Las Vegas Wrapup

     I snuck away from the Star Trek convention a few times. Once was for a hike in a national conservation area. Luckily, I stayed on East Coast time for the whole trip, so it was no problem to wake up before 6am and hike before the heat really hit. There was more wildlife than I expected - great masses of frogs singing, and birds and lizards hanging out, which I attributed to the recent rainfall.
     One evening, my friend T, a fairly standard meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, gave me carte blanche to choose a restaurant. With his approval, I chose a nearby vegan, prix fixe restaurant. Since this was Vegas, there was a gimmick, and the gimmick was that you ate in the dark. Like really in the dark. After signing a waiver and leaving all your belongings in a locker, we were led by a waiter using night vision goggles to our table. He carefully seated us, guiding our hands to where our silverware and water was.  We weren't told what we were eating, and this was supposed to focus our experience. It was fun to try and guess what we were eating - the strawberry and walnut salad was straightforward, but we never figured out what the three pureed soups were. They had done a good job lightproofing - I could see tiny light patches after a few hours, but never even glimpsed my table, food, or any diners. It's not something I'd do very often, but certainly resulted in a memorable meal.