World of Concrete (1/15-1/20)

If you think this trip report is about the convention, you might as well stop reading now. And if you’re looking for food reports you won’t find it here. This trip was so my hubby, Dave, could attend the World of Concrete convention which gave me plenty of time to spend with some T2V friends — Coaster Kikky (Becky), Vegas Jer, Vegasdrea (Andrea) and HurricaneMikey.

We arrived Sunday around 11 am and by 1 pm I had met up with Jer who was on a roll at the craps table. We later met up with Becky and finally around 5 or 6 Andrea joined us — all the while gambling and drinking. Had dinner and drinks at Chinois in the Forum Shops (thanks Becky ) before Jer flagged down a limo (thanks Jer ) to take us to Palms for some blackjack and drinks. Next we headed off to Voodoo Lounge for some more drinks and dancing and ended up in Jers suite at Harrahs (not to shabby) to say our goodbyes as he would be leaving in a couple hours.

Photos from the limo ride





Photos from Voodoo Lounge





Andrea giving her man a kiss


Monday Dave and I met up with Becky and decided to cab it down to Wynn as Dave and I had never been there. What can I say, I really like that place. I signed up for the players card and Becky and I sat down and played some video poker. Within 30 minutes I had enough points to get 2 free comps to the buffet and cashed out $30 ahead. Dave headed out on his own so Becky and I browsed the shops for a while and sat in the Parasol Down bar sipping some yummy drinks and watching the show. We parted ways for a couple hours and met up again later at Mirage for several hours of blackjack before we said our goodbyes as Becky was leaving the next morning.

Tuesday I called Mikey and we headed out to Wynn to use my free comps for the buffet. I will usually never eat at buffets, but I figured this one would be good, and it did not disappoint...shrimp cocktails (huge shrimp), creamed button mushrooms that we couldn't get enough of, spinach ravioli, grilled pork loin, some fantastic teriyaki skirt steak, and even thin crust pizza. We loaded up twice before hitting the dessert bar. We had chocolate eclairs, bananas foster ice cream, carrot cake, and some sort of fancy schmancy thing called a floating island. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but Mikey said it tasted good. We ate so much that we just had to sit there and relax and try to digest a bit before we waddled out of there. This buffet is a definite must do to add to your list. From Wynn we headed down to the lounge in the Peppermill for an afternoon of chocolate/banana martinis and some video poker. Later we headed downtown to meet Andrea for an evening of drinking and gambling. First we headed over to the Triple 7 Brewpub at Main Street Station for some eats then we made our way to the Fremont for several hours of pai-gow. This was my first try at pai-gow. Mikey told me not to play the bonus and the dealer kept telling me I would be sorry if I didn’t. Nope, I didn’t get the royal flush, but I did get a straight flush, beginners luck I guess. The pot was only about $200 for the straight, so at least I felt a little better. While playing Mikey was telling people that he and Andrea had just gotten married by an Elvis impersonator at the Graceland Chapel and that they were heading up to Wendover in the morning for their honeymoon.

Banana/chocolate martinis at Peppermill Lounge


Wednesday I decided to try pai-gow on my own, still not quite sure of what I was doing. I decided on a $5 table at IP with no bonus to play, this way I wouldn’t even know what I was missing. I probably played about an hour or so. In that time span I got another straight flush and twice I got four of a kind. The dealer could not believe it, he kept telling me I needed to leave and play somewhere with the bonus so Dave and I headed over to the Palms. I found a $10 table with the bonus and played it faithfully. I think in about two hours I won only two or three hands. My beginners luck had worn off and my playing pai-gow had come to an end.

That evening we met up with Mikey and Andrea at the Monte Carlo Brew Pub for a bite to eat. After dinner we just hung out at the table telling stories and having some laughs, waiting until 10pm. That's when Purple Reign took the stage. Yep, the same Prince tribute band that's been playing at the Boardwalk for the past few years has upgraded to the Monte Carlo. If you haven't seen them, you're missing out. Dave bailed about 5 minutes into the show so Mikey, Andrea and I hung out drinking, dancing, and laughing till around midnight or so. We then decided to take the tram over to the Bellagio. We stumbled around for awhile before we made it to the Conservatory, it's got a pretty cool Chinese New Year theme going on. We wandered around a bit in there taking pictures, my favorite one being this one below.

