Virtual Las Vegas: What a strange world it is

Here's a little exercise I like to challenge people with occasionally: When did you first learn about the Internet?

I knew of the Internet back in the 1980s, although I don't think anyone referred to it as the Internet. But I knew that through the power of a computer, telephone and acoustic coupler, you could connect to the world in a way I never dreamed of. And I certainly never dreamed of buying comic books (I collected them) through a computer, and having them delivered to my door, without ever leaving the house. Needless to say, there's a lot of things I never imagined using a computer to do. And here I am, doing a variety of things every week that I never would have believed were possible 25 years ago.

A photo of an acoustic coupler. I don't remember where I lifted it, but I found it via Google. This was how we did the Internet in the 1980s, before anyone knew what the Internet was.

I don't know when I learned of the Internet that we know and love today. I do know that I had dabbled with it prior to May 1997, when I left a desolate, Canadian-like community for my triumphant return to the big city. I had used email and accessed websites through a community college computer system, but those opportunities were few and far between. Cellphones were a luxury at that time, I would never have imagined I'd not only come to rely upon one, but that it would essentially become a computer.

But to this day I don't remember when I first understood the concept of the modern Internet. I would assume it was at some point during 1996.

Moral of the story: This powerful tool I use daily, many times per day, was non-existent in my world 25 years ago.

My first trip to Las Vegas occurred in January 1997. At that point it never occurred to me that I might want to seek information about Sin City via the Internet, which I had limited access to. Who knows what I might have found in late 1996. Not a hell of a lot, I'd bet.

I've been reflecting upon how my world, and my relationship with Vegas, has changed as a result of the Internet. A recent change in my online world signaled the time to finally put a few of those thoughts into words.

I have used Vegas message forums for a long time. The message forum was my first introduction to the world of Vegas chatting, and I believe it's still the best. But message forums are not as popular as they once were. I have been a member of a few Vegas forums over the years, and continue to use one to this day.

Part of the reason forums have lost their luster -- perhaps the main reason -- is Facebook. Today we have Facebook groups that bring people together when they have a shared interest. There are plenty of Vegas groups, big and small, available through Facebook. I belong to a handful, but I don't actively use most of them.

I find Facebook groups are less effective ways to share information, but I get why they're popular. Facebook is, if you believe online statistics, the third most popular website on the planet, behind Google and YouTube. A website that exists primarily for the purpose of personal communication, and is open to the masses, is the perfect place for Vegas enthusiasts to connect and chat. You have a question about Vegas that you need an answer to? You join a Vegas group and you have hundreds or thousands of people available to answer. And you're already on Facebook anyway, posting pictures of your cute kids. Could it be any easier?

The drawback to Facebook groups is that you don't have categories of discussions. Go to a Vegas forum and you might find sections dedicated to the strip, downtown, off-strip casinos, gambling strategy, transportation and bargains. You can search for topics by keyword on Facebook, but Facebook's groups are not highly organized. That's why a Vegas message forum is still an important resource for me after more than 15 years.

One of the great things about the Internet is that it has opened up so many opportunities for those of use who use a computer. I had no idea in 1997 that I'd go to Vegas more than 40 times during the next 25 years of my life. And I certainly didn't dream that I'd be one of many voices in the online world sharing thoughts about a popular vacation destination. Yet here I am.

And I'm not even a blip on the radar. There are folks who do far more interesting, far more compelling work than I do. If you're reading this, then chances are you are familiar with Vital Vegas and Vegas Unfiltered.

Vital Vegas provides inside scoop like nobody can. I've been reading it for years, and rarely does a day go by without me checking it for new content. Vegas Unfiltered provides interesting content that's hard to find anywhere else these days. Both of the blogs are one-man operations, and the authors are well connected, but their websites don't exist to generate income, as best I can tell. I've been fortunate enough to meet the authors of both of these blogs during my visits to Vegas. I never imagined meeting total strangers when I first visited Vegas in 1997. And thanks to the Internet I've been reading the writing of two people I'd have otherwise never met. How cool is that?

