Las Vegas 2016

7/13/16

It is about 3:30 AM on Wednesday and sleep eludes me. Why not put the time to use, pestering you good folk?

Where did I leave off? Yes, I survived the jalapeño pepper and the large burger but it was a close-run thing. 

Not to get too personal but Hilton's Just Look At How Earth-Friendly We're Being bathroom tissue has become a pain in the ass in every sense.

Monday, once everyone had decided to stop frittering their lives away on sleep, we got a cab and went over to Fremont Street, which is LV's version of downtown.  Nothing in particular drew us there other than wishing to try something new. Spirit of Adventure and all that. The Wife and I went there on our 1st? 2nd? trip but that was BX (Before Xander.) 

There, we saw the world's biggest gold nugget. 

 And walked around a bit. It's a little thing but Fremont Street is covered so that made walking around in the 100 degree heat slightly more tolerable.

From there, we took a very expensive cab ride to Gameworks as a sop to Xander. Following his parents around as they (well, she) stopped at every silver jewelry store isn't the most exciting way to spend a vacation. GW is a bit like Chuck E. Cheese but with a fully stocked bar. 

That is, it is slightly less horrid than Chuck E. Cheese.

We all had a seriously okay time killing dinosaurs, zombies and (in my case) playing Bejeweled. Some might consider it.... odd to plunk down hard earned ducats to play a game I already have on my phone, Kindle, iPad and xBox but that's the Magic of Vegas. 

Wendi isn't in a position to taunt as she spent a good chunk of her visit playing Super Monkey Ball.

After that, we recovered in our condo for a bit and then went to dinner at a fine Mexican restaurant at Ballys. The only noteworthy point there was I renewed my loathing of tequila. (But, hey! a coupon is a coupon.) 

We wrapped up the evening swimming in our little condo pool. Much frolicking.

Yesterday started on a down note. Mrs. Hardy woke up not feeling well: sore throat and chills. She would stay in bed; at least for the AM. So the boy and I were on our own. Whatever we decided to do, we would make good time doing so.

Actually, let me back up slightly. While awaiting for the rest of the family to spring out of bed, I decided to pop over to the Las Vegas Hilton to poke around. We have a bit of history there. It was on our 2nd trip in 2001 that we went to see The Star Trek Experience. And after that, agreed to hear the sales pitch for this "time share" thing. So, it all kinda started there. But no more. The STE was shut down 5? 6? year ago, leaving a huge empty space in the building. Sad, really. They never replaced it with anything, just walled it off. This 5 foot emblem wedged between the monorail and building was the only reminder of Days of Glory Past.

 Must cause their guests whole lot of head scratching nowadays. 

So back to the Hardy Men and their walkabout. He and I went to the Excalibur, which is way on the other end of the Strip. Serious walking involved. (But of course, we made good time.) We had to go through the New York, New York to get there and, upon entering, we were handed vouchers for free samples at Hershey's World. (This turned out to be related to the candy company and not the fine "Beaches" actress. A slight disappointment.) So off we went. There, I was mildly outraged to see free samples being handed out to voucher-less people. Had we inadvertently entered some sort of Hunger Games/Mad Max-themed establishment? There are rules, people! 

One the plus side, I did get to witness my son chatting up the nice looking sample-lady. Where you from? Worked here long? Adorable. 

We had a mid-afternoon show to go to so we ambled back. Wendi was feeling slightly better. At least good enough to go pick up the tickets. (Her name was on them so I might not have been able to get them.) Off we went over to the Hard Rock Casino/Miracle Mile Shopping Center and watched Peter Popovich and his animal circus. We picked this specifically for Xander's enjoyment but we were maybe 3 or 4  years too late. It was a whole lot of meh. The fact that someone has painstakingly trained dogs, cats, and birds to do X, Y or Z doesn't actually make it amazing to watch. It's still just a cat jumping through a hoop.  🤔

We couldn't pass up the Miracle Mile without a bit of shopping. The wife and son picked up some items. Xander bought a couple of totally bitching skull rings. He was just sure the lads on Supernatural would wear something similar provided.....Well, provided they were 12 years old and wore things like skull rings.

Believe it or not, I was not really interested in picking up any jewelry; especially so after Wendi commented on how fat my fingers are looking. (Are you retaining water? Thanks, sweetie.) So, I alternated between checking on their progress and watching people go by. Being about 20 hours into "The Complete Sherlock Holmes", I was about using my keen powers of observation and deduction on passers-by. 

Ahh, I see by your short-shorts and bared mid-riff you are... a ho! Or just wanting to look like one.

This short-short fashion is something Wendi noticed soon after arriving here on Sunday. And does not approve of. At least in a large percentage of our fellow tourists who don't have the body for it. 

Me? I'm all about the Inner Beauty. 

At this point, the Wife was tired, alternating between freezing and boiling and starving. We scurried back to the Condo and started watching movies in a temperature-controlled, short-short-free environment. It was so much fun, we decided to order room service and call it a night. (Gods of Egypt-okay/Zootopia-very good)

So, that's our adventure so far. This afternoon, we have a Mac King Show and Wendi is lamenting our terrible lack of 4-star dining experiences thus far. Provided she is feeling well, we may attempt to remedy that tonight. 

I suspect I have used up my allotment of iPhone time for the day and so had best wrap this sucker up. 

Chow!

The Delicately Fingered Brian