OK... who broke Vegas! Our Las Vegas April 8-12 Trip Report

OK… Who Broke Vegas??
Our Las Vegas April 2008 Trip Report

TUESDAY, APRIL 8th
Left at 3:10pm on our whirlwind tour of Western Canada en route to Vegas and back.

Flew to Edmonton where we had to wait for the extremely late people from US Customs to show up to process us while we were all herded into this little area to wait… oh, good times – it felt like Ellis Island or something.

After the Americans let us into their realm we proceeded to begin our alcohol consumption at the airport bar conveniently located at the gate. After two screwdrivers and husband with two Heinekens, we were ready to rock. Flights were uneventful and the landing in both Edmonton and “Lost Wages” as our flight crew called it were rated 8-9 out of 10… go WestJet – best airline ever and how do I wish they’d fly to Charlotte… but I digress.

We traveled with no checked luggage which was awesome… seated in Row 2 we were off the plane like bats out of hell ready for the strip. Grabbed the first taxi with no wait on the way to the Flamingo where we were staying in one of the newly renovated “Go Rooms” with a view of the strip. The man at the front desk told us in no uncertain terms “Welcome to Las Vegas where you can do whatever you want… there are no rules, just don’t kill anybody...”

Up to the 21st floor and our room which we loved, our favourite of the trip by far. I’ll link to a great article on the Go Rooms as we couldn’t possibly have taken better pictures than the people on this website already did with our lame little disposable camera.

http://www.vegastripping.com/features/feature.php?feature_id=101&page=1

Here we stumbled across the first of many bits of Vegas that were BROKEN. We had an absolutely amazing view of the strip and the fountains of the Bellagio… however the fountains were not running at all… not tonight or the next night, and we only had two nights in this amazing room… sigh.

Hearing people we know who went to Vegas prior whine excessively about how “far” everything is and how much walking we needed to do to get everywhere, we decided to catch the Monorail from the Flamingo to Harrah’s where we planned to go to the Piano Bar to see the blonde twins do the dualing piano thing. We actually should have just walked, but we did get to see a lot of the casinos so it was still worth doing.

We didn’t get in until 9pm so there were no seats to be had of course at the Piano bar as it around 10:30 by the time we got there. We watched for a bit and then decided to go and grab our first drink at the Carnival Court bar. As tired as we were from traveling, I smartly selected a Red Bull and Vodka which soon became our drink of choice and kept me going for another couple of hours.



We went back out on the strip and walked back to the Flamingo casino, signed our life away to Harrah’s Total Rewards program and got some amazingly lame yet strangely awesome “Pulse of Vegas” shirts for free. Went over to “Bugsy’s Bar” where I renewed my love affair with Gin & Tonic and blew about $60 on slots… that was enough gambling for me for tonight as my yearly gambling average is around $20-$30 at Casino Regina. Husband blew about $60 on slots and a bit of poker but it lasted significantly longer than my slot experience. You gotta do what you gotta do though, this is Vegas, baby.

We then had a couple more drinks and our alcohol filled bellies soon started craving some sustenance which had to be complete and utter junk food, of course. Trucked down a block to a cheesy little convenience/liquor store and grabbed 6 Heinekens, 6 Smirnoff Ice coolers, some Tollhouse cookies, a can of cashews and, because I was kinda drunk, some Ding Dongs. Hell yes.

After feasting on American junkfood and consuming a couple of our takeout drinks, we fell asleep easily and decided to get up about 10am the next morning.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9th
Woke up, got out of bed, dragged combs across our heads, and had beer and coolers for breakfast… because we could. We went back over to Harrah’s to look for a t-shirt we saw the night before but alas, it was not in husband's size. We went over to Margaritaville for lunch and wondered at the empire Jimmy Buffett has created, all for writing a few lame songs about Florida which any bar band can perform anywhere across America but not become millionaires.

As for the food, the shrimp and crab dip was to die for, so was my fruity girly tropical drink, but the Jambalaya was not up to my Cajun-lovin’ standards – it was still quite all right though and the atmosphere was kinda fun.

