Today we  lft utah and headed to Las Vegas on out way to Portland .   We woke early, finished packing the house, took one last soak in the hot tub.. then headed west . 

We’ve really loved being here. 

THe drive down from Duck Creek Village UT to Las Vegas was about 3.5 hours.. It took us through soem amazing countryside.. The peak of the road was near the beginning at a feet under 10,000 feet above see level..and drove down to about 2000 feet in Las Vega.. That involved driving from two very different geological regions  Colorado Plateau into the Great Basin 

Once we crossed the Hurricane Fault at  Ceder city, the scenery changed immediately from mountains to desert planes. 

We were listening to an audio book. : “The Revenge of the Tipping Point”. by Malcom Gladwell. Its him revisiting the messages in his 1999 best seller “The TIpping Point” 

Both books talk about how little things can make a big difference.  Gladwell  talks about how  public opinion can  shift suddenly based on the influence of a very few. He talks about some tough topics.: teen suicide, thow the covid pandemic spread , how we talk about the Holocost,  and public views on gay marrieage.. Heavy stuff.. but he’s such a great storyteller.. We’re enjoying the book . Gladwell  a great storyteller.  Hs message on what makes public opinion is really interestign in these mixed=up times. 

We got to Vegas about 11..  Being here always reminds me of this scene in the Big Lebowski…with Bunny Lebowskie singing ‘viva las vegas’ completely off tune

Arriving in Las Vegas is always a weird thing for me.. I’ve been here many, many times… always for some sort of work conference.   Usually when I’m arriving, I have some sort of talk or panel  to give.. which is a strange mix of excitement and terror. .. I remember some of my first small  talks here back in the 80;s .. and my biggest (an 18,000 person keynote) . they all had the same arc.. I arrive nervous and stressed up to the time  of my talk… then. gave the talk.. then I get to relax and have fun….  Its interesting to be able to reflect on all that needless stress and worry l put myself through 

I think this is the first time I’m here just for fun… .. even if its just for an afternoon. 

Our main goal was to visit MeowWolf Las Vegas..aka Omega Mart. It;s located in a huge complex called ‘Area 15’   which inclused MeoWolf , a bunch of very cool retail, interestign food and some other tech art venues.  Outside is a bunch of awesoem tech art. .. very much like tech art ones see’s at Burning Man.. Check this out

we went inside for our 11:20 tickets.. The Area 15 interior is very cool.. imagine a shopping center only lit by black lights !

Then we went inside.. We had a list of thigns we specifically wanted to see that Max and Becky had worked on. It was really fun having a shoppign list like that.. 

Here are a zillion piuctures from our 2 hour visit

first was the market itself.. a bunch of m,utant produc5ts, soem real and soem not.

Then .. in to the main room.. .. 3 .. maybe 4 ? .. stories.. stairs goign every where.. interestign sound scape

we found the soul sucker, happy greebles, and see see Tee Vee that max helped create
 

Becky had a hand in almost everything.. The “Boop’  experience is whjat Becky’s most  known for.. Like the other meow wolf venues, Omega mart has a back story.. At omega Mart   is a mutant grocery store run by the mysterious Dram family (a nod to aldous huxley, it think).

You can  purchase an employee badge that you ‘boop’ at stations around the exhibit.. that opens up new experiences of training, background etc. and pulls you intot he omega mart story ..   Super fun.. its oen of the reasons people keep coming back to dig even deeper into the story. We read one reveiw where a person had spent 6 hours in Omega mart booping his way around to figure out some of the weird mystery of the story !  Becky was the head booper !

We also found an easter egg to Becky on the factory control panel .. (Becky’s last name ie Neil 🙂 

 

there were so many cool things to see .. Here are tqwo pieces that Becky pointed us at.. we likeked thmw both !  This one is pixelmapped a bit like fluffy

this one is made of 10 layers of sidelit plexi

here ae a few other fav’s 

Then it was time to go.. what an amaizng place !!!!.. 

we grabbed a quick bite in Area 15  (masle your own poke bowl) .. then headed tot he airport..   we got there at 2 for a 6PM flight due tot eh rental csr check in time.. .. so had as long time to hng out in both LAS and SFO between short flgihts. 

Gabe picked us up just around midninight.. e drove is to our airbnb.. we got  in, unpavked then wuicly fell asleep

gld to be here with gabe and novs !   more tomorrow ..

nite all. nite sam

-me