Day 1 & 2 of Our Family Vacation
Sunday we left San Diego at 4:25 a.m. after getting coffee at the nearby 7/11 and returning home to grab the fruit that would have turned into a disgusting mess had we left it out all week.
We got into Las Vegas at 10am-ish and went directly to LV Hilton to stand online for tickets to see Aliens Unmasked. Aliens Unmasked was a panel of walk-around actors from Star Trek: The Experience.
There was a HUGE Trek themed con going on when we got here. The day we arrived was the last day of the con but as always we got to meet “interesting” con goers. I heart Star Trek fans SO much, we’re such an odd, quirky, diverse, brave, independent and wonderful group of people.
After we got our tickets for Aliens Unmasked we went over to Excalibur and checked into the hotel and chilled watching the Olympics.
Later in the evening we went back to the LV Hilton to attend the Aliens Unmasked - IT WAS THE BEST PANEL EVER. When they announced that Michael Westmore was going to moderate the panel the room went crazy!! He shared lots of his own stories and the audience was allowed to ask questions via note cards filled out when we arrived. If you’ve ever been to a convention you know there always is the obligatory essay question and a “you saved my life” story. The most moving part was when the actor who plays 3 of 6 said something to the effect of “you guys mean more to us than you’ll know” the audience stood up and clapped, really loud, for probably 5 minutes. No lie. Many on the panel, and in the audience, wiped away tears. It was a great event to attend.
Jared was a great guy. While waiting for tickets he, errr… Quan came over and chatted us all up, but took a moment to say how glad “someone else” was that we were there, “but we can’t talk about him right now”. LOL A while later Giles, maybe a shift manager?, came over and took me out of line. He asked, “Yvonne, tell me your last name please?” He was asking because either he or Jared (not sure which) decided to put me “on the list” to get in free. So Mary, James and I got in for the price of two. How nice, eh? Seriously I heart Trek people SO MUCH.
Drained from the panel we came back to the Excalibur at like 10:15pm and watched more Olympics before passing out dead asleep
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On Monday morning we did something that we very rarely do… we got up late, at like 8:30 and lounged around the room: checking email, updating the Ballhogs web site (www.ballhogsbaseball.com) and sipping coffee, it was very relaxing. James has been very patient with our “down time”.
Chilling out was nice but we wanted to get to the pool before the triple digits started so headed down to the pool when it opened at 9am - fun but none of us went down the slide, it’s not nearly as cool at the one at Whiskey Pete’s. When we got there the hotel building shaded the pool and made it so enjoyable. The sun (evil sun) quickly overtook the pool and we ran back to our rooms like vampires avoiding sure death.
Once we got up to the room after the pool, we got dress and went to Harrah’s for lunch at their YUMMY buffet. Note to selves: crab is only served at dinner.
With our tummies full we went to Ceasar’s Palace Forum shops and window shopped. While at the Forum Shops we picked up our Power Passes from Planet Hollywood and confirmed that we’d still be able to use them for ST:EXP. We also went to FAO Schwartz and Mary bought J. a toy she already has LOL (but she’ll return the princess doll for the ballerina doll, so all’s well) and James a Bionicle (sp?)
Shopping done, we went back to Excalibur and got ice cream from Little John’s (I also got a taco salad that sucked ass, but filled a hole in my belly.)
More Olympics were watched while we enjoyed our treats we left to go to the Coke Cola and M&M factory to get ½ price tickets to see Ronn Lucas. Ronn Lucas is a ventriloquist act here at Excalibur. I’m sure it’ll be very enjoyable. While in line at the ½ price place one of the little line helpers saw my Star Fleet Academy shirt and shared with us that he went to the huge con. Although, he’s been a fan his whole life it was his first con. He was adorable with his stories.
While there we did a Cokes from Around the World sampler (16 kinds). Fifteen of them were interesting and one tasted like ass (it was from Italy and it was called “Beverly”, if ever offered a taste take a pass on that shit). The best part of the sampler trays was the other family at a near by table… they kept turning and staring at us. I thought that they were staring at James’ All Star shirt. I was thinking that maybe they were from San Diego too and knew the team, or the district or something. Well, turns out that when we got to “Beverly,” we three retched and gagged and the family at the other table busted out laughing. They were staring so that they wouldn’t miss our “scene”.
Done with our colas after the Coke/M&M factory we got some fast food and headed back to the hotel. When was it, by the way, that food in Las Vegas went from the greatest deal in town to being crazy expensive?
All done for the night, we headed back to Excalibur. On the way we detoured into MGM to see the lion habitat. That was a great choice because two minutes after we got there, a couple trainers went into the enclosure and began hand feeding the lions. Man oh man was that ever way cool. They threw these vitamin-infused ground horse meat chunks against the glass enclosure so the lions licked and ate in a way that we people could really get a good look at their faces and teeth. It was SUPER cool.
After the lions we came back to the room, like 8:30pm-ish and started watching more Olympics and making plans for tomorrow.
And that was day one and two of our family vacation.