The users of Facebook groups and message forums like to organize social gatherings, and that makes total sense. When you communicate with a group of people for an extended period of time, it seems like a natural thing to want to meet the faces behind the screen name. I don't make it a priority to meet up with groups of strangers, but I've done it occasionally.

On Halloween morning, 2011, I met up with a small group of message forum users at the El Cortez. I don't remember much about that group, other than our de facto leader that day was a gentleman named Dewey. Dewey is one of those guys who contributes a lot, is well liked and finds his way to Vegas now and again. Or at least he did until recently.

I have appreciated everything Dewey has offered to the online world, either through the message forum or through his own blog writing, and I've managed to keep in touch with him. We may only trade messages a couple of times per year, but that has been going on for more than seven years. And we did manage to meet up again a few years after that first meeting, when another Halloween trip overlapped. Dewey is that cool guy in high school that everybody wanted to be friends with, and I am lucky enough to be able to brag that Dewey is a friend of mine.

For my Halloween 2016 trip I was staying at The Plaza. That hotel just happened to be the home base of a couple of people from the Facebook group Everything Las Vegas. I was actively using the group at the time, and despite my aversion to mixing and mingling with a group of relative strangers, I stopped into their early evening social gathering for 30 minutes. I was able to meet a few of the group's leaders and regular members, people I recognized by name and face. It was a nice perk of being a part of that group. I hope I get to enjoy another such gathering some day, even if nobody remembers me more than two years later.

There are great resources online, and great people behind them, usually. After an hour of reminiscing, I'll close for now and plan to continue my online reflections in a second chapter about Virtual Las Vegas. Despite the fact it takes me weeks to put thoughts together, I'll bend over backwards to keep it from being six weeks before I finish what I've started.

My #VegasHalloween itinerary

For the fifth time in seven years I will spend Halloween night in Las Vegas. (Three weeks from now Halloween will be over.) Damn, I wish I was having as much fun on Halloween night when I was in my 20s.

I have a lot of plans for my visit to Sin City, and not all of them will come to fruition, I know. Here's a rough list of things I plan to do during my time in The Meadows.

Halloween fun: I haven't been to Las Vegas Haunts since 2011. I plan to see their show again, as they do a nice job. They have two mazes, one is a hotel, one is an asylum. During a recent conversation I had about their attraction, I came to realize that they should have redesigned their haunted hotel to pay homage to the Riviera after its closing two years ago.

 I also plan to stop by the Freakling Bros. Triology of Terror when I get to town, as I have a thank you gift for them, given the hospitality they showed my group last year.

Halloween night will be spent downtown. Yes I will have a costume. No, I won't be the "Macho Man" Randy Savage again this year.

Lunch with a friend: It turns out two friends will be in Vegas during my trip. Rachel will be arriving the same day I do, and will be staying at Luxor. Karla will arrive after Halloween and will be staying at Mandalay Bay. Since I'm staying at Tahiti Village, south of the strip, it should be easy to meet up with them on the sound end of the strip for lunch. Karla will be there for all of 48 hours, so there's a decent chance she won't have time to meet for lunch, but you never know. There's something magical about seeing friends in Vegas when your trips coincide.

Magic: There's one show on my itinerary for this trip, and that's Xavier Mortimer's Magical Dream. It comes recommended by the folks at Vital Vegas. (It's one guy.)

Art: My girlfriend was not with me last Halloween, but she was intrigued by Seven Magic Mountains, so we'll probably take a road trip south to visit the site, and use it as an excuse to have lunch at Steak 'n Shake. There's only one in Vegas, and it's at South Point. I love that place, and I can't get it in Minnesota.

I'm also planning to visit the Wheel of Misfortune. A peculiar art installation in the desert which I didn't know anything about until I read about it at Vital Vegas.

