Las Vegas Reviews and Tips

Sometimes I use this blog as a sounding board, and I can't resist to do the same with our Vegas trip.

Our stayed at the Cosmopolitan.  I highly recommend this place! Steve shares my opinion.  He kept saying how comfortable he was.  Hell, even something as simple as having two sinks in the bathroom was great!  Or something even more basic as turning on the hot water and getting hot water instantly.  Yes, I have been at hotels with Steve before where we turn all the faucets on in the bathroom to get hot water sent up.

Best hotel I have stayed at in a while.  Not only is it new, which means uber clean and shiny and not smokey/gross Vegas beer in the carpet smell.  It is also swanky and sexy and beautiful.  The places just oozes cool.  The interior designer is a genius.  I truly was walking around touching things.  The texture on the walls, the art, the finishes, were just beautiful.  The people, staff and guests, in the hotel are great...I didn't find anyone rude or annoying.  Hell, even the room service guy who delivered our food at 2am was awesome.  We joke that he may have been the owner of the hotel, doing Undercover Boss, since he knew a whole lot about the story of how the hotel came about...

Oh, another thing, the place isn't totally overrun with tourists like the Bellagio or Caesars.  People at the hotel are guests at the hotel.  I liked that.  The people there are, also, just beautiful.  The first day at the pool we were treated to a hot body in a thong.  I am the first to admit that I have butt envy...this is not my strong point, so I am usually the first to pick out a woman with a nice derriere and then the words "I want her ass" follow.  As Steve and I were headed down the elevator to leave for our flight, we shared the ride with some hot body guy...you could just see his form through his thin t-shirt.  Eye candy is always fun to be around!

Now for a tip:
- stay in a suite!  It has great space!  A $20 tip during check-in got us upgraded to a premium view.  Stay in the West Tower.  Amazing!  This picture was taken on our balcony. 

Restaurants:
If you have been reading along these last couple days, you know the first night for me was shot since I was sick.  I am not sure where the three had dinner. Heck, I don't even know where we had drinks.  Somewhere in Planet Hollywood...

Tuesday night we ate at Sushi Roku at Caesars.  I have had better.  It was fine, but nothing extraordinary.  If you do go there, don't expect the best sushi of your life.  The company was good, so the evening was nice, but the food was just OK.

Wednesday night was our best meal of the trip, by far!  We ate at Julian Serrano at the Aria. Now, this is one of the best meals I have had in a long while.  This is my second time having tapas, and I really dig it!  We started with a big pitcher of the red sangria, which went down too easily.

See the results of said sangria?!  We were walking out of the Aria and couldn't resist.

Jason, our server, was great!  We basically went around the table and order one item...and we did three rounds like this.  In total, the four of us had 12 plates.  Hands down, the best plates were: egg ravioli and Spanish tortilla.  My Polish roots actually came out with the Spanish tortilla (go figure).  It was the perfect potato, salt and butter combination EVER! We didn't eat dessert there, although the dessert menu looked good.

I think the reason I am into tapas lately is because you can really pace yourself.  You don't overeat, and you get lots of different tastes with all the plates.  You meal lasts a long time too, and when you are with good company you want meals to last a long time.  I am not really that big of an eater anyway, so this style of dinner is just perfect.

On Friday morning we headed up to Bouchon at the Venetian.  It is a Thomas Keller restaurant.  I have eaten there before, and I loved it.  I have to say that sometimes memories are better kept as memories.  I just ate a baguette with jam and a fruit salad.  It was wonderful.  The other three got omelets,  I don't think they were all that impressed.  We were seated outside.  It was hot.  You can't drink your morning coffee when it is 90 degrees outside.  I should have asked to be seated inside.

And I have to mention to hidden pizza place at the Cosmopolitan.  Best pizza I have had in a long time.  There are no signs for it, so find your way to Jaleo, and then look to the left down the hall where a pinball machine is.  They have PBR on tap, as well as Stone IPA.


Since we ate dinner around 8-8:30p most nights, we didn't leave room to do anything else but just hang with drinks.  Our final night there we did, however, go to a show.  We decided on comedy, and had a great time!  We headed down to the Tropicana for Brad Garrett.  Freakin' funniest guy ever.  We were laughing hard.  He was great!!!!  Worth every penny.  Everyone needs a good laugh like that.  Now, to bring up something that Brad brought up...ladies, ask you men if they spit in the urinal before they pee into it... 

I hesitate to add this next part, but I will anyway.  What happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas, but I really do have some tips for this next part, so this may be useful to someone.  This is where my parents and my in-laws and family friends can exit the blog...

After our dinner at Caesars we decided to head down to the Luxor for some 5below freezing cold bar.  We got down there and the cover was about $40 or so.  Um...we would rather not...So, after a couple drinks we decided to head out to a gentlemen's club.  So, here we were standing in the taxi line and the hotel taxi-getter-guy was all  "where are you headed" and I responded with "that is confidential".  I am sure he rolled his eyes.  He has seen and heard it all.  He asked again, yet I couldn't spit it out.  After one more time at prodding me, I finally say "strip club".  And here is where the tip is...tell these guys where you are headed, especially in this case!  He hooked us up.  Not only did a limo come and pick us up, tip the driver heavily, but she actually drove us back to the Cosmopolitan too.

M was worried that there was a catch, but there really wasn't.  We got in, there was a 2 drink minimum, and no cover.  If we had gone by taxi, who knows how much more we would have spent.  Better to tip the girls directly, then spend the money at the door.  I am glad I went, that is for sure.  I think, as a woman, there is a cloud of mystery around a strip club.  Now, I get it.  I actually have a new respect for some of those women, especially after sharing the bathroom with them.  They are woman, some even mothers, who are making a living.  This isn't necessarily a place I will frequent, but I no longer have that mystery around them, and I like that.

The one thing about the experience, which sort of relate to pilots, are the solo guys in the crowd.  I actually felt badly for them. To be so lonely that you need to go a place like this to get a connection with someone?  There are times when I feel badly for Steve being on the road so much, and how lonely he may feel...and I saw loneliness first hand with these solo guys.

Oh, one other thing, I wanted to go through the Wynn just see it.  Oh my...the window shopping is just amazing!!!!!  And then there is this wall of water in front of a pond that is just amazing.  Next time I am there, I will make it a point to hang at the restaurant in front of this water feature.  So peaceful and amazing. 

So, there you have it, our trip to Vegas in a snapshot.  Best vacation Steve and I had together in a long time.  It is so nice to see your spouse in a way that you haven't in a long time: relaxed, no worries, no pressures...just like you were when you first started dating.  I think that since the kids are getting older, and since we have willing grandparents, we will probably start taking trips like this every year.  It is a good thing.  Vegas baby...