For a number of years Randy had been wanting to do a zero gravity flight. The company that does them, Zero Gravity Corporation, had just moved their headquarters to Las Vegas making it very easy to get to. We flew to Vegas Friday evening with our friends Dan and Assana who came along for the "Vegas" part of the trip.

Friday evening we had a very nice dinner at Olives in the hotel, then Randy, Dan and Assana headed to the Stratoshphere to check out the Big Shot ride, which was fun as always.

  • Top of the Stratosphere
  • The Strip at Night
  • Floating against the ceiling

Saturday morning we took a cab to Zero-G's headquarters. After watching a flight briefing we took a shuttle to the airport where we boarded their specially modified 727. We took off and flew about half an hour away from Vegas, then began our parabolic flight plan. We did one drop at 1/3 gravity, two at 1/6 gravity and then 12 drops at zero gravity. It was amazing! In between drops we experienced 1.8g's of force as we climbed back up to 32,000 feet. The 15 drops were each about 30 seconds long. We tried different things like catching floating M&Ms and watching water float in front of us. Rick even got to play 'catch' with Randy as the ball! Click on the 'video' link above to see the flight.

  • Bellagio Garden
  • Chocolate Waterfall
  • Water Sign

Saturday evening we met Dan and Assana for a great meal at Michael Minna's in the hotel. Then we saw the Cirque Du Soleil show 'O' (from the front row). Afterwards we had a limo take us to the Wynn where we looked around and had a couple of drinks. Our bartender, Darby, was lots of fun (and very cute). The limo then took us to Fremont street which is covered by a several block long giant video screen. We lasted about 15 minutes there before we were done.

Our final stop was the night club 'Jet' at the Mirage. When we arrived at 11:45 there was a huge line extending back into the casino. Fortunately Randy had gone on the Mirage website and purchased "VIP Skip the Line" passes. The velvet rope was opened for us and we went right past the line (getting a number of questioning looks from the others in line :-) Inside we grabbed some drinks, wandered around and checked out the different rooms. It was interesting people watching, but the music wasn't very good. We headed back outside and the limo took us back to the Bellagio where we had a nightcap before bed.

Sunday morning we had crepes for breakfast, then RIck had a massage and Dan and Assana checked out the Venetian hotel. Then it was off to the airport for a quick flight home.

What a fantastic weekend!