My trip will include visits to plenty of my usual properties. I'll play cards at the Orleans at least one night, I'll eat cheap food at Ellis Island a couple of times (with coupons) and I'll spend a few hours, at least once at the Pinball Hall of Fame. When I'm in Vegas, it's the one thing I must do. Hard to believe I've never finished my blog post about it.

#VegasHalloween (day 2): Costumes aren't just for kids

One of the benefits of staying for several nights in Vegas is that you don't have to cram 10 pounds of flour into the proverbial five-pound sack.

Having limited sleep the night before I flew out to Vegas, and then staying up past 3 a.m. Vegas time during my first night in Sin City, I was plenty tired. I vowed not to get up for breakfast or hang with the group. Despite the fact I could have used about 12 hours of sleep, I couldn't sleep much past 9 a.m., so I turned on the TV and watched random channels until 10 a.m., when "The Price is Right" came on. Yeah, I watch TPIR some mornings on vacation. My normal Mondays are very hectic, so laying in bed and watching a game show felt like vacation to me.

We had a definite plan for our Halloween afternoon. We were heading to the High Roller. But before we did that we were going to Ellis Island for lunch. My group was going to be introduced to their cafe, and since two of us had Las Vegas Advisor coupon books, we split into two groups, as I assumed they wouldn't honor two coupons at the same table. Irony, all five of us ordered the same meal, the 50-50 burger: half beef, half bacon. Damn delicious.

We didn't gamble much at Ellis Island that afternoon, but I made everyone get a player's card, as we had both LVA and American Casino Guide coupons beckoning us with free play. Nobody realized a big payday that afternoon, but I walked out of there $15 ahead for my effort. I never play to win a car payment at Ellis Island, so I'm happy pocketing a few bucks for my time.

Before heading to the High Roller we had to find a local Halloween shop or Party City store so that the group could pick up a few odds and ends for that night. Everybody brought a costume, but green hair spray wasn't going to fly in Jon's carry on bag, and he managed to travel without checking a suitcase. I flew Southwest, so I had a regular suitcase and a full-size carry on bag, at no additional cost. I looked like Imelda Marcos compared to my friends when we were loading up the SUV on Thursday morning.

We found both a Party City and a temporary Halloween store next to each other, on Maryland Avenue, I believe. They were easy enough to get to, and easy enough to leave when it came time to head to the High Roller.

I stressed a few things before our trip. I didn't plan a daily itinerary, but I had a few activities in mind. I thought the High Roller would be a fun group activity, and something special to do on Halloween afternoon. We chose the bar car, naturally. Trista and I pre-purchased our tickets in early September. Travelzoo had a deal on afternoon bar car tickets: Two for $35. That was a good deal, and we waited until the last day of the deal to order them. Magically Travelzoo offered a bonus discount on the last day of the deal cycle, $10 off a purchase. So we bought two pair of afternoon bar car tickets for $25 per pair. That's $12.50 per person... heck of a deal.

At one point we thought there were going to be six of us on the trip, so it would have worked out beautifully if Joe or Mike had taken my advice and purchased a pair of tickets in September. They didn't. And since our trip wound up being five people, I purchased one discounted bar car ticket on Halloween and Joe and Mike split the cost of my extra $12.50 ticket and the far less discounted Halloween day ticket. Their tickets ended up costing them $22.50 each, which is still a great deal.

I had been on the High Roller twice, both times at night. So it was my first afternoon spin through the air. It turns out they run fewer bar cars during the day. I'm not sure there was more than one in play that afternoon. Besides our group there were seven others waiting for the bar car to reach the loading platform. I think we waited for more than 15 minutes. I was surprised at first, but given how tepid the afternoon attendance is, it made sense. We saw a few regular cars pass by the loading platform with two people in them, and a few that had no passengers.

I had hoped that we'd end up with a bar car all to ourselves, but from past experience I've found that a group of 10-12 works pretty well. Once an initial round of drinks is poured you rarely have to wait more than a few seconds for the next drink. I had at least six drinks during our trip, and I needed to slow down near the end since I was our driver and I planned to take a can of beer with me when it came time to exit the bar car. So my last mixed drink was Diet Pepsi with a tiny splash of Jack Daniels. Joe thought that was funny.

