New Retrofit Defiant

My new Defiant is awesome. It has more weapons than the original and it cloaks. It’s a killer. It won’t cloak during combat but you can choose where to decloak if you’re attacking someone by surprise. I haven’t tried it with a tractor beam yet, but it should be awesome to choose the shield facing to punch through first. The picture is of the Lionheart cloaked at Sol with Earth (North and South America visible) and Spacedock in the background. One may wonder why I’d be cloaked at Earth since there are no enemies around. Well there are so many vagrants around Earth in the 25th century that staying cloaked makes getting in and out much easier. Plus if you accidentally hit one nobody can see who did it.

*THUMP*
Navigator: Sir, I think we just…
Captain: Nevermind! Just keep going! And disintegrate that cardboard sign.

Las Vegas – Friday – Paris Buffet, Mac King, and Matsuri

Friday morning was spent playing Starcraft 2 and fasting for the Paris Buffet. The buffet was great. All kinds of different French foods including lamb and duck. Quiche Lorraine was my favorite I think. After the buffet we went to Harrah’s for the Mac King comedy magic show. He is both talented and funny. They were selling his books there, but they’re a lot cheaper on Amazon.   

 

 

We had a couple hours between his show and Matsuri at the Imperial Palace so I walked down past Treasure Island to the mall while everyone else watched the floor shows at the Imperial Palace. The mall has way more levels than are necessary. I think there are two escalators involved just to walk across one level.

 

 

On the way back I was able to catch the show in front of Treasure Island. It was pretty neat the way they blew up the buildings behind the ships and sank the one with red sails. I don’t know how the people right next to the ships kept their eyebrows when the pyrotechnics went off.

 

 

 

 

I liked Matsuri a lot. It was like a Japanese Cirque Du Soleil. The costumes weren’t as complicated but the gymnastics were just as good. Except for the part with the jump ropes. They must have just added that because the performers made several mistakes in that segment.

After Matsuri we went down to the Freemont Experience. We got there just in time to see a show and discovered that parts of the screen run all the time now, showing music videos and commercials. They only turn the casino and street lights off for the hourly shows. When we’d had enough amazement we went back to Tahiti Village to rest up for my departure in the morning.

Las Vegas – Thursday - Elvis

The morning was David going to Starbucks for an internet connection even though I get one through my phone. Go figure. Then he got on a plane to go home. We went to the famous In-N-Out Burger for lunch, then to the Elvis show. It was as much a concert as a Cirque show. Some of the music was extremely loud and several of the numbers had no gymnastics at all. Still it was a very good show.

Las Vegas – Wednesday – Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon Skywalk

Brother and I wanted to go see the Grand Canyon and the new Indian Skywalk so he found us a bus tour. Our first stop was Hoover Dam because the bus drivers get a kickback from letting people out to shop there. We tourists just get pictures. It’s a long ride out to the Grand Canyon. I sent dad a dam picture so he could enjoy the view with us. The porta-potties there were like reverse Tardis – they were smaller on the inside.

The bus drive out to the place was interesting. I’ve never been in a bus full of dust before. The kids in the back breathed it all in so we were OK. The bus shook so bad on the unpaved road that I thought one of the TVs was going to fall off. After locking all our possessions in the lockers so we wouldn’t “scratch the glass” we went out on the Skywalk. I think it has more to do with them wanting to sell you a $30 picture.  It was several hundred feet to the next rock ledge. I’m not sure it’s something I’d do again, but it was a good trip and well worth going once. We had a nice lunch that the Indians provided, too.

Las Vegas – Tuesday – Lions, Tanks, and Starcraft 2

At the beginning of the day Tuesday we went over to see the lions at MGM. They’re one of our favorites. We were just a little bit early for them and like us it didn’t look like they’d been up long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The enemy armament training facility was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It’s for our soldiers to become familiar with the equipment they’re fighting against so you can crawl all through the tanks and armored personnel carriers. The only thing you aren’t allowed to climb on is the fire control computer with the radiation hazard sign on it. Half my trip pictures were from this one place.

This is my favorite picture. I wonder if the sledge was for if the door got stuck or for when you run out of bullets. Every door had a sledge hammer holder on it but this was the only one that was filled. I’m reminded of Armageddon when the Russian astronaut beat their computer until it started working.

 

 

On the way back we stopped in Walmart to see about getting a Droid X. Apparently there weren’t any in the state of Nevada. They did have StarCraft 2. This game does not disappoint. The awesome graphics and varied missions were well worth waiting for. 

Las Vegas – Monday – Aria and Pets

I love Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast; it held me over until dinner. Our first tourist stop was the Aria where we got our Elvis tickets and an Elvis beanie baby. We were a bit early for the room tour so we hung out for a while at one of the restaurants. We had a view of this lovely sculpture. I call it canoe wreck. David is standing under it. After our tour of the highly automated rooms we went over to the V Theater to see a pet show. Popovich was an amazing juggler and has a lot of impressively trained cats. The other animals didn’t always do what they were supposed to but it was an amusing diversion.

Diving Ginnie Springs

Diving the caverns at Ginnie was pretty cool. Something to check off that you’ve done, anyway. The main cavern was neat – you get to swim up to an iron grate that water is gushing out of. I don’t have a strobe for this cheapo camera yet so the light is from my dive light.

After Ginnie we went to the Devil Springs area we found this sign. Rick enjoyed the risk of death so much that he wanted to be included in the picture of the sign. In this area divers aren’t allowed to take dive lights unless they’re cave certified. That meant that we didn’t go very far into anything as the sunlight faded quickly. That suited us just fine though. Shawn was the only one who ever expressed interest in the possibility of suffocating in the dark. One of the most surprising things to us was the snake Pico found between caverns. Pico said he saw a snake and Rick and I thought that it was too cold and too crowded for a snake to be hanging around. But when it started slithering towards us we had to admit it was a snake.

After the dive a few of my friends met me to hang out. The first thing I told them about was the snake we saw in the spring while we were diving. Matt just stared at me and finally said that he couldn’t believe I just said that. Apparently he’d just spend the last two hours explaining to the two girls how there were no snakes in the springs and then I went and ruined it. What can I say? It’s a gift.