As a fan of car shows, I was interested to check out the first-ever Concours d’Elegance in Las Vegas in October 2019. Since this was close to my birthday, I decided to make a weekend trip out of it and add in a couple of fun activities for myself.
It is no stretch to say that Las Vegas is my second home. I have been there nearly 20 times during the past 10 years, mostly for conventions like CES and the SEMA Show. I have seen most of the major attractions on Fremont Street and The Strip on previous visits. This time, I wanted to explore some other attractions that I did not have time for on previous visits. This trip would be all about activities that were specific to my niche interests.
DAY ONE
I arrived at the Phoenix airport at 7:30 AM for my flight to Las Vegas which departed at 9:00 AM. Just 45 minutes later, the plane touched down in Las Vegas. After disembarking, I collected my bag and proceeded to get the rental car.
Rental Car
For this trip, I had made a rental car reservation in advance with Hertz. A free shuttle bus brought me from the airport to the Rental Car Center, which is located off-site approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) from the airport. My Cadillac XTS sedan was waiting for me – the perfect chariot for my birthday weekend!
National Atomic Testing Museum
Las Vegas is more than just a vacation hot spot for tourists to spend the weekend. It is a major metropolitan city and home to 2.2 million residents. Beyond the mega resorts of “The Strip” there are homes, schools, grocery stores, office buildings, libraries, parks, and museums. One of these is the National Atomic Testing Museum, which I have wanted to check out for a while.
Opened in 2005, the museum has lots of exhibits about the Nevada Test Site and the history of atomic energy. I love learning about this period in American history and spent more than an hour exploring the exhibits at a relaxed pace, not feeling rushed at all.
Lunch
By this time, I was getting ready for lunch. I had researched some local barbecue restaurants in advance and picked Rollin Smoke Barbeque for my lunch destination. Located in an industrial area not far from The Strip, Rollin Smoke is a local favorite with more than 3,000 reviews on Google.
Rollin Smoke offers Arkansas-style barbecue sandwiches, plates, sides, and house-made sauces. I chose the brisket plate with waffle fries, which was absolutely delicious! The restaurant was also fun with lots of Arkansas themed decor everywhere. My food was outstanding and I would highly recommend this restaurant if you want some great BBQ food.
WelderUp
WelderUp founder Steve Darnell and his crew build one-of-a-kind automotive creations and rat rods at their custom car shop in Las Vegas. The shop is featured on the show “Vegas Rat Rods” which premiered in 2014. I ventured inside to check it out and was delighted to see that it is open to the public with free admission!
Every corner of the shop was filled with antique gas pumps, old metal signs, and all types of memorabilia. Some of the cars on display included: The Joker Mobile, a 1930 Ford Model A nicknamed “Quit Your Bitchin”, a 1964 Ford Falcon Gasser nicknamed “Eye Candy,” and a customized 1930 Ford Model A Sedan nicknamed “Steel to Heal” that was done for charity.
I spent about 30 minutes checking out the shop at a leisurely pace. Both the cars and the shop were really cool and well worth visiting. After that, it was just a short 0.8 mile (1.2 km) drive down the street to the next stop, Count’s Kustoms.
Count’s Kustoms
Count’s Kustoms is a custom car shop in Las Vegas owned by Danny “The Count” Koker. Since 2012, the shop has been featured on the TV show “Counting Cars” on the History Channel. The shop is open daily to visitors and has free admission, so I was excited to check it out.
Count’s Kustoms has a great display of customized and unique vehicles on display. I saw everything from hot rods and lowriders to a Dodge Viper and a Lamborghini Countach. The standout vehicles were a customized funeral hearse and the metallic gold Cadillac.
Planespotting
One activity that I enjoy is planespotting, or taking pictures of commercial jets. This is a personal interest that I enjoy, but none of my friends or family are interested in. Because this was a solo trip all about my interests, I had planned to spend some time at the airport to watch some planes land.
The Las Vegas airport has a designated aircraft viewing area, located at the south boundary of the airport along Sunset Road. It’s little more than a parking lot with a chain link fence, but it faces runways 26L and 26R. I arrived at the parking area around 5:40 PM in the afternoon. I ended up standing on the trunk of the rental car to try and get a better view, but I still wasn’t tall enough to get a clear photo without the fence in the way.
I ended up shooting photos through the chain link fence, which was a challenge. Some photos have a weird vignette effect because of this. I saw a lot of Southwest and Spirit airlines aircraft. Some highlights were: a British Airways Boeing 777, a WestJet Boeing 737 aircraft with special livery featuring Walt Disney World / Frozen, and a Boeing 787 Dreamliner from El Al Israel Airlines parked on the ramp off in the distance.
Back at the hotel, I took the opportunity to relax in the hot tub for a little while before going to bed. It had been a long day, and the next day would be even busier.
DAY TWO
Day two of my Las Vegas Birthday Adventure was packed full of activities. I started the day with the free breakfast at the Best Western Plus in Henderson, where I was staying. After that, I was ready to head over to the Inaugural Las Vegas Concours d’Elegance.
