There are certain icons–buildings, monuments, statues, you name it–that set every city apart from others. Paris has the the Eiffel Tower; Rome has the Colosseum; New York has the Statue of Liberty. Las Vegas has replicas of all of these icons and more and in some ways, that in itself sets it apart. I mean think about it: If it weren’t for the Space Needle, I wouldn’t recognize the Seattle skyline. I certainly don’t recognize Chicago’s. Or many, many others. But how could you not know the Las Vegas skyline? There is no other city that even remotely resembles it.

One of the things that makes Vegas a little cheesy–and a little cheeky–is how it embraces superlatives. It likes to have the biggest, the tallest, the most expensive, the most of everything. One of these superlative icons sits on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and West Tropicana at the MGM Grand: Its bronze lion statue.

The MGM Grand's bronze lion statue

Some fast facts about this statue:

• This statue, cast in an art deco style, was created in 1997.
• It is 45 feet high and sits on top of a 25-foot pedestal.
• It weighs 100,000 pounds (or 50 tons).
• It is constructed of a structural steel armature, over which were welded 1600 individual bronze plates (one-half inch thick).
• It is the 2nd largest bronze statue in the world and the largest in the U.S.
• It was created by Snell Johnson (d. 3/22/01) of Scottsdale, AZ, a former convicted criminal who turned his life around and became a renowned artist upon his release from prison.
• Lester Creative served as the project manager for the renovated look of the MGM, including the commissioning of the lion statue.

He's a big boy, isn't he?

Is the bronze lion statue as cool as the former Lion Habitat? No. (Sob.) But from the hotel’s point of view, I suppose it doesn’t cost as much to feed. Perhaps most importantly to me, it is one of my favorite photo opportunities in Las Vegas. You can get some great shots of the lion from multiple angles, with or without your smiling face in them. Look closely in the background for the statues of Atlas.

He strikes a dramatic pose

You can't get a view like this in any other city

I can’t even imagine what the MGM Grand would do with this statue if they ever decided to get rid of it. Can you imagine trying to sell it? “Hey, who wants to buy our 50 ton bronze lion? It’ll go great in your back yard!” And how on earth would anyone move it??? Honestly, I hope they never get rid of it. Vegas sees enough change every year as it is; it’s nice to know that some icons will always remain from trip to trip.

Note: Due to being out in the middle of the ocean where I won’t have Internet access over the next 2 weeks, there will be no new Vegas Solo post next Sunday. I hope to return with something for you the following week.

Vegas Photo Opp: The MGM Grand Lion is a post from: The Vegas Solo

For most of us, the thrill of some casino action, nightclubbing and just being on the Las Vegas Strip at night is all the excitement we need on our Las Vegas vacations. But for those of you who need more of an adrenaline rush than lazing about the pool or sightseeing on the Strip all day can offer, here are some activities Las Vegas provides just for thrill-seekers like you. We wouldn’t want you to think Las Vegas is too tame, would we?

NYNY Roller Coaster

Ride the Rails

Of a roller coaster, that is. New York, New York has a roller coaster that wraps around the hotel’s facade and zips along at 67 mph, with a loop that simulates a barrel roll on a fighter jet. According to the resort’s website, the ride will “lift you up 203 feet” and “drop you down 144 feet”. I don’t know from personal experience, because I’m not fond of puking.

Or, if you can wait a little while, you’ll be able to experience Speed: the Ride when it’s relocated from the shuttered Sahara resort to its new home at the Akila Retail and Events Center at the South end of the Strip, across from Mandalay Bay. Speed operates at 70mph, with a 224 foot vertical tower. Speed was long known as the king of roller coasters in Las Vegas, so it’s great news that someone has arranged to get it up and running again.

Go for an All-Terrain Adventure

Do you like getting off the beaten path? Then book yourself a few hours of off-road ATV fun in the desert terrain outside of Las Vegas. I have two words for you: Sand dunes.

Take on the Colorado River

Sign up for a day trip to the Grand Canyon to go whitewater rafting on the Colorado River. Man vs. Nature at its finest.

Zipline

Ride the Zipline

Soar under the light canopy and over the heads of foot traffic on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas for 800 feet of ziplining fun. The FlightLinez launch tower is 100 feet high and the landing tower is 20 feet high. For a less urban and more adventurous ziplining experience, head on out to the Bootleg Canyon zipline, which has speeds up to 60mph and runs for a length of 1.5 miles in the Mojave Desert.

