There are certain icons–buildings, monuments, statues, you name it–that set every city apart from others. Paris has the the Eiffel Tower; Rome has the Colosseum; New York has the Statue of Liberty. Las Vegas has replicas of all of these icons and more and in some ways, that in itself sets it apart. I mean think about it: If it weren’t for the Space Needle, I wouldn’t recognize the Seattle skyline. I certainly don’t recognize Chicago’s. Or many, many others. But how could you not know the Las Vegas skyline? There is no other city that even remotely resembles it.
One of the things that makes Vegas a little cheesy–and a little cheeky–is how it embraces superlatives. It likes to have the biggest, the tallest, the most expensive, the most of everything. One of these superlative icons sits on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and West Tropicana at the MGM Grand: Its bronze lion statue.
The MGM Grand's bronze lion statue
Some fast facts about this statue:
Posted in Attractions by .
Apr 12
29
Getting Your Thrills in Las Vegas
For most of us, the thrill of some casino action, nightclubbing and just being on the Las Vegas Strip at night is all the excitement we need on our Las Vegas vacations. But for those of you who need more of an adrenaline rush than lazing about the pool or sightseeing on the Strip all day can offer, here are some activities Las Vegas provides just for thrill-seekers like you. We wouldn’t want you to think Las Vegas is too tame, would we?
NYNY Roller Coaster
Ride the Rails
Of a roller coaster, that is. New York, New York has a roller coaster that wraps around the hotel’s facade and zips along at 67 mph, with a loop that simulates a barrel roll on a fighter jet. According to the resort’s website, the ride will “lift you up 203 feet” and “drop you down 144 feet”. I don’t know from personal experience, because I’m not fond of puking.
Posted in Recreation by .
This is part 1 of a 3-part series about memorable cab rides I’ve had over the years. Thanks go to Lisa Egle of Chickybus fame for the inspiration for sharing these stories after I read her story about the only female taxi driver on Isla Ometepe.
I spend a lot of time in cabs when I travel. For me, it’s usually the quickest, most hassle-free way to get to and from the airport. I don’t know if people who drive cars for a living are naturally predisposed to talk, or if I’m just predisposed to listen–or both. I do love a good story; perhaps they sense that? In any case, I’ve heard some of the most interesting stories over the years from people who drive me around the cities that I’m visiting. Today’s story comes from my most recent trip to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Strip
I’ve ridden with some bad cab drivers in Las Vegas, like the one who longhauled me and then deposited me outside the tour lobby at the Flamingo (an alley!) late at night so I couldn’t report him to the valet, and the crazy, rage-filled guy who nearly drove up onto the curb to get around a traffic jam. And I’ve ridden with some fun cab drivers, like the guy who sang “She’s a Lady” to me on the way to the Mirage. (Only in Vegas!)
But the most inspirational cab driver I had was an older Indian gentleman who drove me to the Palazzo from the airport on my last trip. I wish I’d thought to ask him his name. It was amazing how much he shared about his life during that brief cab ride.
He asked me where I was from and when I told him “Vermont,” he sat straight up in the front seat and got visibly excited. This came as a surprise to me. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve told people I’m from Vermont and they have no idea where it is—or even that it’s one of the 50 states! But he knew all about it.
He told me he loved Vermont, because he wanted his youngest daughter to go to “Burlington College for Women”. I was a little perplexed by this, because Burlington College isn’t a women’s college, and it’s a very small liberal arts college (around 300 students total). No offense to Burlington College, but I couldn’t figure out why he would want to send his daughter all the way across the country to go there. I thought it more than likely he had the name of the college wrong. I didn’t say anything, though.
He then went on to say how much he admires Vermont’s socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders. He wrote Bernie a letter once and was so excited that Bernie hand-wrote him a letter back! He felt that said a lot about the Senator. It wasn’t until well after my cab ride that I realized the Burlington College connection made absolute sense: Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane, was President of the College until late September of this year.
