Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Fremont Street Experience

Another area of Las Vegas that I had never seen before this trip was the infamous Fremont Street. That was the destination in mind when we headed out Tuesday night.  But our first stop was Serendipity 3.

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You can see what we got into above.  The first picture is a frozen hot chocolate, Serendipity’s signature drink.  I had this dessert at the original location in New York City when I visited in college and wanted to try something new.  So I decided on the cookies & cream sundae (second picture).  It had ice cream, cake, hot fudge, fried oreos and who knows what else.  It looked about the same after I was finished with it as it did when I started.

We ate supper with a friend of ours from Tuscaloosa who was also in Vegas for a conference ( a different conference than the one Brent attended).

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After a fantastic supper, we said goodbye to our friend and headed to the bus stop.  On the way we did lots of sightseeing and picture-taking.

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A dog in sunglasses giving me five. We stopped because the dog was just standing straight up on the street dressed like that & we thought it was cute. Then we paid $1 to take that photo. 

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Fremont Street is certainly spectacular. It is pretty overwhelming – the casinos are lit up, the ceiling dome is lit up, and it is quite noisy due to the casinos, street performers and music videos playing overhead. Tonight it was Jon Bon Jovi!

I really needed to go to the bathroom while I was there, so after unsuccessfully searching for a public restroom and much hesitation, I just (nervously) walked off the street right into one of the hotels, across the casino floor, and headed to their bathroom.  Being the good, rule-abiding girl that I am, I felt bad about using the facilities and not being an actual patron.  So while I was in the ladies’ room, a loud alarm went off! It ended up being a fire alarm, but before we actually knew what it was, my first thought was “Oh no. Oh my gosh.  They have caught me!”  <--- I know, so sad, you can tell I have never done anything remotely wild or scandalous in my entire life.

Anyway, so I raced out of the bathroom, eager to get out of the presumably burning building and safely into the street, and…..nothing.  The alarm was blaring and it was like no one was even hearing it.  Gamblers were going about the games and everyone else was milling around, drinking, talking, laughing, etc.  Just a fire alarm in a crowded Las Vegas casino.  No big deal. 

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There were ALL KINDS of people there.  Legitimate street performers, non-legitimate street performers, people dressed up like celebrities, etc.  We saw an Elvis with no pants, just underwear.  And some one dressed up like Austin Powers came up and said to Brent “Real men don’t wear pink.”  (He was wearing a blue leather suit!!) Are you kidding me?!  Ha ha ha.

We finally saw something we just HAD to do – the zip line!!!  We signed our lives away, buckled in to the harness, and waited in line on a rooftop above the street.  I was terrified.  I was so afraid that I would hurt my back!

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While we were waiting we noticed the Heart Attack Grill.  Anyone over 350 lbs gets to eat there free.  No thanks!

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Despite my terror, we didn’t die and the stop at the end wasn’t traumatic (I envisioned a padded wall and them just letting us slam into it – I’m not sure why I didn’t ask about stopping before getting up there!).  But there was a catch in the line that slowed us down right at the end, so it wasn’t very jarring at all.  I will say that the professional pictures they took of me were absolutely HORRIBLE.  The ones of Brent were good, but in all of the ones of me I look absolutely terrified.

After the zip line, we were all partied out so we headed back to the bus stop and back to Caesars.  It was definitely something to see, but I’m pretty sure it might have been my first and last Fremont Street Experience!

On Top of the World

Tuesday’s goal: Stratosphere observation deck.  I had been to Vegas twice before but had never been inside this famous Vegas landmark!

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Yes, I took a picture of myself up on the deck.  It was awkward.  Everyone else was doing it too!!  And just for the record, I do believe that even though the Stratosphere is higher, the Eiffel Tower has a better view, especially at night.  Here are the links to those 2010 posts for comparison:

To get from Caesars Palace to the Stratosphere,  I rode the monorail down the last stop on the strip, and it saved lots of time.  However, the monorail station for the Stratosphere is on the street behind the Sahara, the casino that is now closed.  It felt pretty unsafe there.  There were lots of creepy people milling around. One man came up to me at the crosswalk and asked if I was an RN.  I said “An RN?”  He said “Yeah a registered nurse.” I’m not sure why the emphasis on registered – if you need a nurse so badly that you are asking strangers in downtown Las Vegas, do you really care if they are registered?  Right after he walked off, a guy on a bicycle rode up right beside me and said “I bet everybody tries to talk to you because you’re so nice.”  What?!  So strange.  

So, all of that to say that I did NOT go back to that monorail station & ended up just walking back to Cesar’s palace, taking pictures along the way.

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Isn’t that the coolest mall?

When I got back to the room (after a long leisurely walk + lunch in the food court) this happened:

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Yes.  I washed my hair and then got in the super comfy bed to read & watch a movie.  But I ended up pulling the shades, turning the lights & TV off and taking a long daytime nap while poor Brent slaved away at his conference.