A Day, A Week, Hemant, A Year

If you’ve been keeping up with my posts over the last ten days, you know that my vacation was a busy affair. Ryan, Connie, and I were running around non-stop visiting many of the great tourist destinations of the greater Los Angeles area and Las Vegas.

I hadn’t been on a decent vacation in some time so it was definitely great to finally go on one. It may have had a little hit on my pocket book, but ones got to live – that’s what money is for. So as I sit here on my couch a day after getting back with my thirst to travel quenched, I find myself already planning my next trip.

And last but not least I want to take this moment to thank Ryan and Connie for having me in their home for the last ten days, and trucking me around from one great destination to the next. We sure put on a lot of kilometres. I look forward to visiting you guys again, wherever you may be.

If you didn’t get a chance to read all of the posts, you can see them all here. You can also see all of the photos from the trip at the following links:

• The Getty Center
• Hollywood and the Magic Castle
• SoCal Beaches
• Los Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns
• Las Vegas
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

We had a few items on the agenda for Tuesday in Las Vegas. I had known about a Star Trek : The Experience attraction since it opened a few years ago and made a point to see it if I was ever in Vegas. My brother actually saw it when he was in Vegas recently and said it was pretty good. Since I am a pretty big Star Trek geek and Ryan is a closet Trekkie, we decided to go check it out. Connie claims she does not like Star Trek, so she decided to enter a poker tournament while we, “boldly went where no one had gone before.”

Star Trek : The Experience was at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel so we checked out from Treasure Island and headed over there. We had breakfast at the Hilton’s buffet which was pretty good. The selection was decent, but not spectacular. I’m not a huge fan of buffets (again, my germophobia), but when in Rome…

A poker tournament was just starting when we finished breakfast, so Connie got into that and Ryan I made our way to the Experience. There was a huge gift shop with all sorts of cool Star Trek things. I would have bought a few bottles of Klingon Blood Wine or Romulan Ale for sure, but I didn’t want to risk losing it at customs. Once we finished in there we decided to go have a drink at Quarks Bar and Restaurant. If that doesn’t make you smile, then you’re not a Trek fan. Quarks Bar is a replica of the bar by the same name from Star Trek : Deep Space Nine.

We were just planning on having a Romulan Ale (blue lager), but when we walked in there was a guy drinking this green bubbling thing which we found quite intriguing. We sat at the bar and went through the menu. We weren’t sure which one it was so we asked the bartender (she wasn’t a Ferengi, or a Dabo Girl). She told us that they were The Borg Sphere and the Warp Core Breach. When we read what they were on the menu, we had second thoughts since it was only 11:45 am.

• Warp Core Breach: (for two or more) (10 oz. of liquor) Red alert! Order this drink and prepare to separate our saucer section! Sensors indicate five different flavored Rums, Razzmatazz, and fruit juices. We add pure ice crystals from the planet Exo III. You’ll need more than one officer to handle this situation.
• Borg Sphere: (for two or more) (10 oz. of liquor) Prepare to be assimilated! Resistance is futile…when you consume this beverage consisting of Gin, Rum, Vodka, Melon Liqueur, sour mix and Sprite.

10 ounces of liquor before lunch is pushing it. Luckily they had mini version of each of these drinks with only 5 ounces of alcohol. That’s much more doable. We figured it was after noon somewhere in the galaxy. Ryan ordered the Borg Sphere and I ordered the Warp Core Breach. I could just post pictures of these drinks, but that would just not do them justice. So instead, check out the video below.

As we were sipping our drinks, a Klingon warrior came by to hassle us. He looked at us and said he could tell we were probably from California since he could smell the smog on us. He also laughed at us for getting the mini versions of the Borg Sphere and Warp Core Breach, claiming that children on his home world drink the full size versions. We managed to convince him to let me have my picture taken with him, even though we seemed to disgust him.

We finally managed to get through our drinks and we headed to buy our tickets for the two simulators the Experience offered – Borg Invasion and Klingon Encounter. We spent a little time looking at the exhibits they had featuring a running time line of major historic Star Trek universe events, as well as historical artifacts.

