To Las Vegas December 20, 2015

We had an 830 flight from Dulles which meant getting up about 430am to catch a 530am shuttle van.

We boarded the plane nicely but there seemed to be a problem with the emergency radio so we had to unboard. Then, they found the maintenance and testing documents for the radio and discovered that everything was OK. So we got back on the plane.

The WIFI on the plane didn't work and the cabin officials had us play airplane games. One game was to guess the combined age of the stewardesses. Another was a form of bingo. The image showed a little girl grabbing dollar bills from a bag to determine the winners. 

To make up for the torment of the boarding process, we got free alcoholic drinks. 

Anyway, we got to Las Vegas a few hours behind schedule.

We were hungry and went to a kosher place not too far from where we were staying. It was called Shwarma Vegas.

The image is from the restaurant's website. This same guy was at the place and took our orders.

After that we went to an Albertson's just across the street from the Shwarma place and bought groceries for our hotel stay.

By the time we got to the hotel, we were pretty tired.  

We walked around a bit in the vicinity of the hotel. 

The hotel charged us for the premium (not refuseable) of getting free trips to the top of the tower and use of the pool, fitness room, hot water tub and some other things. The indoor pool and hot water tub were being repaired and we didn't have access to them. 

We paid extra for a refrigerator and I was willing to do so for a microwave but they didn't make them available - nor was there a coffee machine in the room (we got a super discount via Orbitz). 

Anyway, after getting this info and planning out some activities for the next few days, we called it a day (it was about 7pm local time but we had been up for a lot of hours).

Dec 21 at the Mob Museum

The next day, we took the local bus to our destination.

The local transit system serves Las Vegas Boulevard pretty well. There are two bus routes that cover it on weekdays. One has a double deck, the other is  a double horizontal bus (as in the images). On the double deck, the view from the top is nice but sometimes you can't get off the bus before the driver tears away from your stop (we didn't use the upper deck). 

On the double horizontal, they don't sell bus tickets so you are supposed to buy them and keep a valid ticket with you (honor code- yes that's right - in Vegas).


Our destination was the Mob Museum and it was at about the northern most point the bus goes (on the Las Vegas Blvd routes).

In the third image, Ann is standing next to the wall that was the site of the Saint Valentine day massacre of February 14, 1929.  This day was when seven members of the so called North Side Gang were executed by Al Capone's gang using Tommy Guns.

The wall was on a garage that was torn down in 1967 but someone numbered the bricks and bought them and assembled them for different exhibits.  In 2009, the bricks were purchased for the Mob Museum. The red marks are paint that enhances some bullet holes (blood was once on the bricks but the visible remains of the blood have long since worn off).

The 4th image show me firing a Tommy Gun (blanks). The Thompson Machine Gun was developed by General John Thompson for use in WWI but didn't complete development until the war was over.  The National Firearms Act of 1934 required registration of fully automatic weapons (such as the Tommy Gun) and its use in criminal activities ended after a few years.

The biggest surprise factoid was that in the 90s Frank Cullota, a former mobster who cooperated with the FBI when facing a death threat from his former mobsters, was a consultant in the Martin Scorsese film Casino.  In the 1992 film Frank appeared in several scenes as a killer, including one that was a fictionalized version of a murder he actually committed in Las Vegas in 1979. The fifth image is a still from that movie and the guy with the gun is Cullota.

The second biggest surprise factoid is that O'Hare airport is named for the son of lawyer who worked for Al Capone. The mob lawyer, Edward O'Hare, eventually turned against Capone. The sixth image is Edward 'Easy Ed' O'Hare with Capone - O'Hare is on the left and, to me, looks more like a gangster than Capone in this image. Ed O'Hare was later assassinated (1939), presumably by the mob, and his fiancee at the time (Edward having been divorced from the mother of Butch) then married Frank Nitti, successor to Capone.