After lunch we went to the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace. The shops were pretty upscale and the inside was cool, made me wish I was rich though, that’s for sure. We heard about the moving statues they have there and were told we had to see them, but learned soon enough that they too, were BROKEN. It was kind of cool to see them half dismantled with their animatronic eyes hanging out for all to see, kind of like a “Backstage Vegas” tour, although I’m sure I would have been more impressed seeing them in action.

After that we went back to the Flamingo, blew another $20 or so on slots and went to the Flamingo pool to chill. We took some of our takeout drinks to the pool, not really sure if we would have to down them before entry. We were told we couldn’t take glass in, but the pool attendant was ready with plastic cups for us to pour our drinks into to take with us into the pool area. You really can do anything in Vegas!

Also overheard some people at the pool saying the Toni Braxton show was broken too - she was in hospital after being admitted for chest pains - good thing we didn't have tickets.

Chilled poolside for a while and hit up the hot tub for a bit, enjoyed the fact that as I am an adult I was not commanded by any sign to not drink alcohol in the hot tub, had a couple of coolers and needless to say am still alive.

After the pool we headed over to the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and bought a few things at Ben Sherman then caught the free shuttle over to the Rio to go to the Carnival World Buffet and play some poker and slots.

The buffet was excellent, even better that we only paid $12.50 each for it thanks to a friend who gave us a 2 for 1 coupon. I’m not really a buffet person but I’d definitely do that one again, they had EVERYTHING… probably 1000 dishes, and everything was hot and tasty, they even had Bananas Foster! I also greatly enjoyed being able to pick up a couple of strong $4 Cosmopolitan martinis during a 20-minute special they had at the bar too.

Blew about $40 on slots here, but this time actually had a chance at a $5000 jackpot, unfortunately missed it by one spin though. Husband played some poker against some Americans, a couple of northern US guys who were wasted and lost their money in no time, a classy old gent from Arkansas who sounded just like Bill Clinton and a nice dude from Nebraska. The company was fun, we got a couple of free drinks for our trouble but husband managed to dump $200… that happened in Vegas and stayed there for sure.

Went back to the Flamingo for our last night there and at about 10:30pm us party animals decided to go to bed and get up a bit earlier the next day.






MORE TO COME...

 

Great TR VegasVirgin, I guess you will have to change your screen name now! Hope you have a blast on your return trip, and hope Vegas is fixed upon your return.

 

Thanks for the TR, although I must respectfully disagree about Mr. Buffett...any song that can make me taste a margarita and hear the ocean in my mind is one hell of a song.

My personal opinion...you didn't miss much with the moving statues...I'm not sure how long they've been around but it seems like several decades to me.

 

fun story

I like your report very much, good theme and stories. Fun photo!!!! Those random people you meet can make the trip fun! Thanks for doing your part to help our economy!!!!

 

Great report - keep it coming!

 

Sounds like you were having a pretty good time; I cank't wait to read the rest of your report.

 

Seeing the moving statues at Caesars disassembled was probably better than the real show. It really is pretty outdated.

 

"Woke up, got out of bed, dragged combs across our heads, and had beer and coolers for breakfast… because we could."

Love it -- an "only in Vegas" statement.

 

Broken?

Sounds like a great trip, hope they fix it before my trip in July LOL.

 

Vegas Not-So Virgin....am waiting for the rest!! :evillaugh

 

Great TR so far. Just waiting for the rest of the story.

 

great report so far...

 

I didn't realize cashews and ding dongs were "American Junk Food". Pretty sure they have those in Canada.

 

When I think America, I think 1) cashews, and 2) ding dongs, and 3) fried twinkies.

 

Yes, I now see.

 

LOL - we have cashews, but I was speaking more of the "Ding Dong". Rest assured, "Ding Dongs" are an American Original and as such are not sold in Canada. We have a similar thing called a Joe Louis, but not one branded as a "Ding Dong"...

As for the trip report, I haven't forgot about you all, I'm just stuck in a 7 day 12.5 hour/day shift rotation right now and will be sure to post the rest of the trip report the middle of next week when I have 7 days off...

 

No ding-dongs in Canada...who knew?

 

Are they confiscated at customs or something?

 

Hockey Pucks

Wouldn’t most Canadians want to take a hockey stick to any thing that looked like a puck. If the Canadian Government let ding dong’s in, the ice would a mess of crumbs.