Vegas for our 15th anniversary

I wasn't going to write a trip report this time, BUT, it was one of our
best trips ever!

Did we win lots of money? no. Did we have amazing rooms comp'd? no. Did
we do Vegas on the cheap and have an amazing time? YES!

We had free rooms the whole trip, the first night at Flamingo, the next
three at NYNY and finally, one at Imperial Palace.

We choose the Flamingo specifically for the pool, so we headed down to
the pool before we could check in. We got in pretty early and thought this might happen so we had a special bag ready to go for pool time. We hit the pool at around 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon. We found a chair off in the corner in the shade and got changed into our suits and shortly after hit the water with a nice frosty one. Several of them. It was a wonderfully beautiful day where we met several people, some I can't talk about (one was from a famous signing group where she pleaded with us to not tell who to anyway... so I won't... Yes, that sounds fishy, but it was honestly true. I recognized her immediately, as did my wife, but no one around us did... so we kept it secret. The rest of our pool bill was taken care of, as well were offers of other favors for the trip.. mainly because we got along well and didn't make a scene and just had a good time with her).

On Wednesday night, we were to meet a friend in a Caesars suite, one of those awesome ones that are two stories with the huge curtains... I can't remember the name of the suite, but they were in the Forum Tower. The wife was worked from the heat and the booze from the pool (we didn't head to the room until around 6pm), but I went up to meet the friend. I said my hellos, drooled over the room and then took off to meet up with the wife again. Totally happy with that night, had a blast that day with our new friend and the other people we talked to that day.

Thrusday, we were pretty wasted in the morning but were supposed to meet up with the friend from the suite for lunch at the Palm. She was busy still working (that's why she had the suite, it was the hospitality suite for her company that we were invited to) and came late to lunch, so we just had our normal Business Lunch Special. It's STILL the best value in all of vegas. I had the halibut special, Emily (the wife) had the steak special, but we split the whole thing. The halibut was panko crusted and slightly spicy, and incredibly delicious. It was an amazingly great piece of fish. The steak and the other sides were great as well, but the halibut was great. It was a huge piece of fish, with a slight crisp layer of panko, with a hint of spice.

We also did a bit of shopping in the Forum shops, which we normally never do, and spent way too much money, including a new coach purse for Em. And some shoes. and a couple of shirts. Good thing this was our 15th anniversary trip.

Thursday night, we headed back to Nine Fine Irishmen (NFI) to meet the band again and have some fun times. Now, a little about myself... I haven't been to Vegas since March and we are friends with the band. Since March, I've lost a large amount of weight. Like close to 100 lbs. So, my friends in the bar and band noticed immediately, which was a bit embarrassing as well as motivating. Great night.

Friday was a bunch of sleeping and then heading over to the Hard Rock Cafe on the strip to pick up tickets for a show we were seeing there. We forgot our tickets at home, so we were just hoping to get a re-print of tickets that night. It took about 45 minutes of talking to the folks there, but we got reprints and went to the show that night. WE showed up before the doors opened at about 8pm and went into the bar area there.

The show area at Hard Rock Cafe on the strip is a great venue for bands. It's small, intimate and has great sound. It reminded me of the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, but smaller. great venue. The opening band (a nationally no-name band) blew away all the other bands that night. I mean.. killed them. they were amazing. They are called Imagine Dragons and I absolutely loved them. After their set, they all came out into the crowd and I went up and talked to several of them. They were super nice kids and I hope they make it big. Nicer guys (and 1 girl) couldn't be had.

Late that night, we went back to NFI and hung out there, had more fun and met a couple from Ireland. We became fast friends and ended up hanging out with them for the next three nights.

