Our Travels

Since we went to bed so early (around 11 pm Vegas time), we got up really early as well – at about 5 am!!!!  This gave us plenty of time to leisurely get ready and look at all of our pictures before heading to breakfast.  We left our room at around 7 am.  Vegas at 7 am is quite different than Vegas at 7 pm.  There are still people gambling at 7 am, but I think most of them have never actually gone to bed.  I wanted to eat at Mon Ami Gabi again, because prior to our trip I had read about their chocolate bacon waffles.   Yes, that means a waffle with chocolate AND bacon inside!!!  Anyone that knows me knows that waffles, chocolate and bacon are three of my favorite things.  I was not disappointed.  I will never again settle for having just a “regular” waffle.  To make it even better, it was served with a side of delicious whipped cream, syrup, and chocolate dipping sauce.  I made Mike take a picture so that I could make everyone that has never experienced this wonderful creation jealous.



Mike isn’t a big breakfast person, so he just had a bagel.  It was a nice morning so we sat outside.  We had a great view of the Bellagio from or table!



After breakfast we caught a cab to Mandalay Bay.  The plan for today was to tour as many of the hotels on the southern part of the strip as possible.  Mandalay Bay is about as south as you can get on the main strip area.  We really liked the feel of this hotel.  It felt like a beach resort.   The decor throughout was really interesting.



 They had a headless statue of Lenin outside of their Russian restaurant, the Red Room.



 There was also this cool wall filled with marble body parts.  Mike liked one in particular.

 

We had decided to play $5 in slots at each of the casinos we visited – I know, we are such high rollers, aren’t we?!?  The $5 went by quickly and we decided to continue with our touring.  After Mandalay Bay we walked to the Luxor.  This is the Egyptian themed hotel in Paris.  The one shaped like a pyramid with a big sphinx out front.  

 

I was excited to tour this hotel since I teach Ancient Egypt.  I had read that there was a recreation of King Tut’s tomb that you could view.  Unfortunately we both felt like this hotel was a big let down.  The front was kind of cool, but the inside was dated and after ample searching we were unable to find King Tut’s tomb.  Now I know what Howard Carter must have felt like all those years 🙂  We did sign up to win a Z06 there, so if we were to win that I think that perhaps it would make up for the suckiness that is the Luxor. The Luxor is connected to the Excalibur, so we ended up visiting this hotel almost by accident.  Again, nothing special.  

 

We walked around the casino for a bit, Mike played $5 at the slots and then we quickly got out of there.   Next up was the New York, New York hotel.  This one was better than the previous two we had visited.  All of the restaurants and shops were done up so that they recreated a “typical” New York street scene.



Outside there are miniature versions of the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge.  Having been to NYC,  they seemed to be pretty accurate, but of course no where near as cool as the real thing.



After the New York, New York hotel we took the walkway across Las Vegas Blvd to tour the MGM.  I already new that the MGM was huge, but didn’t realize how huge until we got inside and started walking around!  We walked clear across it and actually stopped for a few minutes to rest before trekking back.  We sure are going to be in trouble on Monday when we are suppose to hike those 8 miles up hill in Zion!!! One of the coolest things about MGM was the Lion Habitat.  It’s a free lion exhibit right in the middle of the casino.  The “habitat” is completely enclosed in glass so it gives you a good view of the lions that are on display.  There is even a glass tunnel that you can walk through to get a view of the underside of the lions.  A view few people ever get to see and live to tell about!!!  Unfortunately free attractions like this attract a LOT of people.  It was hard to get close to the glass and when we did people kept shoving in to us so that they could see better.  We did get to see one of the lions drinking from a small waterfall though before we were shoved out of the way!  

 

Maybe we are just really missing our boys (our labs Shadow and Bailey), but everything the lions did reminded us of them! From the MGM we made the trek to Planet Hollywood.  Mike had visited this hotel when he was in Vegas last year.  He had really enjoyed it then and wanted me to see it.  I quickly understood why Mike liked it so much – there is a Hawaiin Tropics inside, all of the cocktail waitresses in the casino wear bustiers, and there is even an area of the casino called the “Pleasure Pit” where all of the dealers also wear bustiers!  We stopped at Hawaiian Tropic for our first beverage of the day.  We got the second round “to go” and went to play some of the slots.  This time I decided to partake in the action.  I played the 5 cent blackjack machine.   I actually really liked it.  The $2 I invested lasted me quite a while – at one point I had even doubled my money.  Prior to the trip we had made a rule that as soon as we doubled the money we had invested we should cash out, but I felt a little silly cashing out on $4, so I just continued to play until eventually I got a little wild and upped my bid to 25 cents.  I was actually still able to continue playing for quite a while on the initial $2 I had put in.   I could quickly see how people who are willing to invest $$$ into these games could potentially make some fast cash – or lose it all within minutes. Once we had lost all of our money at the Planet Hollywood we decided to go to the Bellagio before stopping for lunch.  The Bellagio is a really beautiful hotel.  The lobby was gorgeous with a ceiling of glass sculptures.

