August 18, Day 34: Las Vegas (part 2)

• Miles today:   0
• Trip total:   7096
• Weather: Clear and SCORCHING! High temp. 111F
• Theme song:  "Karn Evil 9, 1st Imp., Pt 2" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
• Lesson:  What happens in Vegas, they can just keep in Vegas.

 

Rachael missed her opportunity for the first true "sleep-in" morning of the trip.  Then we walked over to Sam's Town for breakfast and bowling.

 

 

 

Then back to the strip for a little more looking around.  Teresa's favorite is the Venetian, which has a lot of family-friendly stores.

 

 

 

 

 

As we made our way south to the MGM Grand for our evening show, we had to travel past many not-so-family-friendly activities.

 

If you have never been to Las Vegas (and I hadn't) hundreds of these hard-working folks line the strip, trying to press "advertising" (which I will not describe here) into your hands.  I can't say they are aggressive, but they are more annoying than mosquitos and more than one decided to hurl insults at us when I wouldn't acknowledge them.  At one point, there were at least 10 of them blocking the crosswalk, making it impossible to get by them without making physical contact.  It is beyond understanding when you are holding your wife's hand, and she is holding your nine-year-old son's hand, and they try to hand the boy one of their flyers.  They don't always wear the bold t-shirts and snap the cards in your face to get your attention.  I had one nice-looking and well-dressed gentleman (with a european accent) come up to me and ask if I was going to be in town for a few days, because he could set me up with [again, I won't go into detail] with no problems.  There was more, but none of it deserves any space here, so I will simplify...  Even though it is clean, bright, attractive and seems to offer some things they may like, keep your family off of the Las Vegas strip at all hours.  Disneyland is a few hours west, and the Grand Canyon is a few hours east for better family choices.

 

That aside, we completely enjoyed KA by Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand. I first heard of the show on a television program that talked about the stage they built for the production.  About all I can say is imagine an epic fight scene, something between The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, only viewed from above.  That's what the incredible stage can do, among other things.  I scored fourth-row-center seats (early-bird again) which were the absolute sweet-spot for the show, since many parts take place over your head or at the sides of the house.  Beyond that, the experience is beyond description.


We headed straight for the taxi line as to avoid the gauntlet of sidewalk pimpernels, of which we had our fill.  Our driver actually suggested that we get out of his cab and get back in line because he did not want to drive all the way out to Sam's Town and come back empty.  I told him to just drive us there anyway, as I made a visible point to read his name and cab number.  Unbelievable!