Friday, November 17, 2006
Circus Circus KOA, Las Vegas, NV
September 18, 2006
It really was energizing in a strange way to see the flashing lights of Vegas. The strip is like a different world. It put me in mind of the movie musicals from the 50s and 60s. You know the ones, where they have that walking montage where the couple or person is just walking and the neon signs change on either side of them? Having been to Vegas, I can totally understand where that idea came from. Very weird.
The sad thing is that many of these old casinos are being torn down to make fancier, pricier, cheesier, themed casinos. The Stardust is being torn down, as is the Riviera at some point. In their places will rise silly theme park casinos with midway games and ticket arcades for the kids to hook them on gambling when they're young. In a way, they are fun, but I think they change the flavor of Vegas. Make it more Disney and less mobster. But I get ahead of myself. I didn't find any of this out our first night. We just walked around and soaked in the atmosphere until Z started getting tired. Around 6 am, we called it a night, and got a few hours of sleep.
September 19, 2006
The next day we looked through the Las Vegas guide and coupon book which the people at the KOA had given us at check in. We decided to eat at this "fine dining" Chinese restaurant called Fin at The Mirage. Ian didn't want to go. I guess he hadn't had enough sleep yet, understandable. We valet parked and walked into the casino. Again, huge. After about five minutes, we got to the restaurant, where the hostess, positioned outside the doors of the restaurant, asked us how old Zorah was. When Brian said she was three, the lady apologized and said we couldn't go in! There is an age requirement for restaurants! You have to be five years old.I think she then directed us to the buffet. I couldn't believe it. We wandered around the casino for a bit to try to find another place to eat, but we had really gotten our hearts set on the Chinese. So we went back, and Brian said to the girl: "Can she just be five, please?" And we were in. So weird. I don't know how other three year olds behave, but, seriously. The food was pretty good. Zorah was very well behaved.
The only problem was that she kept wanting to touch these glass balls that were suspended on wires throughout the restaurant. No big deal though. We went back to the Mirage that night. I don't remember what we ate, but I got these nifty pictures of the kids in front of the entrance to Cirque du Soleil's Love show.
We then took a walk through the Riviera again. Because, what a strange coincidence! We got to Vegas just in time for the World Championships of Foosball! It was starting on Wednesday, if I remember right. So we walked down to the tournament room to check it out, but no one was there. Or if they were, they had locked the doors because it hadn't started yet. So that was that. As with all the other casinos, the Riviera was pretty big. It took about 5 or 10 minutes to walk from the entrance on the Strip to the conference rooms.
I was going to put in some great pictures of the casino and Brian patting the butt of this bronze statue, but for some reason they keep coming up here stood on their ends. Frustrating. Oh, well. So at about three in the morning, we walked from our site, through the Circus Circus casino. These casinos are so huge that it took quite a while to find our way out of Circus Circus, but I guess that's the point. Hide the outside light so you have no real concept of time, and make it hard to leave. Of course, you have to pass open gaming areas, with the slot machines flashing and dinging. Zorah wanted to play the slots, which I guess is another one of their layout goals. Anyway, we finally made it onto the Strip, stopping to take a picture of the happy Circus Circus clown.
We crossed the street, still pretty busy despite the time. I guess that's another thing about Vegas. In the "city that never sleeps" category, it really beats New York. Directly across from us was the Riviera, which had this crazy Vegas fountain, in front of which we took this Mary Tyler Mooresque picture of Zorah. At least it makes me think of Mary Tyler Moore. If only I had a hat for Z to throw up into the air!
We crossed the street, still pretty busy despite the time. I guess that's another thing about Vegas. In the "city that never sleeps" category, it really beats New York. Directly across from us was the Riviera, which had this crazy Vegas fountain, in front of which we took this Mary Tyler Mooresque picture of Zorah. At least it makes me think of Mary Tyler Moore. If only I had a hat for Z to throw up into the air!
It really was energizing in a strange way to see the flashing lights of Vegas. The strip is like a different world. It put me in mind of the movie musicals from the 50s and 60s. You know the ones, where they have that walking montage where the couple or person is just walking and the neon signs change on either side of them? Having been to Vegas, I can totally understand where that idea came from. Very weird.
The sad thing is that many of these old casinos are being torn down to make fancier, pricier, cheesier, themed casinos. The Stardust is being torn down, as is the Riviera at some point. In their places will rise silly theme park casinos with midway games and ticket arcades for the kids to hook them on gambling when they're young. In a way, they are fun, but I think they change the flavor of Vegas. Make it more Disney and less mobster. But I get ahead of myself. I didn't find any of this out our first night. We just walked around and soaked in the atmosphere until Z started getting tired. Around 6 am, we called it a night, and got a few hours of sleep.
September 19, 2006
The next day we looked through the Las Vegas guide and coupon book which the people at the KOA had given us at check in. We decided to eat at this "fine dining" Chinese restaurant called Fin at The Mirage. Ian didn't want to go. I guess he hadn't had enough sleep yet, understandable. We valet parked and walked into the casino. Again, huge. After about five minutes, we got to the restaurant, where the hostess, positioned outside the doors of the restaurant, asked us how old Zorah was. When Brian said she was three, the lady apologized and said we couldn't go in! There is an age requirement for restaurants! You have to be five years old.I think she then directed us to the buffet. I couldn't believe it. We wandered around the casino for a bit to try to find another place to eat, but we had really gotten our hearts set on the Chinese. So we went back, and Brian said to the girl: "Can she just be five, please?" And we were in. So weird. I don't know how other three year olds behave, but, seriously. The food was pretty good. Zorah was very well behaved.
The only problem was that she kept wanting to touch these glass balls that were suspended on wires throughout the restaurant. No big deal though. We went back to the Mirage that night. I don't remember what we ate, but I got these nifty pictures of the kids in front of the entrance to Cirque du Soleil's Love show.
We then took a walk through the Riviera again. Because, what a strange coincidence! We got to Vegas just in time for the World Championships of Foosball! It was starting on Wednesday, if I remember right. So we walked down to the tournament room to check it out, but no one was there. Or if they were, they had locked the doors because it hadn't started yet. So that was that. As with all the other casinos, the Riviera was pretty big. It took about 5 or 10 minutes to walk from the entrance on the Strip to the conference rooms.