Edward O'Hare's son Butch O'Hare (from, I believe the marriage that ended with a divorce) was a naval aviator and shot down a number of Japanese bombers and fighters. His plane was damaged in one engagement and went down and was never found. In 1949, the Chicago Depot airport was named for Butch O'Hare. 

Jack Ruby, seventh image (Ruby firing the gun at Oswald), gets a pretty good amount of space in the museum also - including the 'Wall of Shame' featuring 50 or so of the most famous mobsters. Ruby had numerous gang affiliations, some casual, some business.  

This has led to several theories of the 'Mob killed Kennedy' variety (one of which is given a video display at the museum).  These theories are, IMO, problematic because if a 'hit' on Kennedy had been ordered by the Mob, many mobsters would have had to know about it. These putative mobsters would then stand to make money, get favorable incarceration treatment, obtain better new identities or buy reduced sentences from giving up this knowledge and no such information has come forth in the many decades since the putative 'hit'. 

Dec 21 at the Venetian

After visiting the Mob Museum, we took the public transit to the Venetian casino and resort. 

This was Ann's favorite place on the strip.

The first image is Ann in front of the 'canals' of the Venetian.

In the background is a version of the Clock and other facing on the clock tower in Piazza San Marco in Venice. The clock in Venice was installed in the 1490s and has been fixed and restored numerous times since then. 


The hall that connects the lobby of the Venetian to the casino is truly beautiful (second image).  

It has elements of several parts of Venice, e.g., the Doge's Palace and Basilica San Marco and elements from elsewhere in Italy (e.g, the paintings on the ceilings are copies of painting in the Vatican).

Of course, there are gondolas.




Ann is in the foreground and gondolas are in the background in the third image.

On the right is their version of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. 

Dec 21 in Paris

 


The most famous part of the Paris casino and resort is the Eiffel Tower but it doesn't really lend itself to photos with ordinary people. The first image is of the resort from above and looking east.

However, one part of the area is nice for photos. That is the Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomphe). Second image is me carrying a gift bag from the Mob Museum in front of the Arch.

The interesting thing about the Paris casino version is that instead of winged Victory standing over soldiers or over Napolean (as the one in France), the one in Vegas was, at least that day, faced with an image of chef Gordon Ramsey, whose restaurant is inside the casino. 

The third image is Ann in front of, I think, the Sorbonne. 

There were some very attractive things inside the casino, including a shopping street with cafes and shops but the photos didn't come out well.

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

December 21 Supper with Fransiolis

We had supper on Dec 21 with Paul and Jane Fransioli.  We ate at the Jerusalem Bar and Grill, which despite being a 'Bar' doesn't yet have a liquor license. It was one of the 7 or so kosher restaurants in Las Vegas that were operating at the time we were there.

 Paul worked with me in Reno Nevada in 1972-1973 and we've stayed in touch. 

Paul now works as the meteorologist for Clark Co, Nevada Department of Air Quality. Jane is director of Pastoral Ministries for the Christ the King Catholic Community in the Las Vegas area.  

I forgot to take a picture and so these are from the internet (Paul's from a Clark County site, Jane's from the Parish site). 

December 22 the Hoover Dam trip

The am of December 22, we picked up a shuttle at our hotel to take us to a terminal to board a bus to the Hoover Dam.


The shuttle stopped at the south end of the 'Strip', that is off Las Vegas Boulevard. There the 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign has been since 1959. It cost $4,000 which compares to the cost of say, the large screen at the Stardust hotel and resort which cost $500,000.  The Welcome to Las Vegas sign is also in the town of Paradise (as is much of the strip) and is about 4 miles outside the municipal boundary so it actually isn't in Las Vegas. 

None of this has kept the sign from being famous and it was placed, in 2008, on the National Register of Historic Places.

At the terminal where we were to pick up the bus to the Hoover Dam, there was an announcement that there was an unused limousine and we could take that instead of the bus for $50/person. We took the deal.  

