Luck Be a Lady: Day Three

After a slow start, we got in the car (which actually was a truck b/c they were out of cars) and drove the 30 miles to the Hoover Dam. Yup, it's still big. I went nine years ago, and not much has changed.

They were in the process of building a bridge over the dam from Nevada to Arizona, I can now add that to the list of bridges I hope to never cross. I hate bridges.

We rubbed the feet of the statues at the visitor center for luck.

I don't believe in luck, but traditions are fun, so I joined in, and then we walked across the dam. You travel from NV to AZ in doing so, and move through a time zone, which is not something you do every day...state straddling, time travel.

After a stop by In-N-Out burger on the way back into Las Vegas, we had the rental place drop us off at the M&M store for four levels of M&M fun, and a little shopping for Lauren's two little kiddos.

We then walked back down the chilly strip, and April got her tattoo. Upon exiting the Miracle Mile shopping center, where the store was located, we ran into Sammy Hagar standing on a balcony about 10 feet above the escalators we were taking down to street level. He was being interviewed for the opening of his place Cabo Wabo at this location, and performing that evening (we saw people sitting in line 24 hours before this), and he came out to the balcony and waved, but I didn't capture this on film, so you'll just have to imagine. He was blonde if that helps in your imagining.
We then caught a cab to this little restaurants my friends at work had told me about-Battista's Hole in the Wall. It's set back a bit from the strip, next to Bally's. It's been there for more than fifty years, and supposedly an old Mob hang out. Whatever the truth, it was soooooo fabulous. Two thumbs up. Each meal came with unlimited wine, both white and red (or in my case-brown, Diet coke), salads with salami, cheese, etc, bread with real garlic, your meal, a pasta side, and a complimentary cappuccino (that taste like hot chocolate, and is fabulous-our waiter told us it's just made from powdered milk, hot chocolate, and a little coffee syrup). They also provided a complimentary piece of Spumoni for Kelly's birthday, and the most precious little guy comes to all the tables for a little serenade. We got an interactive version of "The Stars At Night," he alone is worth the trip! I can only imagine how often he makes it in facebook pictures!

We rounded out the evening at a Karaoke Bar. This is something I'm all for, it's about my speed. We had a good time singing along with the singers (compliments of words also projected onto a large screen on the wall), and Kelly, and April both tried their voices out at the mike. They are old pros, and have both won competitions in the past, so....no hesitation there.

The restaurant didn't close until 3, and we stayed until the last song, and then made our way back to the hotel.
I'll keep it short by saying we left for the airport the next day at 11. It seemed much longer than three days, I certainly had more varied experiences than my typical trip, and I was ready to be home, and completely stuffed from all the great eating.

What Happens in Vegas....Day Two

This was my third trip to Vegas. Previous trips were spent with family. We enjoyed the sites, hotels, food, a slot or two, but that was the extent of the excitement. I view a slot much like a video game, and have never been that interested, and if I am, I play only as much as I plan to lose...which isn't much! There is so much to see and do in Vegas, but you do have to wade through a lot of filth to do it. As you walk up and down the strip, especially as it gets later, people stand and try to force cards into your hands advertising some of the activities that most states ban. It's annoying. I think before I spent less time out in the late hours. The girls and I also have different agendas on vacation, so it was a little/lot about compromising again and waiting for them to do what they wanted to do, or stepping away if it wasn't something I was interested in doing. Day two, we go up late, and headed out to Serendipity...again. The plan was to rent a car and go out to Hoover Dam, but it took soooo long for everyone to get up and ready, by the time we got our car (24 hour rental from Enterprice-fabulous customer service), it was too late to miss the 5 o'clock traffic, so we parked and planned to head out early the next morning before we needed to return the car. We stood outside the Bellagio and saw the fountains dance to music while we waited for the next little Vegas surprise. This was the week of the National Rodeo (so we saw lots of cowboys hats), but it was also Nascar Victory week. The top ten finishers this year did a lap around the strip (it was closed down), and right in front of the Bellagio there was a place for a pitstop. All ten of the drivers stopped to have their tires changed before they peeled out again. Jason's drive, Tony Stewart was in the running, so the girls humored me while I took a few pictures for his benefit, plus, regardless of your interest in the sport, it's neat to see famous people so close, even if you don't really follow them....at least that was the argument I used that worked.

The other girls all decided they wanted to get tattoos. Uhhh....suddenly I'm outside of my comfort zone here. First, I am just not a very impulsive person, I'm a planner, second-I've spent the last 18 years of my life trying to be as different from my brother as possible, and so I don't think I can get any more scandalous than the one piercing in each ear. It was a big joke in the family when they had to tattoo my Mom for radiation, and later during reconstruction that I'm the only untattooed family member, and....I want to stay that way, despite the girl's best attempts. OK, to be fair-they all have previous tattoos-one for Kelly, and Lauren, and 7 for April. I still thought it was perhaps something to think about more than 10 minutes, but...it was decided. I suggested making at least sleeping on it, but the voice of waiting was stiffled, so it was a lot of sitting and waiting that afternoon while Kelly, and Lauren were tattooed. The tattoo shop was owned by some guy who plays for a band called Lincoln Park, it was very expensive. We ran out of time for April, and she was scheduled to return the next day. Here is where lots of compromise comes in b/c there were many things I'd rather be doing, but I'm sure I'll remember this more clearly than anything else. I didn't do anything I didn't want to do, but...I also had to sit back and wait, which is hard for me. I'm friends with Kelly's Dad on facebook, so I posted a picture for his benefit (and her suggestions), which I'm sure made several of my friends question what was going on. Her parents seemed OK with it, though Lauren's husband, and April's boyfriend were less than thrilled, which made for some interesting phone calls (maybe Vegas is best experienced single?). I've never seen anyone get a tattoo, other than on Miami Ink on TLC, but....I still don't feel the pull. To each his own, I know most of my brother's tattoos were on impulse, I guess you either want ink, or you don't. He says he doesn't regret any, but he isn't really the type to have regrets, though I have given him plenty of suggestions for things he might think about regretting over the years ;o). It's hard for me to commit to an outfit for the day, much less a lifetime of ink. No Thank You!

