Andrew and Steve » Vegas

Leaving Las Vegas

Andrew — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:48:57 +0000

So that’s it! This is the end of our Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Las Vegas trip. We departed the Luxor and headed for the airport. Got on our flight without incident, other than having to deal with a snarky barista at the Starbuck’s at the airport.

We flew first class to Seattle where we caught a cab and went to the Cruise Ship terminal and boarded our cruise ship. We got a free room upgrade, which meant we had to go looking for our luggage since it was sent to the room we were originally assigned to, but after that was accomplished, we settled in for a relaxed evening returning to Vancouver.

When the ship arrived in Vancouver early the next morning, we managed to get off fairly quickly and didn’t have any hassle with customs. And that was all she wrote!Â Now GET BACK TO WORK!

Last Ve-Gasp

Andrew — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:00:11 +0000

We started this day in Vegas (our last real day there) by having an overpriced light breakfast of fruit and pastries, along with some ridiculously priced coffee at Starbucks. After that we went back to the Paris hotel and did the normal tourist thing of walking around in the hotel/casino. Paris has a replica of the Eiffel tower that goes up 50 stories, so we went for a ride to the top to check out the view. Quite an amazing architectural marvel, even despite being the scaled down version of the French original. Great views at the top, too. The Paris hotel was very charming and certainly replicated the feel of Paris.

After touring the Paris hotel, we went back to Luxor and checked out the “Bodies” exhibit. This is the display of the plastinated bodies, disected in various ways to show how the human body works. It was extremely interesting, despite being somewhat creepy. The one thing that Andrew couldn’t take was the display showing the various stages of embryo to baby – just a bit too much to take.

After grossing ourselves out with that, we decided to relax for the rest of the day and enjoyed some time at the Luxor pool. Of course it was a hot and sunny day and the pool was teeming with people to watch.

After the pool came the really interesting part of the day, which was the 7 course dinner (actually 8 course – we had a bonus course, courtesy Chef Rick Moonen) at RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay (see menue below). Absolutely amazing. The first few servings were barely large enough to cover our forks, but holy mackerel was it ever delicious.

Then we packed for the return trip and fell asleep.

CHEFâ€™S TASTING MENU
first
sliced KONA KAMPACHI, micro salad,

sour plum, rhubarb & fig vincotto

second
SPRING GARLIC soup, escargot,
quail egg & brioche

third
medallion of COBIA, piquillo pepper chutney,
sticky rice & sake lees â€œgazpachoâ€

fourth
lightly poached BLUE POINT OYSTER, braised bacon
& spicy creamed cabbage

fifth
sautÃ©ed ALASKAN HALIBUT, roasted asparagus, pomme
dauphine & grain mustard buerre blanc

sixth
butter-poached MAINE LOBSTER, wild mushroom,
toasted gnocchi, favas & grand marnier monte
($20 supplement)
or
niman ranch NY STRIP, seared foie gras,
buttermilk mashed potato & cabernet reduction
selection of ARTISAN CHEESES
($15 supplement)

seventh
choice of DESSERT

Circque

Andrew — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:16:52 +0000

This was one of the more exciting days in Vegas. We started the day by changing our car from the little SUV that we used to get to the Grand Canyon for a more interesting Dodge Charger. We kept squealing the tires on it everywhere we went, even though it only had a 6-cylinder engine in it. It was a very “torque-y” car with just the right weight to it – really comfortable and easy and fun to drive for a mid-size car.

We drove the car off the strip to check out “The Orleans” casino and had lunch there. After that we went to the Mandalay Bay to see the Shark Reef Aquarium. On the way back to Luxor, Andrew bought some clothes for relatively cheap, and had fun with the staff there.

The big event of the day was heading over to the Bellagio to see “O”, the Circque de Soleil show. We roamed around the hotel for a while then went and enjoyed the superior buffet there. There was a whole bunch of Circque promotional stuff in that hotel – there were so many O’s I thought Oprah was going to pop out of somewhere at any minute. After eating we went directly to the O theatre and waited for the performance to begin.

The show was absolutely incredible. There was so much going on that you couldn’t keep up with all the activity. I’m sure you could have seen the show one or two more times without feeling like watching a re-run.

Then as we were leaving the Bellagio we lucked out and the Fountain show was just starting, so we caught that as well.

Here’s some video:

Expensive Grand Canyon Booties

Andrew — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:05:33 +0000

This day we went for a road trip across the Nevada desert to the Grand Canyon. Stopped for a great breakfast in Boulder City, NV which for the two of us, cost less than one buffet breakfast at the Luxor. We continued along to Lake Mead and made our way along the top of the Hoover Dam.

The road to the west end of the Grand Canyon took us along a fairly rough gravel road – Good thing we had our trusty Toyota Highlander (4-Runner in sheep’s clothing). Mucked around at the Grand Canyon for a bit (see video).

