Back from Vacation

After two work-free weeks, I'm back at Paddington today. And might I add, there are very few people in my area to eat all the candy I hauled back across the pond! Anyways, instead of going over the entire trip, I'm going to do a brief summary of my time in Vegas by providing you with my top 5 Vegas Experiences of Randomness.

5. National Finals Rodeo
Mark and I realized that something was a bit funny when upon landing in Las Vegas last Wednesday, we were suddenly joined by a random mob with a heavy cowboy concentration on the tram to the main terminal. We just assumed it was a flight just in from Texas. Then at baggage claim we were right across from a fresh arrival from Bismark. This proved to be an extremely entertaining site. And I learned that North Dakota cowboys prefer black cowboy hats.

The cowboy phenomenon continued at the hotel, where we ended up in a big check-in line behind a very large number of, yes, cowboys. It was seemingly around this time that we learned that the National Finals Rodeo (sponsored by Wrangler, of course) were in town, and would be for the next few days. Fun times for everyone! And of course, that meant we got to watch some enjoyable rodeo action on TVs in the bars in the evening time.

4. The Deuce
There is a double decker bus that runs up and down the strip and also to downtown. It's called 'The Deuce' but is essentially a city bus. It's reasonable priced ($2 for a single trip, $5 for a 24-hour pass), and comes regularly. However, it's in many ways the slow boat to China. During peak times it spends longer at the stops with people loading and unloading, then crawls along in gridlock conditions. If you have time on your hands, it's probably the best way to get around. We took three trips on The Deuce in a 24-hour period, going from the MGM Grand to Treasure Island (well, it stops at the Venetian going that way), then from the Venetian to Fremont Street and back.

3. Fremont Street
It's safe to say that downtown Vegas is a very different place than the strip. Well, not so different in the scope of things. Both are lined with casinos and glittering lights and have hoards of tourists walking up and down. But different in more subtle ways. For example, the restaurants weren't owned by celebrity chefs. We dined at Tony Roma's. There was a 40-minute wait. And whilst I didn't think it was humanly possible, there's an even higher density of cowboys down there. During the Fremont Street Experience (Queen-themed) light show, I had to resist the urge to take a picture of 3 cowboys lined up in a row, heads tilted extra far back (those hats block some of the view) all with really really big cigarettes in their mouths. It was something. Oh, and it's rather seedy.

2. Free entry!
One of the benefits of being in Vegas on a non-weekend night is that there are no waits anywhere and places offer plenty of deals to get you to come on in. Because we were on vacation, and had obliged the Kahunaville bar with their buy-one-get-one-free cocktail offer 3 times (before watching their flair bartenders show, very impressive!), Mark and I decided we might as well go to the Christian Audigier nightclub after getting vouchers for free entry. It was an interesting experience. We left before midnight, so things quite possibly picked up a bit later, but it was small, you had to pay a lot extra if you wanted to use a table and have a scantily clad woman be your waitress, and you couldn't go out the door you came in. I feel like it must not be cool to have people visibly leaving your club. Mark and I dazzled everyone with our amazing dance moves.

1. Free show!
Our first night in Vegas, we were leaving a bar in the Venetian right outside the Blue Man Group theater. Before we could get 50 feet we were greeted by some hurried Japanese tourists who gave us two tickets to the show starting that very minute. So not wanting to hurt their feelings, we turned around and went in. We would never have actually picked to go to the show, so we didn't really have high expectations. Let's just say there was some cool musical stuff mixed in with some random not funny comedic skits (no talking!). It was a 10 pm show, and having been up since 5:30 in the morning, we both sort of drifted off to sleep intermittently. But a free show still ain't bad! We made plans to start hanging out outside the 'O' theater at the Bellagio but I think we must have forgotten!