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The Stratosphere Tower
1,149 feet of acrophobic terror. My body is still on Arkansas time, so I woke up about 5:30 a.m.
That's a good thing because it gave me enough alone time to blog and surf without ignoring my hosts.
After everyone got up and had breakfast, Steve and I played a game of Flickin' Chicken with Lisa in the back yard. The game involves throwing a red frisbee thing, then tossing rubber chickens until your chicken lands and sticks on the frisbee. It's scored like nine holes of golf. Lisa beat us both by one chicken toss.
We set off about 11 a.m. with nothing firm on our agenda other than to rendezvous with a friend of Lisa's at the Red Rocks Cinema at 2 p.m. to see Cars 2.
I wanted to see the pawn shop in Pawn Stars, so we drove there only to find a line of people about a block long waiting to get inside. The temperature was in the 90s with unseasonably high humidity and I didn't fancy forcing Lisa to be that patient, so I satisfied myself with having driven by the place.
Since we were near the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel and Tower, we made it our next destination.
At 1,149
Freaking out at the top of the tower
Did I mention that high places creep me out? feet tall, the Stratosphere Tower is said to be the tallest building west of the Mississippi. I'm a confirmed acrophobe and the trip to the top was a serious challenge to my nervous system.
Everyone who ascends the tower goes through a metal detector, so we emptied our pockets of everything metallic, stepped through the detector and the turnstyle and packed ourselves into the elevator run by a chatty old Vietnamese guy.
There are two levels at the top - the enclosed viewing area and the open observation deck above it. I managed to creep within a foot or two of the glass windows in the enclosed area, but couldn't force myself to get any closer to the observation deck guardrail than about 10 feet. Heights really really creep me out and this was as freaked out by heights as I've been in years.
There are several thrill rides at the top - an octopus-like ride that swings riders out over the edge, a sled-type ride that looks like it's going to catapult riders off into space, a drop ride that ascends a mast atop the building and then free-falls and the ultimate - a bungee jump all the way
Steve and his refurbished bass
Looks way better than it did when he got it while in high school. to the ground. There is not enough money in the world to make me do any of them.
We rode down in the elevator with a guy who said he'd just done one of the thrill rides, adding that he did the bungee jump the day before. He didn't look deranged, but you can't always tell.
From there we went to the cinema, stopping en route for a quick McDonald's lunch.
Cars 2 didn't impress me much - the basic premise of talking cars gets old really fast for me. I dozed off briefly, hoping no one noticed. Steve did.
After the movie, we drove downtown again to a guitar repair shop where Steve had taken his 1980s vintage Fender Jazz Bass for refurbishing and upgrading. The guy who did the work is a superb craftsman and transformed a wreck of a bass into a high-tech work of art with a new pre-amp.
Dinner was hibachi scallops at Hokkaido, a Japanese restaurant near Steve's house.
Then it was back to the house for an evening of downloading video, surfing and TV watching. I finally went to sleep about midnight.
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