Americana Panorama, Vegas Style!
So I have now been to the Broadcast Egghead Academics conference in beautiful Las Vegas twice... so I feel like I can speak adequately to the experience of doing Vegas. It's something everyone should do at least once in their lifetimes because it is a spectacle you can't really understand until you've experienced it. And I am lucky enough to belong to an organization that chooses to hold their annual convention there every April, which is really the perfect time of year to go. The weather is in the 70s all the time, not much rain to worry about, not too cold at night, not paralyzingly hot during the day.
My experience of getting to and from Vegas has never been overly difficult (unlike other recent trips I've had, which will be expanded upon in a future blog entry), but one thing is for sure... once you touch down in Vegas, you know you are in VEGAS. Within seconds of stepping into the terminal, there's a cluster of slot machines... in the terminal. What better way to start your trip than by thanking the stars above that you already paid for your airfare home so you don't have to worry about losing all your money before you even leave the airport. Anyway, the billboards and advertisements for shows (both family-friendly and otherwise) are everywhere, and at the baggage carousel, you get treated to video ads for same. I'm not saying this is a bad thing... the cynical elitists among us may think this is capitalism run completely amok and it will steal your soul and eat it alive in front of you, but obviously there is a market for this stuff, and this is one of the many faces that is America. Oh, there is such a place that is "capitalist American hell": it's called Branson, Missouri.
I stayed at the convention center hotel this year (which shall go nameless), and this hotel is no doubt like most of the big deal hotel/casinos along the Strip. By that, I mean it's a bitch to navigate. Your typical Vegas casino (now that I've been in my fair share of them) has a big sweeping entrance that places you right at the foot of the slot machines, then you go in any number of different directions to find the game/hotel room/bar/restaurant/showroom of your choice... but you never get there quickly. Instead you snake your way through several other places, shops, and so on, and maybe by the time you reach your destination, you still have all your money. Now I know why they call such places "tourist traps". It's a lot like Pennsylvania... you can enter and exit anywhere you choose, but if you're going to make your way through, it's gonna take you a while.
I learned all of this last year on my first Vegas experience. A fellow academic invited me along with himself and some of his students for the Vegas equivalent of a "bar crawl", in this case a "casino crawl." I saw just about all the big name places, and in Vegas, you make your mark if you stand out from the rest, so I'll gloss over the ones that didn't interest me and point out the ones that did. For one, the Venetian. AMAZING. It's one thing to enter by crossing a bridge surrounded by fountains over a Venice-like canal with boats and everything. It's quite another to walk in and see that some of the best decorating and architecture jobs were on the CEILINGS. Talk about attention to detail... Michelangelo would have tossed his paints aside and gone home if he'd seen this. So that's certainly at the top of the list for breathtaking design and beauty. If you're into something that's more "American", I suggest New York, New York. You can't miss it because it's got the Statue of Liberty out front. Go inside and there are recreations of New York City life from uptown Manhattan to Brooklyn to Little Italy, with some of the best "authentic" NYC-type eating establishments.
And there's a roller coaster going around the outside of the place. No, I didn't make that up. Apparently, roller coasters in a casino are in, but the kids have gotta do something, right? So at a place like Circus Circus, where you are greeted by a lady in a ringmaster costume, they have a complete "big-top" set up with games, attractions, and an INDOOR roller coaster. Yeah, it's probably a little hokier than taking the kids to Six Flags or an actual carnival, but if you want to make a family trip to Vegas, you're gonna want the best of both worlds.
As interesting as it is to wander the Strip at night when it's in full flower, doing it during the daytime is probably safer, so I did that this year while in search of new dress shoes. I pretty much took the fact that I forgot to pack the dress shoes I had not as my usual travel-related forgetfulness, but my subconscious telling me, "You didn't really like those shoes anyway." So I took a nice long walk and looked around. First of all, if you can look past all the skyscrapers and see the horizon, the panorama is amazing. You pretty much know that you don't have to go too far to find genuine natural beauty should you venture out of town for that sort of thing. As it happens, I was in search for the genuine natural beauty of a cheeseburger, and I found it at a place called "Stripburger". Yeah, I know, the name's a little unfortunate, kinda sounds like what the buffet should be called at Diamond Dolls... but it's a burger place on the Strip, so in that way it makes sense, and you can eat outdoors in the shade and enjoy the weather and terrific cheeseburgers. It's also attached to the Fashion Show Mall, wherein I accomplished my number one goal of finding affordable dress shoes. Yes, you can do affordable something in Vegas, although it's quite difficult. In fact, I feel like the motto of Las Vegas should not be "What Happens Here Stays Here" or "Overtime Guaranteed", but "Las Vegas: That'll Cost You Extra..."
Which brings us to the #1 reason people go to Vegas (unless they're eloping or really like Elvis impersonators): to gamble. I know enough about gambling to know you can go down in flames quite quickly, so everything in moderation. Last year, I was fortunate enough to get a nice run going at the blackjack tables, and I had the luxury of being able to quit while I was ahead, which gave me enough money for souvenirs and cab fare to the airport for the trip home. This year, I got to see the other side of it. I was done in 4 hands. Obviously as a grad student, I don't have big loads of cash to throw around, but I figured what little I brought to the table would last longer... but how many times in a row can you be dealt 13 or 14?
On the one hand, I like the fact that I can keep going back each year for this conference, but I get the sense that Vegas gets old after a while. I mean on my 2nd trip I was already used to knowing from the signs that George Wallace has "the best 10pm show on the Strip" and that the best Motown revue in Vegas is done by four white guys. On the other hand, we're not really there to sightsee, right? We're there to be academic eggheads, to learn, to network, to muse about the state of our industry... yeah, that gets old after a while too. Which way to the tables... but not before I get my complementary shot of whiskey...
