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mikeknMonday was our seventh wedding anniversary. How lucky will number 7 be to us this week? (this year?) No clue, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Amy slept in while I'll caught up on the computer (email, LJ, and the post about Sunday). We didn't leave the room until around noon. We drove up to the Stratosphere casino, home of the Stratosphere Tower (1,149 feet tall - tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States and the tallest building west of the Mississippi River). We grabbed a light lunch at a 50's dinner style restaurant. While we were there the staff sang a rendition of Greased Lightning, after which the DJ apologized to anyone who came for a quiet meal... Next we went up to their Theater of the Stars for an afternoon show called Viva Las Vegas. We had gotten a "free tickets" offer, which basically had you buy two expensive drinks and then you got in for free. It was a variety show of mixed quality. The singer and dancers were fine, but nothing special (didn't help that I wasn't a fan of any of their music). The first comedian was just bad - you'd think at this point in time they'd offer something better then bad ethnic jokes. The next guy, Max, made up for him with his magic and animal show. I liked the final comedian, he had a good style and a nice routine - played well with the audience. Overall though, I'd probably skip this show if offered again.
After the show we went up to the Tower to ride the rides (they have a few thrill rides at the top of the tower). We were disappointed to find out that the roller coaster was closed due to rain, so we bought tickets for the other two and headed on up. The first ride was the Big Shot, which sits on top of the tower and shots you straight up at about 45 miles an hour...then lets you fall back down at about the same rate. Fun ride - the initial launch was quite surprising! After that we went down one floor to ride X Scream. Amy got a seat in the front and I was behind her. This one shoots you out over the edge of the tower about 27 feet - then brings you to a sudden stop and drops you another ten feet or so. Not my favorite ride, but I suspect it's much better from the front seat.
After the rides we poked around the viewing deck for a while and visited the gift shop. As we were getting ready to leave the tower, I overheard them say that the roller coaster had opened, so Amy ran up and took a ride. I opted to skip this one (no real reason - just didn't feel like it), and as it turns out Amy was the only one riding it. I tried to snap a few pictures as she came around the tower each time, but I didn't get any good shots.
We went downstairs and killed a little time before dinner by playing some penny slots. Found a few more machines that we liked; notably "Cop and Donuts". We had dinner reservations for the Top of the World restaurant, back up in the tower. It's a very nice restaurant which sits just below the observation floors and rotates around, completing the full 360 degrees in about an hour and a half.
Dinner was excellent! We got a bottle of Gewürztraminer wine (Domaines Schlumberger, Alsace, France), which was wonderful. To start I had Kobe Beef with a creamy lentil risotto and Amy had a Caesar Salad. For dinner I ordered the Kurobuta Pork and Amy had Quail stuffed with walnuts, grapes and Peruvian figs. Add to that some Steamed Asparagus and Potato Au Gratin (in an amazing cheese sauce!) and we were lucky to make it to desert. But make it we did :) Amy had Berry Delight - fresh berries marinated with Grand Marnier, layered with Zabaglione and a little ice cream. I had the Panna Cotta, a nice light custard atop a butter cookie.
After dinner we went back to the lower level and played a few slots while the food settled. While I can recommend the food at the Stratosphere and the rides were ok, the whole place was the first place that made me feel like they were just trying to get our money. Everywhere we went, they had photographers offering to take our pictures and sell them back to us. The shopping area is a single path that winds between the stores, forcing you to pass every one of them to get from one end to the other (would have been shorter to go to the casino floor and cut across to the other entrance). Definitely not a place I'd stay.
We drove back to the hotel so we could change and relax before the final part of our evening. I had gotten us front row tickets to see Zumanity that evening (thankfully, it's one of the shows at our hotel, so we didn't have to head back out again).
Zumanity, in case you don't know, is the "adult" Cirque de Soleil show. So it's a Cirque show, with all the music, acrobatics, costumes, and energy that you'd expect, but it's also a show whose theme is human sensuality, and eroticism. So some of the performers are topless (or nearly so) at times, and there is a good bit of simulated nudity (decorated body stockings or g-strings). However, it's still very much a Cirque show. They have a great collection of contortionists, aerialists and acrobats, as well as just lots of very sexy people (nothing like a bunch of half naked acrobats running around on stage to remind you just how out of shape you are...). There is probably more I could say about it, but I don't know where to begin. It's definitely a show that sticks with you and one that I plan to see again some time.
