Monthly Archives: March 2010
The Fremont Street Experience…
Today I went over to Nick and Terry’s about 2pm to work on their van, trying to trace out 3rd party alarm system that had malfunctioned.
And, as Nick said “We spent the day tilting at windmills”. We never were able to figure out how the system works so we could change how the electric door locks work.
About 5 pm Nick, Terry, and I drove back over to our rig to pick up Jan and go to supper at Claim Jumper. But it was not to be. When we got there the parking lot was almost empty and a young lady was telling everyone that they were close until Wednesday for some remodeling.
When Nick asked about another good place to eat, she suggested Cheesecake Factory across the street. So off we went.
Nick and Terry had never eaten there, although Jan and I been to several other locations.
We all had appetizers so we would have room for cheesecake. I mean, why go to the Cheesecake Factory if you don’t have cheesecake.
And as with our previous visits, everything was really good.
Then it was over to the north end of the Strip to Fremont Street for The Fremont Street Experience.
Fremont Street is really what’s left of Old Vegas, before casinos started expanding down the Strip. In the mid 90’s the local merchants and casinos looked for a way to revitalize the area and bring the tourists back.
What they come up with, was a canopy 90 feet high and 1500 feet long, spanning 4 city blocks, Fremont Street became a pedestrian mall with a movie screen / light show overhead. Click any of the following pictures to see larger versions.
The canopy / screen is what you see held up by the tree-looking supports.
And this is what it looks like in action.
Along with the video show is a sound system pumping out 550,000 watts of music.
Although the original version used colored incandescent light bulbs, in 2004 the system was upgraded to a display consisting of 12.5 million LED’s.
They have a different show every hour for about 10 minutes. Right now they are running shows with tributes to Don McLean, the Doors, Queen, KISS, and others.
We all agreed that this was the best thing we’d seen in Vegas so far.
More tomorrow…
Over the Hump to Pahrump…
Today we started out by picking up Nick and Terry about 12:15pm and heading over to the Blueberry Hill Family Restaurant for a very good brunch. They advertise that everything is made from scratch, including the fresh-squeezed orange juice, and is shows.
Then it was off to Fry’s so Nick could pick up a DVD and Terry could get a new coffee maker, and then next door to the Border’s Book Store.
Then it was “over the hump to Pahrump” as they say here. “The hump” is a long climb up and over a mountain range. And the view on the trip was spectacular.
Pahrump is a town of about 30,000 people located about 50 miles from Las Vegas. Its real claim to fame is that it is home to the closest legal brothels to Las Vegas.
But before we tracked them down, we wanted to check out the Escapees RV Park in Pahrump. And it was nothing to write home about. It had little in the way of shade and was really kind of desolate.
Unlike another RV park right down the road a piece. And it was Terrible. Or, rather it was Terrible’s. Like many casinos, Terrible’s (yes, that’s the name of a chain of casinos) has an RV park attached.
And this one was very nice. A lot of green landscaping, shade trees, and a nice lake.
This is a place we wouldn’t mind staying at.
And then it was off to find the whor…eh, the brothels. And it didn’t take long.
It turns out that they were at the end of the road we were already on.
There are two brothels here in Pahrump, Sheri’s Ranch and The Chicken Ranch. And to make things convenient, they’re right next door to each other.
Based on the signs it’s really kind of hard to tell what kind of place Sheri’s Ranch ( Warning! This link is a little risqué ) is.
But the Chicken Ranch ( Warning! This link is a little risqué, too) is a different story.
They’re pretty up front about it.
Although The Chicken Ranch in Pahrump is named after the famous one in La Grange, TX, as depicted in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, there is no direct connection.
Our curiosity satisfied, we headed back to Las Vegas. And by the time we got back, we decided it was time for supper. Since we enjoyed Blueberry Hill so much for lunch, we decided to try it for supper. And, once again, really good.
More tomorrow…