Mikey, making his own water features


From there, we wandered the casino, ending up getting a table at the Petrossian Bar listening to a piano playing David Hasselhoff lookalike. We had some great top-shelf martinis while we listened to music and played Spot The Hooker. As Mikey would say, it was “like shooting fish in a barrel.†We sat there for hours laughing at all the business transactions going down while we sipped on martinis. We met some of the other folks there in the bar, and a couple of them insisted on buying all of our drinks. Toward the end of the evening we met some pretty cool Australian guys and invited them to join us. Finally around 5:30 in the morning I was seeing two Mikeys so we decided it was time for some breakfast. We headed over to the Peppermill for our final meal together. By the time we left, the sun was starting to peek over the mountains and the drunks on the Strip had given way to the joggers. We said our goodbyes agreeing that no matter what, we'd have to do it again soon.

The happy couple!

 

A typical Crazy Beach trip to Vegas! LMAO

BTW, a floating island is meringue "floating" in a vanilla custard sauce surrounded by fresh berries.

 

So no concrete stories for us, hmm?? Oh well.....Sounds like you had fun!

 

Looks like y'all had some good times all right. Great pics, however I'd bet my monkey that we didn't see all of them :evillaugh . Man I'm jonesin' big time... is it March yet???

 

MM3 kicks off 7 weeks from this week! And as for the rest of the pictures....

Is it just me or do Angy, me & Drea look like a Double Stuf oreo in that first picture? (my mother always told me to sit up straight, maybe it's time I start listening!)

 

BC,

I had such a great time with you and Mikey. I can't wait to hang out with you at MM3. I'm counting down the days! Thanks again for everything, and for making me take my mind off work.

~Andrea

 

Sounds like you had a lot of fun drinking and hanging out with friends. Theres no better way to do Vegas. You made me hungry just reading about all the good food you had. I am going to have to check out Wynn while I'm sober the next time I'm there. I went there in October but i barely remember walking in and back out. It sounds like a cool place to check out from what everyones reporting. Thanks for the TR.

Darin

 

Seems lots of fun was had and great food was consumed.

 

Yes, Bill, that sounds correct. We forgot to take a picture, we were in to big of a hurry to try it.

BJ, you'll get no takers on that bet.

 

Good stuff...

Good stuff BC!
Love the pic of Mikey's "fountain"!

I had a few fellas in my office that were out there for the Concrete show. But they didn't have any good stories. They were a little stiff. Ha ha!

 

They should have come and hung out with us, we would've given them stories to tell for at least of couple of months.

Hey Angy-You ever figure out how you got your bruises?? I haven't and they're just starting to go away!!!

 

Nothin' more to say here... just rolling the highlight reel :evillaugh

 

Nice report! Seriously, what's the deal with pai gow dealers practically giving people guilt trips over not playing the fortune? It a sucker bet if I ever saw one...

 

I figured out where mine came from... knee from dancing and head bump from a taxi - or so Jer tells me!

Maybe that crazy chick at Voodoo beat you both up?

 

I know, I know, that's what Mikey kept telling me. I couldn't help but think about Bazootch and how he would have felt had he not played that sucker bet

Andrea and Becky, glad to hear you guys are healing. I'm still not sure what the hell I did to my arm, but I'm pretty sure no one beat me up

 

Did someone say catfight??? :banana:

 

Notice how I'm sitting quiet over here...

:evillaugh

 

Great pix and trip report. I love reading these, and hope more people post. Is the Peppermill the restaurant across from the Stardust? We used to stay at the Ho and Stardust all the time, and never went across the street!!! Is the food good there?

 

Thanks, Benue. And yes, there will always be plenty of trip reports on the board that are fun to read.

The Peppermill is the restaurant across from Stardust. It's not a gourmet restaurant, but the food is good, the prices are decent and the portions are huge.

BTW, welcome to the board.

 

Great TR Beach.... you guys always seem to put the kidneys to the max test...lol Great photos too!