So, several weeks ago, Mary and I headed on out to Vegas, where we met up with Mr. and Mrs. Cheap Thrills and many others to have a good ole time!
If you want to see the far more timely Cheap Thrills' report on this trip, click on the link above.
We flew out thursday afternoon and took a redeye back, arriving on monday morning, staying at the Mirage in the interim.
Man, it was just the most amazing trip ever!
This post is going to deal with the non-gambling aspects of the trip, as they were many and amazing, and must needs be documented.
1) The flights - We took Jet Blue both ways. They were around the cheapest, had direct flights, and seemed neat and nice. I've flown them a few times before, but this was Mary's first trip, and she absolutely loved them.
And what's not to love? Slightly larger than normal seats, unlimited snacks and a TV getting 30 channels of satellite in front of each seat! We watched a bit of John Stewart on the way out, I watched a little TV poker... a good time was had by all.
The way back was spent mostly in slumber, but I'm sure it was nice...
2) The Hotel - The Mirage is absolutely great. We found to be a pretty good balance of price, accomodations and location. It's located right on the heart of the strip, has large, clean and comfortable rooms, and boasts a first-class pool.
The staff is also extremely friendly and helpful. Check-in was a breeze, though they don't accept debit cards for the room deposit, a pet peeve of mine. I understand their reasoning for it, but I still dislike such occurrences when they happen, as I hate whipping out the credit cards unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. This is how friendly the staff is: From the start of check-out to getting into the cab to leave, we had three different staff members ask us if we enjoyed our stay, wish us luck, etc and the bellman at the front who got us our cab jumped us right to the front of the rather long taxi line.
I almost felt like a high-roller!
The casino floor was nice, though a bit dense and noisy. It was no more so than any other floors we saw (except the Paris), so this isn't an actual detriment. They also didn't have enough video blackjack machines for our taste (except at the bars), a problem we only noticed when we got the bug for this game about midway through the trip.
The buffet was quite huge; frankly, more than I really need. But then, I have very plain food tastes (Mary makes fun of my "Tan" food tastes). We absolutely gorged ourselves there on friday morning. Mmmmm, bacon...
Lastly... the Sports Book. What can I say. HUGE. And very nice. Sadly, you only got free drinks if you sat in the main area (we sat in the lounge, which was more conducive to groups). We spent much of sunday morning in the Sports Book lounge, watching the football games, being annoyed that Torry Holt was out (dammit, he's our best fantasy receiver!), placing bets on a parlay I got talked into (a weird sports betting arrangement where you get great odds, but have to pick multiple winners against the spread; I missed by several picks) and generally relaxing and recovering.
The other feature of the Mirage, the Poker Room, I'll deal with in my next post, which will deal with all the gambling what went on.
3) Activities! - We took in a couple of sites, restaurants and shows while we were out there, all of which were great.
On friday night we all headed over to Margaritaville for dinner. Never been to one before (I wasn't even remotely a parrot head before meeting Mary). It was an absolute blast.
We had a bunch of great rum-based drinks while we waited for a table (the wait was long; we got there early to get our name on the list) and generally shot the shit. In the backround, of course, is a constant stream of Jimmy music (occasionally interspersed with other performers) and in the dining area are a bunch of large screens that play video of live concerts.
We hit the Margaritaville shop, of course, picking up a few keepers (a "The Weather is here, wish you were beautiful" fridge magnet and some shirts).
A couple of fun bits: Every hour or so, the song "Volcano" comes on, and the staff does this whole dance number including a bikini-clad maiden sacrificing herself to a large volcano-cum-waterslide. Pretty fun stuff. Also, there are guys walking around on stilts in costumes making balloon-hats. Picture clowns making balloon animals, except you wear them on your head. Mine was a fairly non-descript antenna thing, but a few of them were quite lovely (Mary had a monkey on a palm tree). We ended-up wearing them around town for awhile after we left.
We also headed over to the newest casino on the strip, the Wynn, one day, just to see what all the fuss was about. The place is quite nice. Very fancy and high-end, and likely costs twice as much to stay at as we paid for the Mirage. But if you can afford it, it looks like it is probably worth it.
On sunday night, Mary and I had a nice little romantic dinner at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Hotel.
Let me tell you, if you're looking for romantic on the strip, this is a pretty good place to hit. The menu is elegant but accessible (there were many nice dishes on there that I would have liked), the cooking is delish, and if you choose to dine al fresco (that means outside, donchaknow?), you can watch the periodic fountain shows at the Bellagio (which are absolutely beautiful).
That night, we also went to see Cirque de Soleil Mystere...
4) Mystere - This show deserves a spot all its own on this list. It was quite literally the best live performance of ANY kind that I have ever seen (and I've seen a great many top-notch broadway shows).
After checking around online, we found many people saying to get seats further back and higher-up, rather than closer in, as you can miss much of the show if you're too close. So that's what we did, and I think we ended-up with nearly optimal seats.
The show is just... I can't begin to explain. There's so much going on that is so astounding to watch. And funny too!
We spent most of the show with our mouths agape, not knowing when to clap.
Seriously. The performers would perform some feat (as performers are wont to do) and you'd start to clap, and they'd immediately do something even more amazing! The audience basically started rationing it's clapping after awhile, as we would otherwise have been doing it almost non-stop.
If you happen to go (and if you're in Vegas, I HEARTILY recommend it), make sure you get there at least 15-25 minutes early.
I won't say why, just that there's stuff that goes on before the show begins that you don't want to miss.
Well, that's more or less it... if you can't tell, we had an amazing time. I'd go there several times a year if my budget and job allowed it.
Next post... POKER!