On the first day of Christmas my True Love gave to me... a Bruno Mars concert and a Monte Carlo Suite!

We are flying all the way from Hawaii to a Christmas, Valentine's, St. Patrick's, 35th Anniversary all rolled into one super Las Vegas extravaganza!

Problem is...due to cult brainwashing... we've been through Vegas, but we have never been *to* Vegas! Please give us some of your favorite Vegas playground activities to check out! We're long term ex-mos but still stuck in our restrained, moderate shells...please help us breakout!

Thank you for all the excellent suggestions! I'm having a fantastic time (especially with those two bare chested, muscular cowboys!) but as the saying goes - what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! We're at the Bruno Mars concert ...it's about to start, so gotta go. Thanks again!

I liked seeing the Neon Museum. It showcases historical neon signs from all of the old Vegas sites. Many are in the rough and others are restored and working. Our guide did an excellent job telling about each of them.

Spend some time in downtown Las Vegas..some great restaurants including: EAT and Carson Kitchen.

http://eatdtlv.com/

http://carsonkitchen.com/

Visit the Mob Museum https://themobmuseum.org/

and the Container Park https://downtowncontainerpark.com/
both downtown.

Try the Zip Lines if you're adventureous. You'll see some cool sights and some of the worst of Las Vegas people, just like any tourist center.

Be sure to visit the Bellagio Hotel. https://www.bellagio.com/en.html

I moved to Las Vegas in 1998 and the Bellagio had just opened, and I became kind of attached and it was my favorite place to go. The light show and the indoor conservatory are amazing and be sure to have some delicious gelato from their shop, just behind the conservatory. They also have an amazing buffet which is very pricey but lots of great food. There are other great restaurants also. I'm not a big sushi fan but went a couple of times with sushi afficionados and they raved about it, called Yellowtail.https://www.bellagio.com/en/restaurants/yellowtail-japanese-restaurant-lounge.html

Las Vegas tells you to go shopping, but unless that's something you have to do, you can shop anywhere. But the Forum Shops at Caesars are worth seeing.

See The Beatles Love at The Mirage. Spectacular use of the music they wrote and amazing special effects.

If you have time, take a trip to Hoover Dam, about 30 minutes outside southwest of Las Vegas.

Don't bother to visit the Las Vegas temple. It's a 20 minute drive from the strip and looks like every temple built in the last 25 years.

And I'm THIS CLOSE to moving back there later this year. The Utah weather is becoming unbearable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2018 08:04AM by memikeyounot.

You're really that sick and tired of Salt Lake City winters already? I think I'd get that way myself were I to relocate there.

I wouldn't mind visiting Las Vegas, but don't see myself living there. *Although* it has a great, I mean really great Jewish community, and enough to do in Vegas I doubt I'd be bored.

It's the traffic of Vegas (and Salt Lake City,) I can do without. The weather is definitely better though. Enough of the cold already.

If you don't mind the dog days of summer, that is. I'm not used to those - when I retire to southern Utah. AC will be as important to me there as a working furnace is where I live now. :-)

Double dittos on the Beatles Love and exploring the Bellagio Hotel. Might add walking the indoor canal at the Venetian ... nice restaurants and of course weather always perfect inside. Various entertainers are in Vegas. When you are there Chicago the band has several concerts. Quite good.

Gatorman

I love Las Vegas. It is extremely pretentious and quite proud of it.

Worst buffet ever ... Circus circus.

Circus Circus is really bad. Also bad is Arizona Charlies, both on Decatur and one Boulder Hiway.

I recommend the dinner show at the Thunderbird Hotel, where Flower Drum Song is playing, starring Jack Soo. He is hilarious!

I was never a fan of Vegas, Reno, Wendover, etc. But, one time when I was a student at BYU, I was driving back from Palm Springs and stopped in Las Vegas at a McDonalds to eat and the following ensued.

JtS: I'd like a fish sandwich, and can you add lettuce?

McD staff: It doesn't come with lettuce.

JtS: I know, could you add it for me?

McD staff: But....it doesn't come with lettuce.

Jts: I know, can't you add it? I'll pay extra for it.

McD staff: It doesn't come with lettuce.

Jts: I know, But can't you......

By then the manager walks up and asks if he can help.....

McD staff to manager: He wants a fish sandwich with lettuce.

Manager to McD staff: It doesn't come with lettuce.

Manager to JtS: It doesn't come with lettuce.

