NESS' BLOG

Ness

Lesson learned: Never visit Las Vegas during the summer
Saturday, September 3, 2005

So I got back from my vacation from Las Vegas/The Grand Canyon on Thursday afternoon. Drove rather than flew so it was a long trip. First off, I must say that if you ever plan to visit Las Vegas, do it during the winter. I have never visited a place that was so hot all the time. 40 degress and above the whole time, 100 and above in Fahrenheit to sound more dramatic. It can get fairly warm where I live but it always cools down at night. I guess that's what you get for living in the desert. Temperature aside, it was a good vacation. Well, if you ignore the fact that I got a heat rash, hives on my fingers, and threw up on my second day in Vegas. More on my sickness later.

Driving down to Vegas took about two days. Stopped in a place in Idaho called Poctatello for the night. Ate at an Applebee's. I was thrown off by the fact that they spelt neighbourhood without the "u". I was tempted to add it in. Second day arrived in Vegas though there was a quick stop in a place called Mesquite (sp?) for a bathroom break. The second I stepped out of the car, I was hit with the heat. The difference was so staggering. The air was like molten. In Mesquite I was also hit with the sudden explosion of casinos. Two hours outside of Vegas and they were everywhere in this little town. Of course, gambling is legal so I didn't expect any less. Arriving in Vegas was interesting. As you drive in, you see this city rise out of the desert. There's sand all around, but here's this one place thriving. There was some hit and miss finding the hotel, but I was just glad to be inside somewhere with air conditioning. Ate at a casino called Terrible's and I was introduced to my first Las Vegas casino. Slot machines everywhere along with thick cigarette smoke. I think the smoke was part of my downfall the next day.

Next day was sort of a wander around the city kind of day. Visited the Las Vegas Hilton to take a peek at Star Trek: The Experience, which I visited the next day, then travelled to Vegas' Chinatown. I was travelling with my parents and they wanted to check it out. Walked around until we found a good restaurant. At least, so we thought. Now, I'm allergic to nuts and peanuts to the point that I could die if I eat something contaminated by them. Eating at the Chinatown at home is easy since we know the places where I can eat. I guess it slipped all of ours mind to ask about nuts before we ordered. Let's just say we started eating and left very quickly for the hotel after twenty minutes or so. It was on the way back that my allergies, my other allergies, started to act up. I guess it was dust or smoke or something, but I couldn't stop sneezing and my eyes got all red. I spent the afternoon locked in the bathroom before the Benadryl kicked in. Watched Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends before I felt good enough to leave the hotel. I might have been spurred by the fact that my mom mentioned that the Flamingo had penguins and it was close to feeding time. Spent the rest of the afternoon watching African Penguins waddling around. That made the day worth it. Can't remember what happened the rest of the day.

Next day, Wednesday, was be a geek day. Spent the first half of the day at Star Trek: The Experience. Yeah, I know this is a Firefly board, but my family's big on Trek. But to keep myself happy about geeking out over another sci-fi show, I wore my "Joss Whedon is my Master Now" t-shirt. Sadly, only three people took notice. The first two were a couple who were passing by while I was waiting for the place to open. The guy asked me where I got my shirt and I told him (thinkgeek.com). The third person to comment on my shirt was a Klingon. Now, it's the guy's job to wander around The Experience, talking to people and making comments. When he saw my shirt, he said it was an unusual uniform and asked me why I placed my allegiance with Joss. Now, I have to admit that I was caught off guard so my response was a lame "Because he's so cool." Then the Klingon shot back with "If he's so great, how come Firefly was cancelled" or something along those lines. I gave a hearty "Because FOX sucks" and the Klingon gave a kinda "yeah, that's true" head nod. Then he admitted that at least a movie came out of the cancellation and moved on. I regret that I didn't get a picture with the Klingon. As for The Experience itself, it's not half bad. There are two rides though I'm not big on rides. In fact, it was my mother who insisted on riding one of them twice. Bought a Next Gen magnet at one of the stores and moved on to the rest of The Strip. It was also on Wednesday that I visited a comic book to see if they had a Kaylee cover, but I arrived ten minutes after closing.