 

There is even a conservatory right in the middle of it.



After checking out the Bellagio we decided it was time for some lunch.  We decided to go to I Love This Bar which is owned by the country singer Toby Keith.  Let me start off by saying that I hate Toby Keith.  He is the one that criticized the Dixie Chicks for talking bad about Bush.  And anyone that writes lyrics like, “we’ll put a boot up your a**,  because it’s the American way” must be a freaking idiot.   But Mike went there last time he was here and said it was good, so I figured $20 bucks of my business isn’t going to make or break him and we might as well – plus at this point I was so hungry I probably would have eaten just about anywhere!  The restaurant was okay.  We got the appetizer sampler and then split the club.  Mike thought everything was very good, so perhaps I’m just being harsh.  The whole time we were there we kept hearing this group of girls up at the bar scream and cheer every few minutes.  We figured out that every time we heard that they were taking a shot.  Eventually the cheering gotten fewer and far between and by the time we left we were pretty sure they were passed out.  

After lunch we made our way to Bill’s Gambling Hall.  This is where Mike had done most of his gambling during his visit last year.  This is also where Big Elvis performs and I definitely wanted to see that show!  By the time we got there we had a little over an hour before the next show so we decided to play at a table.  Mike really enjoyed playing Pai Gow last time and wanted me to try it.  We got $20 worth of chips per person and placed our bets.  The minimum was $10 which is what we played.  Mike had tried to teach me how to play on the plane, but as soon as I sat down at the table everything I had learned went out the window.  The dealer was really nice and told me what cards to play where, but within a couple of minutes I had lost the $10.  And within a few more the remaining $10 was gone.  I didn’t really like the table because everything goes so fast and there are all these rules that apparently you are just suppose to know.  Like you don’t hand your cash directly to the dealer, Mike couldn’t touch my cards when he was trying to help me out,  I couldn’t touch my own cards until she made some sort of sign, you are suppose to tip 5% commission on whatever you win, etc.  Mike still had all of his money left, so I went to get a table for the Big Elvis show while he continued to play.  Within 15 minutes his money was all gone as well and he joined me for the show.  Big Elvis is a legend on the internet.  He has been playing 3 times a day at Bills for the last 7 years and everything I read prior to our trip said that we must go see him perform.  We were not disappointed.

 

He sounds just as  good as Elvis and put on a great (free) performance. Amazingly he has lost 550 pounds in the last 3.5 years.  He use to weigh 900 pounds and had to be put on oxygen when he decided to change his life – and he’s done it all without any type of surgery or procedure!!!!  About 1/2 way through the show he picked four guys from the audience to perform with him.  We were seated toward the back and thought we were safe, but the guy that controls the spotlight was right behind us and put it right on Mike.  After initially hesitating Mike decided to just go for it, because what happens in Vegas is suppose to stay in Vegas…  unless we put it on this blog!  The four guys were competing for who was the best performer.  I attempted to use Mike’s camera to get some pics.  A couple of them actually turned out somewhat in focus. Unfortunately for Mike, two of the guys were REALLY into it, but they ended up giving all four participants the “grand prize” which was one of his cds and a certificate saying that he performed with Big Elvis.  After the show we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.  Once ready we caught the free shuttle to the Rio and made our way to the Voodoo Lounge which is the restaurant/bar at the top of the hotel.  I had read that the view from here was amazing and it definitely was. 

 

I had also read about this drink they have called the “witch doctor” which is a huge concoction of different liquors with dry ice thrown in.  It was great – and lasted us the whole evening!  We got there early enough to get some pictures of dusk and stayed long enough to get pictures of the strip all lit up.  After taking in the view we decided to head back to the Paris to get some dinner. We ate at Le Burger Braisserie.  Mike got an onion mushroom burger and I got the french cheesesteak sandwich.  Both were really good, but about 1/2 way through dinner we lost all of our steam and could barely keep our eyes open long enough to finish our meal.   I was so tired I didn’t even want to stay for the banana donuts with chocolate sauce that I had read so much about!!!  Sadly we were so exhausted that we were in bed by 10!!!   

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 11:41 am and is filed under Out West 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.