You'll love the view from the High Roller.

High Roller trivia: If memory serves me correct, we learned there are 28 cabins on the wheel. Trista and I also bet whether or not there was a cabin 13. I didn't think so. She won $5.

I'd like to think three trips on the High Roller is enough, but if I can get daytime tickets for $12.50 again some day, I'll be back.

Following the High Roller it was time to head back to the Plaza and get ready for Halloween.

I've been a member of one Vegas online forum or another for years. I don't go out of my way for meet and greets for a few reasons, but I have met a few people in Vegas through my online networking during the last several years. On Halloween 2011 I started my day by meeting up with a handful of people at El Cortez, and I've kept in touch with one of the guys occasionally. We even met up a second time a couple of years ago for an hour.

There's something about Vegas that brings out a communal spirit in many of us. I suspect there's a similar online community surrounding the Disney theme parks. I know there are plenty of online forums and resources out there for Disney fans. Do you think fans of San Antonio, New Orleans or Key West share the same sort of online kinship?

I mention this because a bunch of folks associated with the Facebook group "Everything Las Vegas" were gathering at 5 p.m. in a suite at the Plaza. I'm not known by these folks, and I don't have a lot to contribute to their discussions, but I do chime in now and then. I wouldn't have gone out of my way to track this group down on Halloween, but given the fact they were gathering in the same hotel tower I was, I wanted to stop in and say hello. I had anticipated returning to the Plaza by 5 p.m., but by the time we got back it was after 5:30. That left me 20 minutes to make a cameo, so I did, and talked to several people whose names I forgot.

I talked to a few people from the Midwest, including a guy from Madison, Wisconsin, and two women. I don't recall if both of them were from Canada, but at least one of them was, and she was from Fort Frances, Ontario, across the border from International Falls, Minnesota, where I had lived 20 years ago. Not exactly a "small world" occurrence, but amusing to me.

I also briefly met the evening's host, Michelle, and Nicki, who is a somewhat frequent contributor to the Facebook group. Nicki had no idea who I was, naturally, but I knew who she was, and had to say hello and give her a hug like I was an old friend. I have no idea how awkward that was for her, but I'll chalk it up to the High Roller cocktails.

The ELV folks headed out to Fremont Street at 6 p.m., many in costume, and I headed to my room to put my costume on before meeting up with my friends and hitting Fremont ourselves.

Fremont gets rather congested on Halloween, even when it's on a weeknight. Lots of people parade under the canopy in costume, and there are lots of pictures being taken. I swear Halloween 2016 was busier than Halloween 2011, but perhaps not. Those 2011 memories are obviously vague.

I haven't been in Vegas for Halloween the past couple of years because it has fallen on a weekend and I've been working at my Minnesota haunted attraction. I've never done anything particularly spectacular on a Halloween night in Minnesota, but it's warm enough in Vegas to enjoy the evening without bundling up, and there's always a party on Fremont Street. If you enjoy the pageantry of Halloween, Vegas will provide plenty of free entertainment. I can't recommend it enough, and certainly plan on returning in 2017.

As for my costume, I portrayed a classic pro wrestler, as depicted below. And no, I wasn't Hulk Hogan.

When "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan wrestled as a tag team, they were known as the Mega Powers.

The group walked around for a while, took a break at the Main Street Station brew pub for late night munchies and then returned to Fremont for more Halloween hijinks. I regret that I didn't take more photos or better video of the ridiculousness, but here's a sample of the frivolity:

Click here for day 3. 

So, what happened in Vegas?

In the days to come I will detail many elements of my Halloween week trip to Las Vegas. For now, here is a list of highlights:

The night before Halloween my group received VIP treatment from the Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror. It was our first night in Vegas and one hell of a great way to kick off our trip.

