Catching up: Vegas
On New Year's Day, Christine and I drove to Vegas and spent a few days there. It was a blast. This is one of those pic-heavy posts with some commentary.
Oh, the Zumanity!
Christine took me to see Zumanity. It's really quite an awesome show. Some people have asked why we chose that out of the various Cirque du Soleil shows available in Vegas. I'm not sure why it should some as any surprise. I'm sure the acrobatics are just as amazing as at other Cirque shows, and it combines the ideas of old-school burlesque with the amazing talents of Cirque du Soleil. I was very impressed.
Dolphins
Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden is behind the Mirage. It has a dolphin area, which included a baby dolphin. I didn't get great shots of the baby dolphin, but I assure you it was cute as it swam alongside its mother and other relatives.
White lions. I had no idea.
The Secret Garden also has areas for white lions, white tigers, and some other exotic stuff. White lions! I had never seen those before. They're quite majestic. (We also saw normal lions at the MGM Grand, but those were sleeping, while these were pacing around.)
White tigers, and why inbreeding is bad
Naturally, the Secret Garden also has white tigers. Watching them interact with their various toys, it became clear to Christine and me that the heterozygous orange one was the smart cat in that room. The staff put a bucket on top of a ball (which was apparently fascinating for tigers) and wedged other balls into the trees. The orange tiger was excellent at getting to the balls, but the white ones seemed a little less bright.
One white tiger in particular kept trying to climb the wrong branch and stretch its head out as far as it could, trying to get the ball. It would then jump down, consider the problem, and go up the wrong branch again. It did this several times. When it finally looked like it was getting the right idea (that climbing a branch that was actually touching the ball might be easier), the orange tiger came and knocked it out of the tree. It was funny and sad.
Showgirls standing around the Strip
The Bellagio always has amazing things.
The view from the Stratosphere
Christine took me to dinner at the restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere. It was hugely expensive, so I can't suggest it for everyone, but the view is amazing. The whole restaurant rotates slowly, so over the course of a meal you pretty much get to see the whole city from a very high altitude. (Sorry for the shaky-cam above. I'm not great at holding still for long exposures. The other pictures from that height were even worse.)
Our huge room
Due to the Luxor being heavily booked on New Year's, they ran out of the type of room we'd reserved. Thus, they upgraded us at no additional cost to a big ol' suite. It had three different climate control panels. It was way more room than we needed, really.
The TV in our bedroom was hidden most of the time. There was a special remote control to reveal or conceal it. I believe I spent more idle time making it go up and down than actually watching television. We didn't watch much TV, really. By the time we were in the room, we were exhausted and just wanted to shag and sleep. Hence, the luxurious room was largely wasted on us.
The TV was more fun to play with than to watch.
I'm pretty tempted to make an animated gif of this going up and down, over and over. Then you could watch that five times in a row and know how easily amused I can be.
And that was Vegas!
Oh, the Zumanity!
Christine took me to see Zumanity. It's really quite an awesome show. Some people have asked why we chose that out of the various Cirque du Soleil shows available in Vegas. I'm not sure why it should some as any surprise. I'm sure the acrobatics are just as amazing as at other Cirque shows, and it combines the ideas of old-school burlesque with the amazing talents of Cirque du Soleil. I was very impressed.
Dolphins
Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden is behind the Mirage. It has a dolphin area, which included a baby dolphin. I didn't get great shots of the baby dolphin, but I assure you it was cute as it swam alongside its mother and other relatives.
White lions. I had no idea.
The Secret Garden also has areas for white lions, white tigers, and some other exotic stuff. White lions! I had never seen those before. They're quite majestic. (We also saw normal lions at the MGM Grand, but those were sleeping, while these were pacing around.)
White tigers, and why inbreeding is bad
Naturally, the Secret Garden also has white tigers. Watching them interact with their various toys, it became clear to Christine and me that the heterozygous orange one was the smart cat in that room. The staff put a bucket on top of a ball (which was apparently fascinating for tigers) and wedged other balls into the trees. The orange tiger was excellent at getting to the balls, but the white ones seemed a little less bright.
One white tiger in particular kept trying to climb the wrong branch and stretch its head out as far as it could, trying to get the ball. It would then jump down, consider the problem, and go up the wrong branch again. It did this several times. When it finally looked like it was getting the right idea (that climbing a branch that was actually touching the ball might be easier), the orange tiger came and knocked it out of the tree. It was funny and sad.
Showgirls standing around the Strip
The Bellagio always has amazing things.
The view from the Stratosphere
Christine took me to dinner at the restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere. It was hugely expensive, so I can't suggest it for everyone, but the view is amazing. The whole restaurant rotates slowly, so over the course of a meal you pretty much get to see the whole city from a very high altitude. (Sorry for the shaky-cam above. I'm not great at holding still for long exposures. The other pictures from that height were even worse.)
Our huge room
Due to the Luxor being heavily booked on New Year's, they ran out of the type of room we'd reserved. Thus, they upgraded us at no additional cost to a big ol' suite. It had three different climate control panels. It was way more room than we needed, really.
The TV in our bedroom was hidden most of the time. There was a special remote control to reveal or conceal it. I believe I spent more idle time making it go up and down than actually watching television. We didn't watch much TV, really. By the time we were in the room, we were exhausted and just wanted to shag and sleep. Hence, the luxurious room was largely wasted on us.
The TV was more fun to play with than to watch.
I'm pretty tempted to make an animated gif of this going up and down, over and over. Then you could watch that five times in a row and know how easily amused I can be.
And that was Vegas!