Viva Las Vegas!

Well I don't know if we could have squeezed anymore things into a day and survived. We had a very fun day in Vegas yesterday.

We left Mesquite at 5:30 am and got back at 10:30 pm. All of us were exhausted. It is a good thing we have somewhat of a recovery day before we hit the road for Montana tomorrow.

Below is the list of activities:

Hoover Dam

Nevada State Railroad Museum

Treasure Island Casino

Lunch

Bus Ride to Fremont Street

Fremont Street Experience

Bus Ride back to Strip

Walking the strip

Dinner

Battlebots

We hit a beautiful day to visit Hoover Dam. We were one of the first people on the Skybridge over the dam. It was relatively calm wind wise and the traffic on the interestate was fairly low so you could really take in the views.

Then we did the short tour of the damn. We actually had to wait about a hour and a half for the visitor center to open and were the first tour of the day. We had a good tour. While we were waiting Case was playing on his Mom's phone (a very frequent activity) and he found the Nevada State Railroad museum site. Well low and behold it is in Boulder City, Nevada. So we took off for that, unfortunately the only thing that was open was the static display of retired locomotives and train cars. They have a model trains set up in one of the retired passenger cars, but unfortunately that was closed on the week days. So Case was a little bummed about that, but he did get to see some unique locomotives and cars.

We then headed for Vegas and went to the Treasure Island Casino to park, because they have free parking. Well the security person that was manning the booth pulled our leg (we think) about the parking. She said that if we parked and did not go into the Casino property that they would tow the vehicle. I think she was full of shit. Well she did a good job of convincing us, but I got the last laugh. So I went and got a Treasure Island players card and put $2 bucks in a machine and turned it into $44 on my second spin. So we had proof that we had gambled at the property so if we got back and the car was towed they would have some explaining to do.

By the time we finished that it was lunch time. Nothing at Treasure Island was making everyone happy. Then I remembered we were close to the Fashion Show mall and that it had a food court. So we went there and everyone was able to find something. Case and Cindy had beef and broccoli with noodles from Panda Express. Heath had Nachos from a Mexican joint. Chad and I had Philly steaks sandwhiches.

Then we went on strip and got bus tickets to go to Fremont Street. We had to wait quite about 45 minutes for a bus that had enough capacity that we could all get on and be together. It was a educational wait for the kids. They got to do some quality people and car watching. We saw a Lamborghini that was like a remote control car Case got for Christmas. He hardly reacted when we saw it, but on the ride home he was talking about it. He is a funny kid.

Well we got to Fremont Street and the kids got to see the Fremont experience and watch some of the people zip lining over us. They got to see scantily clad men (wannabe Chippendale strippers) amd women (Show girl wannabes). Plus we all exhaled enough second hand pot smoke that we would probably fail a drug test.

Then we got back on the bus and headed to the strip. Cindy wanted the kids to see the M&M store and possibly ride the roller coaster at the New York/New York casino. Well we made the M&M store but did not have enough time to get the roller coaster ride in.

Well then we had the walk back to the Horseshoe Casino to get to the Battlebots show . Well again we got another fair dose of second hand wacky tabacky as we worked our way back. The whole day I was thinking of Jennifer and some of the fun walks that we had when we had visited Vegas. I could also hear he bitching about all the pot smoke.

Then we grabbed a quick bite in the Horseshoe food court before the Battlebot show. Well we were about 30 minutes early for the show so some more waiting. However being early paid off. We got to see some of the old original Battlebots and of course buy some Merch. Heath got a sweatshirt and a hat (which he had to be talked into). Case was funny he would not buy anything. Then we got let into the Arena and of the original founders of the Battlebot franchise was there and he did a Q&A before the show.

The mix of the crowd was pretty interesting. There were quite a few old folks and a fair mix of younger folks and kids. When the Q&A was happening I was surprised how few people were there, but as we got about 10 minutes from show time it filled in and was close to a sold out show. Cindy was concerned that she had not sprung for the higher dollar seats, but I thought our seat were perfect. We were high enough to see and we also could stand up and watch without blocking anyone's view. Well about two minutes before the battle started they announced you could buy a backstage pass to meet the cast/crew and view the robots up close. So I ran back down and got the Galbavy's passes. I got the last four they had, so it was good I went and did that.

So the show was OK. There was some cheesy acting but Heath and Case were having a good time. Well the show ended and then they got to go back stage. Heath was able to get his hat signed by the founder and a picture with him. During this event Case won a certificate for a piece of scrap (a bolt) from the witch doctor robot.

Now here is where it got interesting. After the the back stage visit he wanted to buy another piece of scrap and he was having a heck of a time picking out the piece he wanted. Now Case is one of those kids that has Cadillac taste on a Chevrolet budget.

He was wanting a wheel off the witch doctor robot but it was $150.00. Now Uncle Joe is a fairly soft touch, but that was ridiculous and he was not going to buy that. They had some bargain bins with stuff like he won, so we were telling him to look in there. Well why he was doing this security lady came up and asked how things were going and we said Case was having a hard time finding a scrap piece that he wanted. She said hold on and she asked Cindy if it was alright if she took him for a minute. Well she took him back to the pit area and she got him a piece of scrap (a cracked gear) and a sticker from the Hypershock robot. So he was beaming and came out like a champ. That security lady was very nice and she really made Case's evening. Cindy said when Heath was getting his hat signed that this same lady had went and found a marker so that the signatures would show up on the hat. His hat is blue and the black marker was not going to be easy to see. She went and got a silver one and now the signatures can be seen. So Kudo's to that gal. She made the boy's experience great.

We then made the walk back to the car, which was still there and we drove back to Mesquite. So all in all the day went great. Which made Uncle Joe very happy.

Well today we will rest up and Uncle Joe will get the house ready to be buttoned up so we can hit the road in the morning.