Sunday 28 April 2013

TRIPPING PART 1: LAS VEGAS


A couple of weeks ago, my friend Rob and I went to Las Vegas and The Nevada desert for a quick three day adventure. I met Rob in college, and we've talked about going since then, but it never really came together until now. Why Vegas? We both have a love for carnival-esque ridiculousness and humourous excess! As you can see above, with this thematic hotel slash casino slash mall slash roller coaster slash trinket depository - the ridiculousness was in full effect.

A representation of what all my slot machine pulls looked like. I did not come home a rich person, but you can see how casino's make all that cash. Desperation and hope are a dangerous combination. I probably spent $25 over the course of 3 days in random penny/quarter slot machines, and every time I pulled I thought what if....


Fremont Street has a digital canopy (outside) that projects images. It goes on for 4 blocks! There was a Queen presentation going on while we were there, and Bohemian Rhapsody sounded/looked pretty excellent. My highlight (besides this awesome cowboy sign) was Carl "Safe Sax" Ferris playing sax standing in the back of a pick up truck. Cool nickname, man. There were also some very weird celebrity impersonators in this zone, people zip lining overhead, a less polished overall vibe than the strip, and some pretty impressive cover bands.


At Circus Circus we watched a lady do swing tricks with a bunch of families, tall cans in hand. You can drink everywhere in Vegas. Even at this kid friendly midway show! There was a live keyboard player and drummer accompanying this performance, and they played the best dark synth metal/casino rock.


NEON EVERYTHING.


Roseanne happened to be performing in Vegas while we were there. We found out a couple days before we left and got tickets! In a weird twist of fate, Roseanne re-runs were being played on the plane (until the TV stopped working and we both reluctantly watched the last half of Life of Pie). It was a super intimate show, and hearing Roseanne laugh IRL was pretty amazing.

"If I was a stripper, my show stopper would be the Roseanne theme. Think about it." - Rob.


Oh yeah, we slept in a GIANT PYRAMID. Cross that one off the bucket list! It smelled like coconut all the time (gross), and you could buy a slushie booze drink at any hour of the day (gross), but it was a pyramid (yes!). Did we sing a lot of Frank Ocean? We did.


I wish I could have brought home some fireworks from this roadside store. 
They had quite an exciting selection.


The Bellagio had a pretty neat conservatory and botanical garden area. Huge mushrooms! Giant swans! Windmills! We walked through it around midnight with some beers. While the price of food stuff is inflated in Vegas (a coffee at Starbucks ran me $3.50), you can walk around all day looking at weird stuff for free.

A Bellagio swan & our pyramid shaped hotel room number.


There are over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers on the ceiling at The Bellagio.


The hotel beside ours was shaped like a castle. No biggie.


Even McDonald's has a fancy neon sign.


There are people in costumes all over the strip looking for donations from tourists to get their pictures taken with them. I gave this unofficial Mickey and Minnie team 2 of my dollars. There were basketball players, superheros, the cookie monster, a weird guy in a bad hot dog costume, a really amazing batman and joker duo, etc.

It was all definitely something to see. Good times!

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