Part 4 of Greg & Maria's trip to Vegas.
Friday was the last day of my conference. The SSTC conference is organized by a combination of Hill Air Force Base and Utah State University. As it just so happens, Maria has a cousin, Michelle, who was employed by the conference and in charge of organizing many of the seminars. We hadn't seen her in years, so Friday morning together we sought her out and chatted for a little bit. It was really great to see her. My best memory of Michelle before seeing her again on this trip was that she was the one who introduced us to the Harry Potter books just before they got huge.
(Maria & Michelle)
Friday was also the most important day of our trip. It was the day we went souvenir shopping for all the people back at home, to try and make us feel less guilty for going on vacation without them. So we hit all the tacky tourist shops with the 3-for-ten-dollars T-shirts and 99 cent bins and loaded up on lots of boxes and bags to bring home with us.
As we drove around just off the strip, we saw a sign for a "Sci-Fi Center" on the side of a shopping center. With an impressive title like that we had to stop to look inside. The door was locked but the store hours on the sign in the window said they were open. There was a phone number on it which Maria called reaching one of the employees inside who somehow forgot to unlock the door when they got in. We followed her in to what looked like someone's half-refurbished den with no carpets, no ceiling, and most importantly, NO MERCHANDISE! The employee tried to point out a few boxes of comics and a few old Star Wars figures hiding behind some boards leaning against what I guess was supposed to be a front counter. We did our best to pretend to look like we were browsing through the two items they had for sale, and then were saved when someone else came in falling for the same trap we did. As the employee began taking the new guy on the "tour" we made a quick getaway to other things.
(Can I just interrupt for a second to say how cool Google maps is at this point? I couldn't remember the name of the shop, and doing some searching for comic book shops in Vegas didn't help me find it. However, I remembered where we were driving when I found it, so I went to Google maps, typed in Las Vegas, and scrolled until I found the area I believed it was in, then clicked on "street view" and found myself looking at a fully interactive, 360 view of the street with the shop's name right there!)
As we were driving around afterwards, Maria told me about Fremont Road which apparantly was the original Vegas strip. So we decided to go check it out. We eventually found it and wouldn't you know it, Fremont Road had casinos! The biggest difference between the "old" strip and the "new" strip is that all these casinos are connected together under a covered roof and they are much closer to each other so you can walk through them more quickly. We didn't last very long there as our feet were starting to hurt and it seemed to be in a kind of bad side of town, so we decided to go back to our hotel for the afternoon.
(Covered Fremont Street)
For lunch, I introduced Maria to the Vegas buffet. Every casino has its buffet. They are no longer cheap like I hear they used to be, but usually there's something interesting at each one. I was sad to see that the Hilton buffet was nowhere as impressive as the one at the Rio that I ate at a couple nights before.
After lunch came the moment I'd been waiting all week for. When I learned that the conference I was attending was at the Hilton and I went to the hotel's website to make reservations, I quickly discovered that the Hilton was the home of the "Star Trek Experience." No self-respecting geek could go to Las Vegas and miss this! And it was right here in my hotel! I'd heard that in one of the attractions you actually get beamed on to the Enterprise. In fact, the special effects are so cool, that if you want, you can pay another $30 to go on a behind-the-scenes tour just to see how it actually works! Well, it was all I could do to wait until the end of the week for Maria to join me so we could go see it together. Strangely enough, Maria didn't seem all that excited about it when I told her about it. I have no idea why. I mean it's Star Trek! But I convinced her to come with me anyway.
Inside the "experience" is a big Star Trek museum with all sorts of props and costumes and a gigantic time-line that shows nearly everything that has happened in the Star Trek universe covering all the TV shows and movies. This all leads you down to a hallway that splits into two directions for two shows: "The Klingon Encounter" and the "Borg Invasion 4D." We went to "The Klingon Encounter" first.
(Maria out front with a Klingon)
The Klingon attraction starts out like you are going to get on one of those motion simulator rides, when suddenly something happens and we all found ourselves suddenly in the Enterprise's transporter room, apparantly beamed there. From there we get taken to the bridge where we learn that some rogue Klingons are trying to kill one of Captain Picard's ancestors, and then we all take the lift down to the shuttle bay where this time we really do get into one of the motion simulator rides.
