Carl's Blog

To be honest the title of this post is a lie.

I started typing and taking photos on June 2nd while flying the first leg of my flights to Vegas. Leg one was to Houston. Leg one is almost always to Houston, sometimes Dallas speaks in but Houston is the main step one.

I normally fly Southwest and this trip is now different. I collect points during the year and spend them on flights. On this flight I booked business class and forgot you get a drink voucher, it’s still the morning, but it’s 5 O’clock somewhere and I can’t let the drink voucher go to waste.

This is an India Pale Ale brewed with spice. It’s not too bad. I’d ask for it again.

As we start the descent into Houston, I’m really enjoying the clouds out the window.

It’s so interesting how the clouds are gathered up into lines, at least from my view above them. The pattern may mean I Google why. So many things start with that question, “why?”. Don’t worry I’m not going to go all philosophical on you. I’ve only had one beer. 😆

Leg 2, as they say.. I wonder why it’s called that? (see what I did there? still need more beer to wax philosophical 😇)

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So it’s now today and I’m going to check out things you can do in Las Vegas. There will be some shows, there will be museums and there may be a wee bit of gambling..

The only trouble is I’m awake at 4 AM and last night’s short drive around, I just don’t feel safe to walk around this early. I wasn’t nervous when I was in New York City, but that city is more pedestrian friendly. Once my watch charges I’m going to walk around the resort a bit. Should be closer to sunrise by then.

Ok, my opinion of Vegas has changed with the rise of the sun. First, there is no traffic, and second I’m not the only tourist up at the crack of dawn and taking a walk down the Vegas Strip. I even saw people jogging, so my plan to walk/jog a 5K is back on for Thursday or Friday morning. Oh, it’s also in the 70s in the morning not the 90s like in the afternoon.

On my way back to the resort I found a shopping / restaurant area between casinos. One other thing.. these casinos run blocks. Cesar’s is at least 2 blocks long. Makes it hard to find cut streets to get you around like in normal cities.

The view at 8 AM. Look at those mountains in the background 🥰

Today’s adventure is either starting at the Natural History Museum or the Van Gogh exhibit that I’ve tried to see twice in Texas. I’ll probably do both but not sure which will be first at least both are in doors.

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Only ended up going to the Natural History Museum. It had some good exhibits for kids. I personally enjoyed the recreation of King Tutames Tomb.

I was hungry after and headed back to the Strip to try one of Gordon Ramsey’s places. It was a take away fish eatery and I wanted a sit down place, so off to Virgil’s BBQ only a few doors down.

They have a really good pulled pork sandwich.

My phone had been sending warnings about rain and I like last night it would just pass by. That was not the case so another round of beer.

If you are going to get caught in the rain, a bar is a pretty good spot to wait it out, and it’s happy hour. 😇

My only plan for the day is to see Cirque du Soleil – KA (Trailer ) at 6 PM, it’s 3:40 PM at the moment so plenty of time.

Had a walk through a few casinos, saw a poker tournament and a movie scene being filmed. It looked like Elle Flanning.

I may just have to play one round of Blackjack at a $5 table. I’m such a big spender 😆.

The show starts soon back when it’s over. Here are the only pictures I’m taking; going to enjoy the moment.

That was an amazing show… The secret supporting actor was the person controlling the stage floors, they moved… At times the performers were jumping and swing around on a vertical stage. It even had a story, but it was a bit hard to follow because there were 2 heroes that went on separate hero journeys in magical realms. Everything concluded with an epic battle, on a vertical stage between our heroes and the main villain. In the end, the heroes won, the world was made right and we we got to see a dancing crab, turtle and starfish. (You have to see the show to understand.)

At the end of the day, well what I’m calling the end I walked 13.1 miles and earned an award from my Garmin fitness tracker.

Now, I’m tired but not ready to go to bed. I’m pretty sure something is going to hurt in the morning. If things go to plan, I’ll have an early start for a hike in Red Rock Canyon and be back to the resort before 1 PM.

I’ll close with some more pictures of the Las Vegas strip.

Until tomorrow.