Our Christmas trip is booked! CC is going on an ACTUAL VACATION.
Like, not visiting a friend and working at their house instead.
A vacation.
Not going to a convention or large meeting to exhaust herself.
A vacation.
No attending a graduation, wedding or any other event.
A VACATION.
TheCSO and I do not gamble, but we're going to eat and drink (a lot) and go to shows with half-naked dancing girls. We're going to the Star Trek Experience and the Atomic Testing museum. (Still geeky on vacation.)
We're flying Jet Blue. We're staying in the MGM Grand. On the advice of smart people, I picked my hotel, then googled "MGM Grand Promotional code" and monkeyed around trying codes and codes plus or minus a number. Saved $130 that way.
Then, also on the advice of a smart person who knows Vegas, in the "Special Room Requests" section, I wrote "We'd like an upgrade if you have one. Make us an offer!"
So we will see how that turns out.
But anyway, we are open to suggestions of fun stuff to do. On the whole, we're kind of geekish. We wouldn't mind a show or two, but clubbing isn't usually our thing. We will probably do one or two really nice meals and cheap ones, so we're happy to have suggestions for either.
Ok, back to getting billable hours and studying for finals.
CC
who just wrote "On Vacation but reachable on cell" on her office calendar for the one workday she is missing. Baby steps, Kids, a girl can't learn to relax all at once.
5 comments:
If you're vertical and it's a Sunday, try out the Las Vegas UU congregation. I don't know who the minister is there these days, and s/he might be on vacation too when you're there, but it would probably be interesting.
And if you're interested in a water-type experience, the paddlewheel steamers on Lake Mead are kind of fun, as they go down to Hoover Dam. The Favorite Son used to be a deck hand/bartender on one.
I really enjoyed the weather Vegas during the month of December - it was cool, sunny, and dry. During the day I just wore a sweater while walking around. Wear comfy shoes!
We enjoyed Tournament of the Kings at the Excalibur (get 1/2 price tickets, tho), and we played cheap blackjack at the older looking hotel across from the Rio. It was fun because we had our own table (with 4 of the inlaws) so we were just playing against ourselves (and the dealer).
The LH and I were very impressed by the Cirque show we saw - La Reve. Beautiful round stage, not a bad seat in the house. (Get half price tix.)
Other than that we just people watched, visited the hotels, ordered room service (we really enjoyed our food at the Rio), and scrounged around for places to eat (eating isn't cheap there unless you're talking about $8 steak buffets, which I doubt). Oh, we also saw a David Copperfield show, which was kind of weird - his tricks were so puzzling that I didn't feel impressed so much as disconcerted. Also, the LH thought he was a middle aged man perv past his prime who saw his audience as a bunch of suckers.
I wished we could have made it down to Fremont Street to see "old, seedy Vegas." I enjoyed the Star Trek Experience a lot - you can go through more than once (get half price tix); their museum is really cool.
Also, the Paris hotel (which is very cute) had some kick ass live music in their casino one night. I'm sure other hotels do too. You can find a lot of good, free music to listen to.
The only real drag I experienced was trying to find really tasty food that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Rio has a decent buffet, but it's like $20-25 a person, and I think dinner might have been more. The Paris has some little fake boulangeries and the like, which are okay.
We didn't try any of the really high end places, where the food is probably better. At the same time, it doesn't surprise me because Vegas is such a transitory place; the important thing is to bring people in - it's secondary whether they come back or not.
Have fun!
When you asked for geeky fun things to do in Vegas, I imagined a little place with short workshop/classes where they teach you to count cards.
I once went to Las Vegas with my mother. I remember going through the Liberace museum -- run by Liberace's brother. It was full of stuff that was too "out there" even for Liberace. Like a gilded piano.
I don't know if it's still there.
Speaking of the Paris hotel, I had a good (though inevitably overpriced) meal in their Eiffel top restaurant there the last time I was in Vegas three years ago.
Agreed that Cirque shows are good, but don't go to the Zoo-ey one. Maybe my experience of it was particularly horrible because my parents were sitting next to me, but I don't think even without that chilling effect that I would have found the show sexy instead of lame. I went to the water show one on the prior Vegas trip (maybe six years ago?) and it was fantastic.
I also liked the Guggenheim museum at the Venetian and the Monets at the Bellagio. They're just the right amount of culture for vacation: the Guggenheim Vegas does one good exhibit at a time (I saw "Art of the Motorcycle" there and I know it was good b/c it got me even slightly interested in motorcycles, which I had never had a single thought about before), and the Bellagio's display is just the gallery of Monets borrowed from Boston. They are refreshing quiet spaces when you've had too many drinks and flashing lights.
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