Prince, LOVE, Zip = Vegas

We took a sort of impromptu weekend trip to Las Vegas this past weekend for one specific purpose: to see the one and only Prince in concert. After seeing that tickets were actually available and actually  affordable at a general admission venue and then finding decent airfare out there and back, it kind of became a no-brainer as to whether we should go or not.  Our Bonnaroo-made friend, Bridgette, came along as well, as she too is either as crazy as we are or has the same vision we do to see a great opportunity and take it while you can.
 

Saturday/Sunday, April 27/28th: His Royal Purpleness came on stage at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for his second show of the night at 11:30 P.M. PST (that's 1:30AM at home) and played for a solid 90 minutes without a break. It was excellent from start to finish. Besides new songs and classic oldies of his, he and his all-girl band belted out some great covers including Wild Cherry's classic, "Play That Funky Music" and "Let's Go" by The Cars. With the show ending at 3 AM (CST), we were pretty dang tired...by the way, did I mention that Ashlee and Bridgette each completed a 1/2 marathon earlier that same day in Nashville as well!!! Amazing job, ladies!!

Sunday, April 28th - We rented a pool cabana at our hotel, Treasure Island (TI), on the strip and planned for a day of relaxation and recovery from the very long previous day.  Those plans were dashed somewhat by a huge group of Canadian businessmen who invaded the pool area with their "party favors" (obviously-rented young female escorts) to the tune of an entourage of easily 50+ people.  Amusing to watch at first, they quickly started to ruin the day for everyone else with their antics and sheer number by hogging the pool, leaving a huge amount of empty alcohol containers everywhere and basically being a loud, disgusting nuisance.  But, hey, it's Vegas.  What ya gonna do?  Their bar bill was much bigger than ours, so they are who gets catered to in Sin City where money talks.


Our evening improved by taking in a great show next door at The Mirage.  It's called "The Beatles LOVE" and is put on by Cirque Du Soleil.  We had front row seats for this dazzling spectacle of sight and sound that was trippy and cool.

Monday, April 29th - We had to get away from the hustle and bustle of Vegas for a while today and get out in the desert some.  We headed over to Boulder City, the home of Hoover Dam, for a planned afternoon of zip-lining.  Before that, we stopped and had a revisit of Hoover Dam and checked out the new Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge that serves as a bypass of the dam and just recently opened.

A back view of Hoover Dam with the massive and impressive (this picture does it no justice) Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge now open for use as a bypass around the canyon and dam.

The new bridge even has a pedestrian walkway on both sides of it allowing for some amazing birds-eye views of Hoover Dam and the cool hairpin curve coming down into the canyon toward it.

Our first zip-lining experience ever.

One of several beautiful collared lizards we saw on our hike to the top of Red Mountain for our first of four zip-line rides.

One of our great guides, Cody, checking out the breaking system on Run # 2.  Unlike many other zip-lines that are tree-top to tree-top, this experience blows those away since it's desert ridge to desert ridge as you can see our starting point far into the distance.   Each run is over 1,100' in length and we reached speeds in excess of 60 MPH.  The weather was perfect with warm temps and a slight breeze.  The views were outstanding.  To say this was one of the best experiences in our life would not be a lie. The line for Run # 3 can be seen above this one running east to west.

Showing off our best sides!  Yep, that's us.  Legs out and ready for launch!! (Photo courtesy of Flightlinez)

Tuesday, April 30th - Our flight home was late in the day and this gave us ample to time to check out a few other places in and around Vegas.

Blissful beauty just 20 minutes out of the glitz and noise of Las Vegas.  The 13-mile loop through the canyon is stunning.

Rock climbers in Red Rock Canyon.  See photo below for scale of this massive wall of rock.

Where Red Rock Canyon gets its name.




The whole of Red Rock Canyon from Highway 157.



We stopped by the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel on The Strip when we got back to Vegas to check it out for a future trip we have planned here in late June.  We happened upon some under-card introductions of the upcoming boxing event: May Day: Mayweather vs. Guerrero. It certainly was creating a buzz and it was fun to be mingling among it.