Day two of Vegas was Friday. We got up, had a nice breakfast in our room, and then ventured out to the strip to make a second stop at the ticket broker. As the very cool line wrangler had mentioned the day before, the Blue Man Group tickets were on sale at approximately 60% off; the seats we got are normally $101, and we scored them for $42! Since we had the tickets vouchers so early, we headed over to the Venetian to pick up the real tickets and avoid the crazy line that would inevitably form just before the show started. The Venetian is a gorgeous hotel! I'd never been inside before, and it was really cool to wander around and just look at stuff.
In fact, we realized that there were a few more of the hotels along the strip that I hadn't been inside, that I wanted to see the inside of. So, armed with our list of free stuff to do and the thought that I especially wanted to see Treasure Island, we set out to go wander. On a side note, getting in and out of the Venetian via the front entrance was a bitch and a half due to the Michael Jackson tribute/photo op outside the entrance to Madame Tussaud's. I can't seem to understand the amount of fuss that has been made over this man. I understand and acknowledge that he made a profound impact on the music industry, but he's been living an extremely self-destructive and self-indulgent lifestyle for the past 15 years, and his death really didn't surprise me at all. And I'd like to know where the hell the tribute to Farrah Fawcett is? She was an active advocate and lived her life doing her best to serve and help those who didn't have the advantages she did and yet, her death is just forgotten and glossed over in the wake of Jackson's. It just doesn't seem fair. But that's really not the point of this blog, so I'm going to get off the soapbox and continue with the vacation :)
I was a little disappointed with Treasure Island, to tell the truth. The outside was fantastic, the pirate ships were pretty damn cool, and the island-y stuff was awesome, but once you get inside it's only kind of vaguely ship-themed. None of it the stuff there jumped out at me as being particularly awesome though. We went back down to see the animal habitat that was supposed to be free at the Mirage, but they were charging for it so we decided against it, but by then the lion habitat was open at the MGM Grand and we also wanted to see that. It was super crowded, so we only got a few steps in before my claustrophobia wouldn't allow me to go any further, but there were two lionesses lounging up on top of the walk-through tunnel about 4 feet above our heads. It was so cool to be 4 feet away from a gigantic lioness, and almost be able to hear her snoring!
After some more wandering, we headed back to the resort for a short nap before the Blue Man Group show. Just after waking up, our friend from CG showed up (he and a buddy were going to be staying in the second room for the night), and we hung out with them for a bit while we ate dinner, which was cool since we don't see Dinko very often.
The Blue Man Group show was...indescribably awesome. I've never seen a show like it. It's almost impossible to explain what they do; it's a mash-up of awesome percussion performance, awesome blacklight show, audience participation stunts, among other rad stuff.
We were going to meet up with Dinko and his friend after the show, but logistics just didn't allow for that to happen so we said we'd do breakfast or lunch with them the next morning and went to do some more wandering. Our travels took us to the Paris hotel, and past a bar with dueling pianos. Scott can't resist a piano bar, so we stopped in, thinking we'd stay for a few songs and have a drink and then head back to get some sleep. That was at about 10 PM, we didn't leave until 1:30 AM. Needless to say, they were pretty entertaining. The challenge they'd given themselves that they would be able to play any hit song from the 50's or later, and they were only stumped 3 times the entire night. They played everything from "Master of Puppets" to "Behind Closed Doors" (someone thankfully paid them to stop the latter halfway through the song). The only bad part was that the cheap booze they served Scott gave him a bad headache, and he was feeling pretty crappy most of the next morning...but that's a story for the next blog!
Day 3 coming soon!
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Well, every star of both Farrah and Michael's magnitude has some good and some bad. I was truly saddened by both of their "gone too soon" deaths. You ask what the fuss was about Michael? Well, I can only really tel you why it was shockiing and sad to me and my friends. I think that maybe you're a bit too young to understand the level of love that many people my age and older had for him and the effect that such revolutionary (for the time anyway) things like "Thriller" had on people. By the time you were really conscious of him, he was already getting "weird". But when I was a kid he was still a handsome, uber talented singer and dancer who did revolutionary things with his music, his dancing and his videos. He really was an inspiration. Also, he DID do a lot for charities and was an advocate in his own right. He got far less coverage for anything good he did especially after the bad rumors started, and yet those "rumors" started because of lying, ungrateful families of two of the children he tried to help decided to prey on his fortune. I know a guy who was a friend of Michael's because Michael came to see him while he was a really, badly, ridiculously hurt kid in a hosptial. Michael treated him with respect and was a true friend to him. My friend was devastated by Michaels death because he had been such a good friend to him.
ReplyDeleteIt's cool if you don't feel strongly about him, you certainly don't have to. I'm just trying to give you a bit of an answer as to what all the fuss was about. Also, Farrah had already had countless articles and tv shows and a documentary made about her very sad, very brave battle with cancer. So, it was much less shocking to hear about. It was sad, but it was not shocking or surprising. And while she did use her fame for good, her life had it's share of self destruction at times as well. Nobody is perfect. That being said, I do not like crowds and I prefer to stay away from any fuss like the Michael funeral, Lakers parade etc... so... I too would have been really annoyed at having to deal with that kind of crowd outside of the Venetian. Glad that you had a good time though!
Liz, what a score on the Blue Man Group tickets. I've got to try to remember this for the next time I hit Vegas. I hadn't had much good luck as of late with the ticket vendors, so it's good to know that they are stepping up their game.
ReplyDeleteAnd in terms of the hotels, does Caesar's place still have all of the animatronics, aquariums, etc.? They had it in the old forum shops, but with the latest expansion I just refuse to go into that place. It just seems ridiculous big.
I loooove the Venetian. Great for wandering around. From folsk who have gone to Venice, they say the Vegas version is much better because it is cleaner and much less depressing. I s'pose if you city had been slowly sinking into the bottom of a dirty set of canals, you'd be bummed too. But, whatever.
Paris is my spot for crepes from La Creperie. There can often be a line at the shop, but truly they are yummy. I pretty much get one on every trip I have to Vegas. Almost to the point of superstitution for my gambling! haha! Good thing my alternative is to just stop gambling if I just don't have time for one.
Great blog... and I really hope that you will have time for some one-liners, at least, after Aurora is born. Being able to capture some of those in-the-moment thoughts will be indispensible and unimaginably cool once she begins to grow up. To recall how quickly she will change and develop, etc. etc. The mind memories will fade and warp with time, but the written word along with pictures/video is amazing.
Only 10 weeks to go!
@rene well put response.