Skadoo's Thanksgiving- Maybe semi-live??

So I'm terribly undecided about what style of trip report I will do for this trip. I was inclined to not even do one, but some friends really encouraged me to do so, so I'll try. I am leaving first thing on Wednesday for Vegas and am really ready to go. I have jam-packed days at work until then, so at least time will go by quickly.

I am meeting my best friend from college. My family doesn't really "do" holidays, so it's become a tradition we hang out for one of the big ones, since we were in school. As we've gotten older and moved further away from one another, it went from just hanging out to vacations. While I know it may be controversial to some to have male friends, we've been friends (and only friends) for almost 10 years. We had originally planned to meet up in New Orleans and relive our college glory days, but the flight from California for him was expensive as hell. Plus, when we talked about what we wanted to do, it became clear we might as well just go to Vegas.

We had originally booked the MGM after a nice stay there this summer. About a week ago, I received an email from the Venetian/Palazzo with some super cheap rate, where it only worked out to about 100 bucks more for the three nights. After some discussion, we decided to do it. Understand, 9 years ago we were to stay at the Venetian on our very first Vegas trip ever. We canceled it and stayed at the Bellagio instead, and ever since, my friend has been jonesing to stay at V/P.

Things that are planned include a visit to the Mob Museum, Mob bar, and Absinthe. Meals include Prime on Thanksgiving, Sage and a visit to the bacchanal buffet. Of course there will be spa time, football and gambling. Other than that, who knows?

We'll see if the writing bug bites me a little harder once I've got boots on the ground.

 

Blue, didn't you just get back?

 

Good luck on your trip, Blue! I hope the machines and tables smile on you, and Thanksgiving dinner at Bellagio is yummy.

 

Hi Blue!

The important thing is that you do provide us with a TR. Live or not doesn't matter.

The wife and I will be in Las Vegas at the same time you are. From your list of things you plan to do, it looks like the only common demoninator will be the new buffet at Caesar's.

We're thinking some day trips to Red Rock, Area 51, Neon Museum, Mt. Charleston and the Clark County Museum. We're doing Fogo de Chao for Thanksgiving.

If you happen to see a 6'1" 235 pound red-headed guy that looks ex-military and retired cop...that'll be me.

Have a great time!

John

 

Young lady this is Unacceptable

 

Not sure why I didn't see Sigma Derby on that list. Must be an oversight.

I also am really looking forward to your reports of playing all the "Giant's Gold" slots you can find, hopefully with the "FEE FI FO FUM!" song that accompanies the bonus round and crushes about 2/3 of one's grey matter with its rhythmic, catch joy!

 

I'll be there from Thurs-Sun. Would love to meet a fellow forum member.

Plans for me include Bacchanal Buffet for Thanksgiving dinner and college football all day Saturday. Other than that...debauchery in all different forms.

 

Also - what kind of boots will you be wearing? Will they be those thigh-high patent leather ones or the rhinestone cowboy boots that look good with a dress?

 

Nice.

My wife's a flip flop girl.....

 

Have a great trip. We are heading to LV on Saturday. Also on our agenda is Mob Museum and Absinthe. Plus a couple other activities and the usual cocktails and gambling. Cheers

 

+1 to that.

Live or not, can't wait to read the TR! Best of luck Blue, and happy holidays.

 

Have fun! We get in this Saturday...excited!

 

A picture of a couple of beds is worth a 1000 words. Or is it 2000?

Looks nice!

 

How do you know they look good with a dress?

 

Start at the heels and work your way up.

 

What I did on my Las Vegas vacation, by Blue Skadoo.

So I typically write these things as they happen, which requires me to remember and recall very little. This time I'm going to try the summary method others are much more successful at pulling off than I. Here goes nothing....By the way, this is so long I'm breaking it into installments, but I will be writing more than a sentence per installment. Consider yourself warned.

First, the hotel we stayed at was The Palazzo . It was a very nice hotel, but I do see how some say it's starting to show its age, mostly on the couch in the suites. We were on the 41st floor, facing the strip in a Bella suite (thanks, 20 dollar trick!). We had a nice view of both the pirate show and volcano. I did get lost several times, and by the end of the trip, I figured out how to get from my room to restaurant row without going through the casino first. All the employees I encountered we're very friendly. I believe if you were so inclined, you could stay in the Venetian/palazzo complex without leaving for all your trip and have a lovely time. That being said, we did go to Wynn a good bit. It just felt "better" there and their dining options appealed more to us, especially in the morning.

A big highlight was a visit to the mob museum downtown. It was really impressive and was better than I expected. I didn't know very much about the mob going in, but I felt like it did a great job explaining the significance and connecting it all back to Las Vegas. I do have to wag my finger at the parents who let their 7 year old go through the gruesome second floor portion of the exhibit. Tsk, Tsk. The mob bar was also kind of neat, but the bartenders had zero personality.

Another really great part of the trip was Absinthe. Everyone is right! It was really funny. My face hurt from laughing, and my friend laughed until tears were rolling. I just loved the Gazillionaire. I would say anyone at all reserved or prudish should not go. There's a disclaimer there for a reason! Heed it or be offended. I'd love to go back,just to see if the jokes are always the same.

 

Mmmm food!

Dining is always something I look forward to as part of my trips. We had a fantastic meal at Sage. I had dined there previously, and did not enjoy it. They really redeemed themselves. I had the pre-theatre menu which was a three course meal. I had a roasted pumpkin soup, a flat iron steak and a caramelized layer cake. The wine pairings were spot on as well. It was awesome!

I also tried rattlecan at Venetian. It's really new, but they had tasty asiago truffle fries. I'd go there again. I'm not sure if I'm up for the shot of Jameson with the pickle juice back, even if they do give you a free ride on the mechanical pickle. Maybe next trip? We also tried Grimaldis at Venetian. It was okay, but I'm not quite sold on it. We had breakfast a few times at society cafe because my friend can't get enough of their scrambled eggs. We did bacchanal buffet for lunch, and it still has the quality. We went back to do a breakfast there on Friday and they wanted 45 dollars for a holiday "brunch" at 7:30 in the morning. We decided to try Central instead. I had a creme brûlée French toast. It was not exceptional, and I'm not sure I'd return. I understand the niche that it is supposed to fill in the Caesars lineup, but with it being Caesars palace I expect more.


The biggest dining disappointment by far was Prime. Unfortunately a service issue completely ruined our evening. As I have shared in the past, my friend has food allergies to tree nuts and shellfish. We told the restaurant this when we made the reservation, the hostess and waitstaff confirmed it upon our arrival and we discussed the specials, with the waiter highlighting what was acceptable for my friend and not. They brought a basket of three types of bread and did not elaborate on the breads, just dropped and ran. We then go through the basket, and he sees raisin bread, of which he consumes two pieces. About 15 minutes after the bread is dropped at our table, a waiter comes over and says "uhm, did he eat the raisin bread? It has walnuts." It's immediate panic that sets in on our part and then things become surreal. My friends reactions are typically a slow type that takes about 2 hours to become apparent, so we weren't sure how this would end. He took some medicine right away, but we lost our appetite. The manager of the restaurant came and had us file a security report with the largest security guy I've ever seen. They instructed us to call if we ended up at the hospital, comped our meal we didn't eat and sent us on our way. My friend's Benadryl knocked him out and we called it a night. Luckily, the medication worked and he avoided the worst of it, but it sucks because we tried to be cautious and it still failed.

 

Glad to see Sage was an improvement this time around!

 

That really sucks about the allergic reaction. They should have given you a comp to come back another time. Although I'm not sure he would want to now.

What a kick in the tree nuts.