Las Vegas - The Highlights

Room 302, Hampton Inn, Richfield, Utah
6.00pm Saturday 14th May

Trying to catch up with this Blog. From tomorrow we have 2 nights in Salt Lake City, plus a morning before our flight to Anchorage, Alaska. So we hope to get up to date by then!

Meanwhile back in Glitter City, which is like Marmite. Hate it? Or love it? We love it. Every minute. But it is very understandable that it could also be a hell hole for many people. But, gentle reader, you already know that and also know what is worth knowing about the place. But here are our own highlights.

Once we had got over the suite the "kind people" at Aria had given us, we had already booked a table at what is probably our favourite restaurant anywhere, as a special treat to celebrate our 44th anniversary (which is why we got that upgrade at the hotel we finally found out!). That it is the Top of the World at the Stratosphere. A sort of Post Office Tower where the restaurant rotates approx every hour. Also people fling themselves off on a wire and pay for that privilege.

The room was quite dark so pictures of the food were too dim. We had chosen the sampling menu where we had four courses of more manageable, nay quite small, servings. Suited us.

First, John had Lobster Bisque, Bob had mixed greens (tomato, cucumber, red onion, radish, fennel, roasted beets, balsamic vinaigrette.
Second Course, John: Seared Scallop, cauliflower salad, lemon butter emulsion, Bob: Kurobuta Pork Belly, root vegetables, farro, quinoa, chimichurri, Chinese five spice.
Third Course, we both had Filet Mignon & Shrimp Scampi, mashed potatoes, mushroom reduction.

Stars were probably the lobster bisque, the pork and the filet (say feelay!). Oh and the delicious and pretty chocolate dessert. The dark one was sooooo chocolatey. But the real star is always the view as the lights come on and the tripping helicopters, hundreds of them, buzz the tower.

Denny's at the top end of the Strip is now a ritual for our first breakfast in Las Vegas. Very busy. Very friendly (we recognised several of the staff from previous visits. Good places seem to keep their staff like the guy who poured the water at the Top of the Tower. When we asked him if he was there two years ago he said, "yea, I've been here for 20 years"! He said he thought he remembered us. Maybe!)

We enjoy a gamble. Nowadays on Video Poker machines as they can pay a decent return and you don't lose your money as quickly as on Blackjack. Stakes are too high for us on that game now. We paid our usual respects to Boot Barn Western store, then carried on past the last main casino at the south end of the Strip, Mandalay Bay, and on a couple of miles to "South Point" hotel and casino. This was a find. A nice place and very traditional in style. For some reason we found ourselves playing 5c Video Poker (that's a 5 cent stake, though it's normal to play 5 times the stake in order to have a chance at the jackpot, so that's 25c a go) though we usually play on 25c machines. So when John got a Royal Straight Flush, instead of a $1,000 he won slightly less. Of course, he probably would not have won it had we been playing 25c stakes.

That evening we had yet another treat, a concert at The Colosseum, Caesars Palace with Reba Mcentire and Brooks & Dunn. A magnificent theater that seats 4,100 and every seat was taken. We could not believe the production, The lighting was exciting and the music brilliant. We both got quite carried away with the enthusiastic Western fans. And the VERY exciting finale with sailors coming on stage to take the salute followed by huge streamers coming down from the roof with Brooks & Dunn's big hit "Only in America". WOW what an evening.

Next morning, for a break from the city, we drove out to Boulder City, which was originally built to house those working on the construction of Hoover Dam. To this day, gambling is banned here, originally to keep the workers focused on dam-building rather than getting hooked on the sinful gambling!

Bob's Huevos Rancheros. John had fruit, of course!

On the drive back, we spotted this "shortcut":-

And, we called in to our old haunt, the Golden Nugget where one of the many elegant marriages had clearly just happened:-

One thing you still get Downtown is lots of neon, which gradually is disappearing from the Strip.

And we were lucky again at the Cortez casino, one of the oldest in town.. and our bankroll continued to grow without any more contributions from us (we left Las Vegas with a profit of around $150!).

One of our rituals used to be midnight steak and eggs back in the cosy "Carson Street Cafe" in the Golden Nugget. A couple of years ago the Nugget was bought by a restaurant chain based in Houston, Texas. They closed the cafe, converted half of it into a bar, and the other half they named after their chain "The Claim Jumper". Nowhere near as nice but the food was OK,

Bob had ham 'n eggs, John a Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Why do they do that? Change a successful cafe into two establishments that are nowhere near as good or as successful. Heyho!

Next morning we took a stroll through the rather down-market shopping arcade that links the Aria with the Cosmopolitan to the Strip, back into the Monte Carlo which links back to the Aria. Phew it was hot! A Henry Moore marks the entrance to "The Crystals Shops". Thankfully not shoppes! (We have seen several grilles today!).

We would have chosen this chandelier for our good friend, Paul. but couldn't get it in our case!

We guessed that one of the handbags in this shop would equate to maybe six weeks' pay for the cleaner?

The Aria hotel is on the right of this picture:-

The next day it was time to visit our favourite store, J C Penney for some clothes. With all the special offers, clothes are about the only thing still cheap in the USA. On the way we stopped at a 'Blueberry Hill', apparently famous for their pancakes, as Bob found out, to his cost.

and for afters, should you have room.....

At Penney's we both got 3 tops/shirts each for $90. We estimated similar would have cost us about 160€ at Corte Ingles.

We spotted oleander everywhere and they seem to do much better than at home in Spain

Our final meal in Vegas was at the Aria buffet. A staggering selection of seafood, Mediterranean, Asia etc etc, plus good old roast beef, turkey etc. We had very small portions of a selection, as well as tiny "sweets".

We then had a final drive up the Strip and popped into the SLS Casino, which is the late Sahara casino, remodelled into a modern hotel and casino. The place was not busy apart from a very large party of women who were making a lot of noise. We lost a few dollars then as the women were leaving, John noticed that they may not all be women. What do you think?

None of them. We had a chat with a couple of them but seemed to get conflicting stories but we think they were local Las Vegas guys who like dressing up a bit and get a bus to take them round the "hotspots".

We drove back to the Aria and waddled off too bed with yet another big smile on our faces.

We are, this night, in a tiny town in the middle Utah. It's a rather different world to the madness we left behind in Las Vegas.

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