After two tattoos, we headed to the Venetian, and Emerald's restaurant Table 10. This is where April and her boyfriend began discussing her upcomnig tattoo, so it turned into a three hour dinner. The food was fine, very southern, with lots of fish, and a high price tag. I liked the rolls (surprise). Again, we had good service (it's definitely a service oriented town minus one hotel encounter).

After dinner the girl's had talked about going to another club, and so I was planning on heading to the hotel, but after April's phone calls, they stuck with me, and we played a few slots, and stopped by a table (something I've never tried before, and then headed in for a relatively early night (if that's what 2 am is called).

Viva Las Vegas-Day One

My high school friend, Kelly told me this summer she wanted to celebrate her thirtieth birthday in Vegas (not the actual day-Nov 1, but the general occasion, so I found a great flight, and a good hotel rate a month after her birthday). She invited two girls she works with, and I took time off work....more time than I've ever taken at once (since I only get 5 days a year for vacation type purposes, this was a big change for me). Our flight was designed to take off about 6:40 am, but due to the unusual snow in Dallas, and even more unusual snow in El Paso, there was a delay. We finally boarded at 7:20, whith the airport anticipating the freezing fog in El Paso would lift by the time we go there for our lay over. When we arrived in El Paso, this was not the case. We circled for thirty minutes, and then were diverted to Phoenix when the fog wasn't showing signs of lifting, AND we were the 6th plane in line to land. The flight attendant told us we 'should' have enough gas to get to Phoenix....he didn't mean it the way it sounded, but it sounded pretty intimadating! Other than that little blip, it really wasn't a bad thing. Southwest Airlines was our carrier of choice, and though there were no bells and whistles, I must say on the way to, and from Vegas we had delays, and they held the next plane for us each time, even though we were 30-40 minutes late, which was nice not having to worry about finding a new connection. We finally arrived in Vegas a little after nine. We were planning on taking a cab to the hotel, but then saw limos for 60 bucks, not bad, so we snagged one of those instead to start it out right. I'm personally not a fan of limos....I never have been, but....it's all about compromise (...as long as morals aren't involved, I can adjust! You will find this is the theme of this particular trip for me).

We checked into the Bellagio rather quickly, and dropped our stuff off, ready to get out and see the town. The Bellagio is beautiful, and their Christmas decorations were amazing!

They had trees, and decor everywhere, and one room completely dedicated to flowered decorations (huge ornaments made out of roses, bigger than life polar bears made out of mums, reindeer made out of nuts etc etc etc. (See my complete album for these details). We had decided to spend the extra money on the Bellagio as opposed to the other choices b/c we heard it was 'the' place to say. There were much better deals out there, but they did have a fairly reasonable rate, and we wanted to just enjoy the Vegas life for a few days. Again, I have to admit-it was NOT worth it. The rooms were nice, we had turn down service at night with mints on the pillow, the rooms were large, the bathrooms were amazing, but the customer service was AWFUL! Truly....awful! Our first room didn't have working air, the repair man essentially told us it was 'too bad' there was nothing we could do but change rooms....we packed up, and moved, and as soon as I took off my shoes, I discovered room number 2 had sopping wet carpets....since our stuff was still packed up, we asked to move again. This time we discovered the locks weren't working, after a day and a half of drama, going to the room, not getting in, getting (literally) more than ten keys, having repairmen come twice, having to call each time, and then being told who we needed to call from there, we asked to move again b/c each time we needed back in our room it took more than twenty minutes to wait for security or a bell hop (given the size of the hotel, everything takes forever, including just walking to our rooms). Room #4 had a shower that wouldn't drain, but that was so minor in comparison, we just gave up. I've never complained about a room before, and I usually don't really give rude people a second thought. There is so much more to the story, but....they were rude, and the hotel isn't THAT well maintained given it's reputation, my suggestion is to NEVER stay there...EVER! It was recently sold/bought by MGM....I believe it.
OK, our first real stop after the hotel was Serendipity 3 for lunch. This eatery is also in NYC, and I think they are based off a movie from a few years back, but it was FABULOUS! I loved our server (Bret), and the food was so good, all made from scratch. They are famous for their frozen hot chocolate.....we all agreed this was a well deserved reputation. They are pretty pricey, but I can't really say that I found a meal that wasn't pricey, and this was well worth the price.

Did I mention I LOVED our server? We loved him so much we went back the next day for lunch (and planned to go back day three, but were out too long).
After lunch we walked down the strip a little, and found a place selling discount show tickets. We grabbed some tickets at almost half price for Penn and Teller. We headed over to the Rio that night, and started out by eating dinner at a restaurant called Voodoo(we got 25% off the tab since we bought tickets to the show at their location). The food was pretty good, and the view from the 52nd floor was amazing of some of the sites of Las Vegas!

After dinner we headed to the Penn and Teller show. There were three seating levels, but the audience only filled up the bottom layer, so we were basically sat as close as the doorman could get us, which is a pretty nifty upgrade. Before the show we listened to a jazz band (right next to our seats), and the guy playing bass was Penn wearing a wig, but it's pretty hard to miss the obvious (he later played in the show). The show was very good, pretty incredible magic, and wit. Afterwards they came out into the halls and took photos with guest, and signed autographs.

I headed back to the hotel at that point, and the other girls went back to a club in the Rio (we could get in free with out tickets, but it's not my thing, never has been, never will be).