JtS: I know, can you add it for me?

Manager: But....it doesn't come with lettuce.

Can't you just grab a little "big mac" lettuce and slip it into the fish sandwich? I'll pay extra for it.

Manager: But I have no way to charge you for it. I have no button to push.

JtS: OK fine. How about you just give me a side salad with it and I'll add my own lettuce?

Manager: I can do that!

And he rang me up for the sandwich and a side salad.

They must have changed that policy because now when I go for a fish sandwich in Oregon and ask for lettuce, they ask if I want it shredded or not.

Any comparison with mormonism? Are exmos simply more capable of 'out of the box' thinking and TBMs just can't grasp the concept?

I think you could be right.

Comparison to mormonism.....

JtS: Its time for the Young Men's Group activity. Rather than the usual scripture study we always do, I thought we could go play laser tag as a fun team building activity....I'll pay for it.

Bishop: It doesn't come with fun.

Reminds me of this scene from "Five Easy Pieces" -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8

When I take a break from the poker tables here are a few out of the way places you can find me -

http://www.pinballmuseum.org - Take a roll of quarters with you.

http://www.neonmuseum.org - Book a reservation beforehand.

https://gspawn.com - Pawn Stars

https://www.luxor.com/en/entertainment/bodies-the-exhibition.html

https://www.luxor.com/en/entertainment/titanic.html

https://www.mandalaybay.com/en/amenities/the-shoppes-at-mandalay-bay-place.html - The shoppes at Mandalay Bay Place

(NSFW) https://lvadultstore.com - 'Nuf said

http://buldogis.com

https://freedsbakery.com - Yuuummmmm

http://www.lawrysonline.com/lawrys-primerib/las-vegas

And if you are up for it (LOL!!) - https://www.vegas.com/shows/concerts/donny-and-marie-las-vegas/index_v1.html

Don't have much in the way of suggestions other than the casinos and live entertainment are what most of the tourists go there for. Don't forget the great food buffets. :)

I lived there as a near toddler - like around 4 years old range. What I remember was some pretty hot days, living without AC in our ranch bungalow in the suburbs, the community center where I saw my first ever water cooler (ever so grateful to experience the cold water from that!)

Halloweening in dress-up costume. Playtime at home and the neighbors. Running for the ice cream truck when it came into our neighborhood only to miss it when I ran one way and the truck went another. :(

And my first memory of attending Primary. I was so shy my teacher walked me to the front of the class that day to pick out a song for singing time. It was the first time I'd heard "Popcorn popping" sung, and there was a picture of a big tree where I picked that song from. It seemed like magic at the time. But then I was only 4 at the time. That tree might as well been popping as far as I was concerned. The kids and teachers were doing the hand motions with the song that made it seem so.

My dad played the slots when I was a child with his pocket change. He knew when to stop while he was ahead. So he made a few bucks, more than he played. And that was the extent of his gambling habit back then. Mom worked for a Las Vegas radio station, and would bring home autographed still photos of some of our favorite child stars back in the day. Some mouseketeers, Three Stooges, Roy Rogers, etc.

Can't say my good old days were really that good. Just some of them memorable. Vegas was an okay place to be a kid it seemed to me. Then mom and dad packed us up and we moved up north again to Salt Lake City for a short while ... until we moved back up to Idaho.

If I were visiting Vegas now would go for the live entertainment and fine dining. Maybe a nice hotel room with a view of the strip.

Main criteria is whatever you decide on doing you are there to have fun!

;-)

What's the best time of year to go? Warm enough to hit the pool, but not too hot?

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's the best time of year to go? Warm enough to
> hit the pool, but not too hot?

March-April.
November.

Those are the same months it's sane to go play golf there.
I made the mistake (only once!) of trying to play 18 holes in August. It was 114F. We got through 9, and quit. And it takes a LOT to make me quit a round!

Only about 5% of the population in Vegas are Mormon.

They are a big time contributor to the metropolis and make a big splash, much like the Osmonds themselves.

The Osmonds always have prayers before each performance. When they were a family act, their entire family had a prayer before going out on the stage.

I believe they still do as individual performers. Nothing wrong with that if it helps them do their act.

They seem less and less Mormon as they've aged. Or are they?

I saw them on TV a long time ago. ...or was it the Jacksons? hmmm.....

There's app as many Jewish people living in Vegas as there are Mormons.

