8 Nights in Vegas-Encore/Bellagio/Cosmo Anniversary Trip

Good Morning VMB,

As type this, Mrs Kachow and I are finishing up packing, watering plants, and getting ready to head to Vegas for our annual summer Anniversary trip to the place we all love. I have never done a trip report before and will try to update this at least once a day but no promises! We already dropped our two schnauzers off for boarding on Friday night (can only drop off and pick up on weekdays). This will be our longest trip to Vegas yet, 8 nights, returning on Monday July 6. We really enjoy the culinary delights Vegas has to offer. I’ll try to take as many pictures of our meals as possible for you guys. Mrs Kachow enjoys a few cocktails but I do not drink at all due to particularly nasty case of Asian Flush that makes my head pound and my heart race after just one drink. It’s like skipping any of the fun of drinking and going straight to a hangover. People I work with ask me how we can spend 5 or more nights in Vegas, I think it’s because they spend their whole trip hammered so they need to get away after 2 or 3 nights. We’ve had this trip planned since Thanksgiving, so I am very glad it isn’t cancelled, although in case there is a lockdown again or flights are disrupted, I did reserve a rental car to drive home if we need to for a very attractive rate through CostcoTravel.

I am primarily a blackjack player (low roller, and I like to sit for hours in seedy joints like ElCo which provides a nice contrast to our accommodations. I generally prefer table minimum bets of $25 or less, even though if things are going well I’ll play up to $250 a hand, but I’m such a streaky player that I often don’t get as much time on the table as I like if I have to play at $50 or $100 minimum. Mrs Kachow enjoys BJ and slots, so we will definitely dump some money into the slots and hopefully get lucky and I’ll have something to whet your appetites for you next trips. I do not chase comps whatsoever, and I know people think it’s crazy to do most of your gambling in hotels you aren’t staying at, but I don’t care. We don’t dump enough in slots Anymore to earn much in comps and my bet size in BJ is not enough to earn any decent comps in the places we like to stay, so We stay where we want and play where we want and it works for us. We do tend to spend whatever dollars we are going to spend on slots in the casinos we are staying in.

we are very sad there are no shows. We planned on seeing Le Reve for the third time as well as going to Absinthe and possibly seeing O again or maybe trying Atomic Saloon on this trip but obviously that ain’t happenin’. We were originally going to stay at Aria for the first time this trip instead of Bellagio, guess NYE will be our first stay at Aria.

Flights:
Departing: United flying out of OKC, with a 2 hour layover In Denver. 1st class tickets purchased using miles, departing OKC at 9:30 and arriving in LAS at 1:00pm

Returning: American, 1st class purchased with miles, departing early Monday morning and getting back into OKC On the afternoon of the 6th.

Hotels:
2 nights at Encore TS in a Salon Suite. We usually stay there in either a Tower King or a Parkor Suite but decided to splurge for the Salon even though we have no need for that much space. We both love it there so much but as most of our trips we have stayed there we decided to do only 2 nights at Wynncore.

3 nights at Bellagio in a Fountain View Penthouse Suite. We have stayed in the Penthouse suites there several times but never fished out the extra for the lakeview. We love this room. Again it’s absurdly large for two people but my wife loves the his and hers bathrooms and the rate was only $360 a night so why not!

3 nights at Cosmopolitan in a wraparound terrace suite. This will be our first time staying at Cosmo and reading all the glowing reviews on This board is what made me want to try it. I rack up lots of hotels.con free nights so we applied three for this stay and end up only paying around $700 total out of pocket including taxes for 3 nights on a 4th of July weekend, so I consider that a steal.

Dining:
I have already made several reservations for us and I’ll outline those below. The Encore TS comes with breakfast and actually there is a gentleman there who works for In-Room dining that is the sweetest guy and we always request him to bring our stuff in the morning and we enjoy visiting with him. Wynncore employees are really the best.

Encore: Lakeside tonight for our fancy dinner at Encore. I made reservations for Allegra for tomorrow night. We really like the Neapolitan pizza there. We may sneak in a meal at either Charlie’s or Wazuzu, I don’t think we have missed eating at Wazuzu on any trip so far, but we will see where we are at in terms of hunger.

Bellagio: Dinner at Lago Tuesday night. Dinner at Yellowtail Thursday. I had Prime reserves but honestly I have eaten so many good steakhouse meals in my oilfield career that the thought of going out to a steakhouse again in Vegas isn’t hugely appealing. I am also trying to reduce my red meat consumption. We may nix Yellowtail as I am determined to make it to Izakaya Go This trio and plan on doing that Wednesday night, so Japanese two nights in a row may not be in the cards. We shall see.

Cosmopolitan: late lunch reserved at Milo’s. I’m excited they opened as they weren’t on the initial opening list. Dinner reservations at China Poblano Saturday nighy. I also am excited that they have Block 16 there, so Pok Pok Wing is on my must try list!

Other: I really want to try Carson Kitchen while downtown. Fried chicken Skins yum!

transportation: we are mainly cab and Uber people in Vegas. Uber is cheaper but I like stepping right out of the front door of the hotel and stepping into a cab. However, as frequent visitors to downtown, we generally use an Uber to get back.

Other activities:
Pools: we plan on hitting the pool for some sun almost every day. We are pretty early risers in Vegas and being that we will be at each hotel during weekdays except Cosmo, I don’t think this will be a problem. We are getting a Cabana at Bellagio Wednesday, so we will spend all day at the pool there.

We definitely plan on hitting the Mob Museum, we’ve said that the last two trips and it didn’t happen so maybe third times the charm.

I think that’s it for now. I’m waiting on Mrs Kachow to get dressed and then we will load up and head out. I should be updating from the airport.

