It's been a while since I posted about a Vegas trip so I thought that I would write about my Nice Relaxing Spring Trip during May 12th to the 17th 2019.
Getting to Vegas and little Miss Entitled
We (my sister & I) started out our trip at that usual Zero Dark hour of 3 AM central time, to make it to Midway for our 6:25 AM flight.
No issues with the weather or traffic driving in for that matter and we pulled into "Park & Fly" parking lot before 5. A little plug for them, if you have never used them out of Midway, I would highly recommend them and have been using them for years now. They use an app now that you just scan at the gate (as long as you pre-pay) and the person at the gate directs you to a row to park in and the shuttle follows behind, helps you with your bags and then you are off to the departure. Pick up upon return is just as easy as you can text them or they are usually behind baggage claim waiting to drop you off at your car. You may ask how to they know what car is yours, well they give you a little ticket on pick up that has your parking spot number. Also the big reason to use them, they are way CHEAPER than airport parking!
Back to my story: TSA as bit of a hassle leaving as they had people wait in a line and then walk two a breast so the dog could smell you. This is a new one, but after that it was the usual checks and off to the gate.
With our Southwest A boarding passing in hand we lined up and everything was on time as we loaded the aircraft. We were pushing back early and everyone was happy to be going to Vegas early.
THEN as the flight attendants were doing their brief, a lady sprayed a very strong spray which smelt of strawberries, it wasn't unpleasant, BUT this is were Miss Entitled Millennial starts in, with an "excuse me I'm going to need one of those bags". I'm thinking at first that she is just very nervous flyer and is felling ill already. Oh NO, she is claiming that she has fragrance sensitivities and is going to be sick because of the spray and then she starts yakking at the lady who sprayed the scent loud enough that most people can hear her and then she says the magic words to the flight attendant "I WANT TO GET OFF THIS AIRPLANE". Now mind you we have left the gate and are taxing out for take off! The flight attendants ask her if she wants to move seats and the plane stops, she refuses and repeats those words.
Another FA comes back and asks her again if she want to move seats and again she repeats the words. So we are moving back to the gate now and the pilot lets everyone know we have to return to the gate because someone needs to get off the airplane. As we are going back to the gate, little Miss asks if she will get her back off (you know the one that is in the airplane belly along with 150 other bags) the FA tells her no and now all of a sudden there is medicine in the bag that she needs and will not get off the airplane unless she can get her bag as well. The FA tells her that is not and option and she keeps repeating that she is not getting off unless she gets her bag.
So we get back to gate and she is still in her seat, well the gate guy comes on the plane walks right up to her and tells her that she needs to leave the airplane right now. She repeats about her bag to him and once again she is told that is not and option and he now stands over here staring at her not say another word. So she finally realizes that she is not going to win this one and almost runs off the plane. This whole thing as going on behind us, but in front of us is the poor guy who is with her and you see him grab is bags and sulk off.
We had to get the airplane fuel topped off and we were all on our way to
Vegas and even made it there on time!
One more thing to add, little Miss as sitting near the washrooms and if you thought a strawberry scent was bad, she would of really love the smell coming out of there about mid-flight!!
Mimosas in the Sunshine
We get our rental car via Avis and go straight to the garage because I'm a VIP like that, really it's just the Avis renter club.
Out the gate and onto Mandalay Bay for brunch!
Now as anyone who lives in the Midwest can tell you, the Winters are CRAP!!
But this year we had a never ending one, from the Snow in late April after the flowers had started to come up, to the arctic "Bomb Cyclone" with below zero temps/snow and 70 mph winds!
We had a hell of a Winter this year, but after booking our Vegas trip, when ever there was bad weather we would just say to each other "Mimosas in the Sunshine" to get through it.
Border Grill at Mandalay Bay has a brunch on Saturday and Sundays that is fantastic! It is various small plates of their Mexican inspired food and if you wish UNLIMITED Mimosas!!!!
In years past they would always just bring you a glass at a time, but now they serve you the fruit juices and a whole bottle of Prosecco and keep bring more bottles until you tell them to stop!
They also have outdoor seating that looks at the pool, so that is of course where we sat and 3 bottles later or just over 4 hours later we were done.Yes they do not rush you out and our waiter enjoyed us so much he even said "you guys can sit here for ever, I don't care" and just to show you the level of service we had a couple of the managers stop bye, at different times, to check in and say Hi and one even noticed our bottle was low and brought another for us.
Here is the link to Border Grill, where you can find out more:
Border Grill
Very satisfied by the true start to our trip we made our way to Treasure Island to check in.
