Viva Las Vegas

 by Sybil Johnson

I spent last week in Las Vegas, one of my favorite places to vacation. I’m not a partier, I just find it endlessly fascinating. Things are constantly changing on the Strip. Casinos come and go. Restaurants come and go. Shows come and go. The only thing guaranteed is that you’re going to walk and walk and walk. 

Sunset over the Strip. The Excalibur casino to the left, part of the New York New York casino on the right

It was nice to get away for a while. We went to several shows: Cirque de Soleil’s Ka, David Copperfield and a showing of the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. The Sphere is, well, a huge sphere just off the strip near the Venetian. They have concerts there and show The Wizard of Oz. It’s an immersive experience. They cut out about 15 minutes from the original movie. It’s also processed so it seems 3-D and has occasional 4-D effects. Quite fun.

As I said, casinos come and go. The Mirage casino no longer exists. The new Hard Rock casino is being built in its place. Here’s the beginnings of a giant guitar.

 

The Flamingo is still around. They have a very cool bird sanctuary on the grounds which includes, yep you guessed it, flamingos.

 

We also went to the Arté museum, which is an immersive art experience. Well worth the visit.

Here in Southern California, we have driverless taxis called Waymos. They are modified cars. In Vegas, they have Zoox, which are vehicles that are made specifically to be robotaxis. There is no space for a driver, just space for passengers. Right now, they are in a test phase, giving free rides to limited places on the Strip. As soon as they get the go-ahead, they will start charging for the rides and, I would guess, go more places. You can read more about Zoox here.

All in all, it was a good trip. Now, back to work.