After a 5 hour drive from Walker Lake to Las Vegas, which included a harrowing drive on slippery roads near Goldfield, Nevada, where cars were spinning off the road everywhere, I arrived in Las Vegas shortly after 2 PM. With tickets to see the Blue Man Group at 7 o’clock, I thought I had plenty of time to relax, take a shower, get dressed, and go get some dinner before the show. I made dinner reservations for 5:15 and at 4:30, I headed out. That’s when I actually looked at my ticket. It said the show time was 4 PM.
Shit.
Long story short: The very nice folks at the box office traded my 4 PM ticket for 7 PM ticket. The amazing thing about this? I still had a third row center seat, on the other side of the aisle from where I would’ve been sitting at 4 o’clock.
So I had dinner and saw the show exactly as I had originally planned. It was a great show and afterwards I got a selfie with one of the cast members. I also took some photos of Luxor before leaving.
I first stayed at Luxor when it was about a year old and there was still a boat ride that went around the circumference of the pyramid. That was back in Las Vegas’s idiotic family days, when they thought they could build casinos to attract families. Luxor had game arcades in the space currently occupied by restaurants and shows. It was a weird place but I could get a suite in the corner of the pyramid that included a Jacuzzi right in front of the big window. I could soak in the tub and watch the happenings on the Strip far below me while tour helicopters flew by.
I’ve been to Vegas more times than I can count and I’ve been there by myself most of those times. I seem to enjoy it more on my own, making my own decisions about food and shows and how to spend my time. I don’t gamble and I’m not much of a drinker but I do love to walk through the casinos to see what outrageous new things they’re showing off. I’ll do my casino walk tomorrow morning — it’s a great way to get exercise.
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The Blue Man has great intensity.
We stayed at the Luxor a few years back. Very interesting room and cheap too (subsidised by the gamblers, I suppose).
Walking from the airport we passed through an avenue of slot machines. Few stopped to play but one smartly dressed and very up-market Japanese woman found a quarter in her purse and pressed it into the machine and tweaked the button to start the tumblers. She had no expectation of winning but as she turned to leave there was a metallic churning sound and coins gurgled out in a huge rush. She had no means of dealing with her windfall so, now in some mild embarrassment, she bowed formally to her benefactor, left her winnings pouring onto the floor and walked on.
A young couple with two kids cleaned up the ‘money spillage’.
Great story about the Japanese tourist. You know the slot machines don’t take coins anymore? Gone are the days when you could drop a quarter in as you walked past a slot machine. I miss those days.
The BMG guys (all guys I assume, what with the “M” in the name) don’t smile much. I guess they don’t want to show their white teeth. You look happy though, with that great smile. They’ve been around quite a while now. I remember when they first hit the stage. I’ve yet to see the show though. “Phantom” was our last play on Broadway followed by a couple hours on the roof of the old WTC. Good times. Glad you had fun, Maria. I guess the tour operators are using mostly AStars?
Someone on Twitter sent me a link to a recent article in the New York Times about them. They’ve been around for more than 25 years. I didn’t realize it.
Thanks for the complement about the smile. I smile a lot these days. Making me think it’s time to get that top tooth straightened…
Yeah, the strip tours are mostly done in AStars but I think the trips out to Grand Canyon West are in EC120s or EC130s.