Rock and Roll Marathon Weekend ... and more!

This was a decent long weekend trip - and excuse me if I go off on a tangent.

We arrived via Airtran (!!) on Friday evening (November 14th). We were met in the baggage claim area with a limo from Caesars. Nice car, nice ride - a lot of traffic.

We checked into the Flamingo through VIP services, which was very quick. The "20 dollar trick" was used, but we were told that there were no further upgrades - and the clerk tried to return the 20. I insisted she keep it. We wound up in in a very nice GO room on the 22nd floor. The view from the room was spectacular - we would see the fountains at the Bellagio without an issue. The GO rooms are nice, comfy beds - but the sliding glass door to get into the bathroom with the frosted glass was a bit much. You could clearly see an outline of whoever was showering and what not through the glass, without looking hard at all. It was cool to have a tub and stand up shower. The TV in the mirror (complete with a Bose speaker in the ceiling was a plus) was cool. However, the desk drawer front had fallen off, and the safe was locked - and couldn't be opened. Both were reported, but neither was fixed. Neither a big deal, though. One funny aspect of the GO room was the reading lights next to the bed. They reminded me of the microphone that I used at Burger King to call an order to the kitchen. If you've ever worked at a burger joint, you know what I mean.

Friday night - dinner at Battista's was great. I can't believe the accordion guy is still there all these years later... and the wine still tasted like an Easter egg dying kit. It did the job, though. Gaming at Flamingo that night. No complaints.

Saturday - breakfast at the buffet at Flamingo. Not a great selection, and my croissant had a hair in it. The free mimosa was nice, though. More gaming at the Flamingo. Went to the convention center by way of the monorail to check in for the races. Back on the monorail to the Linq. Lunch came from Brooklyn Bowl. The mac and cheese - incredible. Gaming at the Cromwell this time, and some more at the Flamingo. Didn't do too badly. Went to the 5k on Saturday night at the SLS. Walked through the SLS - has a very "Revel" Atlantic City feel. I enjoyed it, as well as all of the monkeys. Late dinner at the Tropical Breeze cafe at Flamingo at around 9pm. Very busy, very limited staff - not great food.

Sunday - breakfast at the Tropical Breeze cafe. We thought we'd try again. More staff, better service, much better food. More gaming between the flamingo and the Cromwell. Went to the half marathon by way of the monorail. It was beyond packed. The line to get on was literally from the door of the Flamingo to the gates. It wasn't policed/thought out well at all. Once at MGM, we walked to Mandalay Bay for the race to begin. My girlfriend ran the race, I played at the MGM. Walked away even. Met my party after the race at the Flamingo. After changing out of race gear, we walked to the new "24 hour" Fulton Street Food thing at Harrah's. This was 10PM, mind you. The pizza place closed while we were in line waiting for one. No new sandwiches were being made. We went to Hash House at the Linq, and it was awesome. Big disappointment at Fulton, however. A little more gaming at Flamingo followed.

Monday - we took the monorail to MGM and had breakfast in their food court. We then played at NYNY for a bit, even got into a slot tournament. I didn't win. Go figure. Played the new "Batman" machine for a long time. It was fun to play. When I entered the tournament, the MLife desk insisted on comping us lunch - we chose Chin Chin - and it was excellent! We then took the monorail back to the Flamingo, and played there as well as the Cromwell. We then went to the Linq and had a frozen drink at Purple Zebra. Good drink, very overpriced. A quick nap followed, and then dinner at The Golden Steer. The filet topped with crab was awesome. The restaurant's "house driver" took us to Paris for drinks at Sugar. The driver was simply the best. Ask for him if you go to The Golden Steer. The drinks at Sugar were good, but very overpriced. We played at Paris for a bit, then at Bally's. We walked back to the Cromwell and played - and the machines were so tight it wasn't even funny. Lost a bunch very quickly. Speaking of the Cromwell... very nice. It is very hip, if you like that sort of thing.

Tuesday - we checked out early, and went to the airport. Carrot Top was waiting for a flight at the next gate. That was neat, I guess. The flight home on Southwest was uneventful, and two days later - my sleep still hasn't recovered.

I'm petrified of elevators - a childhood thing - so I watch things a lot. I'm a freak, I know. At the Flamingo - we could have gotten to our rooms from any of three elevator banks. The main bank seems to have been remodeled most recently, yet there were several (3) out of 10 that were out of service. The elevators marked "Spa Elevators" were also recently modernized (the buttons at least) but were still old looking. These elevators had the habit of the door opening while the car was still leveling or bouncing as people got on and off. The worst were the elevators marked "Habitat". They are old with broken buttons. Not a fun ride to the 22nd floor. At the Linq hotel, as much that they have remodeled it - the old creepy elevator to Hash House still exists. Creepy ride...

Fun trip overall - thank you for letting me share it.

 

I ran the half a couple years ago, one of the toughest things I've ever done but totally worth it. I had grannies walking faster than me the next day. Did the course still go through the ghetto on the southeast side of Downtown?

 

Curious as the vibe this year on marathon? Heard it was a bit chilly.

 

Very chilly. The look on of those walking back to their room was 10x worse than the typical club girl holding her heals in her hands at 3am. After I got back I walked over to Aria from Caesars for dinner and it was very easy to pick out those walking in agony half frozen from their 'fun' time running.

 

We checked in to Planet Hollywood that afternoon and it was really cool to see the start of the marathon. You could really tell who ran the marathon later that evening. Was much colder than I expected.