Vegas! Wednesday through Friday
This got so long, I'm dividing it up...
My Vegas Vacation
by Ninjababe
I always feel like I'm in sixth grade and writing a summer vacation report when I do these.
Anyway, We left bright and early on Wednesday morning. Along the way, the cats were very good. And, we got Sonic! Yay, cherry limeaides!
We got to St George, Utah pretty early. It was only 10pm. And, usually, we get in between 2am and dawn. I then spent the night being jerked awake by a maurading kitten exploring my room.
The next day, we got our hair cut, hung out with the family, had dinner. Then, we packed up, got teary eyed over leaving the kitties, then off to Vegas!
Arrival at the Riviera and settling in went off without a hitch...
Friday, we registered. Everyone who came up to ithildyn and I asked first, "How's Norrington?" It was funny!
We go into the convention room and sit down for the opening ceremonies.
Suddenly, a flash beside my head, and a thunk.
A piece of flashing from the ceiling fell, hit robi_travels bounced off her glasses and side of her head, bounced of her arm, and rebounded to my head. Thank goodness, she was wearing her glasses, or she could've been seriously hurt. And, thankfully, I hadn't been leaning over to mutter in her ear, or I could've been seriously hurt.
We rush out of the room, mostly because Roberta didn't want to freak people out if she was bleeding.
Long story short, she ended up with a small cut, a bruised arm, and her head didn't hurt at all. I couldn't even feel my head hurting (especially over the near migraine that was on the other side of my head). So, she filled out the incident report. Funny bit... Since the incident report was the same report they used for workman's comp, at the bottom, there's a line that says 'occupation'. She turned to me and said, "Should I really scare them?" I told her to put it down. So, she wrote attorney. The security guy's eyes went so wide!
When we were done, we figured we should go calm down over some alcohol and food, so we went to lunch at the Peppermill restaurant next to the hotel.
We go back, just in time for the dinner break, so we head up to the room to dress up.
We had dinner reservations, darn it!
So, during the meet and greet and the beginning of the carnival, we had fun. Had a great conversation with Peter about the night life in Vegas, including our last trip where Roberta, Ith, and I were nearly shot during a security crack-down in front of the MGM-Grand on our last trip. And, we talked about the oh-so-sunny (not) weather in Monterey, California. Did you know that the Monterey Peninsula has an average of 180+ fog days a year? Yeah, so much for sunny California.
Then, we headed to the Venetian for our dinner. We were told we could possibly get in when we arrived, but we could definitely get in at 1130pm. Yes, only in Vegas would you need dinner reservations at 1130 at night. So, we went wandering the casino. As Ith said, many times, "They have water! And boats!". We adore the Venetian. We found a great bar that may become our place in the future.
Now, side bit: I'm an amateur bartender. I love mixing drinks. I can make you a margarita from scratch without looking at the recipe. I was tempted a few times to hop the bar in the hotel and make my own drink (But, I figured they wouldn't have simple syrup). Anyway... I wrote down the drinks so I can recreate them later.
Ith had a Clover Club Fizz: Gin, Raspberry Couili, Peach Schnapps, Sweet & Sour, and Champagne.
Roberta had a Tropicale: Banana Rum, Strawberry Couli, Pineapple Juice.
I had a Casanova: Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Apricot Vodka, and Pineapple Juice.
Well, Ith had a bit more champagne after, and I just had to try the tequila they had, just because the bottle called to me. And, now, I can't remember it! It's not Curazon, but sounds similar. The bottle was a nice square with the neck coming out of the side instead of the middle. And, yes, it was good. Also, found out that there is a sake liqueur, called Ty Ku. I think it may be the new 'big' thing, since I've seen it mentioned in a few places.
Also, we saw a gallery for an awesome photographer. Peter Lik. Lovely, lovely gallery! If only I could afford just one of his Aspen pictures...
We finally get into the restaurant. We went to Tao, which is almost too loud to be comfortable, since it's below the Tao night club. It wasn't quite loud enough to hurt, but close.
The food was wonderful. They actually had a Kobe beef dish that was served by the ounce, so if you wanted to make an appetizer, you could just order an ounce or two.
Yes, I have finally had Kobe beef. It was wonderful. It melted like butter. Granted, I don't know if it was American Kobe beef or true Kobe beef, but I'm still happy.
Then, our entrees arrived. Oh, and our very nice sake. Roberta and I decided to share Peking duck, since it was a two person dish, and I've always wanted to try it. Denise had steak and udon noodles. We plowed through that food!
I know we had dessert, but the dinner was so good, I couldn't remember what it was. And, we got rose and jasmine green tea with it. Ith waxed poetic about it to the waiter, so he ran off to write down the name and where she could buy it. It was damn good tea.
We could've gone into the night club after, but it was nearly 2 am, and we were dead tired. It would've meant going out of the club, walking up to the maitre'd, and getting a stamp. Then, we'd have to tromp up the three flights of stairs to the club. Tired! Sleepy! No!
I got a bit of a second wind when we got back to the hotel, so Roberta and I went to play slots. Two to three hours later, I had lost twenty bucks, but I had fun playing slots for a few hours.