My experience of getting to and from Vegas has never been overly difficult (unlike other recent trips I've had, which will be expanded upon in a future blog entry), but one thing is for sure... once you touch down in Vegas, you know you are in VEGAS. Within seconds of stepping into the terminal, there's a cluster of slot machines... in the terminal. What better way to start your trip than by thanking the stars above that you already paid for your airfare home so you don't have to worry about losing all your money before you even leave the airport. Anyway, the billboards and advertisements for shows (both family-friendly and otherwise) are everywhere, and at the baggage carousel, you get treated to video ads for same. I'm not saying this is a bad thing... the cynical elitists among us may think this is capitalism run completely amok and it will steal your soul and eat it alive in front of you, but obviously there is a market for this stuff, and this is one of the many faces that is America. Oh, there is such a place that is "capitalist American hell": it's called Branson, Missouri.
I stayed at the convention center hotel this year (which shall go nameless), and this hotel is no doubt like most of the big deal hotel/casinos along the Strip. By that, I mean it's a bitch to navigate. Your typical Vegas casino (now that I've been in my fair share of them) has a big sweeping entrance that places you right at the foot of the slot machines, then you go in any number of different directions to find the game/hotel room/bar/restaurant/showroom of your choice... but you never get there quickly. Instead you snake your way through several other places, shops, and so on, and maybe by the time you reach your destination, you still have all your money. Now I know why they call such places "tourist traps". It's a lot like Pennsylvania... you can enter and exit anywhere you choose, but if you're going to make your way through, it's gonna take you a while.
I learned all of this last year on my first Vegas experience. A fellow academic invited me along with himself and some of his students for the Vegas equivalent of a "bar crawl", in this case a "casino crawl." I saw just about all the big name places, and in Vegas, you make your mark if you stand out from the rest, so I'll gloss over the ones that didn't interest me and point out the ones that did. For one, the Venetian. AMAZING. It's one thing to enter by crossing a bridge surrounded by fountains over a Venice-like canal with boats and everything. It's quite another to walk in and see that some of the best decorating and architecture jobs were on the CEILINGS. Talk about attention to detail... Michelangelo would have tossed his paints aside and gone home if he'd seen this. So that's certainly at the top of the list for breathtaking design and beauty. If you're into something that's more "American", I suggest New York, New York. You can't miss it because it's got the Statue of Liberty out front. Go inside and there are recreations of New York City life from uptown Manhattan to Brooklyn to Little Italy, with some of the best "authentic" NYC-type eating establishments.
And there's a roller coaster going around the outside of the place. No, I didn't make that up. Apparently, roller coasters in a casino are in, but the kids have gotta do something, right? So at a place like Circus Circus, where you are greeted by a lady in a ringmaster costume, they have a complete "big-top" set up with games, attractions, and an INDOOR roller coaster. Yeah, it's probably a little hokier than taking the kids to Six Flags or an actual carnival, but if you want to make a family trip to Vegas, you're gonna want the best of both worlds.
As interesting as it is to wander the Strip at night when it's in full flower, doing it during the daytime is probably safer, so I did that this year while in search of new dress shoes. I pretty much took the fact that I forgot to pack the dress shoes I had not as my usual travel-related forgetfulness, but my subconscious telling me, "You didn't really like those shoes anyway." So I took a nice long walk and looked around. First of all, if you can look past all the skyscrapers and see the horizon, the panorama is amazing. You pretty much know that you don't have to go too far to find genuine natural beauty should you venture out of town for that sort of thing. As it happens, I was in search for the genuine natural beauty of a cheeseburger, and I found it at a place called "Stripburger". Yeah, I know, the name's a little unfortunate, kinda sounds like what the buffet should be called at Diamond Dolls... but it's a burger place on the Strip, so in that way it makes sense, and you can eat outdoors in the shade and enjoy the weather and terrific cheeseburgers. It's also attached to the Fashion Show Mall, wherein I accomplished my number one goal of finding affordable dress shoes. Yes, you can do affordable something in Vegas, although it's quite difficult. In fact, I feel like the motto of Las Vegas should not be "What Happens Here Stays Here" or "Overtime Guaranteed", but "Las Vegas: That'll Cost You Extra..."
Which brings us to the #1 reason people go to Vegas (unless they're eloping or really like Elvis impersonators): to gamble. I know enough about gambling to know you can go down in flames quite quickly, so everything in moderation. Last year, I was fortunate enough to get a nice run going at the blackjack tables, and I had the luxury of being able to quit while I was ahead, which gave me enough money for souvenirs and cab fare to the airport for the trip home. This year, I got to see the other side of it. I was done in 4 hands. Obviously as a grad student, I don't have big loads of cash to throw around, but I figured what little I brought to the table would last longer... but how many times in a row can you be dealt 13 or 14?
On the one hand, I like the fact that I can keep going back each year for this conference, but I get the sense that Vegas gets old after a while. I mean on my 2nd trip I was already used to knowing from the signs that George Wallace has "the best 10pm show on the Strip" and that the best Motown revue in Vegas is done by four white guys. On the other hand, we're not really there to sightsee, right? We're there to be academic eggheads, to learn, to network, to muse about the state of our industry... yeah, that gets old after a while too. Which way to the tables... but not before I get my complementary shot of whiskey...
posted by Dave | 4:47 PM
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