EPIC Day
- sologubj9
- Nov 1, 2023
- 5 min read
There is the old saying that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. However I had such a Epic day with my good friend and former co-worker Michael Slone yesterday in Vegas that I am not going to abide by that saying.
I had a good visit with Jim and Elaine Benner on Monday afternoon and evening. Jim treated me to a movie. We went and saw "Killers of The Flower Moon". We both had read the book that the movie is based on and are in agreement that is was a good book on a very sad part of American history.
It was a good movie, but it was about 1 1/2 hour too long. Scorscise could have trimmed some and still made a good movie. The acting was good, but some parts were just drawn out. Unfortunately for Jim he was having a medical procedure that prevented him from being able to eat. All he could have was liquids and jello. So he could not have any dinner. He was a good sport though and cooked Elaine and I some delicious hamburgers for dinner.
We all got up early on Tuesday and I headed to the airport and Jim and Elaine headed to get his procedure done. It went smooth and he got a good report. I was very glad to hear that.
It was a cool morning in Vegas and my tire pressure light came on when I was on my way to the airport. I pulled over and did a quick visual check and determined that it was probably due to the change in temps. So I continued to the airport and picked up Michael and then we started towards a Discount Tire to get some the tires checked out. Fortunately there was a store not far from the Horseshoe Casino where Michael was staying so we got that done.
Then Michael and I headed to the SEMA car show. Michael has been going for years and knew the ropes. I on the other hand was a virgin. Let me just say that I was blown away how big the show was and the amount of money that people are willing to spend on vehicles. It was absolutely amazing. We saw a few celebrities (Count of Cars) and there were others that were there but did we did not run across (Jay Leno) them. If there is something that you can do to a vehicle or want to do to a vehicle they have it at SEMA. We saw various movie cars (National Lampoon Vacation Wagon Queen Family Truckster with the dog collar and leash still on the bumper). We walked a lot going to all the convention halls and we still did not hit them all. At about 3:00 pm we went and checked into the hotel and then we headed to the Sphere to catch the movie " Postcard from Earth". Talk about being blown away. It was amazing. They have these AI robots in the lobby that are both amazing but pretty fricken scary. The eyes and hands on these robots were so life like and the way the robots interacted with people was crazy. If you get a chance to go the Sphere I would definitely say it was worth the price f admission. It was not cheap, but it was amazing.
The experience is like the Disney ride "Soaring" but on steroids. The seats vibrate with stuff that was in the movie and they blow either cold or hot air on you depending on what is occurring in the movie. The quality and clarity of the video was absolutely unreal. This movie was specifically shot and produced for this venue and they had clips from around the world that were just breathtaking and beautiful.
If you go, I would recommend not eating or drinking there. It is pricey. I had a hot dog and a draft beer and it was $30. The beers were $19 and the hotdog was $8. That is ridiculous, but we had not eaten and were needed something to eat. So they had us over a barrel.
It was a pretty good walk (12-15 minutes) from the Vegas Monorail to the venue and then back to the monorail. So we added to our already growing step count.
Once we got back to the Hotel then we got ready to head out to the strip. Michael got all made up in his Elvis gear and I put on my Colonel Tom Parker getup and we headed out to the strip. We were pretty disappointed how dead the strip (at least the portion we went to) was. So we decided to jump on the city bus and head to Fremont Street. I will just say Wow. It was absolutely crazy and packed down there, We had a grand time and laughed our asses off. We had people asking to take pictures with Michael and every once in a while with both of us. We saw a lot of very interesting and risqué costumes.
The only draw back was the ride back to the hotel, it took us almost 2 hours to get back to the hotel because of all the traffic and construction on the strip for the upcoming Formula 1 car race. We finally got back to the hotel around 1:30-2:00 and we were beat. Michael has a smart watch and he looked at it and we walked about 22 miles. We both hit the rack and were both out when our heads hit the pillow.
I woke up at about 5:00 and decided I better get up and get moving. I had a meeting in Mesquite and wanted to also be back for our new Pickleball Complex grand opening. Michael, was sound asleep and did my best to not wake him up. I succeeded. I will freely admit my feet and my hips were killing me. It was painful just getting in the car. I got back to Mesquite and went and took two Alene's and that helped some. I got a text from Michael saying he was disappointed that I did not say good bye. I jokingly told him I always wondered what a hooker felt like making the walk of shame leaving a Vegas casino at 5:00 in the morning. If a hookers feet and hips felt as bad as mine did I have a whole new level of respect for them.
Anyway made it back for my meeting and Pickleball grand opening. It is a beautiful complex and am looking forward to playing there.
Anyway, below are a couple of photos from the epic day and a short video clip of one of the robots at the sphere.
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