My Vegas Vacation
by Ninjababe
I always feel like I'm in sixth grade and writing a summer vacation report when I do these.
Anyway, We left bright and early on Wednesday morning. Along the way, the cats were very good. And, we got Sonic! Yay, cherry limeaides!
We got to St George, Utah pretty early. It was only 10pm. And, usually, we get in between 2am and dawn. I then spent the night being jerked awake by a maurading kitten exploring my room.
The next day, we got our hair cut, hung out with the family, had dinner. Then, we packed up, got teary eyed over leaving the kitties, then off to Vegas!
Arrival at the Riviera and settling in went off without a hitch...
Friday, we registered. Everyone who came up to ithildyn and I asked first, "How's Norrington?" It was funny!
We go into the convention room and sit down for the opening ceremonies.
Suddenly, a flash beside my head, and a thunk.
A piece of flashing from the ceiling fell, hit robi_travels bounced off her glasses and side of her head, bounced of her arm, and rebounded to my head. Thank goodness, she was wearing her glasses, or she could've been seriously hurt. And, thankfully, I hadn't been leaning over to mutter in her ear, or I could've been seriously hurt.
We rush out of the room, mostly because Roberta didn't want to freak people out if she was bleeding.
Long story short, she ended up with a small cut, a bruised arm, and her head didn't hurt at all. I couldn't even feel my head hurting (especially over the near migraine that was on the other side of my head). So, she filled out the incident report. Funny bit... Since the incident report was the same report they used for workman's comp, at the bottom, there's a line that says 'occupation'. She turned to me and said, "Should I really scare them?" I told her to put it down. So, she wrote attorney. The security guy's eyes went so wide!
When we were done, we figured we should go calm down over some alcohol and food, so we went to lunch at the Peppermill restaurant next to the hotel.
We go back, just in time for the dinner break, so we head up to the room to dress up.
We had dinner reservations, darn it!
So, during the meet and greet and the beginning of the carnival, we had fun. Had a great conversation with Peter about the night life in Vegas, including our last trip where Roberta, Ith, and I were nearly shot during a security crack-down in front of the MGM-Grand on our last trip. And, we talked about the oh-so-sunny (not) weather in Monterey, California. Did you know that the Monterey Peninsula has an average of 180+ fog days a year? Yeah, so much for sunny California.
Then, we headed to the Venetian for our dinner. We were told we could possibly get in when we arrived, but we could definitely get in at 1130pm. Yes, only in Vegas would you need dinner reservations at 1130 at night. So, we went wandering the casino. As Ith said, many times, "They have water! And boats!". We adore the Venetian. We found a great bar that may become our place in the future.
Now, side bit: I'm an amateur bartender. I love mixing drinks. I can make you a margarita from scratch without looking at the recipe. I was tempted a few times to hop the bar in the hotel and make my own drink (But, I figured they wouldn't have simple syrup). Anyway... I wrote down the drinks so I can recreate them later.
Ith had a Clover Club Fizz: Gin, Raspberry Couili, Peach Schnapps, Sweet & Sour, and Champagne.
Roberta had a Tropicale: Banana Rum, Strawberry Couli, Pineapple Juice.
I had a Casanova: Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Apricot Vodka, and Pineapple Juice.
Well, Ith had a bit more champagne after, and I just had to try the tequila they had, just because the bottle called to me. And, now, I can't remember it! It's not Curazon, but sounds similar. The bottle was a nice square with the neck coming out of the side instead of the middle. And, yes, it was good. Also, found out that there is a sake liqueur, called Ty Ku. I think it may be the new 'big' thing, since I've seen it mentioned in a few places.
Also, we saw a gallery for an awesome photographer. Peter Lik. Lovely, lovely gallery! If only I could afford just one of his Aspen pictures...
We finally get into the restaurant. We went to Tao, which is almost too loud to be comfortable, since it's below the Tao night club. It wasn't quite loud enough to hurt, but close.
The food was wonderful. They actually had a Kobe beef dish that was served by the ounce, so if you wanted to make an appetizer, you could just order an ounce or two.
Yes, I have finally had Kobe beef. It was wonderful. It melted like butter. Granted, I don't know if it was American Kobe beef or true Kobe beef, but I'm still happy.
Then, our entrees arrived. Oh, and our very nice sake. Roberta and I decided to share Peking duck, since it was a two person dish, and I've always wanted to try it. Denise had steak and udon noodles. We plowed through that food!
I know we had dessert, but the dinner was so good, I couldn't remember what it was. And, we got rose and jasmine green tea with it. Ith waxed poetic about it to the waiter, so he ran off to write down the name and where she could buy it. It was damn good tea.
We could've gone into the night club after, but it was nearly 2 am, and we were dead tired. It would've meant going out of the club, walking up to the maitre'd, and getting a stamp. Then, we'd have to tromp up the three flights of stairs to the club. Tired! Sleepy! No!
I got a bit of a second wind when we got back to the hotel, so Roberta and I went to play slots. Two to three hours later, I had lost twenty bucks, but I had fun playing slots for a few hours.