Vegas Day - 2

The day commenced with a nice sleep in which was a nice catch up on all the sleep I had missed since my departure. So after a lazy start and breakfast down at the coffee shop counter at the Riviera Hotel I headed outside and grabbed a cab from outside Circus Circus across the road.

My first destination today would be the Las Vegas Gun Range. Here you can choose from a whole range of firearms to shoot at their range. They even have package deals. My choice was the 5 firearm package that included:

M-16 commando 9mm

Heckler-Koch MP-5k 9mm

Shotgun

Heckler-Koch USP.45 w/suppressor

unfortunately I can’t remember what the last weapon was.

Before my shoot I was able to watch three English guys shoot. They chose a package called the “full monty” which included using an Uzi 9mm, .50ae Desert Eagle Pistol, a "Dirty Harry" .44 magnum and more. The most entertaining aspect was the look on their faces as they fired some of the more powerful weapons.

Soon it was turn. Here I am firing the Heckler-Koch MP-5k 9mm.

I can tell you that of all the guns I used the shotgun was the most surprising, simply because of the kick it has. After a few rounds you can really feel it in your shoulder. The other thing that you learn with a shotgun is that t sure does a lot of damage. I had to change the target after using the shotgun because there wasn’t much left.

My range safety office not only helped with the weapons but also took these great shot. Talented guy.

I jumped back into a cab and head for the Atomic testing museum. Unfortunately you can’t take photos inside but I do recommend a visit, it is a very interesting and well laid out museum that covers all aspects of the U.S. nuclear testing.

From here I headed north to the Neon Museum. This is basically a ‘boneyard’ for old neon signs, given that most are destroyed when casinos are demolished.

The museum allows you to take photos for personal not commercial use and prefers not to have them posted so please don’t steal them from here or I’ll get in trouble! My camera also decided to run out of power just as the tour started so most of the shots you see are pretty rushed since I didn’t have much ‘juice’ left in the batteries.

The museum has some interesting pieces and history surrounding it and they are improving it all the time. In the long run they plan to restore many of the signs and place them on the road out from Las Vegas as you can kind of see in the last picture above, which shows a high heel shoe.

The tour ran for about and hour and I would have liked to see more signs and perhaps signs in their original configuration since, as you can see, most are simply stacked up. However, I appreciate the museum is doing what it can and doesn’t have a lot of money so I’m happy to help them along with the goals of preserving Las Vegas history.

After the tour I started to walk back south to the Riviera Hotel but since it was way too far I had to wait for a cab, which are few and far between this far away from ‘The Strip’. After finally hailing a cab and jumping in, it turns out you are not allowed to do that. The driver was particularly paranoid about getting booked as we passed some police not far from where I jumped in. Luckily, that didn’t happen and I arrive back at the Riviera Hotel where I registered for my SMB Nation conference.

There are few ‘conference parties’ taking place tonight so I might just stick my head in a see what they are like after probably grabbing something to eat again at Circus, Circus across the road. From there I haven’t really decided what to do and see but I don’t think I’ll go too far as the cost of cabs ($15 - $20) is chewing up funds pretty quickly. I needed to use them today to get to these locations but I couldn’t afford to user them all the time, so where ever I go tonight I’ll have to hoof it by foot. Good exercise so they say.

Tomorrow the conference starts here and I’ll be blogging about that over on http://supportweb.ciaops.net.au/blog for the next few days. Stay tuned here for anything that is not directly related to business or the conference and I’ll pick up with this blog full time at the end of the conference.

Las Vegas – Day 1

The first leg was a long haul flight from Sydney to LAX. Luckily my application for an upgrade to business class had been accepted and I had a bit of luxury on the trip over. I heard someone else saying they downgraded from business class to premium economy so they could get an aisle seat. In my books business class always trumps an aisle seat in premium economy. Sorry mate, but your seat was really comfortable.

The flight over was good. I did however manage to damage the ligaments in my middle finger while helping someone get they heavy bag from the overhead locker. I now have a nicely swollen middle knuckle as well as having troubles clenching my fist. It is also rather painful when you have to manipulate luggage. Oh well, I’ll just have to keep working on it to reduce the swelling asap.

