watching these older folks enjoy the show, especially since they probably paid for their ticket. My favorite part was where Carlini invites women to come up to the front of the stage and receive scarves that he wipes his brow with. At that point I felt the show had exceeded my expectations. Hahahaha.
Trent Carlini and his co-performer were available for pictures and to sell CDs after the show, but since I was by myself (and I feared none of my fellow audience members would know how to work a camera phone), I failed to get a picture. I guess I can always grab another HouseSeat ticket.
We celebrated Christmas with my family this year, and when I convinced everyone we needed to do Christmas in Vegas, I had no idea what I was in for. With me & Jon, my parents, Andrew & Kim and their baby girl Avery, my sister Angie, and her boyfriend Ken, it was almost mind-boggling how we were able to fit 8 adults plus a toddler in a single house.
Luckily, we had 5 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 3 bedroom sets (king, queen, and twin), 2 air mattresses (queen and full), 12 pillows, and -- thanks to Mom -- a 3-page long grocery list. I am not kidding. It was 3 printed pages in small single-spaced font. It took us about 4 separate trips to various grocery stores to complete (not including all the random last-minute runs to the grocery to get forgotten items).
Needless to say it was pure chaos added to the stress of Christmas partying, but it was great to have my family here. My Christmas gifts of note where a Kindle Fire and Batman: Arkham City, which I proceeded to be addicted to playing for 2 weeks before being interrupted by January (more on that later).
My "Christmas gift" to Jon was a tiny surprise/gag gift. We had agreed that Jon's purchase of a BMW M roadster meant that I wasn't buying him a Christmas present. However, I couldn't resist doing something special. We had always made fun of those Lexus car commercials around Christmas time where in some fantasy world people give cars as Christmas presents and would put a big red bow on the car and surprise their spouse with them. I found a big magnetic bow on Amazon and bought some wide red ribbon and early Christmas morning I stole Jon's keys, wrapped them up with tissue paper, threw them under the tree, and then set up the bow and ribbon on the car. Jon and my family got a kick out of it.
It was a lot of fun getting to see my niece Avery for an extended period of time. Last year we stopped by Chicago for New Year's and Avery was only a month or two old. This year I get to see her walk around, throw food on the ground, pick up random things in my house and put them somewhere else, and steal my remote controls. How cute! Just kidding, she was a blast. Mom & Dad kept insisting she looks a lot like me when I was a kid, so I must have been a really cute kid. My parents had a lot of fun babysitting her in the house -- my Mom would choose to watch Avery instead of go out with us at night.
We ended up doing a lot of stuff, with the entire family or with just Angie or my parents or whatever (my family had different schedules for when they were getting into town and leaving). When I wasn't driving to/from the airport, we were doing the following:
The Strip
Outdoors stuff
Movies
Here's a link to my Flickr set for more photos from this crazy crazy holiday!
We didn't have much time to wind down from this visit, because we had 3 more sets of visitors in January! Things have just quieted down now and so we're in a bit of recovery mode. We have done a LOT of stuff these last 6 weeks. Hopefully I'll get to it all sometime!
Luckily, we had 5 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 3 bedroom sets (king, queen, and twin), 2 air mattresses (queen and full), 12 pillows, and -- thanks to Mom -- a 3-page long grocery list. I am not kidding. It was 3 printed pages in small single-spaced font. It took us about 4 separate trips to various grocery stores to complete (not including all the random last-minute runs to the grocery to get forgotten items).
Needless to say it was pure chaos added to the stress of Christmas partying, but it was great to have my family here. My Christmas gifts of note where a Kindle Fire and Batman: Arkham City, which I proceeded to be addicted to playing for 2 weeks before being interrupted by January (more on that later).
My "Christmas gift" to Jon was a tiny surprise/gag gift. We had agreed that Jon's purchase of a BMW M roadster meant that I wasn't buying him a Christmas present. However, I couldn't resist doing something special. We had always made fun of those Lexus car commercials around Christmas time where in some fantasy world people give cars as Christmas presents and would put a big red bow on the car and surprise their spouse with them. I found a big magnetic bow on Amazon and bought some wide red ribbon and early Christmas morning I stole Jon's keys, wrapped them up with tissue paper, threw them under the tree, and then set up the bow and ribbon on the car. Jon and my family got a kick out of it.
It was a lot of fun getting to see my niece Avery for an extended period of time. Last year we stopped by Chicago for New Year's and Avery was only a month or two old. This year I get to see her walk around, throw food on the ground, pick up random things in my house and put them somewhere else, and steal my remote controls. How cute! Just kidding, she was a blast. Mom & Dad kept insisting she looks a lot like me when I was a kid, so I must have been a really cute kid. My parents had a lot of fun babysitting her in the house -- my Mom would choose to watch Avery instead of go out with us at night.
We ended up doing a lot of stuff, with the entire family or with just Angie or my parents or whatever (my family had different schedules for when they were getting into town and leaving). When I wasn't driving to/from the airport, we were doing the following:
The Strip
- Walk of the Bellagio fountains & CityCenter
- LOVE (Beatles Cirque show at the Mirage)
- Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian
- Gambling
- Eating at lots of restaurants
Outdoors stuff
- Flying
- Hiking Black Mountain
- Red Rock Canyon
- Valley of Fire
- Lots and lots of golf (everyone else, not me)
Movies
- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (fun)
- Sherlock Holmes 2 (better than the first!)
- Adventures of Tintin (if you've read & love the comic, you'll love this)
Here's a link to my Flickr set for more photos from this crazy crazy holiday!
We didn't have much time to wind down from this visit, because we had 3 more sets of visitors in January! Things have just quieted down now and so we're in a bit of recovery mode. We have done a LOT of stuff these last 6 weeks. Hopefully I'll get to it all sometime!
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