We were about 2 minutes into the ride when apparantly someone's seatbelt came undone causing the whole simulator to shut down. The attendants/crew did their best to attempt to improvise around this little snafu while making us all get out then back in again after they reset everything. Then we had a strange little 2 minute deja vu as we repeated the thrilling shuttle ride. Eventually we were returned from the future back to Vegas and deposited into the souvenir shops.
(Greg in the store with another Klingon)
We went back around again and this time lined up for the "Borg Invasion 4D." This show has the Borg invading a science vessel with some of the Star Trek Voyager crew and after leading us through some hallways while watching various Borgs capture random crew, we eventually get seated in a theater with some 3D glasses to watch a show. The 4D comes from the interactive elements including a chair that pokes you from behind just at the moment the borg attack and start trying to insert their biomechanical equipment into everyone. It certainly made everyone in the theater jump!
(Borg display in the museum section)
Anyway, the Star Trek experience was fun. And afterwards, still somewhat full from our buffet lunch, but needing something to tide us over for the evening, we went to Quark's, a Star Trek themed restaraunt with a lot of exotic menu items. We got a couple frozen smoothie drinks and some cheese bread while being entertained by a group of about 20 college-aged guys all drinking from these massive alcoholic juice bowls and going crazy. People told me that half the fun of Vegas was just in the people watching.
(These drinks are normally for two people)
When we were done at Quark's, we left to go to the main feature of the evening, "The World's Greatest Magic Show." This was basically a variety show with a half dozen different magicians in a fairly small theater. The show was recommended to me by the owner of Magic Etc. in Fort Worth. I'd asked him a few weeks ago if he had any magic show recommendations in Vegas, and he told me he had just barely come back from Vegas and that was the one he told me to definitely go see. It's not a great big production show, but that's part of the charm, since it's much more personal and intimate. I find magic works much better that way than overblown on a giant stage.
We got to the theater and eventually were seated. I'd paid a little extra for "VIP" seats, which got us close to the stage, but apparantly there's another level above VIP where if we paid $20 we could sit in a booth right in front of the stage. I declined and so we sat at a cramped table with six other people sitting perpendicular to the stage, which seemed very awkward to me. However, once the show started, I completely forgot about seating conditions and just enjoyed the show.
(Maria and I at the table for World's Greatest Magic Show)
The show itself was a lot of fun. The tricks ran the gamut from little to big, from super-quick to long and drawn out, and from obvious to head-scratchingly amazing. At one point the host, who would perform a trick or two in between introducing all the other magicians, came out into the audience during one of his tricks and somehow ended up sitting in my lap. Later when he was done with the trick, he pulled out a watch. I looked down and realized my watch was missing. I was pretty amazed that he was able to get it since I wear my watch on the wrong (i.e. right) hand, and upside down (with the face resting under my wrist). I know just a little about watch stealing, and know that he had to be cursing himself for picking me. But I've got to hand it to him, because I didn't notice a thing. Of course, on my behalf, its really hard to notice anything else when a full grown man is sitting in your lap!
We were so entertained by the show, I bought a T-Shirt afterwards to have signed by all the magicians. We even bought a souvenir photo as well. Yes, we were definitely suckered in by all the merchandising they do at these shows. Most of the shows and attractions in Vegas you can't even get in until someone has forced you to stop and take your photo to try and sell you afterwards.
Anyway, after the show was over, the night was still slightly young for a Friday night in Vegas, so we drove further in to the strip to visit a few more places. The first was the Venetian, which I'd been through earlier in the week, but Maria hadn't seen it yet. So we walked a little bit into the shops to see the gondolas while I tried to explain that despite how romantic a ride sounded, when you actually saw these boats floating down the middle of what's essentially just a mall with the gondoliers singing out loudly, the whole thing just seemed more ridiculous than anything else.
Our feet were still fairly sore so we didn't want to wander for too long, so after a brief visit to the Venetian, we crossed the street and went over to Treasure Island (TI) to see their free outdoor nightly pirate show. It's called "Sirens of TI" and where I had expected to see a stunt spectacular with lots of acrobatics and swashbuckling, it turns out the whole thing is just a big slightly-sleazy lip-synched showgirl routine. Of all the different things we saw in Vegas, this one was probably the least worth our time. Still, the TI hotel had a cool souvenir shop with lots of cool pirate items for the kids. After picking up a few more things to add to our growing souvenir collection, we decided to head home and retire for the night.