Fire a Grenade Launcher

Pretend you’re Dirty Harry for the afternoon. The Las Vegas Gun Range and Firearm Center offers the opportunity for visitors to practice with all manner of handguns, rifles, machine guns, and yes, even a grenade launcher.

Swim with Sharks

Still have nightmares from seeing JAWS as a kid? Think you’re safe by going to the desert? Think again. Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef offers a Dive with Sharks Guest Diver experience (available to Mandalay Bay and Annual Pass guests who are certified divers). Are you up for the challenge?

Burn Some Rubber

Do you have a need for speed? Try your hand at driving a 600 horse power NASCAR race car, reaching speeds up to 155mph, at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. There are levels of the racing experience from a 3-lap high speed “Ride Along” where a professional does the driving while you ride shotgun, all the way up to the “Racing Experience” where you drive 50 laps around the track yourself. The Experience is located 15 miles off the Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Take a Flying Leap

If your life insurance doesn’t cover you for crazy things like jumping out of airplanes, you can scale it back to indoor skydiving, which simulates the freefall experience using a vertical wind tunnel. Indoor skydiving is available just off the Las Vegas Strip at Vegas Indoor Skydiving. If you do have full life insurance coverage, then go for the gusto, baby! There’s no greater rush than plummeting to the earth from 3 miles up, is there?

Well, maybe there is. . . .

See that tall building on the left? How would you like to dangle from that?

Defy Death at 1,000 feet

The observation tower at the Stratosphere stands 1,159 feet tall, and as if walking out onto the outdoor deck up there isn’t enough to make you quake in your shoes, they’ve decided to install four of the most insane rides you’ll ever try up there:

• The Big Shot – Get shot into the air 160 feet up at 45 mph so that you are literally over 1,000 feet up above the Las Vegas Strip. But don’t relax when you come back down—because you’ll be going right back up again.
• X Scream – This ride is like a giant teeter-totter, extending 27 feet over the edge of the tower, 866 feet up from the ground.
• Sky Jump – Experience a freefall when you jump from the top of the tower 855 feet straight down (do put on the harness first); and finally, there is the aptly named
• Insanity – Remember those carnival rides that spin you around? Well, imagine that ride extended 64 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower (900 feet up), spinning at 3Gs and tilting your body down toward the ground, which is so, so far away.

If those rides don’t tear a scream out of you, nothing will.

What’s your idea of an adrenaline rush in Las Vegas?

Please share in the comments below.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my sponsor of today’s post, Flight Centre:

If you are looking for cheap international flights to Las Vegas, be sure to check out Flightcenter.com.au. Flight Centre offers great deals on domestic and international flights, so the next time you are traveling you can be assured you are getting a great deal.

Getting Your Thrills in Las Vegas is a post from: The Vegas Solo

This is part 1 of a  3-part series about memorable cab rides I’ve had over the years. Thanks go to Lisa Egle of Chickybus fame for the inspiration for sharing these stories after I read her story about the only female taxi driver on Isla Ometepe.

I spend a lot of time in cabs when I travel. For me, it’s usually the quickest, most hassle-free way to get to and from the airport. I don’t know if people who drive cars for a living are naturally predisposed to talk, or if I’m just predisposed to listen–or both. I do love a good story; perhaps they sense that? In any case, I’ve heard some of the most interesting stories over the years from people who drive me around the cities that I’m visiting. Today’s story comes from my most recent trip to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Strip

I’ve ridden with some bad cab drivers in Las Vegas, like the one who longhauled me and then deposited me outside the tour lobby at the Flamingo (an alley!) late at night so I couldn’t report him to the valet, and the crazy, rage-filled guy who nearly drove up onto the curb to get around a traffic jam. And I’ve ridden with  some fun cab drivers, like the guy who sang “She’s a Lady” to me on the way to the Mirage. (Only in Vegas!)

But the most inspirational cab driver I had was an older Indian gentleman who drove me to the Palazzo from the airport on my last trip. I wish I’d thought to ask him his name. It was amazing how much he shared about his life during that brief cab ride.

He asked me where I was from and when I told him “Vermont,” he sat straight up in the front seat and got visibly excited. This came as a surprise to me. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve told people I’m from Vermont and they have no idea where it is—or even that it’s one of the 50 states! But he knew all about it.