Both app 5% of the population there, respectively.

Not that they have much in common otherwise.

Which is proportionately ratio wise the number of Mormons in the world are app equal to the number of Jews in the world today.

15,000,000-16,000,000 respectively.

Albeit Jews and Mormons make up less than 1-2% of the population, respectively, globally.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2018 09:02PM by Amyjo.

>
> There's app as many Jewish people living in Vegas
> as there are Mormons.
>
> Both app 5% of the population there, respectively.
>

In the movie, Mars Attacks, which is set in Las Vegas, the Martians' only words were "app app". I remember it welll...

At least it wasn't the fucking cowsills !

Amyjo Wrote:
> The Osmonds always have prayers before each
> performance. When they were a family act, their
> entire family had a prayer before going out on the
> stage.
>
> I believe they still do as individual performers.
> Nothing wrong with that if it helps them do their
> act.
>
> They seem less and less Mormon as they've aged. Or
> are they?

Marie would probably be disfellowshipped or excommunicated by now if she weren't an Osmond.

Donny still seems pretty sincere in his beliefs without coming off as a douche.

The other brothers? Complete jerks who hawk MLMs and pimp their kids out for stardom.

Almost stays in vegas. Herpes, that'll come back home with you.

haha...

The Hangover is still one of my favorite movies.

Elyse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> haha...
>
> The Hangover is still one of my favorite movies.

Haha it's a classic.

Occasionally I watch American Restoration on the History channel.

http://www.history.com/shows/american-restoration

The real shop is Ricks Restoration in LV. Does anyone know if one can see them work? If it's open, is the effort worth it?

When I still lived there, I drove by that shop on a regular basis, from work downtown to my ghetto apt on west Charleston. If it's TV related I'm sure there are tours available, at a price of course.

I'm sure google can give you all the information you need.

One of the funniest things I saw in Vegas when I was visiting there one Halloween was on Freemont St, a couple of guys were dressed as Mormon missionaries, complete with bike helmets walking down the street, and both of them had a beer in their hands.

I also agree with seeing the Beatles Love show at the Mirage, and seeing the Mob Museum, which is actually adjacent to Freemont St itself. My favorite buffet is actually at the Paris hotel.

Besides Hoover Dam, the town you pass through on the way to and from there, Boulder City is nice to visit, as the old downtown area has some good restaurants as well as antique stores if you're into that kind of thing. In the fall or spring when the weather is actually nice, Red Rock Canyon is worth visiting.

I was a real Mormon missionary there, on a bike( no helmets tho) over 50 years ago. We lived in a converted garage behind some members house on Decatur Blvd. Riding bikes there in June, July, and August was no fun. I have pics of me and companions....no beers tho.

Did you ever have any dealings with Las Vegas 2nd ward? That was the ward I grew up in... Looking back, it was Paradise!

Hi EOD... Sorry, can't remember which wards I covered. I just remember every morning riding that bike up a long, steep hill and sweating my ass off before ever getting to talk to anyone. This included Sundays. The rides home at night were fun tho.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Cirque du Soleils that I've seen there.

Call me a party pooper, but I always have fun at the M&M museum where I can purchase overpriced candy, but in colors and styles available no where else that I know of....and EAT THEM!


Also, the Hobbytown USA on Sahara is the best I've ever seen.

Wait, what were we talking about?

Years ago, I would attend conferences there. In the evenings I would wander around and watch people gamble.

I find it fascinating. People seem to think they can routinely beat the system. They never wonder how the casino pays for their expenses.

Seems most gamblers I know are convinced they bring home more than they spend. Seems humans are well aware of their winnings, but forget what they spent.

One evening I went to a classy song and dance show attended by mostly older couples. At some point the lady performers ended up topless, which did not bother me. But I made the mistake of telling my wife about it that night on the phone, and she started crying.

The Natives around here by Spokane keep building casinos and wonder if those will affect Vegas. But I guess Vegas is more about other entertainment now.

If you desire to experience watered down libations and have fragrant middle-aged ladies in their teens perform lap-dances, be sure you pay with cash. Remember that 40% are getting Bonuses from the local police for sexual preference data on guests. All rooms in Vegas are audio taped and video taped for your own safety now. If you play Roulette, listen for the air blower and watch the effect of the number magnet walls on the ball. Reading the Book of Mormon is still legal in Las Vegas. Toddlers still can't snort cocaine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-6IJksCCK4