The Amaz!ng Meeting 2013

7/4/13 Updates and important info in bold

It’s only a week until The Amaz!ng Meeting in Las Vegas!!! And thanks to a wonderfully supportive community I will be attending for my third year. Put on every year by the James Randi Educational Foundation, TAM focuses on science, skepticism, and critical thinking with four packed days of speakers, panels, workshops, and entertainment. TAM truly is a wonderful learning experience and also a great chance to connect with like minded individuals. I’m really looking forward to seeing both old and new friends this year! As with the past two years I will once again be organizing an informal meet-up for vegan skeptics and other skeptic interested in animal rights issues. This year the tentative plan is to meet-up for vegan bacon and donuts in the Del Mar bar in the lobby area on Friday at 6:30 pm. After the meet-up a group may go out to eat together as well.

As many of my readers are probably aware, traveling as a vegan can sometimes get tricky but I’ve learned a few things in the past two years. While the vegan food situation at the hotel isn’t the best, it could be much worse. If you explore your options you are bound to find something to eat. The catered continental breakfast usually has some decent vegan pickings such as fruit and cereal. You might also find something at the catered lunch. If you are willing to pay hotel prices Don Vito’s Italian in the lobby area serves a pasta and veggies dish called the “Vegan Vito’s”. Coronado Cafe has some vegetarian items that may possibly be vegan.  This past year the Southpoint added a new sushi restaurant as well which appears to have some vegan options. If you just need a quick lunch there is also a Subway Sandwich shop just down the street from the hotel if you want a salad on a roll. If you have transportation then your off-site options are even better. Actually your options are pretty amazing (PETA recently ranked Vegas number eight on their list of 10 Most Vegan-Friendly Cities). Of course there is always Ronald’s Donuts, which I find to be worth the trip alone. Just a half mile down the road from Ronald’s is a little Chinese joint called Veggie House which according to multiple Yelp users serves great vegan fried ice cream! I also highly recommend the taco platter at Yayo Taco, one of my favorites. You can also head over to Slice of Vegas for some pretty decent pizza. There is also a pizza joint up at the Fremont Street Experience that I definitely plan to check out called Pop Up Pizza which is purported to have really good vegan pizza and vegan soft serve…yes vegan soft serve! And they are open until 2 am. The Wynn and Encore have numerous restaurants all with a wide variety of vegan options and are adding new stuff all the time. For more ideas on where to get grub in Vegas check out the listing of vegan & veg friendly restaurants on Happy Cow.

One of my favorite podcasters, Karl Mamer of the Conspiracy Skeptic podcast, always ends his interviews by asking the guest what drink people should buy them if they should happen to run into them as thanks for their contributions. So I thought maybe some of my reader might wanna buy me a drink at TAM. Normally I mainly drink whatever cheap beer* is at the bar, with PBR being my go-to beer, in general I’m not too picky when it comes to beer. And while I rarely drink much hard alcohol, a rum and coke is always sure to please. I know that TAM can be a hectic time trying to work in everything you want to see and do, so if you can’t make it to the meet-up please come and find me and say hi anytime during the conference (I’ll be the one with a big pink box of donuts in hand at all times). You can always find me on Twitter under @SkepticalVegan and you can RSVP for the meet-up on Facebook here (appreciated but not necessary). See y’all in Vegas!

*Not sure if that beer is vegan? Check it out on Barnivore.

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5 Responses to “The Amaz!ng Meeting 2013”

  1. Funston Says:

    Hurray for cheap beer!

  2. Dustin Says:

    Sounds fun! Looking forward to meeting you and other vegan skeptics. I tried RSVPing, but when I clicked on the Facebook link, it took me to my own events list on Facebook.

    • skepticalvegan Says:

      I tried RSVPing, but when I clicked on the Facebook link, it took me to my own events list on Facebook.

      Sorry, I think I had the privacy setting set wrong. Try this link. (I fixed the hyperlink in the post as well)

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