Month: November 2024

Happy Birthday To You Day #3 “It Was Worth the Wait”

by reissmd, posted in Blue Diamond, Nevada, Las Vegas

OH MY GOD, doesn’t do it justice. The Sphere was spectacular!  From the moment we entered we were impressed.  We found our seats with no difficulty entering the area directly (after a long walk) from the Venetian Hotel lobby.  We got to our seats and we were treated to a series of hit songs with superb acoustics.  The arena was illuminated with a graphic paying tribute to the Eagles with a collage of Los Angeles landmarks (in honor of the band being from LA).   Check out the video below to see the scene and two patrons waiting for the show.

The Eagles came on stage (no warm up act) and we were treated to 2 hours of their hit songs and a series of graphics that almost upstaged the stars.   I have a great video of Glen Frey’s son, Deacon, singing “Peaceful Easy Feeling” but copyright laws won’t let me post it. Sorry.

The Sphere has 18,600 seats and can hold 20,000 with standing room expansion.  The only thing that would be a concern would be exiting in case of an emergency.  Leaving the arena was awful. Thankfully there wasn’t a tragedy and we are alive and well 

After the concert ended. Do we look like we had a good time?

Telling you about the concert and the venue was supposed be the end of my entries for this trip but Sunday morning we had a special activity that I have to share.  A friend of ours, Milton, has relocated to Las Vegas and we planned to connect for a brief visit. 

Milton picked us up at the hotel and drove us out of the Strip area and filled us with all sorts of interesting “facts” about Vegas.  As Milton put it “I’m going to tell all sorts of interesting information about Las Vegas and you can decide later which of it is true.”   This made him sound typical of one of my blog followers (and like me too for that matter).  In addition to showing us a number of local communities (including his beautiful home) he took us by Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  We didn’t enter this region but what we could see from the highway was beautiful. Looks like it is definitely a site worth visiting.  We had a lovely breakfast at Cottonwood Station in Blue Diamond, Nevada (14 Cottonwood Drive; Blue Diamond, NV). The food was delicious and the prices reasonable.  Service was friendly but interesting.  If I’m not mistaken they brought out each drink and meal one trip at a time.  Luckily they brought my meal last since (although I’m not proud of this) I’m a very fast eater.  Speaking of fast Milton told us something I had not known. He was the state high school champion in the 100 yard dash. I didn’t want to brag but I have a 100 yard dash honor myself. I still hold the Dorsey High School record for the SLOWEST 100 yards ever run. With the 100 meter dash having replaced the 100 yard dash, I most likely will hold the record for eternity. After a quick picture and a goodbye it was time to check out from the hotel and head for home. 

Milton, Patrice and me. That is Milton on the left

Well that is the end of this trip. I know I usually end with fun photos but forgive me this time since this was short, sweet, and all about giving Patrice a pleasant birthday. I did think about you at one point. Our room was number 5121. All the odd numbered rooms were on one side with the even numbered rooms on the opposite side. On our way to our room we passed 5111, 5115, and 5117. That’s correct, no 5113. Room number 13 in Las Vegas? ………………… NO WAY!

Ciao

Happy Birthday To You Day #2, “What a Drag”

by reissmd, posted in Las Vegas

Last night we arrived after 11 pm. You would think with a late arrival we could cruise in and the staff would be tripping all over each other to help us.  Think again, Robert.  We were greeted with bumper to bumper traffic.  I had to fight my way between taxis and limos in a traffic circle only to find out that the entrance for checking in was on the other side.  So again I needed to extend my arm asking to get over (easy to ignore a turn signal hard to ignore an arm).  We got to the valet and asked if they could charge our car overnight since we arrived with very little energy remaining.  He said he would make a request but no guarantees.  This morning I checked my car app and saw that what was at 16% last night was down to 12% this morning. Not sure if it was the cold weather or if the valets used our car to keep themselves warm but that further drop was a little unnerving.  That level of charge was a new low for me and I needed to find a charger or I would not feel comfortable.  Patrice made a call downstairs to check on the charging.  Based on what I had experienced so far I knew it was a wasted call.  You would think for what we are paying here we would be treated like royalty.  So I continued to get ready to find a charging spot and suddenly a message came across my phone that charging had begun.  Isn’t she amazing?  Aren’t I, the lucky one?

