Our RV Adventures

Since Jan and I just stayed home today, and not much happened, I thought I’d repost a compilation of several of our visits to Las Vegas and Fremon Street.

We drove over to the north end of the Strip to Fremont Street to take in The FremontStreet 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.

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.

Out of the 4 shown every night, our favorite is the one set to Don McLean’s American Pie.

And something new this year is a Zip line Ride running almost 700 feet along under the screen.

You can even ride it during the show. You’re about 80 feet off the ground, traveling about 30 mph.

Jan had decided that despite her somewhat fear of heights she was going to do the zip line that runs down through Fremont Street.

So we got her ticket at the FlightLinez Zip Line store and then took the elevator up to the 5th floor.

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That let’s you walk directly out on the platform. The smaller tower in the front here is the one presently in use. The taller one in the back is the new one coming on line soon. It will be higher, faster, and longer.

Some of you may be wondering why I’m not doing this.

Well, someone has to take the pictures, right. But the real reason is the weight limit of 250 pounds. I could probably squeak by on the limit, but I would have to do it in the nude, and I don’t think that would be an option.

Or a pretty sight for anyone looking up. Just saying.

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The present zip line stops at the platform at the lower side of this photo. The new one will be higher and go all the way to the end of the covered area.

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Here they’re getting Jan and her flight buddy strapped in and ready to go.

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Ready, set, GO.

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And a safe touchdown at the other end.

Jan said she enjoyed it, but that her knees were still shaking a half hour later.

It will be interesting to see if she will do the higher, faster, longer version next time.

The next item on our agenda was a little scary too. The Heart Attack Grill. It’s located at the front of the Fremont Street Experience, right on the Strip. It’s a place we had to try at least once.

They do have a lot of fun with the concept.

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From the disclaimers,

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to the hospital gowns everyone has to wear,

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to the ID bracelets everyone is given. The white one is for the Heart Attack Grill, the blue one is for the Zip Line. Actually I think the gowns would be a good idea at some BBQ rib places I’ve been to.

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Jan got the Single Bypass Burger and the Flatline Fries. I got the Double Bypass with Bacon, but without fries because we were going to share Jan’s order.

The Flatline Fries were really good. They’re sliced and then fried to order. IN LARD.

HMMM! LARD!

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Besides their large selection of alcoholic drinks, the only others are water and Cokes. But the Cokes are the ones from Mexico made with real sugar, and not corn syrup.

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Here’s the burger menu, with one to eight patties, and 5 to 40 strips of bacon (5 per patty).

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And here’s the Octuple Bypass Burger. How do you even eat something like that?

Even my Double I ended up eating with a fork. If I went here again I’d have them leave off the Chili. It’s good but it makes it too messy

Oh, and if you weigh over 350 pounds you can eat here free. Or just eat here a few times until you then weigh over 350, and then eat free from then on.

Thought for the Day: 

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She’s in Pharmaceutical Sales now.

Jan and I spent part of the morning going over all the things we need to get done before we leave on our trip on the 21st.  We’ve got almost three weeks, but it will go fast.

Jan and I  headed up to our son Chris’ house about 3:30. We were also meeting up with Brandi and Lowell who were bringing down a bunch of furniture in their Tundra.

Chris had gone up to Katy this morning to bring Landon back down so they could spend the day hanging out together. Then we were all meeting up for dinner.

Chris and Landon spent the day building the Eiffel Tower from a Lego kit like this.

with this as the result.

Of course Landon, never the one to do things the easy way, then made this drawing,

and then constructed his own model from cardboard.

The kid’s got some talents.

While we were there, we looked over the furniture that both Chris and Brandi want to give to Jan’s sister Debbie, who we’ll be visiting on our trip later this month. We’re going to take as much as we can of it with us in the RV and the truck, so I wanted to get some idea how much we were talking about.

Finally about 4:30 we all headed down to the Baybrook Mall area to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. The last time Jan and I ate here was in 2013, so it was good to be back.

It was just Brandi, Lowell, Landon, Chris, and Jan and I, since Linda had to work and Miss Piper was in Florida with her boyfriend.

Jan and I both had the Tuscan Chicken, with Grilled Chicken Breast, Tomatoes, Artichokes, Capers, Fresh Basil with Balsamic Vinaigrette, and served Over fresh vegetables.

Really, really good.

Brandi and Chris had steak, Lowell had the Orange Chicken, and Master Landon had the spaghetti.

Then Chris, Lowell and Brandi got cheesecake to go, but Jan and I were just too full to even think about it.

Saying our goodbyes, we made Sam’s Club and WalMart before getting home about 8pm.

Another very nice day.

Thought for the Day: 

You Could Have Heard A Pin Drop.

JFK’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when Charles de Gaulle decided to pull out of NATO. De Gaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded,

“Does that include those who are buried here?†De Gaulle did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop.

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of ’empire building’ by George Bush.

He answered by saying, “Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.â€

You could have heard a pin drop.

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?â€

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: “Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?â€

You could have heard a pin drop.

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, “Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?â€

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, “Maybe it’s because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.â€

You could have heard a pin drop.

And finally… Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. “You have been to France before, monsieur?†the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. “Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.â€

The American said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.†“Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports upon arrival in France!â€

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, â€Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.â€

You could have heard a pin drop.

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one’s gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.

Speedbird 206: ” Frankfurt , Speedbird 206! clear of active runway.”

Ground: “Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven.” The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.

Ground: “Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?”

Speedbird 206: “Stand by, Ground, I’m looking up our gate location now.”

Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): “Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?”

Speedbird 206 (coolly): “Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, — And I didn’t land.

You could have heard a pin drop

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