April 10, 2002
Dear Everyone:
I’m back again, and feeling
much better than last week.
The cold I caught coming home from
Las Vegas
has more or less faded away, although the cough seems determined to set
up permanent housekeeping in my
bronchial tubes.
Las Vegas.
We had a great time, owing mostly to staying loose and not trying
to do too much. I had
printed out a 14 page list of fun and interesting things to do in and
around Las Vegas;
but when we arrived at the airport, I realized I had left it at home.
In fact, I didn’t find it again until last week, on the dining
table, where it had been buried under a bag of
Doritos (buy one, get
one free!) that “Jeannie” and I had never opened during the
Academy Awards.
I also found a
VCR
tape that I had loaned her in February, 2000.
Good thing I don’t charge for late returns.
Back to
Las Vegas.
I had selected the Luxor
hotel so that I could make fun of their ideas about
Egyptology.
For those of you who don’t remember, I majored in
anthropology in
college, with a minor in
Middle Eastern
Studies. I can tell you
exactly how many steps there are leading down into
King Tut’s tomb, but you
probably don’t care. Neither
does the Luxor; however, they make
an effort to look more Egyptian than
Abbott and
Costello Meet the Mummy.
Although the talking camels are a bit amateurish.
Lots of Egyptian-flavored shops, including a bazaar
and a children’s shop called “Tiny Tuts”.
We flew out of
Oakland
Wednesday afternoon and arrived at the hotel in plenty of time for a
stroll around the casino (which is
huge; they all are) and a
leisurely dinner. On
Thursday, we took a cab to the
Las Vegas Hilton so “Jeannie” could have
The
Star Trek Experience.
This is both a
museum, based on the television/movie franchise, and an interactive
ride. It is expensive, $25 a
head. But you are allowed to
go through the “experience” as many times as you want.
It is also the only ride we went on that anyone
would want to take more than once.
Unlike the others we saw, this one employed professional-grade
actors and state-of-the-art graphics.
After lunch, we took the trolley back along the
strip to our hotel. We
actually got off at
The
Excalibur, which gave us a chance to see some of its attractions
before taking the enclosed walkway back to the
Luxor.
Then we went to check out the Luxor’s “Museum and Tomb
of King Tut”.
We saw some pretty good replicas of artifacts from the tomb and a
mock-up of what the tomb looked like, while listening to a hokey audio
tape of someone claiming to be
Howard Carter
(and while trying not to hear a demented woman who kept yelling, “Can
you hear me now? I’m calling
from King Tut’s tomb!” into her cell phone).
We also tried one of the Luxor’s flight simulation rides called,
“Search for the Obelisk.”
This was far less professional than Star Trek.
No setup. No
explanation. A few good
bumps and turns. And guess
what, when you exit the ride, you land in the gift shop, the same one at
the exit of the “museum”.
But after we left the gift shop, we discovered a
Mexican restaurant and bar that featured something called a “Yard of
Margarita”.
That’s right, a margarita in a special plastic glass that begins
with a bulb-shaped bottom, then narrows into a long neck, and finally
opens up to a flared lip.
The whole thing is filled with an alcoholic slush and two very long
straws. It’s not really 36”
tall, but it sure filled up the evening.
Friday morning we decided to try the one ride left
at the Luxor.
This was called “Dracula’s Haunted Castle”.
Not only did it have nothing to do with ancient
Egypt, it was strictly amateur hour,
poorly done cartoons, which would insult the intelligence of anyone over
the age of five. And we
landed in the gift shop again.
This time we finally bought a couple of T-Shirts,
which we stuffed into our bags.
Then it was time to check out.
This process took quite a bit of time, since everyone else in the
world was either checking out or waiting to check in.
We heard lots of different languages.
Our original plan had been to leave our bags with the
Bell Desk until it
was time to leave for the airport.
But the line of people waiting to do just that looked like it
would take longer to get through than we had time.
So we dragged our bags with us through the enclosed
walkway to the
Mandalay Bay Hotel, which is on the other side of the Luxor from the Excalibur.
(All of these hotels are “across the street” from each other, but
be warned. This town has
very wide streets.) There
were far fewer people in the
Mandalay, so we pretended we came from there and
checked the bags at their Bell Desk.
Then we wandered around this hotel, which has a
South Pacific / Asian theme.
“Jeannie” suddenly remembered the intense need to pick up some
elephant-related souvenir for someone at home.
This proved to be a better place to look than the
Luxor
would have been. We also
discovered that there are no rides at the
Mandalay, which may explain why it’s not as
family-oriented as some others.
We made one attempt at actual
gambling.
We put a quarter in a machine and pressed the button.
Ten quarters fell out.
Put another quarter in and two quarters fell out.
Tried one more time and no quarters fell out.
Quit while we were ahead.
Tipped the bell man and took a taxi back to the airport.
We even got home at a reasonable hour, although we
hit the full Friday evening commute traffic.
As of yet, I haven’t added everything up to figure out how much
the whole trip cost; but I’d say we had enough fun to try again in a few
months.
Also, “Jeannie” has decided that we should visit Disneyland
in the fall. I should be
completely over this cold by then.
Love, as always,
Pete