We ate at a restaurant in the Linq promenade. I was glad they let me order lunch (not always a sure thing during breakfast hours) although my croque monsieur was a so-so incarnation.
After breakfast, we took in the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (along with seven million other people).
They were quite impressive. I liked this portrait made of living things. Which you can’t see because camara self-portrait, not phone self-portrait, so you don’t know exactly what you are getting when you push the button.
From there, we took the monorail (monorail!) to its northern terminus, and walked south.
I liked the view of the linens ready for washing
We stopped at Circus Circus (but not for breakfast breakfast) and arrived a the right time to see this affable gent balance on ever taller ladders.
From there, we checked out the Wynn Botanical Gardens which were not as extensive as the Bellagio’s (and also empty, a plus).
That was it? Matt exclaimed, as we walked through.
From there, we headed for the cab stand for our next destination: Area 15.
We chose Battista’s Hole in the Wall for dinner, and boy howdy was that the right choice. It was an old-school Italian restaurant much like the Old Spaghetti Factory, where your dinner comes with courses.
We got a carafe of wine for our table, garlic bread, a salad, an entree, and homemade cappuccino.
I got chicken alfredo and Matt got manicotti. There was a split charge of $20, and we should have taken them up on that. It was a lot of food. We skipped the cappuccinos.
From there we walked off our dinner touring the strip. I don’t think these pedestrian walkways had been built when I visited in 1996, but they were a good addition. And you can see the consequence I got for sitting on top of the tour bus.
We watched a performance at the Bellagio fountains. Our song was “Billie Jean,” and the water did look like Michael Jackson’s moves from that era.
And then we headed over to see Zombie Burlesque. I wanted to see a showgirls-type show.
It was a fun and raunchy performance. The emcee was great with the audience, and the dancers were amazing to watch. One of them also balanced on unsteady things that got higher and higher in a nerve-wracking manner.
The show was tight and well-performed, and I think I could spend a good month taking in all the different entertainment options, given an unlimited budget for food, lodging, and tickets.
We started our day with a hop on hop off bus tour of Las Vegas. We hopped on and didn’t hop off until we got back to our starting point, but it was a very good choice for our first full day. We had a great tour bus driver, a Las Vegas native, and it was good to hear her perspective on things. I can tell you that she really misses the Mirage.
After sitting in the sun, I needed a nap, so we headed back to the hotel and spent the afternoon both resting and also playing a fun new Exit game.
Despite being only two dots out of five and much closer to novice than expert, we had some trouble solving and ended up with not many stars. It was a fun and inventive time, though, just like we’ve come to expect from Exit.
During our game time, people used a room key and unlocked our door. They had been assigned our room, too. We were on a timer for the Exit game, so we said “occupied” and they went away. After we were done, Matt went to investigate. No one at the desk knew what had happened. But no one else came into our room after that.
After wiling away the afternoon it was time for our evening activities.
We arrived at the Harry Reid International Airport, transferred to our hotel (the Linq) and set out for the Rio, where we would hopefully grab some dinner and for-sure see Penn and Teller.
First learning curve. Things in Las Vegas look like they aren’t that far away, but when one sets out on foot, they sure are. It was a mere 1.4 miles away, but took us much longer to walk that 1.4 miles than I thought. Plus, the casinos did a good job of getting us a little lost. There was no time for dinner! But we did find the theater.
Penn and Teller have been at the Rio since 2001, which is enough time to have some very large pictures of them. Here’s one with us in shadow.
Here’s another one this is probably closer to the beginning of their residency.
We were at the last show before they started their summer tour, so it was a fun night to be in the theater.
We were in the first balcony, and they kept us busy beforehand with filling out a sheet of paper with a random dream, and coming up front to sign an envelope.
Off to the side, there was a duo playing some standards. It was a good jazzy atmosphere.
There was a large screen that would show different views of the stage, and at one point it gave a close-up view of the stand-up bassist. “That looks a lot like Penn,” I said to myself, as Matt was off returning the golf pencils we used to record our dreams on the sheet of paper. When Matt came back and the camera switched to the same view, he said immediately, “Hey, that’s Penn!” And so it was Penn. He plays the opener to his own show!
Matt went down to sign his name on the envelope.