Made our way back to Vegas but stopped in Boulder City again to do some laundry at a friendly little laundromat. Andrew washed the Toyota which became covered in dust from the trip to the Canyon, then we continued in to Vegas. Stopped for a great (cheap) Mexican dinner off of The Strip, then continued home for a well deserved rest. We also spent a bit of time on the casino floor, gambling away some cash.Â More on that later…

Las Vegas Day 1

Andrew — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:14:46 +0000

Our first full day in Las Vegas was mostly an orientation day. We went out and drove “The Strip” to see all the big hotels (see video). We also stopped at an Albertson’s to buy some groceries for our room. Then we went on a little walking adventure to see a couple of the hotels – well at least attempted to see some of the hotels near our own Luxor. We got trapped in the Excalibur and couldn’t find our way out for a while. There is a neat tram system between the Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay that we took to escape the heat of the day.

We ended up getting some tickets for Penn & Teller (magicians) and the ticket seller gave us a tip to jump on the free shuttle from “Paris” over the the “Rio” where Penn & Teller were performing. That saved us a few bucks on cab fare, plus we had a great meal at a restaurant in the “Rio” where we sat right in front of the pasta chef and watched him create some really tasty looking meals for the other patrons.

Penn & Teller in Las Vegas

Penn & Teller was very cool. Andrew’s favourite trick was the coins and goldfish trick, where Teller (the quiet one) would reach into a large water filled aquarium on stage, pull out some water and sprinkle it into a small goldfish bowl, whereupon the goldfish bowl would fill with coins. Then , conversely, he took a bunch of coins out of the goldfish bowl and dropped them into the aquarium where they turned into a bunch of goldfish. Very impressive.

Then we took the shuttle back to “Paris” and walked for 30 minutes along the strip back to our hotel. It was a very pleasant walk at 10:00 in the evening and there were plenty of people watching opportunities.

Bye Bye Palm Springs

Andrew — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:13:43 +0000

Well, slightly sadsies today, having to leave Palm Springs.Â We hung around as long as we possibly could until the maid said “Check out is 11:00!Â Get the hell out!”

We reluctantly left our beautiful resort and made our way to Las Vegas.Â Surprisingly navigating the freeway traffic was not a problem and we only had one slowdown when we encountered some road construction in San Bernadino.Â For a region that is so car-centric as Southern California, their freeways are surprisingly ugly and rough.Â Once we got out of the big city and closer to the desert the roads became much smoother, although the landscape was quite monotone.

BMW 745 Li

I did notice one interesting anomalie:Â The BMW 7 Series seems to be very popular here.Â I saw a total of 8 of them on our drive between San Bernadino and Vegas (about a 2 hour period) and all of them going the same way (TO Vegas).Â I thought that was kind of odd.Â Saw quite a few Crossfires too, but less than 8 for the whole trip.

Palm Springs Part 3

Andrew — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:34:02 +0000

Wow, things just get better and better here. We have been enjoying our resort – see the tour below. We liked it so much here that we stayed an extra day.

We have begun to get into a routine. Steve goes for a bike ride in the morning while I get orgnized and try to relax a little bit by the pool, or in a hot-tub. I have to steal every opportunity to relax that I can because Steve has us on a very busy schedule.

Today we went back to the shopping section of town and I bought a few clothes, nothing speactacular, but did get a pair of board shorts. We then went to the Palm Springs Zoo that was mentioned a few posts ago, so see the picture show below to see what that was like. Sorry about the crappy quality – I was experimenting with the editing software…

Palm Springs Part 2

Andrew — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 06:32:37 +0000

Hi Folks:

Our second day in Palm Springs was really fun. It was a lazy day by and large. Steve went for a bike ride – the bike which was rented from a local company that dropped it off right at our location. Then we explored Palm Springs a little bit by going for a walk along the main drag – kind of a tourist trap affair, much like Robson Street in Vancouver. Really nice stores and I wanted to buy a lot of stuff, but managed to refrain. They also have a small “Walk of Fame” a’la Grumman’s Chinese Theatre in LA, where the sidewalk is embedded with stars commemorating famous local people, many of which are recognizable stars such as Frank Sinatra and the like.

After that we went to the water slide park, which you’ve seen a clip of already, here. Had another Meet ‘n’ Greet at the resort then went out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

This time of year the weather is very hot, so I can’t imagine what it would be like in the high heat of summer. It was quite enjoyable for us, but might be too much if it were any hotter. The people are really nice here, very laid back, and the town has a fairly easy going vibe.

Might have to come back here again.

Palm Springs

Andrew — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:54:14 +0000

Departing LA and getting out of the city was surprisingly uneventful. Not too much to tell you. The drive to Palm Springs was interesting, and the resort is fantastic. Love love love it here, and the resort, too.

Had a great lunch at a Vegan restaurant, and bought a bunch of groceries at “Ralph’s”, where the cashier used her own points card so I could save about $10 on our purchase. Love the booze at the grocery store, although not everything is super cheap, but it certainly is easy to access.

The resort sponsored a meet ‘n’ greet in the evening so we got to meet many of the other hotel guests. More on our going’s on in Palm Springs later.

We Went to Disneyland!

Andrew — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:47:37 +0000

The video doesn’t really say it all. We couldn’t show you the really fun rollercoasters because we didn’t want to have the camera go flying. We couldn’t show you Splash Mountain, because we didn’t want to drown the camera. Steve shot 1 hour of footage, but we managed to compress it into about 4 minutes.

If you are having any trouble viewing these videos, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/ahunt416