My group also did the High Roller on Halloween afternoon. It was my third spin through the air, but my first daytime trip.

Halloween night was spent roaming up and down Fremont Street. I didn’t take enough pictures, but here’s one:

My group took a road trip to see Seven Magic Mountains on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and our visit included a free show.

Since my nieces are fascinated by mermaids, I had to visit Silverton Casino on Nov. 3 and see them for myself. I shared my visit with my nieces via FaceTime. 

Those are the highlights, but there were plenty of stories to share, and I will. 

Everybody loves a parade?

An hour ago I read the news that the 2015 Las Vegas Halloween parade is not happening.

I've had mixed feelings about the Halloween parade for years, but I'm sorry to read it's not happening in 2015, even if I won't be there.

This year was to be the sixth annual parade. A vague Facebook post suggests that the lack of a supporter/producer has resulted in the scuttling of this year's parade, but an organizer plans to carry on in 2016, bigger and better than ever.

One of the reasons cited as a challenge in 2015 is that the parade would be on a Saturday, since it has always been held on Halloween night. Based on past parades, this year's parade and post-parade festivities were estimated to draw more than 100,000 people. I'm not sure how that figure is calculated, and it seems a bit high to me, but the parade does draw additional pedestrian traffic to the Fremont East area. More than other events that happen east of the downtown canopy? I can't say.

This much I know, I attended the second annual parade in 2011. Back then the parade started south of Fremont Street, worked its way north, crossed Fremont and ended. There was some sort of disco dance party in a lot north of Fremont, but I didn't wander over to it.

There were hundreds of people gathered to participate in the parade that Monday evening. The parade doubled as a costume contest, featuring several categories. Parade participants weren't obligated to enter the contest in order to join the march north to Fremont. I was among those who made the trek, and I didn't enter the contest.

The parade featured a variety of vehicles with a Halloween theme, but overall it wasn't a massive parade. It had the chance to be a great spectacle, but the parade's execution was lacking.

That's because there was a judging stage with "celebrity" judges a block or two before Fremont, as well as bleacher seating for spectators. Participants in each category were judged at this point in the parade, and it created an uneven flow to the parade. For participants like me, who just wanted to make the stroll toward downtown while in costume for the hundreds gathered along the street, the judging station didn't play well. For those who wanted to see the parade participants in action at Fremont Street, it made for a rather unspectacular parade, as best I could tell.

I returned to Vegas for Halloween in 2012 and 2013, but I didn't seek out the parade. Since my 2011 experience, the parade has changed its route, moving its starting point further east on Fremont and working its way back toward the canopy. At the conclusion of the parade a portion of Fremont Street is closed for a street party of sorts. I wandered through the area in 2013, and while it wasn't anything magical, it was a fun way to wander about with costumed characters spending their Halloween in Sin City.

Having a parade on Halloween night is a curious choice. It's not likely to draw families, as children are more likely to want to go trick-or-treating, I would imagine. Since it's a Sin City parade, and at night, it attracts a bit of an element that's not exactly family oriented, so perhaps it's a good thing that it's held on Halloween night and not the last Saturday afternoon of the month.

Since it's always on Halloween, it's on a night that will perpetually draw a larger-than-average crowd to popular gathering places, such as the Fremont Street corridors. I was a bit overwhelmed by my last Halloween under the canopy in 2013. That was a Thursday night, and navigating through the crowd was harder than I had ever experienced.

While I'm skeptical of how big the parade's draw is, and I'm not in a hurry to see or experience the parade again, I hope that the grassroots effort to build a downtown Halloween event will continue, despite this year's hiccup. I have long enjoyed the creativity and fun that the Halloween season brings, and even when Halloween is on a Saturday night here in Minnesota, you won't find any gathering here that rivals Halloween night in Vegas. The parade certainly added to that, and like most things I suspect it was getting better with age. I'll be in Vegas for Halloween 2016, I hope my theory will be proven correct.