So the next morning I woke up feeling like utter poo-poo, not because of dinner the night before but probably the dryness of the desert and the smoke from the casinos finally got to me. My nose had this strange feeling of severe pain, when I took a deep breath, it was only one side, but it was really painful. Nevertheless I was pretty miserable and decided that I need to have a box of Kleenex with me 24-7. Oh yeah and the High today was supposed to be 40!
What happened to the 60 degree highs every day that were suggested when I was packing!
We started out the day at the Firelight Buffet at Sams Town. They had a ton of different choices. Among the hot entrees there was biscuits, corned beef hash, chicken fried steak, oatmeal, grits, jelly, pancakes, French toast, potatoes, eggs, there was an omelet station and all kinds of cereals, plus cakes, and pastries, all of this for $5.49 (with the Senior Discount)
Here are shots of the buffet and my plates
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Here are the pancakes, French toast, hash browns and scrambled eggs.
Oatmeal, grits and Blueberry compote
Tortillas, Corned Beef Hash, Chicken Fried Steaks & Gravy
They were also making omelets to order, but there were way too many people standing there so I couldnt get a good shot. They also had cereal bar, but that wasnt very exciting. They also had a whole selection of pastries.
I think I exercised pretty good restraint and didnt eat too unhealthy. Probably because I was feeling icky, I didnt have much of an appetite.
After breakfast we hit the blackjack tables for about an hour and around noon we decided to head out to our next activity. We would be going to the Luxor and since its on the strip, we thought noon was a good time to take a ride down the strip without getting stuck in horrendous traffic.
There are some of the old standards like the Riviera
Treasure Island
and where would we be without hot babes?
So we arrived at the Luxor for our destination
So no picture taking was allowed during the exhibit, however, thanks to Google images I can show you some highlights of the exhibit. The whole thing was laid out nicely giving a great timeline. The first room talked about the building of the ship and timing of its launch. There were pieces of the exterior of the ship, and the second displayed some of the items passengers had brought in their luggage. We entered a long dimly lit hallway which was very poorly appointed. Evidently this was the area relegated to the third class passengers. They were not able to go above their deck and were very limited in the areas they could visit. They did have a dining room instead of having to eat their meals on the floor of their compartment. One of the luxuries for third class passengers that Titanic offered, was that the poop deck was ventilated! They paid approximately $40 for their trip, in todays economy it would be equivalent to about $460. Here was what the money got.
After several rooms displaying jewelry, glassware, and telling stories of various passengers in Second Class we came upon a replica of the Grand Staircase where the First Class passengers would meet and greet in their evening finest before dinner or cocktails.
An opulent hallway led to a room displaying trinkets of the First Class passengers and we saw this replica of the bedroom for First Class passengers. Keep in mind this was only the sleeping quarters, most of these passengers had three to four rooms as part of their suites, a parlor, a sitting room, private bath
We stepped out of that room onto a very convincing replica of the First Class deck. It was an eerie moonlit night. I wont spoil the rest of it, but it was very moving and continued the story of the ship. I found pictures of two more things they showed that were really interesting to me. The first was some au gratin dishes that they found on the ocean floor. Evidently they were neatly stacked in a cabinet. When the ship lay to rest, the cabinet around them eventually disintegrated but the dishes lay in the sand in the same neat pattern in which they were stacked.
The last piece was one that the call The Big Piece. This was a side of the ship found intact. It took over four years to get this off the ocean floor. The first attempt started in 2004. It took two years to figure out how to bring it to the surface, and when they had it just about ready to remove from the water, the cables snapped and the 15 ton piece fell back to the bottom. It took another two years before they were able to make a second attempt. Once they finally removed it, there was 1 year in desalinization and then there was another year of treatment finally it was coated in wax to preserve the metal.
The last room (before the gift shop, thank you Disney) had list of all the passengers on the Titanic grouped by class of passage, or crew and divided into those who survived and those who perished. When we entered we were given a ticket for a particular passenger and at the end we were able to find out if our passenger survived or perished. Both our passengers survived, mine was traveling with her child and adult sons, the child survived, the adult son perished. This exhibit will be at the Luxor for another 8-9 years so anyone interested need not rush off to see it.
It is unfair.
But in case something happens at least you know how to put on the vest and where to go.
Im going to Disneyworld! And I know you all know THAT, but Im going to Disneyworld in May!
