Day Eight...

We wanted to make an early start to today, so to that end, I set the alarm on my phone to 10am. I got up when my alarm went off, relieved that all the tossing and turning was over. Someone (starts with "J" and ends with an "immie") slept much longer than that. Poor little cowboy was plumb tuckered out. Our plan for the day was to experience the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. After our showers and a brief chat with Sophie before she went back to Ontario for a couple of months, we were on our way. We decided to skip our normal breakfast at Careful Kitty's so that we could get something at Quark's Bar and Restaurant at the Experience. All I can say about yesterday's weather is that the person that invented the air conditioner should get more money. It was a toasty 34C. Made me really glad I was wearing mostly black.
The inside of the casino had a space station look to it, at least the part that we were in did. There were actors dressed as Klingons, a Borg, and a Ferengi, walking around waiting to get their picture taken. The Klingons and the Ferengi looked pretty good, but the Borg makeup was a bit too noticeable. The poor guy probably walks around all day after his shift with this big red ring around his mouth. There were a few shops down on the Promenade, as well as Quark's. If you've never watched Deep Space Nine, or aren't a fan of Star Trek, all this is probably geek speak to you.
We went through all of the shops and saw all the cool stuff you could buy. It's amazing just how good something will look on TV or in the movies, but in real life how toy-like and craft project it looks. Still though, some of the weapons looked nifty. The shops were staffed by geeks. They're probably still a bit moist from landing those dream jobs. The guy manning the one shop held not one, but two geek degrees. One in Star Trek and the other in Star Wars. Same thing you might say, but not true. Two very separate and distinct universes. That and one happens "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" and the other is a few hundred years into our future. :P
We were both getting a bit hungry, so into Quark's for some tube grubs and blood wine. The menu was much more extensive than that though. We ended up sort of paying tribute to Worf's and Troi's romance in ST:TNG by having the Holy Rings of Betazed for an appetizer, followed by Flaming Ribs of Targ for our main meal. The Holy Rings tasted suspiciously like onion rings. When out server, Lazarus (his real name - still a bit bitter about all the teasing he got as a child), brought out our Targ ribs, he poured some hi-test rum on them, then lit them up. Orange and blue flames licked the ribs for over a minute before he finally put them on the table for us. Targ ribs taste just like bbq baby back ribs drizzled with a peanut/pesto sauce. Quite tasty (and were each time we burped the rest of the day). The drinks that we ordered had fancy names like Jimmie's "Mind Meld" and my "Data's Day", but they only came in regular old drinking glasses. IF you wanted to spend the rest of the day under the table, there was a drink called the "Warp Core Breach" that had 15oz of liquor in it and came in this large fish bowl like glass with some dry ice in it for a bubbling, smoky effect. There was also a "Borg Sphere" that was similar, only green. After my first drink, I ordered a pop in a collectible Borg cup. Lazarus forgot to add it to our bill, which was a good thing because it'd be a shame to pay almost 8 bucks for something that looked like that. Jimmie wasn't able to finish all of his targ, so we packed it up and walked back to the car to drop it off before going on the two rides, Borg Invasion 4D and the Klingon Encounter.
We paid our 30 bucks and walked slowly to the ride area. Along the way were display cases with memorabilia from all the TV series' and the movies. There was also a timeline of the Star Trek universe, chronicalling everything that had happened so far, with birth dates and important events. Right before the gate, there was a great display of Klingon stuff, mostly from DS9, including Worf and Jadzia's wedding clothes, the sword of Kahless and other assorted weapons and bric-a-brac. The ticket seller lady suggested that we go on the Borg Invasion one first (as we'd just eaten and it wasn't all that bouncy), and we're so glad that she did. The live action part of it was a bit hammy, but fun. Jimmie hung to the back of the crowd when we were all being herded from one room to the next, and tried to get himself assimilated. Didn't work. The main part of the ride (if you can call it that), was a 3D show of the Borg attacking a space station and grabbing a bunch of humans. It was great that they had Robert Picardo and Kate Mulgrew reprising their roles as the Doctor and Janeway. The 3D effects weren't too bad at all. The old guy beside me thought they were even better. He was ducking and cringing every time something came flying at him. The chairs we were sitting in reminded me of the old Sens-surround thing they tried back in the 50's. (Not that I remember it personally, but I read about it.) There were cold blasts of air at our necks every so often, and whenever anything was blown up right in front of us, we were misted with a tiny bit of water. Jimmie didn't feel that because of his pants. When we were assimilated, the chairs behaved like those massage chairs we sat in at the Frontier, only more focused on the ass. Janeway and Voyager came to the rescue, snatched us back from the Borg Queen and tractored us back to the safety of the space station. I'd give it a thumbs up for the visuals, some of the best 3D I've experienced, but the rest of it gets a hearty Meh.
The Klingon Encounter had what the Borg Invasion was missing. We were "transported" to the 24th century by a nasty Klingon named Korath, bent on destroying Captain Picard by killing one of his direct ancestors (being probably two of the only French descended people there, it was obviously either Jimmie or myself). We were ushered on to a recreation of the Enterprise bridge, and we had a little explanation of what had happened from Jonathan Frakes and Levar Burton (reprising their roles as Riker and LaForge) on the main screen. We were suddenly attacked by Korath, so had to be evacuated by a shuttle craft. Our turbo-lift failed and started free-falling. We finally get to the shuttle bay and are ushered into a shuttle craft. Jimmie and I lucked out by being last out of the bridge, so first onto the shuttle. Front row baby. We strap in and the whole shuttle rocks and banks, bucks and bumps, all while following a weaving flight, trying to evade enemy fire. You could see the lines on the inside of the dome that the movie was being projected onto, but still, not too shabby. We're brought back to our time through a temporal rift and deposited back where we started.
Now then... if they could combine the two rides, taking the great 3D from the Borg one and the bouncing good time of the Klingon one, make it about twice as long, then you'd have an awesome experience. One of my suggestions would to also place a plant in the audience (not like a tree) and have one of the Borg or Klingons pull them out and beat the crap out of them. It would heighten the realism.
When we left there, Jimmie was feeling a bit worn out (tired buckaroo) and I was feeling the effects of a night of tossing, so we went back to the hotel for a nap. I was napped out by a little after 9, and ended up sending Allice a bunch of messages with my phone. When Jimmie woke up, we decided to go to a movie. Finding a late-night movie theatre was a bit of a chore, but Jimmie did it.
We went over to the Gold Spike for a beer and some pie, then headed on down the Strip to try to find the theatre. It really would have helped if *any* of the buildings on the Strip put their damn address numbers on them. We popped into the Paris casino so that Jimmie could hit the washroom and to get our bearings. We find out we're only 3 blocks away. We park in the Boardwalk casino's parking garage, then walked up the street to the theatre. Just one problem. It ended up being on the other side of the Strip, across like 8 lanes of traffic. We get to the place just in time for the movie to start. I finally get to use my "student card" and get a $2 discount. Jimmie forgot his at the hotel room. Hehehe... The Punisher was a lot better than the original.
On the way back to the car, we walked down one side of the Strip stopping in at all of the casinos that we hadn't already been in, getting my dollar coins and some great pictures at the Monte Carlo. The sun was just about to come up, so we headed out to the end of the Strip and got some pics of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. We drove back to the El Cortez for breakfast and Careful Kitty's was closed for cleaning. Gah! Back to the hotel for sleepy time.