Great Trip to the West Day 5: Cirque du Soleil

This day began much more leisurely than the previous days of our trip.  We were able to sleep in past 5am and go about our morning routine at a much slower pace.

We breakfasted at the Mirage's buffet.  It was pretty great with just about any breakfast item you wanted.  I stuffed myself in anticipation of our day ahead.

After lunch, we again wandered up and back down the strip.  We returned to our rooms to prepare for the main event:  Cirque du Soleil "O".

I was pretty excited about O as I had never seen a show like that.  I knew that Cirque could be a bit avant garde, but it was amazing.  The skill of the performers and the way they performed throughout the show was astounding.  The way they moved and maintained control over their bodies was something that I can never hope to be able to do.  These people are dedicated professionals.  I would definitely like to see the show again.

Another reason I liked O was that it's based around water and I love the water.  Always have.  The actors were frequently in the water or doing something with water.  The acrobatics was amazing as well.  I could not imagine doing some of the stunts they did, others I would have loved to try.  All of the stunts revolved around the vague plot of a crazy European circus.  The entire show was shrouded in mystery and wonder.  There were many tricks and surprises to be had and the dancing and tricks were not too over the top like I feared, but was useful to the action and story.  Overall it was a great time.

Great Trip to the West Day 4: Las Vegas

I got up before the wife as usual and showered up.  We grabbed our complimentary breakfast and loaded up the car.  I had already filled up the car with gas so we were good in that department.  It only took us a couple minutes to find our way to the highway for Las Vegas.  The trip wasn't too bad.  Only about 2 hours.  We took it easy and decided to do some sight seeing along the way.

The Hoover Dam was pretty amazing as a kid and it's still pretty cool.  This time however, we didn't drive over the dam.  We took the new bridge and got off to park and look around.  I don't remember walking around the dam before, but that's what we did this time.  We had a look at the gift shop and walked across the dam (it didn't seem so huge this time).  We spent about 45 minutes in total as we had to meet my cousins at the Las Vegas airport at around noon.

The drive into Las Vegas wasn't eventful.  We had an easy drive in and found the airport pretty easily.  The Las Vegas McCarran Airport is pretty nice.  Lots of little (but expensive) shops.  Friendly staff members helped us find out way in and around the airport.  The only problem was due to all the time changes we got there super early so had to wait around.  Not a problem

My cousins arrived hungry which was fine with us because we were hungry too.  After picking up our bags, we were off to our hotel, the Rio.  We didn't check in right away, first we hit the buffet.  It was expensive, but it had everything.  It was so good.  They had just about anything and everything you could want.  I ate about 3 large platefuls.  Old me would've devoured 6 or 7, but not anymore.  We talked and ate for about 2 hours.  After gorging ourselves we checked into our rooms and took a rest.

I wandered around the casino for a bit and had a seven dollar beer at the pool bar.  There wasn't much to see or do since it was on a weekday, but it was still cool.  Rio is designed in a Brazilian, carnival theme.  There are even floats that descend from the ceiling and dancers on them throw beads to the onlookers.

Around 6pm we all met up again and headed to the strip.  We wandered around the Bellagio and Venetian and a few other places, just taking in the sights and experience of the casinos.  After awhile we had a snack at the Venetian food court and continued in our slow trek across the strip.  Finally we made our way back to my car and headed to the hotel and sweet sweet bed.

I had been to Las Vegas once before back in 1997.  I was pretty amazed to see how much the city had changed in the past 15 years.  The area where I had been back then was now becoming a slum, a place where low ballers hang out.  The area where I was now had not existed back then.  It's quite a transformation.