Road Trip Review: Vegas!
Aug. 21st, 2008 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjSo the proximal excuse for last weekend's road trip was that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
klwilliams wanted to see the Star Trek Experience one more time before the close of its 10-year run and I was amenable to seeing it for a first time and ... hey, who needs too much of an excuse for a road trip? So we figured we'd do the classic Vegas thing and got tickets to a show as well. Took off right from work on Friday, drove straight through, and arrived in the wee hours, at which time the hotel had run out of standard 2xqueen rooms and had to stick us in a rather nice, rather large semi-corner room with a king. (We decided we could cope.)
Since the STE doesn't (didn't?) open until 11:30, we set the alarm for "decadently late" and had brunch at Quark's Bar first thing after buying our tour tickets. There was Drama and Tragedy going on in the kitchen resulting in very slow service (and one change of order), but we began a string of perfect timing events, catching the Klingon Attack show just in time to make our reserveations for the behind-the-scenes tour immediately afterwards. (And, asklwilliams had assured me in advance, I really didn't want to see behind the scenes before getting the full, naive Klingon Attack experience.) Really great use of special effects technology for an amusement park ride. Our tour guide for the behind-the-scenes was absolutely stupendous -- great at getting everyone engaged, remembered everyone's names, and truly enjoyed his subject. After that we hit the gifts store and the staged photo sessions (which were part of the package) then finished up with the Borg Attack show (which was nowhere near as good as the Klingons).
It was really a bit odd looking around at our fellow tourists and realizing just how instantly recognizable fans are, even outside the usual convention circuit. (I don't know what proportion of their overall clientele are fannish -- things may have been skewed when we were there by the whole "one last time before it closes" phenomenon.)
We'd planned to have dinner at a buffet at the Paris Las Vegas thatklwilliams had been to before, but the line was so long that we decided the better part of valor was to go across the street (street? mall-hallway? aisle? hard to know what the right word is) to a French bakery and dine on crossant sandwiches and an assortment of desserts. After that was Phantom of the Opera which I'd never seen live (and klwilliams had never seen before at all). Very enjoyable and great staging, although it reminds one that -- as for operas -- musicals are best enjoyed if you know the plot and major lyrics in advance, since you aren't going to follow them just from the performance.
Another decadently late morning, lazy breakfast, and on the road again to get home at a decent (if evening) hour. Lots of excellent chattage in the car. Driving places with fellow writers means you can enjoy the "live books-on-tape" experience. And, to top if off, I have further mileage data for the new car, this time at posted speeds (rather than the strict 55 of the last calibration). The trip took about four tanks (which still made it cheaper than flying would have been). Both of the "down the valley" legs came out to around 27.5 mpg as did the outbound "valley to Vegas" leg while the returning "Vegas to valley" leg came in at 25.0 mpg. That's a bit odd, since it was the leg with the most decrease in elevation, so you'd think I'd get a bump from the downhill, but on the other hand it was also the leg with the most traffic, so the lower number may have been from the greater amount of braking. The slower speed is in line with the best numbers I've been getting from city driving and matches the official EPA highway estimate. The EPA city estimate is 20 mpg which I've only once managed to get. So, on the whole, I'm generally getting at least 3 mpg better than the EPA numbers, and as high as 5 mpg better if I really work on it.
Overall gambling losses: $2.00 (for the two of us, an overall gain of $0.86 I think)
Overall drunken debauchery: none. Who needs drunken debauchery when you have congenial company?
klwilliams wanted to see the Star Trek Experience one more time before the close of its 10-year run and I was amenable to seeing it for a first time and ... hey, who needs too much of an excuse for a road trip? So we figured we'd do the classic Vegas thing and got tickets to a show as well. Took off right from work on Friday, drove straight through, and arrived in the wee hours, at which time the hotel had run out of standard 2xqueen rooms and had to stick us in a rather nice, rather large semi-corner room with a king. (We decided we could cope.)Since the STE doesn't (didn't?) open until 11:30, we set the alarm for "decadently late" and had brunch at Quark's Bar first thing after buying our tour tickets. There was Drama and Tragedy going on in the kitchen resulting in very slow service (and one change of order), but we began a string of perfect timing events, catching the Klingon Attack show just in time to make our reserveations for the behind-the-scenes tour immediately afterwards. (And, as
klwilliams had assured me in advance, I really didn't want to see behind the scenes before getting the full, naive Klingon Attack experience.) Really great use of special effects technology for an amusement park ride. Our tour guide for the behind-the-scenes was absolutely stupendous -- great at getting everyone engaged, remembered everyone's names, and truly enjoyed his subject. After that we hit the gifts store and the staged photo sessions (which were part of the package) then finished up with the Borg Attack show (which was nowhere near as good as the Klingons).It was really a bit odd looking around at our fellow tourists and realizing just how instantly recognizable fans are, even outside the usual convention circuit. (I don't know what proportion of their overall clientele are fannish -- things may have been skewed when we were there by the whole "one last time before it closes" phenomenon.)
We'd planned to have dinner at a buffet at the Paris Las Vegas that
klwilliams had been to before, but the line was so long that we decided the better part of valor was to go across the street (street? mall-hallway? aisle? hard to know what the right word is) to a French bakery and dine on crossant sandwiches and an assortment of desserts. After that was Phantom of the Opera which I'd never seen live (and klwilliams had never seen before at all). Very enjoyable and great staging, although it reminds one that -- as for operas -- musicals are best enjoyed if you know the plot and major lyrics in advance, since you aren't going to follow them just from the performance.Another decadently late morning, lazy breakfast, and on the road again to get home at a decent (if evening) hour. Lots of excellent chattage in the car. Driving places with fellow writers means you can enjoy the "live books-on-tape" experience. And, to top if off, I have further mileage data for the new car, this time at posted speeds (rather than the strict 55 of the last calibration). The trip took about four tanks (which still made it cheaper than flying would have been). Both of the "down the valley" legs came out to around 27.5 mpg as did the outbound "valley to Vegas" leg while the returning "Vegas to valley" leg came in at 25.0 mpg. That's a bit odd, since it was the leg with the most decrease in elevation, so you'd think I'd get a bump from the downhill, but on the other hand it was also the leg with the most traffic, so the lower number may have been from the greater amount of braking. The slower speed is in line with the best numbers I've been getting from city driving and matches the official EPA highway estimate. The EPA city estimate is 20 mpg which I've only once managed to get. So, on the whole, I'm generally getting at least 3 mpg better than the EPA numbers, and as high as 5 mpg better if I really work on it.
Overall gambling losses: $2.00 (for the two of us, an overall gain of $0.86 I think)
Overall drunken debauchery: none. Who needs drunken debauchery when you have congenial company?
