RNC: Day 1

I made it! I'm here in Las Vegas.

The flight in was good. We had a little turbulence, but nothing too bad. I got to sit between two very nice ladies from Chicago to Vegas. Both of them are readers, and we talked books and writing most of the flight. :)

I was lucky enough to have one of my street team members pick me up from the airport. Let me just say that the Vegas airport is an experience all on its own. Most airports are, while not dull exactly, they aren't all flashy lights and huge billboards either...not unless they are advertising cell phones or something. LOL.

The airport in Vegas not only has huge billboards advertising the shows on the strip, they also have a large TV screen play with those advertisements as well in the baggage claim area. I have to say its a smart idea. People are standing there, doing nothing as they wait for their bags, so they are a captive audience. Why not use that time to entice them into going to see one of the many shows the city has to offer?

The Strip

On the way to the hotel, we took a detour so that I could see 'the strip'. The Strip is 4.5 miles long and it is packed with casinos, restaurants, and all sorts of things to attract tourists to the area. Even on a Wednesday afternoon there were lots of people about. According to my ride, the crowds were nothing compared to what the strip looks like on the weekends, especially in the winter when its not quite so hot here.

When you first turn the corner onto the strip, you see this big statue of the Statue of Liberty. Of course it's not as big as the real one in New York City, but it's decent size. Especially among it's surroundings. And as you can see, the whole thing is made to look like a miniature version of New York City. It's called New York, New York.

A little farther down the strip you come to Paris. LOL. Yep. We're taking a tour around the world.

There is a hot air ballon with Paris in big letters, and then behind it is the Eiffel tower. Again, I don't believe it is as big as the original, but you can go to the top, and see out over the city if you want.


This last one I took a picture of is a little farther down the strip, but I thought it looked cool. The buildings are curved. Apparently the guy who owns it had a wife who loved butterflies. Originally there were going to be 4 buildings in total, and they would be angled in such a way as to resemble a butterfly from the air. A neat concept, but who knows if the last two buildings will ever get built since the husband and wife divorced shortly after the two buildings were completed.

The Hotel

The hotel where we are staying is really nice. All of the staff have been pleasant so far, and the food is good.

There was a little snag in the registration last night, but considering this is the first ever RNC some bumps in the road are to be expected.

Yesterday my PR person was able to set up a phone interview for me with the Las Vegas Review Journal. It's the major newspaper here in Vegas, and they will be featuring me on the front page of their entertainment section this Saturday. The interview went well, and I can't wait to see the article. If I can get my hands on a copy of the paper, I'll try to take a picture of it and post it.

Last night there was a huge kick off party. Jimmy, the organizer of the event, went all out. There was food, drinks, and even an Elvis impersonator.  It was a blast, and I got to meet Jimmy's accounted and a fellow cover model. We chatted while listening to the Elvis impersonator. He was surprisingly good, and looked quite a bit like Elvis. My mom would have loved it!





I'm sure day 2 will be full of lots of fun stuff as well, including a television interview I have schedule with Fox 5 here in Vegas this afternoon. Wish me luck, and hopefully I'll have more to share with you tomorrow. :)