Upon arriving at LAX I cleared customs and immigration pretty quickly and then located my departure gate for the flight from LAX to Las Vegas. When you travel in the US domestically you have to pass a far more rigorous screening process which means you need to remove you belt, shoes and jacket. It also means extra time undressing and redressing.

As I waited at the gate for my flight to Las Vegas who should sit next to me? Some Australians. These people are everywhere! I thought there was a financial crises. To top that off the people in the row behind me on the flight to LAs Vegas were also Australians about to get “married”, Vegas style. Seemed to me that at least half of the passengers (and it was full flight) were Australia.

The flight to Las Vegas was more bumpy as winds whipped up by the desert made it uncomfortable but not too much. Touch down in Vegas was on time and I was amazed at how much the airport has changed since last I visited. IT is now really big and modern. You actually take a shuttle train from the arrival gates to the baggage claim.

Waiting at the baggage claim was my per-arranged transport mwtravelvegas.com. Mark met me, waited for my bags to appear on the carrousel, then took me out and put me into the van that would take me to the Riviera Hotel where I am staying. 

The ride from the airport took about 15 minutes. I now waited a little while in line to check in but after swiping my credit card in the reader I had a room number and room key. The porter had taken my bag so I returned to him with my room number and told him I wasn’t going straight there I needed to get something to eat. However, just before doing that I had a quick look at where the conference was going to be held.

The Riviera Hotel has what it calls a ‘coffee  shop’ but in fact it is really a good old fashion diner. I took a seat at the counter and ordered my favourite BLT club sandwich along with a bottomless cup of coffee for the grand price of $15.11 (and the BLT was huge as they always are over here). Well now at least I knew somewhere to eat. I’ll most likely be back for breakfast tomorrow.

Finally in my room I took a few shots to give you and idea.

and the view out the window overlooking the pool.

Next, I got myself hooked out to the Internet which turns out to be a little expensive at US$10 per day but I needed access so I paid up. The connection speeds here are certainly much quicker than last year in Seattle (when the Internet was free) so I suppose you get what you pay for.

My bags still hadn’t arrived in my room so I called down to the bell captain to discover they had tried to deliver my bag but no one was in the room. It duly arrive and now I was finally IN Las Vegas.

After sorting through my inbox I discovered where in the hotel my conference buddies were staying. We planning to have dinner later in the evening.

After having a quick snooze, since I hadn’t really slept since leaving Sydney, I decided that it would easier for my jet lag adjustment to go out and do something. A walk down “The Strip” beckoned, so I grabbed my camera and headed out the door taking the following pictures.

Encore Hotel

Plazzio Hotel

One of two full scale ships outside Treasure Island. They conduct a full production a number of times during the day. I have more details later.

Treasure Island

Venetian

Venetian

Mirage

Mirage

Casino Royal

I then headed into the Forum shops inside Caesar's Palace.

As I moved deeping into the Forum shops I came across a familiar site, statues in a fountain.

Now what happens to these apparent ‘statues is that on the hour they actually give a performance where they sing , dance and move about. A previous time I was here (1993) I was truely taken by these ‘statues’, however this time not as much. Perhaps because I had seen them before. I kind of felt they were a bit old hat. The forum actually has some new “moving states” that breath fire and provide a much more spectacular show.

I continued through the forum.

(remember this is INSIDE Caesar's!

(that is a full size Trojan horse in the background).

I decided it was time to head back so after wandering around lost in the Forum Shops and the casino, I finally emerged back onto the street.

 

Front entrance to Caesar’s.

The Mandalay has a great water fountain display but today, alas, the winds were too high for it operate.

Paris Casino

Statue of Caesar

Wynn

Stratosphere

I managed to have a shower and then headed out with my peers for a $15 all you can eat buffet dinner at Circus Circus across the street. We also found out that that $15 entitles you to as much food as you want at the buffet for 24 hours.

After finishing up I decided to head back up the strip to take some night shots as way of contrast.

Mirage

Sigfried and Roy sculpture

I then waited until the Treasure show presentation

Gotta admit I found the show underwhelming. They have obviously ‘sexed it up” by including women in skimpy outfits (sirens) luring Pirate to their doom. Yeah, yeah, get to the fireworks.

Wynn and Encore

Circus Circus

Till tomorrow.