Brett and Brendon are the most amazing hosts. They are not even here and we feel their hospitality. The house is clean and welcoming. They left us a loaf of sourdough bread, a quiche and marmalade -- all made by Brett. I texted Brett to ask where I might find butter. He said there is a "wheel" of Amish butter in the refrigerator. I thought it was a cheesecake. We had a lovely brunch!
We decided that we would go to Omega Mart at Area 15 this afternoon. Neither of us really knew what to expect and I'm not sure it is even something you can describe. Just making our way from the car to the entrance led us past some incredible and incredibly weird art.
Inside the building you can go axe throwing, take a zipline next to the ceiling or enjoy the bar.
Omega Mart begins in a fake grocery store with weird items like cans of dehydrated water...
...Plausible Deniability laundry detergent
...WTF pill boxes for your Wednesday, Thursday, Friday travel
...a meat counter
...with items like this cheese platter of The Scream Cheese and Touch of Bleu.
You can enter into the back of the store through several secret passageways.
For more than the cost of general admission you can choose to experience an alternate reality and try to figure out the story hidden inside Omega Mart. What I read said it takes about 6 hours to complete....so, no. We wondered around trying to make sense of what we were seeing. It is a blacklight, psychedelic, strange music venue with an underlying message about the folly of capitalism, consumerism and corporate greed.
You travel from corner to secret room up a set of stairs and around blind corners while talking on phones, pushing buttons, deciphering codes and dodging small children. It truly is indescribable.
At one point Linda said, "You thought the Yoko Ono exhibit was weird." I replied, "I still think it was weird." We went to the Tate Modern together last May and saw the very strange Yoko Ono exhibit. Omega Mart is a different weird. After an hour and a half of wandering around with a quick stop at the bar (behind the pharmacy) for mac & cheese popcorn and some drinks we headed back home to get ready for our evening out.
Our reservations for dinner were at Diner Ross at the Linq. Diner Ross is a Spiegelworld creation. Spiegelworld is dedicated to art -- the art of theater, the art of cocktails and the art of surprise. Diner Ross is connected to a Spiegelworld show called Disco Show. We were greeted by these two hosts.
We entered through a room that made me contemplate what it would be like to live inside a disco ball -- not fun. We waited a few minutes in a lobby/bar that was like a NY subway station. We went into the phone and found this sticker on the receiver.
The phone booth was really a photo booth. You punch in your phone number and then use the coin return to activate each photo. You are supposed to get your photos texted to you. I still haven't received mine.
Then you climb a long flight of stairs to another bar and a dance area. The hot dog stand is also the hostess desk.
The restaurant is a diner, with another bar, of course. We got champagne pina coladas. Why have I never heard of this before? We got waygu pigs in a blanket (delicious). Linda got roasted chicken with a brioche stuffing. I got steak frites. The wait staff is dressed like they are going to a disco. The music on the speakers is all disco music. I expected to have my senses overwhelmed but it was really fine. I only had to ask Linda to repeat what she had just said about four times. The champagne pina colada was my favorite part of the experience but I really shouldn't drink rum
After dinner we had a few minutes before our show. Linda demonstrated how to use a machine to play roulette. But we didn't linger long because we had tickets to see the Mat Franco show. Franco is a magician who won on America's Got Talent ten years ago. Our seats were back far enough so that we wouldn't be brought up onto the stage but close enough so we could easily see. It turns out he brings people up onto the stage from quite a ways back and he brings people up onto the stage for most of his tricks. We slipped on n94 masks assuming that he wouldn't take someone onto the stage wearing a mask. Pretty smart, huh? You can use that trick if you are an introvert and ever at a magic show.
For a little over an hour Mat Franco wowed us with magic tricks. He didn't cut anyone in half or pull a rabbit out of a hat. He is a master of card tricks and other sleight of hand tricks. The trick he did that amazed me the most was when he borrowed someone's phone to take photos of her, dropped the phone and then used a knife to cut open a table at the back of the theater, where audience members were sitting, and pulled out her phone.
We went back to the casino so I could try using a blackjack machine. My goal was to win the cost of my dinner. I failed.
It was a day of overstimulating my senses and I was ready for bed.
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