EDIT: for some reason people are having trouble viewing the photos I put in this post. I think we might've exceeded our bandwith or something, so I'm just going to remove them. To view all of our Vegas photos, go here.Hello faithful readers, :-)! Since we know you're all dying to hear about our trip to Vegas and L.A., here's a recap of the first part of our trip. The L.A. recap will have to wait a few more days (I can only ignore my work to write for so long!). Enjoy!
Las Vegas - Intro and Day 1
We got up bright and early on Monday the 27th (4:15am, to be exact), finished getting ready, and left the house around 5:15am. We weren’t sure how bad traffic would be, since it was a weekday, so we wanted to have ample time to spare. We immediately found a cab, and managed to get to Newark with a TON of time to spare, so we found the food court and got some grub. The flight was pretty uneventful, though my newfound hatred of turbulence manifested itself again (I’m not exactly sure when I started getting so freaked out when planes go through turbulence; I don’t think I was always like this, but for the past few years it’s been making me really nervous every time it happens), and we touched down in Vegas right on schedule, around 10am PST.
McCarran Airport is an interesting place. Right off the bat there are a ton of slot machines, and while I can’t say I’m surprised I guess it caught me off guard , :-). We had to wait a while for our bags, since they must’ve been some of the first ones on the plane, and then went outside and waited in The Longest Cab Line Ever ™. During the wait, however, we kept seeing all these weird looking people and making fun of them, true to New York form. They included “Bucky” the spring break co-ed, who never ceased to amuse us with her buck teeth every time our paths crossed in the loopy line. Anyhoo, we finally get to the front of the line and hop in a cab, destination: THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay. And yes folks, the name of the hotel is “THE Hotel”.
Vegas isn’t particularly large, but we had to take the long way around the airport to get to the city, and during the drive we got a pretty great view of the strip. The Mandalay Bay (and, consequently, THE Hotel) is at the Southern end of the strip, as opposed to more “central” hotels like the Bellagio, the MGM Grand, etc. THE Hotel is absolutely awesome (we had a great Northern view of the strip from our room), and is one of the few non-themed hotels in the whole city. No corny medieval décor (the Excalibur), no gondolas and canals (the Venetian), and no middle-eastern flavor (the Aladdin). We weren’t technically allowed to check-in until 3pm (it was about 11am at this point), but they were nice enough to give us our keys anyway, though they mentioned that the room wasn’t clean yet.
Our room’s previous occupant(s) were slobs, and there was garbage everywhere, so we just left our bags in a corner, relaxed for a few minutes, and then decided to head out for a walk to do some recon and get some lunch! The plan was to head up to the Paris (that has a pretty big replica of the Eiffel Tower) and eat at their French bistro, Mon Ami Gabi, since it’s directly in front of the Bellagio and its famous fountains.
It turned out to be a much longer walk than anticipated, even though it was only a few blocks away, since Las Vegas blocks trump even NYC’s mighty 23rd-between-5th-and-6th-type blocks! We were also on only a few hours’ sleep at this point, so I got a bit grouchy, hehe. It was also unusually hot and humid there (and by unusually I mean that it wasn’t the weather we expected based on Weather.com), so the walk wasn’t as pleasant as it could’ve been, but the sights were still cool. I got my first taste of themed-casinos (the previously-mentioned Excalibur, as well as the Luxor, the Ancient Egypt themed hotel that’s right next to the Mandalay Bay), saw some classic sites like the Tropicana and the MGM Grand, and eventually got to the Paris, hungry and exhausted from the flight, lack of sleep and hunger. Liz had some steak frites at Mon Ami Gabi, while I had my usual French bistro fare of mussels and frites (accompanied by an outstanding beer from the French Alps, called “Yeti”). The food was fine, but nothing special, and we discovered that the Bellagio’s fountains only start running later in the day. We’re pretty tired after lunch, so we decided to try and find the tram to take us back to our hotel. It turned out to be a lot farther than we thought, cost $5 a person (we thought it was free, but I guess nothing’s free in Vegas!), and only got us as far as the MGM Grand, so we had to walk some more after we got off the tram (needless to say, my grouchiness kept increasing).
Once we got back to our room, we discovered that it still had not been cleaned, even though the proper check-in time of 3pm was approaching. This was a real bummer, since we wanted to take a well-deserved nap before heading out to do something that night. I called the front desk and they said that someone should be coming to clean the room shortly. We decided to just watch some TV and wait until the room was clean. About an hour later we heard a knock on the door, and when the maid was done we took a quick shower and were finally able to lie down for some quality nappage. Our nappage was so quality, in fact, that we never woke up! We had planned on going out for dinner and maybe a show that night, but instead we just slept…and slept…and slept! I woke up around 11pm and realized what had happened, proceeded to brush my teeth and hit the lights, and then went back to Dreamland.
Las Vegas – Day 2
Since we’d been sleeping for so long (my guess is that we passed out around 5:30pm), we woke up around 6am and couldn’t fall back to sleep! I guess the combination of 12 hours’ sleep and our internal clocks telling us is was 9am was pretty persuasive on our bodies! We got some room service (including some delicious hot chocolate that must’ve been Godiva or something, since it was so rich!) and started watching this old Marilyn Monroe/Yves Montand movie that turned out to be pretty cute (a bit heavy on the musical numbers, but hey, it was the ‘60s!).