He told me he loved Vermont, because he wanted his youngest daughter to go to “Burlington College for Women”. I was a little perplexed by this, because Burlington College isn’t a women’s college, and it’s a very small liberal arts college (around 300 students total). No offense to Burlington College, but I couldn’t figure out why he would want to send his daughter all the way across the country to go there. I thought it more than likely he had the name of the college wrong. I didn’t say anything, though.

He then went on to say how much he admires Vermont’s socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders. He wrote Bernie a letter once and was so excited that Bernie hand-wrote him a letter back! He felt that said a lot about the Senator. It wasn’t until well after my cab ride that I realized the Burlington College connection made absolute sense: Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane, was President of the College until late September of this year.

But it wasn’t his love for Vermont that inspired me. It was what he had done with his life.

Traffic in front of the Venetian

He had around six children, he said, including the daughter he wanted to come to Vermont. He told me the names of all the schools the older children went to (let’s just say they were very smart kids if they got into these schools). They were all very good at math, because he had been a math teacher in his previous life. His two youngest, he told me, were adopted. It turns out they were the children of his close friends. Their parents, tragically, were killed in an accident, and he and his wife adopted them. I felt a lump in my throat when he told me that.

I asked him how he came to be driving a cab in Las Vegas. This was just a part-time job, he said, while he was going to school. He was actually from Houston, he continued, but he had come to Las Vegas to go to law school. His lifelong dream had been to become a lawyer. But he had become a math teacher first, and then procrastinated. Time passed, and he raised his family, and one thing or another kept him from pursuing his dream. But now, at this late point in his life, when most of his children were grown, he was finally doing it. I was impressed by that.

It just goes to show you, it’s never too late to pursue your dreams.

What an inspiration he was on so many levels—the love and generosity he showed by taking in his friends’ orphaned children; his tenacity in not giving up on his long-held dream of being a lawyer; his fearlessness in starting over again in school, in a new career, in a new state; and his openness in sharing his story with a complete stranger.

I’m such an introvert that I’m always in awe when people so freely share the details of their lives with anyone, let alone total strangers. What does it say about me that I have people I consider friends who don’t know as much about me as I know about that cab driver after fifteen minutes in a cab with him? The inspiration I got from him is that I need to learn to open up a bit more with my friends.

Have you met anyone during your travels who inspired you the way this cab driver inspired me?

Read part 2 of the Taxi Trilogy, A Silver Lining in Orlando, and part 3, Feeling the Power of Survival in New Orleans.

The Taxi Trilogy: Finding Inspiration in a Las Vegas Taxi is a post from: The Vegas Solo

Today is the hundredth anniversary of one of the worst maritime disasters in history. On April 15, 1912, the luxury liner RMS Titanic, a ship believed to be “unsinkable,” hit an iceberg while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage and sank. Over 1500 people died in that disaster. To say it still grips the imagination of the public is an understatement. Movies and documentaries have been made and songs and books have been written about it.

photo credit: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

Why are we still so fascinated with this story? Perhaps it’s the story of human hubris. When you say something is “unsinkable,” you’re pretty much begging the universe to smack you down. Or perhaps it was the scale of the tragedy, or the fact that both rich and poor alike went down with that ship (“death, the great equalizer”). Maybe it was the courage in the face of death that snares our imagination. Who hasn’t heard the stories about how the band kept playing even as the ship sank? Or maybe it’s just the stark knowledge of how life can turn on a dime. One minute you’re having fun, enjoying the cruise of a lifetime, and the next, the unthinkable happens. . .a lesson we learned again this year with the Costa Concordia.

If you are a history buff with an interest in the Titanic, then you must visit The Titanic Artifact Exhibit at the Luxor in Las Vegas. This exhibit is the property of RMS Titanic, Inc., the company that operates salvage operations for the deteriorating Titanic, thus the artifacts you see here have all been salvaged from the sunken ship. The exhibit at the Luxor provides a snapshot of life aboard the ship as well as life during that time period in general. And it is amazing to see all the artifacts they’ve been able to bring up from the wreckage–which is more than 2 miles below the surface–that are still in very good condition, except for the passing of time, of course.