(At the TI show. At least the explosions were impressive.)
(Maria & Michelle)
Friday was also the most important day of our trip. It was the day we went souvenir shopping for all the people back at home, to try and make us feel less guilty for going on vacation without them. So we hit all the tacky tourist shops with the 3-for-ten-dollars T-shirts and 99 cent bins and loaded up on lots of boxes and bags to bring home with us.
As we drove around just off the strip, we saw a sign for a "Sci-Fi Center" on the side of a shopping center. With an impressive title like that we had to stop to look inside. The door was locked but the store hours on the sign in the window said they were open. There was a phone number on it which Maria called reaching one of the employees inside who somehow forgot to unlock the door when they got in. We followed her in to what looked like someone's half-refurbished den with no carpets, no ceiling, and most importantly, NO MERCHANDISE! The employee tried to point out a few boxes of comics and a few old Star Wars figures hiding behind some boards leaning against what I guess was supposed to be a front counter. We did our best to pretend to look like we were browsing through the two items they had for sale, and then were saved when someone else came in falling for the same trap we did. As the employee began taking the new guy on the "tour" we made a quick getaway to other things.
(Can I just interrupt for a second to say how cool Google maps is at this point? I couldn't remember the name of the shop, and doing some searching for comic book shops in Vegas didn't help me find it. However, I remembered where we were driving when I found it, so I went to Google maps, typed in Las Vegas, and scrolled until I found the area I believed it was in, then clicked on "street view" and found myself looking at a fully interactive, 360 view of the street with the shop's name right there!)
As we were driving around afterwards, Maria told me about Fremont Road which apparantly was the original Vegas strip. So we decided to go check it out. We eventually found it and wouldn't you know it, Fremont Road had casinos! The biggest difference between the "old" strip and the "new" strip is that all these casinos are connected together under a covered roof and they are much closer to each other so you can walk through them more quickly. We didn't last very long there as our feet were starting to hurt and it seemed to be in a kind of bad side of town, so we decided to go back to our hotel for the afternoon.
(Covered Fremont Street)
For lunch, I introduced Maria to the Vegas buffet. Every casino has its buffet. They are no longer cheap like I hear they used to be, but usually there's something interesting at each one. I was sad to see that the Hilton buffet was nowhere as impressive as the one at the Rio that I ate at a couple nights before.
After lunch came the moment I'd been waiting all week for. When I learned that the conference I was attending was at the Hilton and I went to the hotel's website to make reservations, I quickly discovered that the Hilton was the home of the "Star Trek Experience." No self-respecting geek could go to Las Vegas and miss this! And it was right here in my hotel! I'd heard that in one of the attractions you actually get beamed on to the Enterprise. In fact, the special effects are so cool, that if you want, you can pay another $30 to go on a behind-the-scenes tour just to see how it actually works! Well, it was all I could do to wait until the end of the week for Maria to join me so we could go see it together. Strangely enough, Maria didn't seem all that excited about it when I told her about it. I have no idea why. I mean it's Star Trek! But I convinced her to come with me anyway.
Inside the "experience" is a big Star Trek museum with all sorts of props and costumes and a gigantic time-line that shows nearly everything that has happened in the Star Trek universe covering all the TV shows and movies. This all leads you down to a hallway that splits into two directions for two shows: "The Klingon Encounter" and the "Borg Invasion 4D." We went to "The Klingon Encounter" first.
(Maria out front with a Klingon)
The Klingon attraction starts out like you are going to get on one of those motion simulator rides, when suddenly something happens and we all found ourselves suddenly in the Enterprise's transporter room, apparantly beamed there. From there we get taken to the bridge where we learn that some rogue Klingons are trying to kill one of Captain Picard's ancestors, and then we all take the lift down to the shuttle bay where this time we really do get into one of the motion simulator rides.
We were about 2 minutes into the ride when apparantly someone's seatbelt came undone causing the whole simulator to shut down. The attendants/crew did their best to attempt to improvise around this little snafu while making us all get out then back in again after they reset everything. Then we had a strange little 2 minute deja vu as we repeated the thrilling shuttle ride. Eventually we were returned from the future back to Vegas and deposited into the souvenir shops.