Our plan for the day was to hit up The Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace and do some shopping (well, Liz anyway), have lunch at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, walk around some more, and then play the rest of the day by ear, possibly catching a show at night.
The Forum Shops were pretty cool: a standard mall-type place, but with Roman décor.
Liz’s first order of business was to find the
Jimmy Choo shoe boutique, and she was actually pretty disappointed at what we found. She was convinced that this was not the JC boutique that she’d visited some years ago when she went to Vegas with her Mom, so a mission for later that day would be to find the other Jimmy Choo. She also saw a shirt, a jacket and some shoes that she liked at
Christian Dior, but they were all pretty pricey ($2k+ for the jacket, folks; if you want to see it, click on the link, choose USA, Top 10, then click on 1 [it's sort of camouflaged in the middle of the page]), so she didn’t actually buy anything, ;-). I saw some jackets I liked at Hugo Boss, but didn’t feel like paying $200-$300 for them! There was a cool exotic car store at one end of the Forum, and I took a photo with what I think is a Lamborghini Murciélago.
After the Forum we went into Caesar’s Palace proper and wandered through the casino in search of Mesa Grill. Liz wasn’t much of a fan of Bobby Flay (at least not from watching him on
Iron Chef America), but after eating at this place she’s started respecting the guy! The place was sort of empty, since it was still a bit early for lunch, but right after we were seated the hordes started wandering in (us, trendsetters? Nah!). I started with a spicy tuna tartare with plantain chips and a Negra Modelo while Liz worked on her
Macallan 12-year old scotch (their bread was also delicious, especially their fresh cornbread!). She had a fried chile relleno that looked (and tasted) delicious, while I went with the highly-recommended Mesa Burger (yum!). For dessert we split a peanut butter/chocolate crème brulee. We figured it’d be a good choice, since crème brulee is her favorite dessert, and peanut butter and chocolate are one of mine. It was pretty good, though it was dense as all hell, and sort of felt like you were eating a spoonful of pure peanut butter, which Liz wasn’t a huge fan of. I finished off my meal with a yummy espresso.
After this whopper of a meal we decided to walk around a bit more to help digestion. We walked up the strip some more, heading towards the Venetian, since by this stage we’d discovered that the other Jimmy Choo boutique was located in their shops. The Venetian is the only themed hotel where we’d stay next time we go to Vegas, since it’s not as corny as the other ones, being modeled after a city as opposed to, say, medieval or Ancient Egyptian times, :-).
We didn’t end up taking a gondola ride, since the line was long, but Liz found Jimmy Choo and did some shoe-shopping, settling on a lovely pair of golden heels that she got for half of what they’d cost here in NYC! She was disappointed that none of the other sale shoes were as cool as the ones she was getting, so she had to settle for just one new pair. We even got two coupons for free Bellinis at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in the Venetian, so that was our next stop. I was lured into having a pint of Old Tire Pale Ale (fine, but not particularly memorable) by the bartender, who must’ve smelled my hop-fancy as soon as we walked in, hehe, and Liz had her Bellini. Having that beer was a mistake, since I was still so full from lunch, but whatever…
After the Venetian, we walked back down the strip in the direction of the Bellagio, to catch their
fountains in action.
While we were walking it started getting a bit windy, and when we got to the Bellagio at 3:30pm an announcement was made over the PA system that due to the weather the fountain show wouldn’t be occurring at that time. Seeing as we’d seen a Prada sign on the walk to the Bellagio, Liz wanted to go explore that store for a bit, and we did. The plan was to return to the Bellagio fountains for the 4pm show, but once again we were out of luck and the show was cancelled due to the windy conditions. Grrr… Oh well, at least I’ve seen them in Ocean’s Eleven!
It started drizzling and then raining on the walk back down the strip, so we got to whip out the umbrella (never leave home without it!) and chuckle at the people who didn’t have one, ;-). Some woman even offered to buy ours off of us! Ah, Vegas… Our plan for dinner that night had been to head up to the Mirage to check out their buffet, but since it was raining we didn’t want to have to go outside again, so we decided to eat at Aureole, a French restaurant in the Mandalay Bay that was supposedly very good. We got back to THE Hotel just in time to make a reservation for 8:15pm, and then we headed back to our room to relax for a bit. We somehow managed to not fall asleep again, and after some TV and a shower we were ready for Aureole, even though we weren’t all that hungry. The restaurant had a very yummy prix fixe. The amuse bouche was a spicy tomato bisque (delish!). Liz started with Charlie’s Onion Soup (that she was absolutely raving about), followed by the Duo of Filet Mignon and Beef Cheek Hash, and finishing up with an Orange Vanilla Scented Crème Brulee. I had the Trio of Ahi Tuna, followed by the Aureole Surf and Turf (spice seared tuna loin, some AWESOME tender beef shortribs and horseradish potatoes), and finished off with some fruit sorbet, since my stomach couldn’t handle anything else at this point. We definitely ate like pigs throughout the whole day, but since we “missed” dinner the previous night, it wasn’t such a big deal, right? Right? Sigh…
After Aureole we promptly called it a night and passed out.