But it wasn’t his love for Vermont that inspired me. It was what he had done with his life.
Traffic in front of the Venetian
He had around six children, he said, including the daughter he wanted to come to Vermont. He told me the names of all the schools the older children went to (let’s just say they were very smart kids if they got into these schools). They were all very good at math, because he had been a math teacher in his previous life. His two youngest, he told me, were adopted. It turns out they were the children of his close friends. Their parents, tragically, were killed in an accident, and he and his wife adopted them. I felt a lump in my throat when he told me that.
I asked him how he came to be driving a cab in Las Vegas. This was just a part-time job, he said, while he was going to school. He was actually from Houston, he continued, but he had come to Las Vegas to go to law school. His lifelong dream had been to become a lawyer. But he had become a math teacher first, and then procrastinated. Time passed, and he raised his family, and one thing or another kept him from pursuing his dream. But now, at this late point in his life, when most of his children were grown, he was finally doing it. I was impressed by that.
It just goes to show you, it’s never too late to pursue your dreams.
What an inspiration he was on so many levels—the love and generosity he showed by taking in his friends’ orphaned children; his tenacity in not giving up on his long-held dream of being a lawyer; his fearlessness in starting over again in school, in a new career, in a new state; and his openness in sharing his story with a complete stranger.
I’m such an introvert that I’m always in awe when people so freely share the details of their lives with anyone, let alone total strangers. What does it say about me that I have people I consider friends who don’t know as much about me as I know about that cab driver after fifteen minutes in a cab with him? The inspiration I got from him is that I need to learn to open up a bit more with my friends.
Have you met anyone during your travels who inspired you the way this cab driver inspired me?
Read part 2 of the Taxi Trilogy, A Silver Lining in Orlando, and part 3, Feeling the Power of Survival in New Orleans.
Posted in Las Vegas solo travel by .
Today is the hundredth anniversary of one of the worst maritime disasters in history. On April 15, 1912, the luxury liner RMS Titanic, a ship believed to be “unsinkable,” hit an iceberg while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage and sank. Over 1500 people died in that disaster. To say it still grips the imagination of the public is an understatement. Movies and documentaries have been made and songs and books have been written about it.
photo credit: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition
Why are we still so fascinated with this story? Perhaps it’s the story of human hubris. When you say something is “unsinkable,” you’re pretty much begging the universe to smack you down. Or perhaps it was the scale of the tragedy, or the fact that both rich and poor alike went down with that ship (“death, the great equalizer”). Maybe it was the courage in the face of death that snares our imagination. Who hasn’t heard the stories about how the band kept playing even as the ship sank? Or maybe it’s just the stark knowledge of how life can turn on a dime. One minute you’re having fun, enjoying the cruise of a lifetime, and the next, the unthinkable happens. . .a lesson we learned again this year with the Costa Concordia.
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It’s sometimes hard for me to believe, but there are people out there who really don’t like Las Vegas. I know, shocking, right? I know people who won’t even try Las Vegas because of the perception they have about what Las Vegas is all about. They don’t like gambling, they don’t like drinking, they hate anything that is kitschy or tacky, so they are absolutely convinced they would hate everything about Las Vegas. In fact, I’m sure there are people who think I have a gambling problem because I keep returning year after year; they just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that Las Vegas offers so much more than gambling and other vices. Does this sound like someone you know?
Even Las Vegas has its moments of serenity
It’s my belief that almost anyone can have a good time in Las Vegas, as long as they do their research ahead of time and plan their trip around activities they would enjoy in an environment of their choosing. I think people who come to Las Vegas and hate it just didn’t “do Las Vegas” in a way that would have worked for them. To prove that, I’d like to kick off a little game here with you. It’s called “Vegas for the Anti-Vegas Visitor”.
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"A Slot Machine Ate My Midlife Crisis" is 222 Pages of Dysfunctional Fun Set in Las Vegas!
To find out more, visit irenewoodbury.com -
