What else did you do in Vegas...

[Zumo de Mango]

We saw The Blue Man Group which was awesome, La Reve which was cool, the Titanic exhibition and the Bodies exhibition which I thought was great.

 

[phyz]

You guys are inspiring me to get outside the TAM hotel next time. I've never been much of a fan of Vegas as such. So I bought the TAM E-ticket this time and rolled with it sun-up to sun-down, Thursday noon through Sunday noon.

Next time, I'll probably leave some space open for outside-the-conference extra-curriculars. If it's in June, I'll actually have time to stay and play. In January, I have to get in, get out, and get on with school.

 

[markb]

We saw The Blue Man Group which was awesome, La Reve which was cool, the Titanic exhibition and the Bodies exhibition which I thought was great.

I thought Bodies was awesome. Apparently, I liked it even more than everybody else, because halfway through, I looked around, and I was alone in a room full of cadavers! (Ok, so there were other living people around, but it sounds better that way.) I didn't see you guys again until I got back to the Tropicana bar.

 

[NewMusic_Jenn]

In no particular order:

* Saw the Mapplethorpe exhibit - I love his work so this was a \
no-brainer!

* Visited a couple of outlet malls (Newfoundland not being the shopping
mecca one might expect )

* P&T - fabulous to see them live!

* Lance Burton - fun show

* All the TAM shows - I especially liked the Jill/Julia show...

* Zumanity - I had some trepidations about this one, (since I wasn't
overly impressed with 'O' last summer) but I figured (semi)-nude
people doing acrobatics can't be all bad ...it was fun overall.

* Walked the strip (of course!)

Jenn

 

[Soapy Sam]

Very little in Vegas. outside the TAM entertainment.
I could happily have watched Hal as Hamilton for twice as long. Fascinating stuff.
I somehow missed the Red Rocks trip as I was helping box books.
Monday I picked up a rental car and drove through Death Valley and up 395 to Mammoth lakes, where I did some skiing and nosed around the Long Valley Caldera , various other volcanic features and Mono Lake. Came back to Vegas on Friday night after seeing more of Death Valley.
Now lying on the floor in Scotland, too jet-lagged to go to bed, wondering if I dreamed the whole thing. But then where did these bits of obsidian and pumice come from?
At the airport I met a bunch of Aussies who had been at a concrete conference, which must have been ...wonderful. They had also been to the shooting range and showed me their poster of Osama complete with bullet holes. He was clutching an RPG. Now I wouldn't mind shooting one of those.

 

[SkeptiKilt]

I am told the Bellagio has an incredible buffet. Need to investigate that next time.

It's not for the faint of heart or the small of stomach. Even if you only take the tiniest portion of everything that looks good, you can hurt yourself.

I haven't seen any of the recent Cirque shows; I don't want to spoil the special memories of the tent with the bleachers out at Santa Monica beach lo these many years ago.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Peter- sorry I missed you for dinner on the Sunday night. I can't actually recall where I ended up. It's all a bit of a blur.
And thanks again for taking me to Fry's for the camera replacement. I went out on my own when I returned to Vegas with a rental car on Friday night, but couldn't see anything I preferred to the Olympus I got with you. Besides, it already acquired a few obsidian scratches, so I think I'll be keeping it.

 

[SkeptiKilt]

No problem, Soapy; I don't think I actually had dinner that night. Glad the camera is working out for you.

. . . And while I'm at it, allow me to plug a company that makes an excellent product to protect electronic gear like cameras, PDAs and iPods, ShieldZone -- their iPod covers are so thin that you can still seat the 'Pod in a standard dock.

 

[Cabby]

Me and ohp extended our trip to Vegas a bit around TAM so we had a little more time to see some sites.

We/I managed to:

* See the Mac King comedy magic show at Harrah's - including one couple who took the opportunity while up on stage having volunteered for a trick to re-popose after 20 years of marriage.

* See Penn and Teller (second time for me - I got to look at boxes last time and now sign an envelope) They did the "Cup and Balls" and the "Bullet Catch", neither of which they did last time I saw them so that was very cool - they also do a bit around hot and cold reading which I hadn't seen before. I was then a bit cheeky and got Penn to sign my Mac King book - he seemed happy enough to do so

* See "Ka", the Cirque show. I'm a big Cirque fan so I wasn't going to miss that opportunity. It's an amazing production but they do seem to be moving away from their more circusy roots with their Vegas shows and getting a bit more carried away with the sets. I'd agree with Desktop Icon - I saw O last time I was in Vegas and it's far from being their best show. I'd recommend Mystere personally of their shows there, it's much more about the skill of the performers rather than the theatre (as a side-note, Allegria is still my favourite Cirque show, closely followed by Saltimbanco)

* See the Mapplethorpe show

* Go to the Atomic Testing Museum - that was pretty interesting and not just for the cool frame-by-frame controllable videos of stuff blowing up ;-)

* Go to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden - watching dolphins swim around is always cool but we were somewhat dubious of their 'research' claims. Still - the dolphins seemed happy enough as far as you can tell obviously!

* Go to Sharf Reef - I've been there before too and love the jellyfish - I just wish I could figure out a way to take a decent picture of them!

* Take a helicopter flight out to the Grand Canyon

* Took the rides at the Star Trek experience and had a huge smoking bubbling drink - I think it was called a Warp Core. Ohp also did his best to convince a passing Vulcan that he was a time-lord. I think she found this illogical.

