It ombre-ed into orange not red, and no lion was present, but I enjoyed this feature of my room.
When I was growing up the Red Lion Downtowner was fancy, so it was interesting to stay there in 2025. It isn’t so fancy, instead turning down at the heel. For instance when I walked in to register, there was a homeless person sleeping in the lobby. That may have had something to do with it being cheaper than staying at an Airbnb or Verbo rental.
In an echo of the Vegas visit, I went to my assigned room only to find that the do-not-disturb sign was on the door. I waylaid a housekeeper who assured me someone probably forgot to take it off, and opened the door for me. She quickly shut it, as we both realized that someone was already in that room. I headed down to the front desk for a new room assignment while she apologized to the dude in the room who was confused why someone was opening his door.
Our room at the Linq was on the same floor as the spa and gym, which was near the elevators. That meant that every time we took the elevator we looked at this Windows start screen and marveled at how wrong the time was.
My timestamp on this picture is 8:25.
We went to wait for the shuttle bus to the airport, and eventually it found us. Turns out the signage at the hotel directed us to the wrong location. I’ve learned that when I’m getting off a shuttle bus, I should ask where that shuttle bus will be picking me up for the return trip.
One of our shuttle bus companions spied my CPAP carry case and excitedly held his up. “It changed my life!” he said. I smiled and said, “Medical devices don’t count as carry-ons!” I’ve not found the CPAP to be life changing, but I’m glad he did.
I really liked the signage at the Las Vegas airport, though apparently not enough to take a picture. Each gate is clearly marked with the departing flight destination and pictures of landmarks from that town. Ours had the Portland sign, among other things.
We did a ton of things in Las Vegas, though didn’t gamble at all, and learned a lot about that weird down in the desert. Matt even came home with money; someone left a voucher with five cents on it, and he cashed it in before we left.
We ate breakfast at Mandalay Bay, mostly so we could ride the tram to get to Mandalay Bay.
Our Las Vegas vehicle count: plane, shuttle bus, hop-on hop-off bus, cab, Uber, monorail, tram, feet. We missed the Duce bus and the rentable bikes. They were in the downtown area, and we only experience that area via the tour bus.
We had some pool time and then rested, and then went to the Horseshoe to play black light minigolf at Twilight Zone mini golf.
Here we looking like Cheshire cats. We had a lot of time to contemplate the murals on the wall depicting scenes from the Twilight Zone and realized neither of us had seen the original series.
It was a slow course. The people in front of us took a long time, so we played every hole twice until the people behind us caught up. They were not playing correctly; each player would hit their ball until they sunk it, and then the next one would go. So then we felt the pressure to hurry through, though the people in front of us didn’t.
As per usual, my score was off the charts, and Matt missed Astronomic Ace by only one point.
We decided to check out the original Twilight Zone series when we get back to Portland.
After that, we ate in the food court at the Horseshoe, which had the same food as at the Luxor, and went to the Flamingo to see Piff the Magic Dragon, a magician Matt discovered through Penn and Teller’s Fool Us, probably not in this episode, but you get the idea. Our seats were all the way in the back (although I pointed out to Matt that every theater we had been in had good seats, even in the back), but when we arrived, the usher asked if we wanted to sit in the front row. We did! See how close we were.
Piff was his curmudgeonly self, and we enjoyed Mr Piffles and Jade Simone, the over-the-top showgirl who brings their combined enthusiasm levels to average. My favorite trick involved an Apple Watch and eventually a jar of peanut butter. Matt enjoyed a trick with a fortune cookie and a fortune that was both unreadable and ~~magic~~ readable. Matt likes how Piff the Magic Dragon makes objects disappear and then turn up in unusual places.
One last picture, and it was time to head back to the hotel. But first we got some fun dessert. Alas, not pictured.
But first! One more picture of us in front of Circus Circus.
We used the cab stand at the Wynn to transport us to fabulous Area 15, which had this great entrance filled with a version of the fabulous Las Vegas sign, along with other cool sculptures and interactive things.
Fun fact I learned from the bus tour: the woman who designed the fabulous Las Vegas sign intentionally did not copywrite it, which is why you see so many variations throughout the city.
Here was a big robot that had messages in code. I also like that Eiffel Tower–like mirror thing in the background.
We wandered around Area 15 waiting for our Meow Wolf Omega Mart timed entry. This was my first Meow Wolf visit, and I enjoyed it so much, I might just plan other vacations to Meow Wolf locations. I took no pictures. But essentially, Omega Mart is this weird little grocery story where you look at (and buy) all sorts of odd items (like maybe you want to take home a stuffed tattooed chicken?) but also, you can buy a card for an additional $3.00 which lets you *boop!* on scanners around the store and train to be an Omega Mart employee. Things get weird from there, and the store isn’t all it seems. It was unique and fun and arty and interactive and a very good time.
We did a bit more wandering around Area 15 (that green glowing sticker was our reward for solving all the Omega Mart thing) and then took an Uber over to the Luxor, where our Blue Man Group tickets awaited.
We ate dinner at the food court and took some pre-show photos.
I lived in Boston in the late 90s when Blue Man Group advertised regularly on television. I never went but had built it up in my mind as something akin to Stomp. And it kind of was, the making rhythm noises with odd objects way. But it was also so much more.
Tons of weird funny things, very good at getting the audience on board, and a rollicking good time. I’m so glad I got to experience it. As the lights came up, and I was covered in streamers and blinking from the flashing lights, all I could say was, “Wow. That was a lot.”
Our hop-on hop-off bus and tickets to the Blue Man Group were thanks to our Go City passes. We probably would have done well with the 3- or 4-choice packages. They had a lot of good choices.
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.
