So if you had asked me to predict how today was going to go I would have most likely been significantly off in my guess... We got up with a few ideas about what to do... My companion granted me a blessed extra hour of sleep today as we had nowhere to be, which was nice as my body seems to be going through chronic air conditioning rejection currently and I am sleeping badly... Then we set out with plans to hit a department store of some sort as both of us are travelling light with plans to stock up on the essentials while they are cheap... Of course then we discovered Vegas actually DOES do Easter Sunday and nothing was open... Like NOTHING... Well, except all the casinos and bars, naturally...
With nothing to do til the afternoon when the Atomic Testing Museum opened, we branched out and went for a general drive around the other bits of Vegas... Some of them pretty seedy run down bits.. But I always think it's important to try and see as many bits of a town as you can find, not just the parts you are supposed to see... And then I semi-navigated our way to the northern outlet mall to look around for some stuff I might need. My companion not being a big shopper ( not that I am, clearly ) probably didn't enjoy this a great deal, which I was quite concious of, so I cut it quite short and just bought some new running shoes... After three weeks in the States I see some running in my future. I also should have bought a pair of Merrells from another shop as they were well cheap, but maybe next time.
From there we decided to find some lunch and mosie (how do you spell mosie? Mosey? Mowsie? I think mosey) on over to the museum, but on the way through noticed one of the department stores had opened, and pulled in as my co-driver wanted to buy a pair of dress shorts. And then we found out there was an Easter sale on... And if you have never shopped in a US mall with a sale on... Well let's just say I bought two pairs of jeans, one pair of work pants, three t shirts, one polo shirt, six pairs of boxers, and thirteen pairs of socks for about what the two pairs of jeans would have cost me at home. Seriously, three dozen Asics running socks for $24.
Wow, a normal person sized dwarf just walked past... I didn't know that happened... Like she was the same size as her friends, but clearly had the whole dwarfism thing happening... Fair enough. My ignorance is once again exhibited.
So anyway before we knew it, it was nearly 1500 and my companion had a wedding to go to at 1600 (one of the Kiwi couples over for the Mustang show decided to wed, bless them) so we had to forgo the museum and get back. Bit gutted about missing the Atomic Testing Museum apparently it's cool, in a weird way.. Oh well, next time.
With some time on my hands I decided to venture out and try to cover off a few spots we had not yet had time for, and probably only I was interested in... With a plan in mind I set off around 1600 and eventually found my way to the monorail (Monorail!!!) out the back of the MGM Grand (it took some finding, casinos are specifically designed to make it hard to find the exits... I kid you not... If you think I am joking, trust me... Every time you go into a casino, you will find it hard to get out)... I would thoroughly recommend monorail as a way to get around the Strip, a day pass is $12 and it gets you from spot to spot well... Except, I must say, at the end, because I caught it solely to get as far up the Strip as possible, and it doesn't actually stop on the Strip at the end... And so then the walk started.
My goal was another pilgrimage of sorts, to get to Circus Circus, one of the oldest and most iconic of Vegas hotels and casinos, and a place I absolutely wanted to see on the way through, for all it's various pop culture references... Needless to say I was not disappointed... Or actually the opposite of that... Needful to say I was disappointed(??)... Yeah, it wasn't great. In fact it was pretty awful. Ok the whole circus theme was played up kind of well and the various mezzanine floors in the middle were full of carnival games and amusements, and a grandstand of morbidly obese people taking the opportunity to get an early seat for the circus show in the Midway area... Even though it didn't start for an hour... But overall it was just bad cheap and tacky... As opposed to the charming and weird cheap and tacky I hoped for.
From there I set out to walk back down the Strip, which is not that short a distance, but walking is what seems to happen when I holiday. As someone wise once said, no matter how weary you are, if you just keep on lifting one foot and putting it just in front of the other, slowly the world will turn under you... So I did the strip, which takes a bit longer than you think with various forced diversions when the footpath disappears inside various hotels... I went back to Bellagio to photograph the beautiful glass flowered lobby ceiling, took in a few swank bars just to get a feel for the place, then ended up in the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile mall, where there are heaps of shops and bars and food places in one indoor area. There I stumbled upon a little place called Lobster ME, where they do Maine lobster various interesting ways, like with mac and cheese, or on a stick deep fried. I had a lobster BLT and a giant Budweiser... The former way one of the tastiet things I have ever eaten in my life.... The later was... A large American beer.
Wow, I just lost a huge amount of stuff not once but twice, awesome. That's what I get for switching between apps. Screw you Jobs. Awesome. Ok let's do this a third time but faster -
Blah blah walked around mall blah blah Sin City Beer, seen advertised, wanted to try local brew blah blah yes you can buy a beer in a mall like you could buy a juice at home blah blah got an amber red beer, chick serving said it was her favourite, blah blah it was terrible but got talking to her and she had grown up in Vegas so was very interesting to hear about what it was like for someone who has lived here as opposed to the millions who visit, apparently it's still pretty cool, but she has spend half her life snowboarding seven days a week after work and on weekends, blah blah, found Michael Godard gallery ('Oh My Godard'), while I like some of his work he just seems like way too much of a douche (could be wrong haven't met him personally) blah blah... BUT for my Waiheke friends and others who like vino, one of the artists also with stuff on display was a guy called Eric Chirstensen, check his stuff out!! A couple of others also there were Bone Daddy and Scotty who are also not bad, and some pretty cool painted bronzes and steampunk stuff by people I can't remember. Go to the Oh My Godard gallery page and follow the links to the group behind it. And.. Blah blah blah that's about it! McDonald's, unwanted apple pie, can't buy Coca Cola on the Strip, Pepsi stupid, etc, Lobby Bar, the end. Utah tomorrow.
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