Eventually Penn went away, leaving the piano man to finish the set. And then it was time for Penn and Teller!
It was a very fun and funny show. One of the volunteers messed up which card was hers, which led to some ribbing. There were tons of fun tricks. At one point, balloons were passed through the audience, and we managed to snag one. We were instructed to pop them all at the same time on the count of three.
The result was many pop pop pops rather than one loud bang.
Inside our balloon was a playing card.
Matt’s playing card in the balloon wasn’t the card of choice.
Matt’s favorite trick was this balloon one. Three people were on stage who said one random thing about themselves. They were each given cards. After the balloons were distributed, three people with balloons came on stage. Once everyone popped their balloon, it turned out the three randomly chosen balloon people had the cards of the randomly chosen people on stage. Magic!
My favorite trick was one that was kind of weird and involved scarves and kind of ended without much falderol. It was a little weird, but became clear at the end of the show when Penn and Teller returned to the stage with a drum kit (Penn) and other percussion (Teller) and played the video of the trick backward while narrating it, and it became a very cool sequence.
I also enjoyed that we got to hear Teller’s voice. He was playing the part of a psychic gorilla.
It was a very fun show. Then we had a long walk back to our hotel.
“Let’s keep an eye out for a mailbox,” I said to Matt as we set out for the airport. I had a few things to post. Imagine my surprise when I saw this quite large mail receptacle outside of the card store at PDX. Mail posted!
From there it was on through security and to our gate for our short flight to Las Vegas.
I took this picture on (yes, you guessed it) a rainy day while waiting for household hazardous waste to be unloaded from the trunk of my car.
I love the bright display of fun things Metro workers have assembled. And I love even more that my tax dollars go toward funding a service like this. Cleaning out a 72-year-old house comes with a lot of household hazardous waste. (From the future, I can tell you that it took six trips to clear it all.) I appreciate that I have a place to bring so many things that would otherwise end up in the garbage.
There is a 35-gallon per day limit. I can attest that the trunk of a Honda Civic will fit less than 35-gallons. The signage at the transfer station is great, and when you pull into the covered area, workers remove and sort everything as you sit in your car.
And when it’s time to leave, there are no fees to pay. Good government at work.
After the disappointment of not finding any postcards for sale when I was at Disneyland, I vowed to bring postcards with me for future trips. Thankfully, I remembered this vow with enough time to order some vintage Las Vegas postcards before heading to the airport. Here’s the spread.
Three of them were written on, and here are those three.
First up, the Riviera Hotel in 1957. (That postmark is hard to read, but I think it’s 1957 rather than 1967. The internet tells me the “Pray for Peace” cancellation was put into circulation in 1956. Also, postcards cost 5 cents in 1967. They cost 3 cents in 1957, so that stamp isn’t right, but we’re going with 1957.)
Hi, We are a long way from you. Having a swell time, seeing a lot. You would never dream of what is here. The Armo Trongs. (sp?)
The Riviera Hotel was the first skyscraper hotel on the strip (nine stories tall) and closed in 2015 to make way for the expansion of the Last Vegas Convention Center.
Next up: The Frontier in 1977 (or so I’m guessing from the stamp)
Tuesday. Hi Barb. Here we are in Vegas. Everybody else is still in bed. We left California yesterday 5 am, got here at 10 am. Have a very nice room. Love Mabel [and ?]
The Frontier closed in 2007 and today is an empty lot between Fashion Show Mall and Resorts World Las Vegas. That pool looks like it was a fun one.
Finally, the Silver Slipper from 29 June 1970.
Hi Wallie and Fam. This is the place for you. The place is jumping with people all night. Weather hot but nights beautiful. Getting some Jack-[?]. Josephine and Sue
The Silver Slipper was part of the Frontier. It closed in 1988, and it’s iconic sign is in the neon museum.
I look forward to writing my own postcards from Las Vegas.
Matt and I put together my LEGO car. I like when assembling LEGO things to have two people, one to hand over the needed item and one to place the needed item.
Matt was the hander, I was the placer.
It was pretty cool to see everything come together. And when we were done, we disassembled the car, packaged everything back up, and then I dropped it off in a free box for someone else to enjoy.
