Well I’m finally making time to provide a recap of our trip Vegas from the beginning of the month.
Friday:
- Arrived at the Venetian and scoped out the hotel & pool. One word – opulent.
- High temp = 102 degrees F
- We walked to a neighboring casino and one of Las Vegas’ newest residents – The Wynn for dinner. On the way, we visited a Lamborghini dealership (inside the Palazzo casino). The Wynn has one of the best buffets in Vegas (so they say) and we wanted to experience it for ourselves. Here’s a picture of my first plate from the buffet (shamefully, I admit, I had 2 more plates throughout the evening just like this one).
- We finished off the evening by scouting out a few of the nearby hotels. We were pretty tired though from travelling and didn’t have a lot of energy to explore (if you’ve never been, Las Vegas Blvd – aka The Strip, is several miles long).
Saturday:
- Anniversary day! 5 years!
- We woke up early and took the 30 mile drive down to Hoover Dam. Trivia time. Does anyone know the original name for the project that would become known as the Hoover Dam?
- High temp = 102 degrees F
- When we got back to the hotel we spent some more time at the pool and rested up for dinner. We had reservation as Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill inside of Caesars Palace. I had high expectations. Bobby Flay is my FoodNetwork man crush. It was amazing. For starters we had Yucatan Chicken Tacos. We each selected different entrees. Lish chose the New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin and I had the 22oz Chipotle Glazed Bone-in Ribeye. both were so good. Of course, pictures of each dish can be found at The Faction Galleries.
- After dinner, we explored more casinos and saw the sights. There is really great people watching in Vegas. Alicia was particularly intrigued with some folks whose job was to attract you to their ‘club’.
Sunday:
- We woke up and went our seperate ways on Sunday morning. Lish hit the spa and I hit the sportsbook looking for a place to watch the Steelers game. The sportsbook was a zoo since it was opening weekend for the NFL and tons of people were in line to place their bets. All I wanted was a spot near a TV to watch the game but that wasn’t happening so I went for a walk to watch the craps tables. I watched a guy who was down $6000 come the whole way back and then end up walking away. His hand were trembling with each bet. The hotel gave us $15 in gambling credits when we checked in. Free money? I’m in. I ‘invested’ all $15 in a slot machine that didn’t produce any earnings. I don’t know how people sit there all day and do that. After $15, I was completely spent on sitting at a machine.
- Tonight we hit the south end of The Strip. We had dinner reservations at Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House. Again, really great food. Unfortunately, I had eaten half of my dish before I remembered to take a photo or note the name of it.
- We finished off the rest of the day by exploring the remainder of the hotels that we hadn’t been to yet. I think my favorite is Mandalay Bay, but the MGM is cool too. There’s a live lion exhibit there. It doesn’t seem right that I’ve been to Africa twice and never seen a lion, but yet I can go to Vegas and get 3 feet from one.
Monday:
- Back to Pittsburgh to get D. We missed her a lot.
We had a great time. Vegas is neat. I left with a lot of deeper thoughts, but I’ll save them for some other time.