I haven't stayed there since MGM owned it, but my sister stays there a lot. She told me that the casino marketing offers always wave the resort fee regardless of your level of play.So last year I spent a couple of hours playing there while staying at Harrahs and low and behold I did get the resort fee wave offers the next quarter.
Check in was easy as you can use the Invited Guess line with casino marketing offers and I was on my way to my 30th floor pool/strip view room in no time. The desk clerk did say that he was putting me in a newly refreshed room. The rooms and bathrooms are not huge but they have done a nice room and here are some pictures:
There was a wrap over my window, so a day time picture was not possible here is the night view:
Next couple of hours was just relax time for me, I tired to nap but of course "Vegas" and I couldn't, so I went to CVS which is right off the casino to get some water and then it was time to meet our Vegas friends as Bally's.
We (my sister and I) walked over to Bally's where we met our Vegas friends and we all caught up in person from over the last since we saw each other.
We used the Bally's lobby bar which is nice place for a meet up, as they are ok with groups sitting there and you can just to to the bar to get a drink if you want and get the evil eye from a waitress if you do not order and actually the only waitress that comes bye our the ones who are working the slot floor.
After we broke up the met we went over to Secret Pizza for a slice and then headed back to our rooms, as the early wait up and time change was getting to us.
A couple of laughs at Secret Pizza, one British tours calling a plain cheese pizza a Margarita pizza and the worker not really understand that she wanted the "cheese pizza" and all the women who were dress like porn stars for a night out at the Cosmo!
In bed and out before 10 and this ends my first day.
Friends Day in Vegas
Now beside the friends that come to Vegas once a year to meet up, I have a couple of friends from different points in my life who live in there and I always try to meet up with as well.
One friend who just move there and lives near Palace Station, so we all had breakfast together at the buffet.
They have done a really nice job with the remodel at Palace Station and thankfully the buffet in now off the casino instead of it's old location upstairs. We caught up and she had to leave so we stayed for a bit to gamble and then left.
The majority of the day was just gambling, drinking walking around the strip etc....
That evening we went to met another friend of mine who was in the Air Force with me and we were stationed together in Okinawa. When we visited in December last year me told me about Japanese curry place in Chinatown that also had beer from Okinawa (Orion beer), so we made plans to meet there for dinner this year.
The place is called Curry Zen
I had always thought that Chinatown in LV was just that one strip mall on Spring Mountain Road. Oh NO it goes well beyond that and if you are driving with your windows open it smells great from all the different restaurants and it seems like every Asian country has their ow strip mall on the road.
It took us a little bit to find the place because it does face the road, but google maps helped and the food and beer was delirious and brought back memoirs for me.
We said our goodbyes and my sister and I were off to downtown to meet up with our "Vegas" friends again.
After a few texts we found them at the Golden Nugget pool. Not in the pool, but lounging on the sofas there, I had no idea that you can sit out there after the pool closes.
We spent some time chatting/laughing and the majority of people hadn't eaten dinner, so they all decided to go to Nacho Daddy.
We all made our way through the sea of humanity that is Fremont street with just a brief intermission so one of ladies could get a picture or two with a couple of greased up want to be Chippendales.
We made it to Nacho Daddy, I was still to full to eat so I was just along for the company, but all their food smelled great.
As a side note, as we were waiting outside for a table a limo pulled up and asked if we needed his services, I did not know they curse around downtown looking for business.
After dinner, we all say our goodbyes until next year as some folks were leaving the next day. We made our way to the car, I must thank Vital Vegas for pointing out that you can park for free for 3 hours at the D now, you just get your ticket validated at the slot club.
Another day in the books and time for some sleep.
Free Play and Mexican Food with a View
This morning we were off to South Point for breakfast, the buffet is good and free bloody marys are included, my sister likes them not so much for me.
The South Point was having a players club give away, if you earned 300 points you get a spin to win stuff, like free play, buffets, etc...
So before breakfast we hit the VP, I got a lower 4OAK on BP and then another, so I cashed out up with my free spin and my sister got a 4 Aces on a 3 line dime machine so we both walked away with South Point buying us breakfast and a free spin. We both received Free Play with the promo spin and of course nothing came of it while we played. Personally I think they rigid the machines so you get nothing from Free Play!
Once again it was gamble, drink, site see during the day.
Dinner was at Lindo Michoacan Henderson
There are a few locations of this restaurant and I wanted to go to this one because it sits up on the foot hills in Henderson looking down on the valley.
One wall of the place has windows that face the strip and I guess at night it would be a great view, but we were there before dark.