The rest of the Vegas part of the trip pretty much is just walking around the casinos, so I won't go into detail. But I have to say that some of the casinos are damn impressive. The Venetian was very cool with its indoor canals and the Forum shops had some great shopping, my aching feet aside. I should note that on Thursday I went back to the comic book store during hours. I went to ask the guy there about Serenity #2 but I didn't get very far. Right away he told me that he was sold out and it seemed like he had to say this many times before. Even though I didn't find what I was looking for, it made me happy to know that comic was so popular.

Left Las Vegas Saturday morning. Overall, the only problem I had was with the cigarette smoke. It just made me gag every time we had to walk through the slot machines to get to the exit. Next it was about a five hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We got in on time to see the sunset at around 7:00. I have to say that the Grand Canyon is huge . That's all I can think of to describe it. Walked around on the trails for the next three days, with the last day being my parents' 25th anniversary. Had a great, but expensive dinner, as a result and I ate the best crème brûlée ever. So good. Insert drooling icon here.

Next two days were spent driving back home, with a stop in Ogden the first night. Next stop was Great Falls, Montana and I need to say how much that city rocks. There's nothing extraordinary about the place, except for what I found there. Checked out a local shopping mall after checking in to the hotel and found a bookstore, Waldenbooks. To my great surprise, and relief, I found three Kaylee covers on the shelf. Three! Like they were waiting just for me to show up. I snatched up one right away and tried not to squeal too loudly. $2.99 total; no taxes in Montana apparently. Even with the exchange rate back to Canadian, it's still a bargain. I was ready to go home right there and then. By some freaky coincidence, I caught an episode of The X-Files on TNT and it was the one that Jewel was in. Kaylee cover and Jewel on T.V. Weird. Further coincidence occurred when I found an episode of Buffy on FX the next morning and it was the one with Nathan's first appearance as Caleb. Two Canadian Firefly actors as I ready to head across the border. Yup, I was headed home.

Arrived back home to moderate temperatures (thank god). It felt good to be back in Canada; I missed seeing distances and speeds measured in kilometres, center spelt "centre" and temperature measured in Celsius. But Vegas and The Grand Canyon was fun. But only go during the winter. That was the most important thing I learned this trip. That and you don't need to travel to Nevada to find a copy of Serenity #2, Kaylee cover.

COMMENTS

Sunday, September 4, 2005 8:18 AM

GOJIRO


Regarding the missing "u" in "neighborhood" -- we Americans drop the "u" out of many words, such as "favorite," "behavior," "color," etc. There is a very good reason for this: quite simply, there is a drastic "u" shortage here in the States. The jingoistic spread of patriotism has, of late, caused many people to constantly chant "USA! USA! USA!" and "Bush! Bush! Bush!" You see "USA" and "Bush" writ large everywhere you go. It's on television, in the papers, and on the radio. Due to this constant drain on our "u" supplies, cutbacks had to be made. Folk have petitioned the government to release our strategic "u" reserves, but Bush has refused, saying it would leave us too vulnerable to underhanded terrorist undermining of our urban superstructure.

Oh dear, I have drained my daily allotment of that letter. For the rest of the day, I shall have to replace it with the letter "i". Well, I hope this explanation helps ease yoir confision over the American spellings. And I'm glad yoi enjoyed yoir visit to the ISA!

Saturday, September 3, 2005 1:41 PM

MONTANAGIRL


"Next stop was Great Falls, Montana and I need to say how much that city rocks."

I'm fairly sure that that is the only time that phrase has been used in conjunction with Great Falls. ;) And now I'm kicking myself for not having my dad check Waldenbooks for Serenity. (He goes to town every week, and he lives at the Waldenbooks.) Well, at least a deserving browncoat got them. And yes, we have no sales tax here. Everything else is taxed up the wazoo, but at least we don't have that damn sales tax!


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