We got in line for the Borg Invasion 4-D experience. There was trivia questions being asked as we waited in line. I got them all correct – usually without even having to wait for the multiple choice options. Yes, I’m a geek. They finally let us in and the first encounter was underway. They use live actors as well as actual sets to make the experience more genuine. We were greeted by a lieutenant who directed our attention to a view screen. The Doctor, from Star Trek : Voyager explained to us that we were going to be part of a Federation experiment because we had a certain gene that would help fight off diseases, and more importantly, Borg nano-probes.

Midway through his briefing, the station we were on came under attack by the Borg ship. The lieutenant and another officer then proceeded to lead us through the station to a waiting transport – all while being chased by Borg drones who had transported aboard. We all eventually boarded the transport and departed the station, only to be intercepted by the Borg ship’s tractor beam.

Events continued to play out on the ships view screen until we eventually escaped and the ride came to an end. As we walked out we saw there was a box of goggles which we are pretty sure we were supposed to be wearing to get a 3-D effect of the view screen. Maybe that’s why that part of the experience didn’t seem right. Oh well.

We were running behind schedule since it was already 1:30 and we were supposed to meet Connie at 1:00. We found her and told her we still had one thing to see. She decided to go have a drink at Quarks bar while she waited. Ryan and I got in line for the Klingon Encounter.

In this one, we are transported from our present time to the future, where a group of Klingons believe that one of us is the ancestor of Jean Luc Picard. Their plan is to kill that ancestor so Picard is never born (we believe that Ryan was that ancestor). Luckily the Starship Enterprise was able to intercept the Klingons transporter beam and get us on their ship. An officer lead us from the transporter room through some corridors to a shuttle bay where we all boarded a shuttle that was to take us through a rift in the space time continuum to get us back home.

As we launched out of the Enterprise’s shuttle bay, the ride really took off. I’ve never been on these types of simulators before and I must say that they are pretty convincing. I really felt that we were flying through space and that we were in the middle of a space battle between the Federation and the Klingons. They made sure we strapped in when boarding the shuttle, and that was definitely a good idea because we were thrown around hard. They did warn people not to get on if they had back problems, heart problems, or were pregnant. One poor dude stayed back.

There were windows in the front and top of the shuttle that really made the experience realistic, especially when the Enterprise and Klingon ships flew overhead. As the battle waged on, we finally made our way through the time portal and were now flying over the strip of Las Vegas. It was pretty cool. But the Klingons managed to follow us and the battle continued for a bit. Once they were defeated, the shuttle proceeded towards the Hilton to drop us off. We all go off of the shuttle and as we walked down a hallway there was a T.V. on a local news channel. The story was how unidentified flying objects and explosions were being reported in Las Vegas.

The Klingon Encounter was quite a bit better than the Borg Invasion simulator according to me. It just seemed a lot more convincing. Maybe if we actually had the 3-D glasses for the Borg Invasion it would have been better. I’ll have to ask my brother if he wore glasses when they went through.

We went back to Quarks Bar to get Connie. She chickened out and didn’t get the Warp Core Breach or Borg Sphere. Instead she got this one.

• The Royale: A cosmic cosmopolitan, a favorite at Hotel Royale as well as in finer intergalactic establishments throughout the Quadrant. Made with Raspberry Vodka, Orange Liqueur, cranberry juice, and lime juice.

I wanted to get a souvenir so we went back to the gift shop and I took a look around. I was tempted to buy a Tribble. Connie loved them. I just decided to get a t-shirt instead.

Something we did see in the hotel that was pretty surprising was an iPod vending machine. It was an actual vending machine that you could buy a full blown iPod from. It had a pretty good selection. Here’s a picutre simulating Ryan shaking the vending machine after hypothetically putting in $300, and having the iPod get stuck on the way down.

Our next stop was Hoover Dam which was about a 30 minute drive from Vegas. Ryan and Connie had been there once before, but didn’t mind going out there again so I could see it. We didn’t take an actual tour of the dam, but just walked from one end to the other, enjoying the great structure.

After getting our fill of the dam, we decided to head back to Los Angeles. What should have been a fairly smooth drive turned into a bit of a headache once we hit an hour long traffic jam about halfway back. The highway was marked as “under construction” and traffic was backed up for miles. Once we passed the “construction” zone, it turned out to be two guys measuring a little piece of the shoulder. It was brutal.

