Las Vegas: Day 3
Tanya opened the curtains this morning and, observing the dreary day outside, said, "Eww, it’s so depressing out. It reminds me of home!".
We went down to the café for breakfast again, and while waiting to be seated, a Texan rancher asked Tanya if this was the line for the "boo-fe". It was not.
Then we walked down to the Venetian, where we followed several moving walkways up to the recreated Venice inside and some neat shops.
I accosted met Nicolas Cage on the way up. ;)
This guy is a living statue.
I’m so glad we didn’t take a boat ride, because everyone takes your picture!
(like I did of this nice couple)
I need one of these at home.
I’ll make an exception of my rule "fruit does not mix with dessert" for this:
If mannequins are going to be unrealistic, they might as well be REALLY unrealistic.
We walked back to the hotel, dropped off our cameras (as our next adventure did not allow them), and caught a cab to the Tropicana, on the other end of the Strip, to see the Bodies exhibition, which is of preserved human cadavers… an anatomy exhibit come to life!
A truck billboard I saw earlier for the exhibition.
We had to stand in line for 25 minutes, but it was worth it. The exhibit was very thorough, covering all of the body's systems and explaining how everything works. Next to a pair of emphysema-ridden lungs was a box where smokers could throw away their cigarettes -- the container probably had a hundred packages in it.
We realized we weren’t going to make it back for the WPPI speakers at 3:30pm, so we took our time and then went for a late lunch at the Tropicana Garden Café, which, despite being plain, was quite good (or at least my "Winner’s Island Club Sandwich" and wedge fries were). I even got a giant pickle that I stuck my club sandwich toothpick in to recreate a Venice gondola boat (complete with an impersonation of the opera-style singer), hahaha! Probably one of those things you had to have been there for.
After this, we caught the monorail back to our hotel, as we had three free tickets for it, given to me by my bank teller at home, of all people! (she had just come back from Vegas and hadn’t used them) The monorail was not what I was expecting… it was slow-moving and shaky. I think I was expecting something like the one on The Simpsons, hopefully without the possums in the cupboard and the near death experience. But it got us where we needed to go.
We changed quickly and walked over to Bally’s for the WPPI welcome reception. I split off from Tanya and Sandra and met some nice girls from Minnesota and a big group of people from all over. It was mind-boggling being in the same room with 1000+ other photographers!
There was food there, but I was still so full from our lunch that I only sampled some pasta. Soon enough 8:30pm rolled around and I met up with Tanya and Sandra for the Young Guns presentation by successful young photographers in the industry. Some inspiring words were said and it was nice to finally sit for awhile.
We were pretty tired again after another long day, and with a 7am wake up call looming over us, we went straight to bed when we got back to the hotel. But of course when you go to bed at 2am one night and then try to go to bed early the next, it’s not so easy to drift off, even if you’re tired…
Tanya: "I’m not sleepy… let’s go gamble."
Sandra: "In our pajamas!"
Instead we chatted for awhile and Tanya pointed out that she hadn’t seen many birds around other than the ones put in the "nature habitat". Her mom added that there weren’t any monkeys either… lol! Monkeys… in Nevada… the desert… climbing cacti… oo ee oo ah ee!! :p We were obviously tired after all.
Coming up next time: Tanya spends $2800 in half an hour, we inhale a buffet, and I get accosted by a metrosexual boy band. :D
We went down to the café for breakfast again, and while waiting to be seated, a Texan rancher asked Tanya if this was the line for the "boo-fe". It was not.
Then we walked down to the Venetian, where we followed several moving walkways up to the recreated Venice inside and some neat shops.
I accosted met Nicolas Cage on the way up. ;)
This guy is a living statue.
I’m so glad we didn’t take a boat ride, because everyone takes your picture!
(like I did of this nice couple)
I need one of these at home.
I’ll make an exception of my rule "fruit does not mix with dessert" for this:
If mannequins are going to be unrealistic, they might as well be REALLY unrealistic.
We walked back to the hotel, dropped off our cameras (as our next adventure did not allow them), and caught a cab to the Tropicana, on the other end of the Strip, to see the Bodies exhibition, which is of preserved human cadavers… an anatomy exhibit come to life!
A truck billboard I saw earlier for the exhibition.
We had to stand in line for 25 minutes, but it was worth it. The exhibit was very thorough, covering all of the body's systems and explaining how everything works. Next to a pair of emphysema-ridden lungs was a box where smokers could throw away their cigarettes -- the container probably had a hundred packages in it.
We realized we weren’t going to make it back for the WPPI speakers at 3:30pm, so we took our time and then went for a late lunch at the Tropicana Garden Café, which, despite being plain, was quite good (or at least my "Winner’s Island Club Sandwich" and wedge fries were). I even got a giant pickle that I stuck my club sandwich toothpick in to recreate a Venice gondola boat (complete with an impersonation of the opera-style singer), hahaha! Probably one of those things you had to have been there for.
After this, we caught the monorail back to our hotel, as we had three free tickets for it, given to me by my bank teller at home, of all people! (she had just come back from Vegas and hadn’t used them) The monorail was not what I was expecting… it was slow-moving and shaky. I think I was expecting something like the one on The Simpsons, hopefully without the possums in the cupboard and the near death experience. But it got us where we needed to go.
We changed quickly and walked over to Bally’s for the WPPI welcome reception. I split off from Tanya and Sandra and met some nice girls from Minnesota and a big group of people from all over. It was mind-boggling being in the same room with 1000+ other photographers!
There was food there, but I was still so full from our lunch that I only sampled some pasta. Soon enough 8:30pm rolled around and I met up with Tanya and Sandra for the Young Guns presentation by successful young photographers in the industry. Some inspiring words were said and it was nice to finally sit for awhile.
We were pretty tired again after another long day, and with a 7am wake up call looming over us, we went straight to bed when we got back to the hotel. But of course when you go to bed at 2am one night and then try to go to bed early the next, it’s not so easy to drift off, even if you’re tired…
Tanya: "I’m not sleepy… let’s go gamble."
Sandra: "In our pajamas!"
Instead we chatted for awhile and Tanya pointed out that she hadn’t seen many birds around other than the ones put in the "nature habitat". Her mom added that there weren’t any monkeys either… lol! Monkeys… in Nevada… the desert… climbing cacti… oo ee oo ah ee!! :p We were obviously tired after all.
Coming up next time: Tanya spends $2800 in half an hour, we inhale a buffet, and I get accosted by a metrosexual boy band. :D