We decided to go with the seats in the middle section which are about $100 each.  At the show we ended up sitting close to the front in the middle section because my wonderful wife thought it would be a good idea if I were a part of the show.  I didn’t agree with that, I was happy with the seats we originally purchased.  We got the good seats.  We were guided to our new seats, she sat down and I was taken to be introduced to what I would be doing on stage.  The show was wonderful but I was sweating bullets the whole show until one of the Blue Men came and got me and took me.

Ashley wanted me to tell you exactly what I did in the show, that is going to be difficult, I don’t really know.  In a few words:  I was taken on stage, dressed in an astronaut suit and helmet, stuffed in a box, and before it was over I had a jello mold on by head…  I don’t want to tell all the details in case you get a chance to see it!

The shoes I had to wear during my “performance”:

The sign at the Venetian, featuring the Blue Man Group:

I posted the outdoor pictures in the first post, Hoover Dam (Part I).

Pictures from the Dam Tour:

Ryan was trying to tell me how to eliminate the reflection.

I think it made a cool picture!

Notice all of the other people in the room paying attention to the tour guide!

Without Reflection:

I don’t think it’s nearly as good of a picture!

Generators:

Hallways and Tunnels:

Plating Tools:

Artifacts from the building of the dam:

Black Canyon pre-construction (1922):

That wraps up the Dam Tour!

I do want to add that our tour guide was very comical and made the tour a lot of fun, especially with his excessive use of the word “dam”.  It was remarkably similar to the tour guide from the movie “Vegas Vacation.”

Anyway, I enjoyed the dam tour, and the dam tour guide.

My only exception is that if I do a dam tour again, I am going to try not to go in the summer.

It is a slightly less than ideal dam tour, when the dam temperature is 115 degrees, the dam visitors are sweaty, and you have to fit 20 dam tourists, and a dam tour guide into a dam elevator.

The Hoover Dam in pictures:

Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge:

(To be completed September 2010)

To be continued with pictures from the tour inside of the dam. . .

(I will post about the Dam tour later)

There is a small fee, approximately $5 per car, to get into the Lake Mead park, inside you have access to the beaches, campgrounds and marinas.

Once inside, our first stop was a small Marina.

The boat pictured is an authentic paddle-wheeler called the Desert Princess, that offers Lake Mead cruises.

We sat on the dock of the Lake Mead Marina, eating Popsicles and watching the ducks and fish in the water. The water was gorgeous and crystal clear.

Please look at this sign:

It really was 115 degrees that day, Ryan and I tried to catch the high on our rental car thermometer but the highest we got was 113:

One hundred fifteen degrees, in Nevada, is hot, it really is, but it does not compare to 95 degrees in Virginia.  Everyone always says it’s different, it’s dry heat.  It is different.  It is dry.  It is so dry that I think it makes your sweat evaporate.  It may sound strange, but I am a sweater, if I spend a lot of time outside on a hot day (85+ in Virginia), I am going to sweat.  Somehow, while at the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, when it was 115 degrees, I didn’t sweat.  Dry Heat.

The sign says the water temperature was 81 degrees, it felt like 95 degrees, like bathwater.

Lake  Mead surprised me because I didn’t know what to expect. The barren “beaches”, floating marina’s, the mountains, and hundreds of boats, it all surprised me.   I would like to visit again with more time, and a bathing suit, maybe in the spring or fall, when warm water is more welcoming.

]]> http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/24/lake-mead/feed/ 3 http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/22/top-of-the-world-restaurant/ http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/22/top-of-the-world-restaurant/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:11:58 +0000 Ashley http://dumbyoungins.com/?p=1647 I think that having dinner at the Stratosphere Top of the World restaurant could be my favorite experience from our trip to Las Vegas.  Not only was the food wonderful, but the experience is amazing.

We arrived at the Stratosphere a few minutes late for our reservation, because we started walking the wrong way when we got off the monorail.  My directional lesson in Vegas was that when in doubt while outside, find the strip, and inside, find the Casino (all of the hotels have their casinos on the Strip level, if you find the casino you can find your way out).

The Top of the World had the most involved entrance process that I have ever seen for a restaurant. You first check in with a hostess at ground level, then they send you through a security check point to the elevator.  Inside the elevator there is operator who takes you up over 100 floors, in approximately one minute, to the restaurant.  You are then greeted by a second hostess who seats you in the revolving dining room.  Over the next hour and 20 minutes you will slowly revolve and see the entire 360 degree view of all of Las Vegas,  in fact, you can see about 600 square miles.

After being seated, the waiter immediately brought us water, bread and Stratosphere shaped butter.  From the menu we chose:

Three Course Dinner for Two with wine pairings

First Course:

With a choice of soup or salad, we chose the Caesar salad , which was paired with Trimbach, Pinot Gris, Alsace

Second Course:

Copied directly from the menu:

“Our World Famous Chateaubriand for Two Angus Beef ® tenderloin, roasted to perfection, served with sautéed langoustines with garden vegetables, house potatoes and sauce Béarnaise”

Paired with Beaulieu Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford

In a couple of words: Delicious! Melt in your mouth! Fantastic!