The limousine driver took the picture of us at the upstream side of the dam (which is to the right of us). To the left and at the same image level as my head is the new bridge which carries US 93 from Arizona to Nevada. There is a clock on each end of the bridge showing local time (Nevada is on Pacific Time. Arizona is on Mountain Time but does not observe daylight savings time). 

The next image is Ann on the observation deck of the visitor's center. In the background is the downstream side of the dam.  The dam is 50' wide at the top and 600' wide at the bottom (a trapezoid, although a tour guide called it a triangle - yes I corrected him). 

We took a tour of, among other things, the power plant.  That day, the plant was running at about 50% capacity, that is, about half the turbines were in operation.  They make the point that the dam is not built to generate electricity, but rather, electricity is a resulting benefit of the water management. 

We had a nice relaxing limousine ride back to Las Vegas - there was some heavy traffic caused by an accident but we were nice and comfortable (also this was a fast day so comfortable seating was nice - and the interesting stuff about Hoover Dam took my mind off the need for eating).

December 22 View from the Stratosphere

After the Hoover Dam (which is actually pretty ugly) we were ready for something a bit prettier.
 
The casino resort at which we stayed was called the Stratosphere because it has a tall tower with, among other things, an observation deck on the 108th floor. The observation deck is about 1000' above street level (actually the atmospheric stratosphere begins at about 35,000' but whatever).  There are plenty of seats in the observation deck and we were not coerced into buying anything.

We got an view almost as good as the one that is image number one (from the internet). 



The observation windows are tilted to let lots of light in and for some artistic reason also.  Although this second image (also from the internet) doesn't show it, there are a number of nice comfortable chairs and tables all over the observation deck. 

Also accessible from the 100+ floors are various thrill rides.  One of the rides is something like a carousel that hangs off the side of the 110th floor.  It costs about $15 if you have a room at the Stratosphere or about $30, if you don't. It is shown in image number 3 (also from the internet).




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December 22 The Fremont Experience

After the stratosphere, we had a bite to eat and then took the bus to Fremont Street which is north of the strip in downtown Las Vegas. 

 At one time we had planned to see the Neon Museum but this got better ratings on Yelp and Trip advisor.

Five blocks of Fremont street became a pedestrian mall in the early 1990s and by 1995, a roof covered the five blocks.  In 2004 or so, LED lights replaced the previous display and have been upgraded with better LED lights since then. 

There were street performers about every block, various other entertainment and a sound system that played music from giant speakers placed about every half block or so.

I took a ride on what was called the Slotzilla. I went on the line that is about 80' above ground level and goes about 3 blocks (another is at about 110' above ground level and goes 5 blocks but the line to get on was longer).  This is basically just a zipline that goes under the electric ceiling and above the street traffic.  It took about 30 minute to prepare for the ride and the ride lasted less than 30 seconds or so. This youtube website captures the ride during the daytime.  Its better at night but harder to film.

Another interesting thing here are some of the stores. The third image shows the front of the Heart Attack Cafe which advertises a 9500 calorie sandwich and says that anyone over 350 pounds eats free (I'm not sure if that is serious).

The music played is loud but interesting. When we first got there it was during about a 25 minute acid rock sequence e.g. Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf) and Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix). When I finished my zip, the music was  Sweet Home Alabama and when I left the area they were doing Van Halen's 'Jump'. 

This (i.e., 'Jump') is an 80s tune they play at Bar Mitzvah parties now.

However, at the Fremont Street experience, there were some ladies on the bar dancing like Piper Perabo in the movie Coyote Ugly during the song - well that's Vegas for you.

It was too dark for my camera to work well. All the images are from the internet.

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Dec 23 AM at Atomic Energy Testing Museum

In the morning we went to the Atomic Energy Testing Museum which is about a half mile east of the Las Vegas Blvd strip. 

There certainly was a lot to see.

One of the exhibits is a multipurpose bomb missile (first image).  This was perhaps an under appreciated achievement. The bomb housing missile could accommodate several types of nuclear and several types of thermonuclear devices. 