* Saw a reproduction of King Tut's tomb - it is hard to take the narrator of the tour seriously when he's discussing the amazing workmanship of the relics they found when looking at the rather ropey reproductions they actually have there tho.

* Played a fair bit of air-hockey ;-)

* Drank lots of frozen margaritas

* Went to the most expensive bar I think I've ever been too with some other forum types - the "Ultra" bit of Ultra-Lounge is obviously referring to the prices - when the listed options start running into thousands of dollars then it's probably time to go somewhere cheaper (and they didn't even have bikini-clad women riding mechanical bulls!)

We were also going to go see the 'Amazing' Johnathan - but his show was cancelled on the day we had tickets for and we didn't get around to organising new ones. On the whole, a pretty good trip!

 

[Wowbagger]

This has nothing to do with Vegas, but I feel it is important enough to emphasize to all you Cirque fans (and non-fans), out there:

If you are ever in the Orlando, Florida area, a show not to be missed is La Nouba, in Disney World's Downtown area! Even if you hated other Cirque du Soleil shows, you might still enjoy this one!!!! It's that awesome!


ETA: No, I was not paid to say this.

 

[Alliebubs]

I saw the Mapplethorpe exhibit at the Venetian.

Dammit! I wished I had known that was there! I love his work; the figural photographs moreso than the flowers, however. Still, I'm SO sorry I missed it.

 

[Hauteden]

Besides just hanging around in Las Vegas proper I went on the Red Rock Canyon Trip.

This is the view from one of the Overlooks.

If you care to see the above pic in all its glory go to my Red Rock Gallery.

Hauteden

 

[SkeptiKilt]

I'm sorry I missed it, too. The man could print.

 

[Math Maniac]

. . . And while I'm at it, allow me to plug a company that makes an excellent product to protect electronic gear like cameras, PDAs and iPods, ShieldZone -- their iPod covers are so thin that you can still seat the 'Pod in a standard dock.

I second the ShieldZone protectors. I have one for my iPod and Camera. It's a wonderful product.

As for non-TAM entertainment, my wife, mother, mother-in-law, and I saw:

Carrot Top--expensive but very funny and in a wonderful theater.
​

Marriage Can Be Murder Dinner Theater--EXCELLENT, with dinner included (I solved the murder and was the "Super Sleuth").
​

Tournament of Kings--Dinner included, OK show in my opinion.
​

V--at the Aladdin, fairly nice variety show (was pulled on stage and made a fool of myself with a mask on at the direction of the comedian).
​

Red Rock Canyon--beautiful views, should have went with the expert(s)...
​

Roller coaster at NY-NY--good but too expensive for me, really.
​

Previously we've been to Penn & Teller (wonderful), Mac Kings (best show for the money, bar none!), the Hoover Dam (interesting) and the Star Trek experience (expensive but worth it, take the backstage tour if you can).

 

[Gilmar]

On the way to Vegas - World's Worst Town Motto

I'll see if I can do what my friend HistoryGal suggested, and attach a photo of the World's Worst Town Motto, from Baker, California, on the way to Vegas. It's at the base of the World's Largest Thermometer (wheee).

 

[HistoryGal]

I'll see if I can do what my friend HistoryGal suggested, and attach a photo of the World's Worst Town Motto, from Baker, California, on the way to Vegas. It's at the base of the World's Largest Thermometer (wheee).

Thank you!!!!

HG

 

[rebecca]

Dammit! I wished I had known that was there! I love his work; the figural photographs moreso than the flowers, however. Still, I'm SO sorry I missed it.

I have to brag that I even got to go with RustyPouch, who is a very skilled photographer and offered some interesting bits of info that I otherwise would have missed. The exhibit included mostly figural photos with a few flowers tossed into the mix -- I found a few of the flowers to be surprisingly evocative, more so than I would have guessed.

Anyway, if the Guggenheim is still there next year (the fine arts are not well-loved in Vegas....unless you consider dance of course), maybe we all take a jaunt over there.

 

[a.real.girl]

My entertainment:

-Lance Burton

-P&T

-All the TAM shows (me and New Music Jenn should have done all of the past three together, as we were on the same schedule...)

-Went inside the Stardust with part of the demo crew...it was creepily beautiful, and a little sad. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to go up to the exposed floors, which would have been boss.

-The Las Vegas Art Museum to see the Frank Gehry Designs. It was beaucoup cool.

-The Bodies exhibit at the Trop. Also fascinating, but a little nauseating after three hours.

 

[krelnik]

I flew in on Wednesday and left on Monday, and in between I managed to cram in:

• Penn & Teller (the 6th time I've seen them live, first time in Vegas)
• Hoover Dam via a bus tour (Thursday morning before the workshops)
• On Jonesy's recommendation, some great jazz in the Baccarat bar at The Bellagio. One guy who plays there is Penn's bass tutor, and is awesome.
• Star Trek Experience at the Hilton
• Blue Man Group at Venetian (second time I've seen them live, I saw the "megastar" tour last November). Tip: DO NOT arrive late to this show. Someone did at the show I attended, and were quite professionally embarrassed in front of the assembled crowd.

Plus the various shows at TAM4 itself, of course.

 

[NewMusic_Jenn]

My entertainment:

-Lance Burton

-P&T

-All the TAM shows (me and New Music Jenn should have done all of the past three together, as we were on the same schedule...)

Next TAM we'll pre-plan!