Las Vegas – Day 3
Ah, our final full day in Sin City! Up to this point we hadn’t gambled at all, and I was itching to hit the Blackjack tables for at least a few hours, so that was the plan. Liz also wanted to try and find this one particular game machine that she remembered from a few years ago, that involves a horse track with 5 electronic jockeys, and you bet on what number combinations will take 1st and 2nd place in the race. Fun, but not my style. It’s apparently an older game, and none of the casinos in our area of the strip had them, so the plan was to head to the MGM Grand, since their casino is arguably the best one.
Before gambling, however, we hit the breakfast brunch at the Mandalay Bay, and then paid a visit to their famous Shark Reef, that turned out to be pretty cool! It’s essentially a huge aquarium with a TON of different fish, including many species of shark (alas, no great whites, hehe). Their slogan is “Come kill an hour or two.”
After that we started heading up the strip, taking our usual route through the Luxor and the Excalibur, inquiring in vain about Liz’s horse track machine. We make it to the MGM Grand, and after admiring the lion cub show we start scouting the place for the cheap Blackjack tables (it’s not that I’m afraid of higher-stakes tables, just that I’m really into Blackjack for the fun rather than for the money [though it’s obviously nice if you make some!], and I put a priority on playing for a long time rather than making a ton of money). Anyway, I do see some $5 tables, but they’re pretty crowded, so I decide to play at the $10 tables. I find one conveniently located next to a roulette table, since Liz wants to play that for a while. I sit down at my table, cash in $100, and start playing. My first 3 hands are Blackjacks, no shit, so it’s a damn good way to start the day. The lady that was dealing was really good to me throughout the day, :-), and she was also really nice. From Thailand, I believe. Liz is up a bunch at roulette at first, but then proceeds to lose it all. Not a big deal, though, since it was only $40. She then wandered off in search of her elusive machine, and luckily found one not too far from where I was playing.
After about an hour and a half or two hours I’m up $200, which was a nice feeling. The question is: when do you stop? I’m having a great time, and want to keep playing, but having an extra $200 is also nice, so I’m not sure what to do. I was actually up around $250, but then this other dealer came to the table and started getting really lucky, so I cashed out when my profits were down to $200. I of course realize that this is nonsense, and that the dealer has nothing to do with what cards I get or he gets, etc., but like my dad told me: do whatever you want in order to play comfortably. Yes, I know that logically the dealer is a non-issue in the game, but if for some reason it’s bugging me or I think that he’s giving me bad luck, it’ll affect my judgments and my gameplay, so it’s not wrong to get up and leave, walk around for a bit, and then maybe come back.
Anyway, I went to check up on Liz, who was roughly breaking even (she was playing with $20 worth of quarters), and she said she still had a while, so I decided to head back to the Blackjack tables. I immediately put away $200 in chips (my initial $100 and $100 of my winnings) and decided to just play with the other $100, since it was still free money. I played for another hour or so, and my total profits were up to $330. When that evil dealer once again showed up I cashed out after a few hands of similar nonsense (seriously, when you have a 20 and the dealer is showing something like a 2 or a 3, do you really expect him to get to 21 with small cards? I didn’t think so…). When I checked up on Liz again she was still going strong, but I felt like being up $330 was a really good place to be, and I didn’t want to risk losing it. I walked around the casino for a bit, found a potential place for dinner, called my folks, etc. When I returned to find Liz still playing (but doing worse than before) I decided to play with $130 of my winnings, saving $200 as a definite profit. I played for another hour or so (Liz ended up losing what was left of her $20 and coming to find me, but was able to play with just that for like 4 or 5 hours!), during which I was down to only $10 of those $130 at one point, but then I got back up to $100 and decided to cash out for good, finishing the day with a profit of $300, which was fine by me, :-). I definitely want to go back to Vegas in the near future and play Blackjack more seriously, for more hours, and see how well I do.
After leaving the main gambling area Liz and I ended up at Diego, a Mexican restaurant that had been recommended on Chowhound (Liz’s online restaurant bible), and had another great meal! We decided to skip the appetizers and just pig out on their delicious chips and salsa, and ordered some guacamole that was made fresh for us right at the table! I asked for extra lime, so it was über-refreshing, hehe. We also had some yummy margaritas. What I had isn’t listed on the website menu, but it was some absolutely fabulous lamb chops, and Liz had chiles rellenos again, though they weren’t as good as what she had at Mesa. Other than that the meal was great, and turned out to be very inexpensive.
We were pretty wiped out after this day of gambling, so we headed back to THE Hotel, started packing our bags and then watched some TV before passing out.
Las Vegas – The departure
The next morning, bright and early, we checked out and headed down to Red White and Blue for some breakfast. We headed over to Avis to pick up our convertible (Chrysler Sebring, silver), and around 11:15am (an hour ahead of schedule) we were en route to the City of Angels (and it was windy as all hell!).
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Ok folks, that's all for now. The L.A. recap will be up in a day or two.
Hugs,
Luis