We rolled back into Rancho Cucamonga at about 8:30 and just chilled for the rest of the night. Even though I’m not a gambler, and have never really had a drive to make a dedicated trip to Las Vegas, I’m glad I had a chance to see it. It is definitely something to behold, and I would definitely consider going back at some point to see more of the great shows they have to offer. You can see more pictures from the Las Vegas trip here.

Since Las Vegas is fairly close to L.A., we thought it was a good idea to make a trip out there while I was here. We left at about 10:00 on Monday morning. The drive was pretty cool across the Mojave desert. I’ve never seen terrain like that before. I made sure not to let Ryan take any shortcuts because I have seen what happens to tourists in movies like “The Hill Have Eyes”. Many stretches saw the desert covered with Joshua trees. There is a national park named for them, but we won’t have a chance to visit it on this trip.

We stopped for lunch in a 50s diner in some U.S. Marines base town. We tested our 50s entertainment knowledge and failed miserably. We also stopped at an outlet mall, but mostly just looked around.

We rolled into Las Vegas just after 3:00 and checked into our hotel right away. We stayed at Treasure Island which is right on the strip. We had tickets for the 7:00 show of Cirque du Soleil : Love so we didn’t have much time to do anything before. We just got changed and had dinner at a Vietnamese place in the hotel. Everywhere you go in the hotel you can hear the “dinging” of the slot machines. I’m not sure how the workers take it.

The show was playing at The Mirage which was right next to our hotel so we just walked over there. We picked Love since Ryan and Connie had seen all of the other Cirque du Soleil shows that are playing in Las Vegas. Here’s a little description of the show.

With LOVE, Cirque du Soleil celebrates the musical legacy of The Beatles

Born from a personal friendship and mutual admiration between the late George Harrison and Cirque founder Guy Laliberté, LOVE brings the magic of Cirque du Soleil together with the spirit and passion behind the most beloved rock group of all time to create a vivid, intimate and powerful entertainment experience.

With LOVE, Cirque du Soleil celebrates the musical legacy of The Beatles through their timeless, original recordings. The exuberance of The Beatles will be channeled through the youthful, urban energy of a cast of 60 international artists. Using the master tapes at Abbey Road studios, Sir George Martin and Giles Martin have created a unique soundscape of The Beatles music for LOVE. With panoramic sound and visuals, the audience will experience The Beatles as never before. Only at The Mirage, Las Vegas.

The show was pretty cool. I had never seen a Cirque du Soleil performance before and I would definitely see one again. The performers can do some rather amazing things and have a lot of guts. You couldn’t catch me hanging from the ceiling like they were. Apparently this one didn’t have as much acrobatics as other ones, but there was a lot of great dancing. I really liked the dancing, but I would also see one more focussed on acrobatics some time.

The show finished at about 8:30 so Ryan, Connie, and I just walked down the strip. There was definitely a lot of people there and the weather was cooperating nicely. I think the forecast said it was 30 degrees celsius. We stopped by an outdoor bar at one of the hotels and each got a drink. It was a pretty good deal – only $30 with tip. I thought we would just sit there until we were done, but according to Ryan and Connie, they said we could walk around the strip with them. Even though they said it was OK, it didn’t feel right to me and I kept trying to hide my beer. We finally some some other people walking around with their drinks, so I was a little more at ease.

We stopped at the Bellagio to watch the famous watershow. We managed to find a space around the ledge despite how busy it was for a front-row seat. We watched a couple of the shows – one to Faith Hill’s, “This Kiss”, and some opera song. It was awesome.

We continued to walk around more and then Connie decided to head back to the room. Ryan and I hung out in the Treasure Island casino for a while and I decided to put some money in a slot machine. I’m a high roller so I went to the quarter slots and put in $275. I lost it within one minute. Oh wait, did I say $275? I meant $2.75. Like I said, I’m a high-roller. Here’s a picture of the intensity of the game.

Since Ryan and I were so devastated by the loss, we had to call it a night. It completely deflated our enthusiasm. We went back to our room, watched a little tube, and went to bed.