Panda is on the missile partly for scale (he is about 4" tall).  Panda also has an entry in the Stuffed Animal Blog on this general issue.


Another missile was used as part of a nuclear air to air missile (second image).  

When I first read that I thought it couldn't possibly be correct since planes can be brought down pretty quickly with missiles that don't even carry conventional explosives. However, the US did actually produce a nuclear air to air missile in the 50s. It was deployed sometime in the 60s and into the early 1980s.  The theory behind the need for such a missile was that the Soviet strategic bomber the Tupelov 4 might be hardened sufficiently to withstand a conventional missile or else was able to shoot down US fighter aircraft that got close enough to fire conventional weapons. The theory was determined to be false based on data from experiments, from close observation of the TU-4 and from info from Soviet defectors.


There was, apparently, little nuclear energy testing related art work. However, one painting (the third image) is held by the museum and was displayed the day we were there.  The painting is called, "Nevada Test Site Tower at Sunset" and it is by Dale Cox. Panda doesn't seem impressed.



The scientific testing infrastructure that was built up over decades has been less used since the nuclear testing program was effectively ended in the mid 1990s.  





However, a remnant of the infrastructure is used for testing related to elements of the counter terrorism program and for training first responders and other related purposes.  The fourth image shows a piece of steel I-beam from the south tower of the former World Trade Center.
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December 23 - New York New York

Among my favorite spots on Las Vegas Boulevard was the New York New York resort and casino.  The towers of the hotel are about 30% scale models of actual iconic buildings in New York city (e.g., Chrysler building is the pointy top building that is second to the right in the line up of buildings and the Empire State building is the pointy top building to the right of the statue of Liberty). The statue of Liberty is, I think a full scale replica of the real thing (first image from the internet). 
 


There was also a Central Park like area just off Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the New York, New York casino resort (second image).  

When I was previously in Las Vegas about 5 years ago, there was a Central Park like area inside the casino but that area seems to have been populated by slot machines and gaming tables. 


Inside the casino, there was a Times Square like area and a Greenwich Village like area (third image - even though it didn't come out well).

In the New York, New York casino is a giant sports betting wall and a roller coaster and a Coyote Ugly bar also but we passed up on those items. 





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December 23 MGM Grand Casino and Resort

Across the street from the New York, New York casino & resort is the MGM casino and resort.

This is the casino in which we did the most walking.  It was probably about a half a mile or so from the entrance we used to the area we were seeking (and it was another half mile back to Las Vegas boulevard to pick up the bus back to the hotel). That area was the TV experience area. We had free tickets to participate in a focus group to evaluate a TV program. 

It was near the CBS studio (image number 1 - Ann with Max and Caroline from 2 Broke Girls).

The program we evaluated was an episode of "The Good Wife" which was, at the time, not yet aired on TV (yes on CBS since 2009).  

In reality, the evaluation was not to see if we liked the program (which revolved around a songwriter who was being sued for putting something on youtube which a studio thought he should have given them as part of a contract). The evaluation was focused on what we thought of the commercials on the show.   


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December 24 - The journey Home (took until early December 25)

We left the hotel and took a drive out to Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area (frequently called Red Rock Park which is incorrect).  

This is an area designated in 1967 as a conservation area by the Bureau of Land Management and then given national status in 1990 by Congress. 

The image (from the internet) is a sandstone outcropping where part of the stone had iron that was oxidized (the dark area). The area also has petroglyphs and other features (which we did not see). 

We then went to the Las Vegas airport. Darth Vader (second image) and some short imperial storm troopers were dressed in their Christmas clothes.

The plane stopped at the Denver airport and we changed planes. I got to speaking with a woman from Bozeman, Montana. I asked her if the people there referred to themselves as Bozeites. She said they call themselves Bozemonites and the area  the Boze Zone (which is probably better than the term I used). 

The planes were on time but with the long flights and time changes and the long walk from the gate to the shuttle area, it was 1 am or so on Dec 25 when we got home.

 

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