 

I am loving EVERY aspect of your planned trip, including the hotels where you are staying and those fantastic suites to the meals, gambling and entertainment (e.g., museum and pool) plans. I even love your luggage!!!

Following and wishing you a fantastic trip!!!!!!

 

Check out the speak-easy at the Mob Museum, if it's open. Great music, great original/interesting drinks. Entrance on the side of the building (right back corner down the stairs). Best on Fri/Sat nights.

 

Safe travels. I’ll be at Cosmo over the weekend so maybe a quick meet.

 

Ah HA! I considered this room but was not able to book a fountain view explicitly (sold out on my dates) and opted not to pay the bucks for the freeway view version. Also FYI, the cheaper Bellagio suite, at a paltry ~1,000 square feet, also has his and hers bathrooms with all the same amenities, minus the bidet. I hope you will post some pictures of your rooms if you're able; those are some great rooms at every property!

If you can and arent otherwise opposed, try and get in the highest floor possible at Cosmo. A bunch of us watched the fireworks at Caesars from the 56th floor balcony last year, and that was neat, but the most amazing thing was looking out across the valley and seeing just literally thousands of fireworks going off from homes and neighborhoods as far as the eye could see. It was an incredible site I would never have thought would be a thing, and something you could only possibly see one night per year.

Happy Anniversary!!

 

I hope you have a wonderful anniversary trip!
Happy travels!

RICHARD

 

we are definitely going to try and get a high floor at Cosmo. You’re experience with that 4th of July watching the fireworks from the homes in the city is very similar to an experience we had in a Parlor suite at Encore which all face north on a 4th of July. We got to see a fireworks show from the start followed by fireworks all over the city! Awesome stuff. And yes yes I will be sure to post pics of each room!

 

Ok we are checked in and through security and waiting at the gate. The airport is pretty empty, most of the gates don’t have planes and there are quite a few planes parked here For storage from Alaska airlines, United, and Delta. I’m not sure why you would park unused planes in the middle of Tornado alley unless you were hoping to be able to collect insurance on them. Might have just answered my own question. Security was super quick, maybe 6 or 7 minutes from entering the line to being through. OKC airport is nearly always like that though. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 15 minutes in the line. I won’t comment much on masks except to offer observations on what percentage is wearing them. Oklahoma has been pretty fortunate in not having many cases and I would say in general you don’t see anymore than 5-10% of people wearing them in public unless required such as in Costco. I would say a solid 20% of the people I have seen this morning have been masked which is 2-4x normal for everywhere else in OKC.

This flight is supposed to be full and United offered several times to change flights but I have been eagerly awaiting this trip since last summer when we went to Vegas so there’s no chance we were taking any vouchers!

 

Loving this so far!

 

Good luck.

 

I forgot to add, OKC got hit with the Saharan Dust cloud 2020 or whatever it is called yesterday and today. The air is far hazier here than normal and it definitely will trip allergies a little. It reminds me a little of living in Midland Texas, when it would get windy. It’s not a full blown haboob (That’s dust storm for y’all that don’t know) but it is certainly noticeable and I could see it triggering people to worry they may be getting the ‘rona. As if 2020 wasn’t strange enough already! Also, one of those checked bags weighed exactly 50.0 lbs on the scale, I consider that a good omen. Mrs Kachow has some interesting intuitions, and she says we are gonna hit a jackpot for $8 million so hopefully that comes to pass. Thus far her most notable intuitions have been a little more macabre. For some reason every time a friend or family member passes away she always wakes up in the morning and tells me it smells like death. She never wakes up and tells me that any other time. Spooky!

 

Bout to board. They are boarding from back to front. I have never understood why they haven’t always done that.

 

Safe travels, looking forward to the report, photos, and the BIG win

 

So this is the first flight I’ve been on since early March. I must say, the plane appears to be cleaner than they ever have in the past for domestic flights. The floor appears vacuumed , the seats look like they’ve been cleaned and shined at least some time recently. Everybody is masked up as is required. Very pleasant so far. This is a 2x1 first class and 2x2 in coach and the plane seems full except the two first class seats in front of us in row 1.

 

Ok folks, going airplane mode now. See you in Denver.

 

Sounds like you have a great trip planned! Happy anniversary!

 

Landed in Denver. Airport is dead by Denver standards. We have an hour and a half til we board so gonna grab a light brunch at one of the few dining options open. We are in Terminal B and about half or more of the places are closed. Our flight is from this terminal as well. There used to be a smoking lodge I think in Terminal C but Denver airport is fully non-smoking now so Nicolette after a snack will have to do!

here’s some more photos. The one from the window my wife is calling “Nature’s Quilt” since the earth looks like a patchwork. The other two are just to show how dead the airport is. People familiar with this airport know it’s usually a zoo. It’s actually one of my least favorite airports to travel through, but all smooth so far.

 

After a quick lunch, we are boarded for our flight to Las Vegas. Airport traffic has picked up significantly since we landed.

this flight is on an airbus A320 and it appears that the coach passengers are just windows and aisles without middle seats. First class is 2x2 and is full. I think the forward lavatory is clogged or has an issue so it sounds like everybody may have to use the aft lavatory. I plan on trying to take a post lunch nap to make the flight go by faster as I just want to be in Vegas already.

 

Ruh Roh Scooby, I’m thinking they may try to get this thing fixed before we depart. I hope they don’t try to delay us over the clogged toilet. The cabin is clean and it’s only a 2 hour flight.

Interesting information being overheard. The captain says this will be his second to last trip. He’s been flying since ‘77. 43 years as a pilot. Pretty cool stuff

update: they got the toilet unstuck and whatever somebody had done in there it was a very unpleasant smell. The lady in the row in front of us actually got up and moved back for a few minutes. It seems to have circulated out and the doors are closed and we are ready to pull back from the gate. When I update again I’ll be in Vegas!