Have a look for yourself
The food was good as well and they have made table side quacamole and something I have not seen at a Mexican restaurant, hot re-fried beans served with your chips and salsa.
We left stuffed and stopped by the Belligo for the a look around the conservatory and a few fountain shows. The back to TI for the rest of the night
Nice Day for Some BBQ
Drove out to Green Valley Ranch for the breakfast buffet and points multiplier (yeah Old Folks day)
Their breakfast buffet is always good,but their servers can be a bit spotty, ours was a women who was in her senor years and kept forgetting things we asked for but it wasn't a big deal.
We played a bit and left to go back to the Strip. No wins really!
Made our way to M & M world/Coke World just to have a look around. We encountered a really aggressive Time Share women who yelled at us for not stopping for her all the way into Coke world.
We told here NO several times when she was trying to stop us and she just didn't get it. Who the hell yells at people who your are trying to get to buy stuff. I see a new line of work for her in the near future or a punch to her face, which ever!
Another free of mine was in town from home and he and his wife meet us at Eatly to chat. They hadn't been to the strip in a few years and was amazed at the changes. We toured Park and I found the light green that they used inside was not as bad as I thought from the pictures. Over all it's very meh to me.
Dinner was at Smoked Burgers and BBQ at the forum shops.
We had got a Travelzoo voucher for dinner for two including drinks, which was an $87 value for $40.
When we got there we sat outside again by the treve fountain, you really just sit right on the fountain ledge.
When we got there the server informed us that you really do not have to pick anything with the voucher, just as long as it totals up to $87 and he said he would tell us when it does reach that level.
We both had drinks and shared a huge salad and 2 dinners. We didn't have desert, but we only spent $79, so we called it good and tipped him.
I would go back, the food was good as well as the service.
We repeated the thing for the evening drinking, gambling, etc...
Cactus and revisiting an old Stand by
Another morning, another drive to Henderson as we were going to Sunset Station for breakfast.
Their breakfast buffet is the cheapest of the Stations buffet, but the selection and the quality is not lacking. We had a great server and I wrote her name on my Vegas notes so I can be sure and ask for her on our next trip.
It was free gift giveaway at Sunset this day and the give was a bottle of Bacardi Black. Stations casinos know their audience LOL!
The deal was get you 300 base points and you get the gift and you keep the points. So I slide $40 into a $0.25 VP machine and got the 300 points. When I finally got the 300 points my free gift only cost me $35!
Since we were leaving the next day, I always fill up the rental car at the Costco in Henderson which is just around the corner from Sunset Station and Costco always has the best prices for gas. That way I just put a gallon or 2 on the way to the rental return to top it off.
On the way back to the strip we stopped at Ethel M's to look at the cacti and sample some chocolates.
Some of the prickle pear cacti were in bloom, so if you like prickle pear flavored things this is where they come from
Had few samples inside and my sister bought two chocolate covered strawberries, which we eat and headed back to the strip.
This afternoon as more gambling and drinking of course, but I played at the new sports bar inside TI,
The name is Golden Circle Sports Bar
They have bar top VP and a really good beer selection. I sat down and asked the bartender if they comp beer for gamblers? He said as long as you put a $20 in and play at least $1 a hand they do.So I started playing my normal $1.25 a hand VP and he started to pour. As I was playing and actually hit 4 Aces early on he told me that there is a light system on these new machines, but as long as you continue to play, he doesn't worry about the lights and told me that the rule about the play amount is to keep the working girls late at night from getting free drinks while they play only a $0.25 a hand while trying to pick up Johns.
His name is Eljay and you play there he will take care of you.They also serve food at this bar, but I did not ear there and didn't ask if they comp that as well.
We had planned on going to eat at Jardin inside Encore but when we got there is was closed for a private event. I suggested we go to an old reliable, Grand Lux Cafe, but one in the Palazzo as we have never eaten at that one, usually we just go to the one at the V.
Before we left Wynn we stopped to see the new part and the new sculpture.
Grand Lux was good and too much food as always.
Burgers and a Plane Ride
Traveling home day started with breakfast at the Palms buffet.
It is the most expensive Stations buffet and is good but personally I think they need to lower the price as it is not a wow buffet.
We checked out and bummed around until it was time to get our final Vegas meal.
For us it is always
Quick rental car return and an on time Southwest flight back home to Midway.
For those of you who have endured the forever wait for luggage at Midway, we were pleasantly surprised that we were off the plane and on the shuttle bus in under half an hour. Believe me this is a new record for Midway!
Hope you enjoyed my report and I will leave you with some beautiful shots of Caesars fountains