I first visited the Titanic exhibit back when it was at the Tropicana, but as I understand it, the layout is pretty much the same at the Luxor. You’ll learn about the making of the Titanic and the kinds of people who were aboard its maiden voyage. Among the artifacts and displays you’ll see here are: replicas of different classes of staterooms (first class and third class, the latter of which resembled the 20th Century equivalent of a hostel dorm room), a grand staircase, and personal items such as plates and dinnerware, clothing, jewelry and toiletries). The real stars of this exhibit, though, are:

• a chunk of iceberg that you can touch (this gives you a sense of how cold the water was that night);
• a large section of the hull of the ship (complete with portholes);
• and a simulation of the ship’s deck at night (which feels eerily real).

Section of the Titanic's hull, courtesy of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

When you enter, you are given a boarding pass with the name and information of a real Titanic passenger. At the end of your tour through the exhibit, there is a wall listing the fates of all the passengers, and you can find out whether your alter ego lived or died. Mine was a married woman. As you might imagine because of the “women and children first” policy, she was saved, but her husband perished when the ship sank. By that time, I was feeling kind of invested in her, so I was sad that she lost her husband and wondered what happened to her after that. I’m not too proud to admit I got a little choked up.

This is probably not an exhibit you want to experience right before going on a cruise, but otherwise, it is very worth visiting on a trip to Las Vegas. It’s both educational and interesting, especially if you have any fascination at all with the Titanic or history in general. By the time you leave, you’ll have  a much more vivid sense of the final hours aboard this doomed vessel for passengers and crew.

What you need to know about visiting:

Location: The Luxor, 3900 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas.
Admission: $32 if you pay at the exhibit. Look for half-price or discounted tickets at Tickets4Tonight booths or in coupon booklets once you arrive in Las Vegas. Audio tours are $6 extra and not necessary if you can read English.
Hours: Daily, 10am-10pm.
No photography allowed.

Remember the Titanic. . .In Las Vegas is a post from: The Vegas Solo

It’s sometimes hard for me to believe, but there are people out there who really don’t like Las Vegas. I know, shocking, right? I know people who won’t even try Las Vegas because of the perception they have about what Las Vegas is all about. They don’t like gambling, they don’t like drinking, they hate anything that is kitschy or tacky, so they are absolutely convinced they would hate everything about Las Vegas. In fact, I’m sure there are people who think I have a gambling problem because I keep returning year after year; they just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that Las Vegas offers so much more than gambling and other vices. Does this sound like someone you know?

Even Las Vegas has its moments of serenity

It’s my belief that almost anyone can have a good time in Las Vegas, as long as they do their research ahead of time and plan their trip around activities they would enjoy in an environment of their choosing. I think people who come to Las Vegas and hate it just didn’t “do Las Vegas” in a way that would have worked for them. To prove that, I’d like to kick off a little game here with you. It’s called “Vegas for the Anti-Vegas Visitor”.

If you could convince a Vegas skeptic to spend 48 hours in Las Vegas, with the idea that their itinerary would focus on things that are the antithesis of what they think Las Vegas is all about, what activities, hotels, and restaurants would you recommend?

I’ll kick it off with a few items on my list for Day One:

• So that they can see that they don’t even have to stay at a hotel with a casino, I’d recommend they stay at Vdara or the Signature at MGM Grand. (These are also non-smoking hotels, so they can’t complain about all the cigarette smoke, either.)

• With all the excellent spas available in Las Vegas, I’d recommend they spend a morning at one of the nicer spas nearby or in their hotel. Or if they’re on a budget, they could laze around the pool all morning reading a good book.

• After some upscale shopping in Caesars Forum Shops (or budget shopping at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets), I’d recommend afternoon tea in the Tea Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental. How could they possibly complain about such a civilized activity?

• If that seems a little too “girlie,” I’d recommend a day exploring the desert outside the Vegas center, perhaps Death Valley or Red Rock Canyon.

• Dinner reservations would be at a restaurant overlooking the Bellagio Fountains – Prime Steakhouse, Olives, or Picasso. What kind of a vacation would it be if they didn’t splurge just a little?

• I’d suggest they round off their day with a performance at the new Smith Center, or perhaps one of the Cirque shows.

Okay, Vegas experts. Now it’s your turn: What Las Vegas hotels, restaurants and activities would you recommend for the anti-Vegas visitor?

A Vegas Itinerary for the Anti-Vegas Visitor is a post from: The Vegas Solo