(Greg in the store with another Klingon)
We went back around again and this time lined up for the "Borg Invasion 4D." This show has the Borg invading a science vessel with some of the Star Trek Voyager crew and after leading us through some hallways while watching various Borgs capture random crew, we eventually get seated in a theater with some 3D glasses to watch a show. The 4D comes from the interactive elements including a chair that pokes you from behind just at the moment the borg attack and start trying to insert their biomechanical equipment into everyone. It certainly made everyone in the theater jump!
(Borg display in the museum section)
Anyway, the Star Trek experience was fun. And afterwards, still somewhat full from our buffet lunch, but needing something to tide us over for the evening, we went to Quark's, a Star Trek themed restaraunt with a lot of exotic menu items. We got a couple frozen smoothie drinks and some cheese bread while being entertained by a group of about 20 college-aged guys all drinking from these massive alcoholic juice bowls and going crazy. People told me that half the fun of Vegas was just in the people watching.
(These drinks are normally for two people)
When we were done at Quark's, we left to go to the main feature of the evening, "The World's Greatest Magic Show." This was basically a variety show with a half dozen different magicians in a fairly small theater. The show was recommended to me by the owner of Magic Etc. in Fort Worth. I'd asked him a few weeks ago if he had any magic show recommendations in Vegas, and he told me he had just barely come back from Vegas and that was the one he told me to definitely go see. It's not a great big production show, but that's part of the charm, since it's much more personal and intimate. I find magic works much better that way than overblown on a giant stage.
We got to the theater and eventually were seated. I'd paid a little extra for "VIP" seats, which got us close to the stage, but apparantly there's another level above VIP where if we paid $20 we could sit in a booth right in front of the stage. I declined and so we sat at a cramped table with six other people sitting perpendicular to the stage, which seemed very awkward to me. However, once the show started, I completely forgot about seating conditions and just enjoyed the show.
(Maria and I at the table for World's Greatest Magic Show)
The show itself was a lot of fun. The tricks ran the gamut from little to big, from super-quick to long and drawn out, and from obvious to head-scratchingly amazing. At one point the host, who would perform a trick or two in between introducing all the other magicians, came out into the audience during one of his tricks and somehow ended up sitting in my lap. Later when he was done with the trick, he pulled out a watch. I looked down and realized my watch was missing. I was pretty amazed that he was able to get it since I wear my watch on the wrong (i.e. right) hand, and upside down (with the face resting under my wrist). I know just a little about watch stealing, and know that he had to be cursing himself for picking me. But I've got to hand it to him, because I didn't notice a thing. Of course, on my behalf, its really hard to notice anything else when a full grown man is sitting in your lap!
We were so entertained by the show, I bought a T-Shirt afterwards to have signed by all the magicians. We even bought a souvenir photo as well. Yes, we were definitely suckered in by all the merchandising they do at these shows. Most of the shows and attractions in Vegas you can't even get in until someone has forced you to stop and take your photo to try and sell you afterwards.
Anyway, after the show was over, the night was still slightly young for a Friday night in Vegas, so we drove further in to the strip to visit a few more places. The first was the Venetian, which I'd been through earlier in the week, but Maria hadn't seen it yet. So we walked a little bit into the shops to see the gondolas while I tried to explain that despite how romantic a ride sounded, when you actually saw these boats floating down the middle of what's essentially just a mall with the gondoliers singing out loudly, the whole thing just seemed more ridiculous than anything else.
Our feet were still fairly sore so we didn't want to wander for too long, so after a brief visit to the Venetian, we crossed the street and went over to Treasure Island (TI) to see their free outdoor nightly pirate show. It's called "Sirens of TI" and where I had expected to see a stunt spectacular with lots of acrobatics and swashbuckling, it turns out the whole thing is just a big slightly-sleazy lip-synched showgirl routine. Of all the different things we saw in Vegas, this one was probably the least worth our time. Still, the TI hotel had a cool souvenir shop with lots of cool pirate items for the kids. After picking up a few more things to add to our growing souvenir collection, we decided to head home and retire for the night.
(At the TI show. At least the explosions were impressive.)
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