So instead of heading out looking for energy I decided to expend some of my own energy in the gym.  Oops, I forgot we are at an expensive hotel, I meant fitness center, not the gym. As I slowly meandered towards the fitness center a gentleman passed me and said hi.  He knew the way, so I followed him. Turns out he and his wife are visiting from New York and celebrating her birthday.  What a coincidence.  I told him that we will be celebrating by going to the Sphere tonight.  He replied “I’m taking my wife to the Eagles – Raiders game tomorrow.  Maybe Patrice is the lucky one?

Actually I realized later that the Raiders aren’t playing this weekend and he meant he was going to see the Eagles at the Sphere just like us.  I guess I’m not that special after all. 

We are not gamblers and I can’t stand the smoky air in the hotel so hanging out at the casino was not very appealing.  Instead, Patrice booked us a brunch and a show at the nearby Treasure Island hotel.  I don’t like to gamble but I sure like to eat.  Turns out she made reservations for “Señor Frog’s Drag Brunch”.   Sounded like an event where you eat as much Mexican food as you can, as fast as you can.  Turns out that was not quite correct.  It was Mexican food but we were entertained by a bunch of guys dressed up as women.  I wasn’t expecting much but OMG does not adequately describe what we saw.  Clearly society has passed me by.  I have NEVER seen anything like this in my life.  A series of men dressed up as women came on stage then sang and danced.  The audience would scream.  Then the performer would come off the stage into the audience and people would beg them to take cash from them.  Most were just single dollar bills but I saw at least 1 one-hundred dollar bill.

Performer with cash in both hands and patrons begging for her to take more.

Then they came out for their finale.  The entire troupe was on the stage sending their love to the audience and then came off the stage to join us.  Again audience members gave them lots of cash.  The screaming in the audience was mostly women and reminded me of the when the Beatles came to the USA for the first time.  Heck, if I knew wearing a dress would be such a turn on for females I would have taken a much different approach  in college. 

From the amount of cash being given, I think this was the most popular performer. She did some amazing acrobatics during her set.

By the way I think I must look like the owner of the Treasure Island hotel because we stopped twice on our way to the show to ask for directions.  Each time the Treasure Island employee addressed me the same way, “Hey boss, can I help you?”  And once again the directions to Señor Frog’s started with the same sentence “Walk through the casino……”

‘We are back at our hotel chilling for a while.  We will be seeing The Eagles (musical group not the football team) tonight and since the show doesn’t start until 8:30 we need to rest up. 

That’s enough for tonight, or as Patrice just told me “That’s too much”. 

Happy Birthday To You Day #1 “Road to Las Vegas”

by reissmd, posted in Las Vegas

On Thursday Patrice celebrated her ??? birthday.  We decided to celebrate by going to see the Sphere in Las Vegas.  We have been told it’s a very special venue so why not use it to celebrate this very special occasion. 

I got off work fairly early and we headed east. Traffic was awful, as expected but, we made it to about 130 miles from home in the first 2 1/2 hours when we stopped to get some dinner. Close to the freeway we found HK’s Bar and Grill.  The food was fine and the prices reasonable but it was quite clear that we might have been only 130 miles from home but we were light years from our element.  At the table next to ours there were some women who were very loud and boasting about their tattoos and body piercings.  At the table next them there were a group of men two of which had T-shirts that read “Sons of Trump”.  

Well fed we carried on. The traffic varied from heavy to light. Our car said that we could make all the way to the hotel without stopping and still have 3% left in our battery.  That didn’t seem like a wise strategy so we stopped at the Super Charger adjacent to “Eddie World” in Yermo, California to charge for a bit.  Patrice took the opportunity to use the facilities where she saw this sign in the convenience store. 

A couple of hours later we pulled into the lot at the Venetian Hotel and hurried to our room.  No surprise that it was gorgeous and that we had to walk through the casino to get there.  It’s a well known fact that in every Las Vegas hotel when you are given instructions on how to get somewhere the first sentence is “Walk through the casino……”

Enough for tonight.  I would like to tell you about the hotel arrival but my blog editor wants to go to sleep.  So that means I must stop writing and leave our arrival story until tommorow.

Ciao