Honestly, the next couple of days/nights, i'm not exactly sure what happened. I hadn't had a drink since March when we showed up and drank quite a bit this trip, but never blacked out and had a great time. It's just all a bit fuzzy now, a week later. Oh, somethings... we headed to Hard Rock Casino on Saturday and had a great lunch at Pink Taco, then gambled a bit at Hard Rock (lost). Then got some free drinks at a bar at Hard Rock by texting to a number they had posted, drank those and some more then headed home to NYNY and later met with our new friends for fun and frivolity.

On Sunday, we moved hotels and did the north strip stuff. During the day, we went to Carnival Court and watched the Spazmatics... they were a lot of fun. They are four guys who are playing like they are guys from Revenge of the Nerds, playing mostly 80's music. It was a bit lame, but tons of fun at the same time. After that we headed to Lagasse's Stadium at the Plazzo to watch the Giants game. It was mostly UFC on the TV's, but we had a great French Dip there, as well as great service. I'll go back again, especially when football is on. It's a great place to watch sports (and they have a sports book as well). That night was our last with our friends and we met up at NFI again.

again, we had a blast with them and we are really trying to plan a trip to see them in their home town (in Ireland.. i might have forgotten to mention that).

I'm sure by just reading this, you don't get the impression of how much fun we've had. But we've been to vegas MANY MANY times and 5 days would normally get a bit boring for us... but not this time. We were thinking about staying another night or two as it had been so amazing, but needed to get back to our kid and my work.

Overall... a great Vegas trip.

 

Sounds like a great time . . . so you can't even give us a hint about who the famous singer was that you met by the pool?

 

Thank you for your TR!! Sounds like you had a GREAT time!!!

How was your room at the Flamingo? I'm going to be there in a couple weeks and I'm getting nervous with all i've been reading on the state of the rooms.

 

I'd be rebooking if I was you - I'll never stay there again.

We were on a non-smoking floor several years ago - nut cases beside our room were smoking up a storm - after one day complained - their solution was to suggest that we change rooms - NOT remove the idiots on the non-smoking floor. DUH - never again - stay away from the Dumpmingo...

 

Thanks for the report. This is proof that you can do Vegas on the cheap and still have a fun time.

 

sounds like it was an awesome trip!!!

thanks for the new band to follow. the imagine dragons do have a great sound!!!

 

Sounds like you had big fun. Enjoyed the read and thanks for posting. Who could that famous person be?

 

Wow Happy 15 and what a great way to celebrate.
Really enjoyed your report and sounds like you had a wonderful time.
Have to agree with your comments about Flamingo and the halls--was the same way about 1 year ago----I usually stay at Harrahs for 3-4 nts per trip and do not have that problem there at all--everything is clean and always have a good time. So you may want to try Harrahs next time--especially if it is not pool season as the pool is not that great.

 

Great TR

Isn't always the way when you aren't really expecting a whole lot from a trip , the opposite happens?

You've met some good people , shared some laughs , toasted a few, caught some good music ....

Congrats on the weight loss , too!

 

great report, sounds like you had a really good time, and happy annie!

Curious how the NYNY rooms compare to the flamingo?

 

Sounds like you and Em did it up right for the anniversary! Great report Ken. Glad you both had such a great time. Congrats on the weight loss, I had no idea and hopefully I will recognize you the next time I see you. :wink

 

The flamingo rooms are a bit bigger, but I like the whole place at NYNY better. I like the layout and the casino, but maybe that's because we stay there so often. And the food choices (IMO) are better at NYNY than Flamingo.

Speaking of food, I forgot to mention a couple of things. We at at Hash House a Go Go on Sunday morning. It was simply the best breakfast I've ever had before. But, the portions are disgustingly huge. Next time, we'll go back for sure but split a plate of the Sage Chicken Benedict. It was really good.

They also added a sushi bar to Chin Chin at NYNY and we ate there twice. Fresh sushi, well prepared. They have two sushi chefs there. On the second night, we just told them what we wanted (off menu) and they made it for us. I was impressed by the quality of the sushi there, not expecting much. It's not cheap, but it was very tasty. Good sushi menu for what was really an afterthought at Chin Chin.