Las Vegas Concours d’Elegance
This car show was the main reason for my trip to Las Vegas. The Concours was organized by Stuart Sobek, who wanted to bring a world-class automotive event to the Nevada desert. The Las Vegas Concours was held at the exclusive Dragonridge Country Club in Henderson.
Upon arrival, I picked up my badge and boarded a shuttle bus that took me into the gated country club. Shortly after 9:00 AM, the bus dropped us off at the 18th hole of the Jay Morrish-designed private course, which is surrounded by multi-million dollar homes. From here, the cars were parked from the tee box, all along the fairway down to the green.
I walked around for hours, admiring and photographing the different cars. While I did not record a list of all cars in the show, there were some notable and standout vehicles, some of which include:
- 1903 Cadillac Model A
- 1959 Cadillac ElDorado Biarritz Convertible owned by Clive Cussler
- 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray convertible built for Bunkie Knudsen
- 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 “Daytona” formerly owned by Bill Harrah
- 1966 Bosley Interstate Mk II
- 1959 Pontiac El Catalina Prototype
- 1961 Dual Ghia L6.4 Hardtop formerly owned by Frank Sinatra
- 1938 Steyr 220 Roadster with bodywork by Glaser-Karosserie
- 1938 Phantom Corsair
- 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia
- Rick Dore’s Illusion custom
- 2005 Ford GT “Solar 7” customized by Camilo Pardo
- 2006 Spyker C8 Spyder
I ended up staying for the presentation of the awards in the afternoon. There were two Best of Show Winners for both Prewar and Postwar cars. The Prewar winner was a 1931 Bugatti Type 51 from the Nethercutt collection, and the Postwar winner was a 1950 Ferrari 250 Europa with bodywork by Vignale.
With the event winding down, I left around 5:00 pm and headed back to the hotel to rest up for a bit. It was a fun time at the first-ever Las Vegas Concours d’Elegance, with an impressive showing of some rare and very special automobiles.
Gordon Ramsay’s “Burger” at Planet Hollywood
At around 7:00 PM, I arrived at Planet Hollywood on The Strip. I picked up my ticket for the Gwen Stefani concert at the box office, and then got in line for dinner.
I chose Gordon Ramsay’s Burger restaurant based on the reviews. I have never watched any of Gordon Ramsay’s shows, but I understand he is famous for his food (in addition to his short temper). The restaurant was also very close to the concert venue, being located on the same property as the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood.
There was a long line of people waiting for a table, but I was able to get seated at the bar as a party of one. I ordered a burger with Parmesan truffle fries, and a chocolate milkshake with creme brulee topping.
So how was it? The food was flavorful and I greatly enjoyed the meal. As far as value goes, I paid $50 for a burger, fries, and a shake. Celebrity chef restaurants in Las Vegas are a premium-price dining experience. As a special treat, it was worth it to me this time. But I wouldn’t make it a habit to pay that much for fancy fast food.
Gwen Stefani: Just a Girl Concert
Despite having been to Las Vegas nearly 20 times, I had not seen a live entertainment show. This would be my first time attending a major stage production in Vegas, and I was excited to see Gwen Stefani. My very first concert in 2002 was No Doubt with Garbage. This would be a special treat to celebrate my birthday weekend.
Gwen Stefani began her residency concerts at Planet Hollywood in 2018, which ran through 2021. I attended the October 26, 2019 performance. The doors opened at 8:30 pm and I found my seat inside the 4,600 seat Zappos Theater.
The concert was over two hours, from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. It was a high-energy showcase of dancing and songs with lots of costume changes. The show was visually stunning with high-res graphics projected on both sides and above the stage. Gwen performed a number of songs from No Doubt and from her work as a solo artist.
It was late by the time I got back to the room after a LONG day of activity. Although it was a very expensive day, I had a really fun time.
DAY THREE
Leaving Las Vegas
I was up around 6:00 AM on Sunday morning. I wanted to allow plenty of time to check out of the hotel, refuel and return the rental car, and take the shuttle bus to the airport. Thankfully, everything went smoothly and I was at the airport around 8:30 AM for my flight.
I enjoyed a Jamba Juice smoothie for breakfast and snapped some more airplane photos from inside the terminal, including a few Southwest Airlines special liveries.
Heading Home
Shortly before 10:00 AM, I boarded American Airlines flight #711 to Phoenix. I had a window seat on the left side of the aircraft, which offered a great view of The Strip as we climbed to cruising altitude. From my seat, I had a view of Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon on the route home.
The Las Vegas to Phoenix flight only takes 40-50 minutes. We were soon touching down at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. With that, my birthday weekend adventure in Las Vegas had come to an end.
I had a great birthday weekend doing activities that were interesting to me. Between the car show, the concert, and the delicious food, it is hard to pick a single highlight of the trip. Everything was memorable about this trip!
