Las Vegas
On our second day in Vegas, we got up rather early and checked out of the Excalibur. We got in the car and drove up and down the Strip, in search of a new place to spend the next night. On our drive towards the old downtown Vegas we stopped at The Holiday motel (at the northern part of the Strip) and got a (crappy) room for the night for $50. We just threw everything into the room and headed back up to the Strip towards the Bellagio. On our way there we stopped and had lunch at an Italian restaurant. Or rather, Louis had pasta and Selma a diet coke.
Louis posing with the car in front of the motel
The rest of the day was spent walking all over the Strip (probably 4-5 miles, or 6-8 km), walking through the major (and some of the smaller) hotels and casinos. We checked out the water show at the Bellagio, and it was just as patriotic as you would imagine. There are shows almost every hour, and a different theme for every show (at least the tree or four we got to see during our stay). When the first one started off with a massive GONG!, followed by The Star Spangled Banner, massive splashes and gigantic fountains of water, we just started to laugh. The show was impressive enough, but it was a bit more appropriate when we passed a later show set to the tunes of Elvis’s Viva Las Vegas. (See more on that further down)
From one of the water shows outside the Bellagio
At the MGM we noticed a sign with information about participating in a focus group for the fall season of CBS’s TV shows. We signed up, and hoped to see the pilot for the next Seinfeld or LOST. No such luck. Together with a Danish couple (in their early twenties) and three dudes from some media company (probably attending the conference in town) we entered the screening room, got set with our touch screens and “entertainment value buttons”. The screen flickered on, and there: Jericho. A boring show. And the episode we saw where without any effects (but with text across the screen saying “special effects: make war-worn look”), which made it even duller. We were supposed to continuously turn our rating knob on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 meaning “I totally enjoy this” and zero being the point where you would turn it off. Selma rarely went above 20, and was close to falling asleep several times. Louis was a bit milder in his judgement, but we both agreed that it was a rather dull show. After the episode was over, we went through a survey of sorts, with a ton of questions. And even though we could have been luckier with the show, we both thought it was a fun and interesting experience..
Louis answering the survey after watching Jericho
After strolling the Strip for several hours, went back to the motel to chill. After about one hour of just hanging out and relaxing, we headed for the Hard Rock Café a few blocks east of the Strip. We got there a little too late, as it was closed for a private party, but we got to check out the store (where Louis picked up some nick-nacks for a friend back home). We then headed for the Hard Rock Hotel close by, after one of the girls at the café said that the food there was good. We ended up at the “Pink taco”, and the girl was right - the food was great! The fajitas were good and tasty, and mixed with Corona beers it turned out to be the best eating so far on the trip . . . says Louis. Selma wasn’t all that hungry, but was more than satisfied with her chicken quesadillas.
Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas
With the meal all done, we headed up to the Bellagio again, to see the water show at night (this was the Viva Las Vegas theme). Check out the Youtube video below! After the water show, Louis’s new shoes started to take their toll and we grabbed a taxi back to the motel.
The water show at the Bellagio, caught on tape by Louis
The beds in this motel had seen better days. Well - the beds have probably seen a lot! The motel room could very well have been the one they used in “Leaving Las Vegas” - the one where the Cage character settled to drink himself to death. We suspect that a few of the on-call working girls might have visited the room occasionally too, because both beds had huge dents in the mattresses. Nevertheless, we both managed to sleep through the night.
Louis resting on the worn down bed at the Holiday Motel
(… and with no internet what-so-ever at the motel, we got even further behind on our blogging…)
JERICHO is not boring at all. It is exciting and suspenseful.
If you watched an early episode that explains alot. You see the show got better and better with each passing episode until today and so the show is REALLY GOOD NOW. Give it another try…I think you might love it this time.
It’s on CBS Wed. 8 p.m. EST. Gerald McRaney, Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James are GREAT. And the rest of the cast ain’t too shabby either.
I sure hope CBS will renew this fabulous show!
Hi Grace.
First; Thank you for checking out our site. We love to get feedback on things we put on the page.
When it comes to Jericho it turns out that we got to see the last episode, but an unfinished version. The version we got to see did not have any special effects, the lighting was not done, and the color was flat. I did get to see the last 30 sec. of the episode on television some nights later, and it was totally different.
The scene, where the two brothers from Jericho are dragged out in front of the town hall, and the black character watches from afar was totally different. When we saw it it was daytime, and the town hall building was not war torn. But the television version was set in the night time and the lighting was much cooler. So I will take your advise and check it out.
Hope you’ll keep checking out our site
Louis
Hvor mye spenn tapte du i Veags da Gørdis?
Er alt bra?
hvar
Gratulerer med dagen foresten!
Vi skal i spille i k19 på NRK 5. juni så hold av den datoen.
hvar