And then, as if we hadn’t already had enough delicious food to eat, we were served our third, and final, course, which was a dessert sampler. The sampler included: (from left to right) Trio of Desserts- Raspberry Mousse in a white chocolate bowl, Chocolate Mousse, and White Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

Sinful!

Paired with Godiva Chocolate Coffee

Tickets to the Observation deck, just above the Top of the World, are included with dinner, normally about $14 per adult.  So when dinner was complete we took the elevator up another floor or two to the observation deck to take pictures from the top of the tallest free standing tower in the United States.

(The blue light show in the picture below is the beam from the top of the Luxor)

The observation deck is also where you can board the Stratosphere Insanity rides.  I was too much of a wussy to take the chance, and Ryan had already done it once before, so we just soaked in the view of the lights of Las Vegas.

We had a great time at the Stratosphere and truly enjoyed our dinner at the Top of the World.  The three course meal for two, with wine pairing , was a little pricey, at $220, but worth every penny for the experience and the excellent meal.

]]> http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/22/top-of-the-world-restaurant/feed/ 5 http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/21/view-from-35000-feet/ http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/21/view-from-35000-feet/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:53:54 +0000 Ashley http://dumbyoungins.com/?p=1614 During our flight from Las Vegas to Dulles I had a window seat,

and took some shots out of my fithy, scratched up window.

Heaven?

]]> http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/21/view-from-35000-feet/feed/ 1 http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/21/viva-las-vegas-part-2/ http://dumbyoungins.com/2009/07/21/viva-las-vegas-part-2/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:31:33 +0000 Ashley http://dumbyoungins.com/?p=1582 Wow, I have only told you about the first 10 hours of our trip to Las Vegas! I have a lot of posting to do!

After our delicious breakfast at The Bellagio buffet, Ryan and I did a little walking:

We checked out The Bellagio in daylight:

Explored Caesar’s Palace:

The blue sky ceiling really does make you feel as if you are outdoors:

Trojan Horse at the entrace to FAO Schwarz, in Caesar’s Palace:

After a couple of hours of exploring we spent the rest of the afternoon at the AWFS fair, where we saw hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of woodworking equipment.

For Dinner, after the fair, we went to the Top of the World restaurant in the Stratosphere.

It was an amazing meal. I will tell you the details later!

After dinner we did a little more exploring:

After walking around for a couple hours, we decided it was nap time,

in the morning we got up and ate a quick breakfast at the Pink Bean coffee shop in The Flamingo:

And were entertained by little birds while we ate:

After breakfast we hit the road towards the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, where we took about 800 pictures

I will post them later. . .

Coming Soon: The Top of the World restaurant, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, and Las Vegas Part 3!

There is something about the 24/7 atmosphere in Las Vegas that engages our uncanny ability to run at full blast on zero sleep.

We arrived in Las Vegas on Wednesday Night at 10pm Pacific Time.

Here is a quick  list of the things we have seen and done thus far:

Note: We will post about  trip in more detail when our fabulous marathon trip is completed.  Let us know if you have any questions!

Arrival at McCarran International Airport

Shuttle bus to the Hotel (The Flamingo- Chosen for the great location (perfect view from our room of The Bellagio water show, monorail station in the hotel, beside The Bellagio, Ceasar”s Palace, Bally’s, and Imperial Palace, and centralized location on the Las Vegas Strip), great price (without sacrifice, seriously, we have a tv in our bathroom mirror, not that we’ve taken the time to watch it, but that’s pretty luxurious, for half the price of a room at The Bellagio. And we’ve still got the view!)

Check In, visit to our room long enough to change clothes, and off we went. . .

We visited and got trapped disoriented (These hotels and casinos are HUGE!)  in each of the following places:

The Flamingo

Bally’s – We enjoyed the live entertainment and a visit to The Tequila Bar, rather, Ashley enjoyed the tequila bar, Ryan, not so much

The band at Bally’s was amazingly talented, they without hesitation played requests for Chicago, 2Pac, Beyonce,  and many more and played them perfectly.

Paris Las Vegas

The Bellagio- The conservatory is gorgeous at night!

~Short Nap~

Breakfast at The Buffet at The Bellagio- AMAZING breakfast buffet!

Note: The buffet has everything you could possibly want for breakfast and everything you could possibly want for an early morning snack if you’ve been up all night (ie. pizza, pasta, etc)

We had a traditional southern breakfast (biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, etc) followed by fresh fruit and pastries for dessert.

Wait a second, we have 24 hours left in Las Vegas,  we’ll tell you about the rest later!

To be continued. . .