Las Vegas, NV 2006

Education-Vacation

In November 2006, James' company paid for him to attend Autodesk University in Las Vegas. The conference was the week after Thanksgiving and there were 3 people from SchenkelShultz going as well as a couple of people we knew from prior employers. James' friend Bruce was among them. Julie and Yvonne (Bruce's wife) decided they would fly out late in the week and we would extend the trip through the weekend.




Monday 11/27/2006 - Wednesday 11/29/2006 - Autodesk University

There's not much to say for the first part of the week. James and Bruce flew out to Las Vegas Monday afternoon/evening and checked into their hotels around 11p local time. The conference was at The Venetian; Bruce had registered early enough to get a room there while James was across the street at The Mirage. The conference had over 6000 attendees so we occupied several of the hotels on the strip. Seth and Kevin (the other people from Schenkel) ended up staying at Treasure Island.

The conference started Tuesday morning and James was in classes/seminars until about 6p. That evening was the AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) Beer Bash where there's free food, drink, and tons of people as they open the exhibit hall portion of the event. That went until about 10; then James watched some of the others try their hand at Craps (the dice game) but didn't participate himself. Wednesday was much the same except James had a session for new software review after the last normal class so he didn't eat with the others. It lasted until almost 8 so by the time James got something to eat and dropped off the "thank you gift" backpack in his room at The Mirage, he had to head back to the lobby of The Venetian to meet Bruce and wait for Julie and Yvonne to arrive.

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View from James' hotel room



Thursday 11/30/2006 - James at AU while Julie Shopped

On Thursday James continued with his seminars. Julie and Yvonne spent the day shopping and looking at the different casinos. That evening was a special dinner and show by the "Blue Man Group" specifically for attendees of the conference and guests. James enjoyed the show more than Julie, but we were told by people who had seen the full show that what was presented was only partial and not nearly as good. We spent some time walking around The Venetian and The Mirage before returning to the hotel room to pack our things since we were changing where we were staying on Friday.




Friday 12/01/2006 - End of Conference and Vegas Attractions

We had reserved a car so we could visit Hoover Dam on Saturday and to help move everyone and luggage to our accommodations for the weekend. James went and picked up the keys early on Friday and then spent the morning in class. The conference actually ended at noon. James' session ended a little early, so we checked out of The Mirage and loaded our luggage in the car before returning to The Venetian to have lunch with the whole gang. We ate in the food court and then walked through the shops. Bruce, Yvonne, James and Julie also took time to go on the gondola ride that is available in the canal inside the resort.

We killed some time until we could check in to the Fairfield Resort where Yvonne was able to get all of us suites using her company discount. We packed Seth and Kevin with their stuff into our rental car while the other group caught a cab to get checked in first. When we arrived, there was a gift basket waiting for us with chips, salsa, and other goodies. The suite had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms plus a small kitchen and living area. Friday evening everyone had different plans. Bruce and Yvonne went to a show, Kevin and Seth hit some clubs, and we decided to take a walk and look at some of the other resorts on the strip. We hopped in the car and drove to the Aladdin Hotel where we parked. After walking through the Bazaar, we headed out to the strip and went to the Paris Resort where we went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower (Julie kept her eyes closed on the elevator this trip too). We then headed to Caesar's where a friend had asked us to play the dollar slots for him and decided to eat at their buffet. After that, we walked through Bellagio on our way back toward the car. We returned to the resort and watched a movie before turning in for the night.




Saturday 12/2/2006 - That's a lot of Concrete (Not Cement)

We got up early on Saturday because we were driving to Hoover Dam. Neither of us had visited it before and thought we should take the opportunity to do something more educational. It was a beautiful drive up into the mountains East of Vegas and there were some breathtaking views on the winding roads. At the time, there was a new bridge being built that would by-pass the dam and the winding roads leading to it to help with truck traffic through the area.

When we arrived, we signed up for a tour and got to go down into one of the power generation plants on the dam. It was interesting walking through the rough cavern from the elevator to emerge into a polished, clean building full of equipment that had no other access except by crane. We also got to go into one of the original diversion tunnels that now has piping through it and a small display showing how the water is routed from the lake through the power station and out to the river beyond. The tour ended in an observatory area where you could get some pretty good pictures of the dry side of the facility. After the tour, we decided to walk into Arizona; neither of us had been to that state before and besides, it was a short walk (though it seemed like an hour when we looked at the clock on the other side). While we were strolling along in a different time zone, I got a call from Bruce about going to a show that evening, so we knew we needed to get back to Vegas a little earlier than we had planned and decided not to take the mountainous scenic roads back (James thought he saw relief on Julie's face). As we walked, we noted the water level seemed to be way down; this was consistent with the drought the area was going through at the time. We strolled back in time or at least back to the Pacific Time Zone and then into the original information area on the dam and its construction. There was a monument and a building that had a model showing the Colorado River and all the public works projects that were constructed along it to control flooding and provide power for the SW United States. We also learned the lake was actually down 50 feet from normal levels. We decided to skip the snack stand and walked through the gift shop before heading back into Las Vegas.

When we got back into town, we retunred the car to The Mirage, where we'd rented it, and took the time to go through Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. This is where a lot of the animals that were in the show are now cared for. Since they had large cats, James took lots of pictures and even some video. We then caught the shuttle Fairfield runs back to the Resort for the evening's activities.

A little explanation at this point is needed. Bruce and Yvonne were originally going to see Celine Dion Friday evening, but she had to cancel her show because of a problem with her throat. This caused a major problem for lots of the resorts who do package deals. Because of the cancellation and Yvonne having connections at Fairfield, they got "Golden Circle" (really close) tickets to see Phantom of the Opera on Friday. They were also able to procure, at no charge, tickets for all 8 of us to see the Cirque du Soleil show "Ka" on Saturday night at the MGM Grand. This was a major deal since tickets were over $100 each. At the time, this was the only show anywhere Cirque produced that actually had a story line and wasn't a mixed bag of vignettes with a shared theme or group of characters. It was an amazing show that included a performance platform on a 6-axis spindle so it could be a wall one scene, a moving boat platform another and a sloping hillside in a third. It was covered with a display system so it could look like different materials in each scene as well. After the show we had supper with Bruce and Yvonne before going back to Fairfield for the night. Our flights were relatively early on Sunday so we wanted to get most everything packed and ready to go.




Sunday 12/3/2006 - Back to a Rival Vacation Paradise

Sunday morning we got up and met everyone in the lobby to catch the shuttle to the airport. After checking in and waiting for almost an hour in the security line, the flight back to Orlando was uneventful. Between the long flight and the time change, it was late when we got to the house and we pretty much let people know we'd made it safely and turned in for the night.