No Zumanity photos, but we have others.
Amy slept in while I'll caught up on the computer (email, LJ, and the post about Sunday). We didn't leave the room until around noon. We drove up to the Stratosphere casino, home of the Stratosphere Tower (1,149 feet tall - tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States and the tallest building west of the Mississippi River). We grabbed a light lunch at a 50's dinner style restaurant. While we were there the staff sang a rendition of Greased Lightning, after which the DJ apologized to anyone who came for a quiet meal... Next we went up to their Theater of the Stars for an afternoon show called Viva Las Vegas. We had gotten a "free tickets" offer, which basically had you buy two expensive drinks and then you got in for free. It was a variety show of mixed quality. The singer and dancers were fine, but nothing special (didn't help that I wasn't a fan of any of their music). The first comedian was just bad - you'd think at this point in time they'd offer something better then bad ethnic jokes. The next guy, Max, made up for him with his magic and animal show. I liked the final comedian, he had a good style and a nice routine - played well with the audience. Overall though, I'd probably skip this show if offered again.
After the show we went up to the Tower to ride the rides (they have a few thrill rides at the top of the tower). We were disappointed to find out that the roller coaster was closed due to rain, so we bought tickets for the other two and headed on up. The first ride was the Big Shot, which sits on top of the tower and shots you straight up at about 45 miles an hour...then lets you fall back down at about the same rate. Fun ride - the initial launch was quite surprising! After that we went down one floor to ride X Scream. Amy got a seat in the front and I was behind her. This one shoots you out over the edge of the tower about 27 feet - then brings you to a sudden stop and drops you another ten feet or so. Not my favorite ride, but I suspect it's much better from the front seat.
After the rides we poked around the viewing deck for a while and visited the gift shop. As we were getting ready to leave the tower, I overheard them say that the roller coaster had opened, so Amy ran up and took a ride. I opted to skip this one (no real reason - just didn't feel like it), and as it turns out Amy was the only one riding it. I tried to snap a few pictures as she came around the tower each time, but I didn't get any good shots.
We went downstairs and killed a little time before dinner by playing some penny slots. Found a few more machines that we liked; notably "Cop and Donuts". We had dinner reservations for the Top of the World restaurant, back up in the tower. It's a very nice restaurant which sits just below the observation floors and rotates around, completing the full 360 degrees in about an hour and a half.
Dinner was excellent! We got a bottle of Gewürztraminer wine (Domaines Schlumberger, Alsace, France), which was wonderful. To start I had Kobe Beef with a creamy lentil risotto and Amy had a Caesar Salad. For dinner I ordered the Kurobuta Pork and Amy had Quail stuffed with walnuts, grapes and Peruvian figs. Add to that some Steamed Asparagus and Potato Au Gratin (in an amazing cheese sauce!) and we were lucky to make it to desert. But make it we did :) Amy had Berry Delight - fresh berries marinated with Grand Marnier, layered with Zabaglione and a little ice cream. I had the Panna Cotta, a nice light custard atop a butter cookie.
After dinner we went back to the lower level and played a few slots while the food settled. While I can recommend the food at the Stratosphere and the rides were ok, the whole place was the first place that made me feel like they were just trying to get our money. Everywhere we went, they had photographers offering to take our pictures and sell them back to us. The shopping area is a single path that winds between the stores, forcing you to pass every one of them to get from one end to the other (would have been shorter to go to the casino floor and cut across to the other entrance). Definitely not a place I'd stay.
We drove back to the hotel so we could change and relax before the final part of our evening. I had gotten us front row tickets to see Zumanity that evening (thankfully, it's one of the shows at our hotel, so we didn't have to head back out again).
Zumanity, in case you don't know, is the "adult" Cirque de Soleil show. So it's a Cirque show, with all the music, acrobatics, costumes, and energy that you'd expect, but it's also a show whose theme is human sensuality, and eroticism. So some of the performers are topless (or nearly so) at times, and there is a good bit of simulated nudity (decorated body stockings or g-strings). However, it's still very much a Cirque show. They have a great collection of contortionists, aerialists and acrobats, as well as just lots of very sexy people (nothing like a bunch of half naked acrobats running around on stage to remind you just how out of shape you are...). There is probably more I could say about it, but I don't know where to begin. It's definitely a show that sticks with you and one that I plan to see again some time.
No Zumanity photos, but we have others.
