Las Vegas

The Best Bargain on the Strip

Prizes from Circus, Circus
Bobby's Flay's Restaurant in Caesar's
$1 Beers on the Strip...woohoo!

Vegas

Vegas, baby, Vegas!!! We were joined by my brother-in-law, Jamie, for our time in Sin City. We got in very early due to our premature departure from the Grand Canyon, but that is never a problem in this town. They will do anything to get you in the casino. We arrived about Noon and before I knew it Pontiac Pete (our toothless bellman/used car salesman) had our bags up to our room, and we were settled in for a few days. Our first order of business was food, and Jamie was set on us going to the strip hot spot “Slots of Fun” for $.99 half pound hot dogs so we set off down the strip (see photo #1). Little did we know that Slots of Fun is located roughly 15 miles (or about 4 hotels) down the strip from Harrah’s. It was a long walk in the 95+ degree heat. I still can’t believe we didn’t stop for beers. What were we thinking? Anyway, the payoff was nice. Nothing like a half pound of pork…..at least I think it was pork. We then decided, since were down the strip, to indulge in a few carnival games at Circus, Circus. We all won one game, and you can see the lavish prizes (see photo #2). That night was a long one for Kim. Even though Jamie took a few precautions (nasal strips, throat spray) to abate his snoring, he still sounded like a cross between a chain saw and a yak mating call. In fact, I’m surprised we didn’t get cited for violating some noise ordinances. Kim struggled through most of the night and finally about 4 am decided that sleeping in the bathroom was the only way to get some peace and quiet. It was quite the scene. The next couple days were filled with eating, shows, and a little video poker. We had a couple excellent dinners. The highlight for me was going to Bobby Flay’s restaurant the Mesa Grill (photo #3) in Caesar’s Palace. All the dishes on the menu have a southwestern flair which means just about everything has some sort of chile or chile sauce, but it’s not that spicy, just incredibly flavorful. It is one of the best restaurants I have ever been to (a definite 4+ on the Portland Monthly Dinner scale ;-). We also took in two shows, Mama Mia and Stomp Out Loud which were both excellent. I’m seen Stomp a couple times about 10 years ago, and they made some nice upgrades to the show since the mid-90’s. The lead for the performance blew us away with his tap dancing/percussion abilities. The show also incorporates quite a bit of humor which was fun. Good times.