Memorial Day Weekend 2010

I just came back from Las Vegas. This was written mainly on the flight back. It seemed a better use of time than watching Taylor Swift in the movie ‘Valentine,’ and I already had seen ‘How To Train Your Dragon.’

By the way, I get asked this a lot, ‘What is a peep?’ Jeez. A peep is a peep. We are all peeps. My best friend is my main peep and I am her peep. The peep who serves you your meal at a restaurant is a peep. We are all peeps.

Anyway ….

Thursday …

We flew JetBlue out of JFK. (We being me and my husband ‘Hâ€) I had never flown JetBlue before and did not know what to expect but the tickets where less than the other airlines but still more than any previous flight. I think they were over $600 each. Jeez

I was impressed with JetBlue. Check-in was a breeze and they only charge you for your second bag ($30). JetBlue advertises that they have more legroom than any other airline and I believe it. Yeppers!!! All the seats are leather and they all have plasma screens built into the back of the seat facing you. They have 37 FREE channels of Direct TV and also XM radio. There is no First Class but the plane does not look crowded and I think that is a function of the seat spacing.

One of the really cool things is that the Steward comes around and asks peeps for their drink orders (e.g. coke, water, etc) and then brings it to them on a tray. They never had a cart in the aisle and they had water and snacks (i.e. pretzels, cookies, etc) available in the galleys during the entire flight.

We landed and headed for the car rental facility. We had a brand new red Cadillac waiting for us at our space at Hertz. It only had 71 miles on the odometer and it reeked of that new car smell. It was funny, for a Cadillac, the trunk could barely contain the three suitcases we had.

We than drove to Bootleggers Bistro, which is an Italian restaurant on the Strip past Mandalay Bay, for lunch. I love this place. It is open 24 hours a day, even on Christmas, and they use the same menu all the time but the prices change depending on the time of day when you go there. This restaurant seems genuinely old time Vegas. The food is like your Italian grandma would cook if you had an Italian grandma and she was an okay cook.

We drove further out and went to a Food For Less supermarket. I always go here for water and soda. They have shopping carts the size of the Volkswagens; I am not used to this at all. I am not even, truth be told, used to supermarkets. Everything is Super King Sized and super inexpensive. We get water and soda.

I call our hotel and room is ready. Excellent. It is about 2 pm. I tell them to get rid of the snacks they have on the mini bar and to empty the mini bar. Our water and soda will now go into the mini bar.

We drive past the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. It is sad. My favourite casino in the world used to be opposite the sign. My much beloved Klondike. I loved that dump. And, it was a dump make no mistake about it. I still recall the daily $1.19 spaghetti dinner special that they would have had to force-feed me to eat. I wonder if anyone ever ate it. I loved playing $2 blackjack with the some most interesting dealers and players in Las Vegas. And, now it is gone. It has been replaced by a parking lot for corporate jets. What a loss. What a tragic loss.

We are staying at the Four Season. The Four Seasons is located on floors 35 to 39 of the Mandalay Bay and has its own separate entrance, elevator bank, pool, etc.

I love staying here mainly ‘cause of the pool. You can always find shade. And, the hours are great. The pool never really closes although the official hours are 8 am to 7 pm but those hours only reflect when a lifeguard is on duty. I usually get to the pool at about 6:30 am and I don’t worry too much about the lack of a lifeguard since the water is only 3 ½ feet deep and I am a little taller than that.

Anyhow ….

We have a Strip view room on the 37th floor. I am never that impressed with the view. During the day the view is ho hum and at night the gold shroud that covers the Mandalay Bay dulls the lights of the Strip.

We unpack and head for the Mandalay Bay. The Four Seasons’ elevator bank has a stop for the Mandalay Bay. Play a little blackjack and craps. Not much luck and H is not really that much into gaming. Head over to the Luxor looking for this slot machine called Stampede. I love it. You hear the running of cows whenever you win and if you hit the bonus round it is so loud it is like a real herd of cows stampeding. It was a lot of fun.

I started coming to Vegas when I was in college and first played blackjack and then craps. I mostly play the slots now and occasionally craps. I rarely play blackjack even though I can still play perfect basic strategy with just a five-minute refresher,

But, I don’t gamble much. I hate too lose too much. I get sad losing the smallest amount of money and kick myself the rest of the trip. This trip, however, was my best session ever. I actually won and was able to keep about four hundred dollars. I think this is only my second winning trip out of the many times I have been here.

We ate at Mandalay Bay. Afterwards, we head to bed; it has been a long day.

I am up at 5 am on Friday and went down to the casino. I like it this time of the morning. You see the true gamblers and party peeps. I play some slots and head back to my room and get some stuff and head down to the pool. I am the only peep there. It is about 6:30 am. I use their gym and shower at the spa and back out to the pool. This is a ritual I will follow every day.

I hang out at the pool all day breaking only to have breakfast sitting outside at the Veranda. I have lunch at the Pool.

That evening …

Last fall I saw “Lord of the Rings†accompanied by a symphony orchestra at Radio City Music Hall in New York. It was fantastic and, so, when I got an email promoting “Star Wars in Concert†at the Orleans Arena, I jumped at the chance to get tickets. The only good tickets I could get were $85 each at the rear of the arena.

About two weeks ago I got another email promoting the show and the seating chart showed that the seats I had paid $85 were now $55 and it also showed seats that were not available when I ordered in the mid-arena area for $85. I called and they said I could upgrade my seats to mid-arena seats. Excellent!!!

We started out for the show at 7 pm allowing ourselves an hour to get there and also take care of any hassle that might develop over exchanging the tickets. We got to the Orleans Arena and the parking lot was deserted. Huh? The concerts was for Saturday not Friday. We hurry back to the hotel and get out tickets for Elvis at Aria

I had gotten my dates mixed up. We see “Elvis†at Aria on Friday and “Star Wars In Concerts†on Saturday. Jeez

We manage to get to the Elvis show a little after eight and I am thinking we only missed a few minutes. We went into the theater and the usher told us the show was half over; it had started at 7 pm not 8 pm as I was thinking.

Jeez

All was not lost; he told us go come back for the 9:30 show and he would seat us. We went to eat at a seafood restaurant at Aria while waiting for the 9:30 show. It was really good. I had trout and you do not always find that at seafood restaurants.

I thought “Elvis†was a notch above being plain awful. I have always loved the Cirque du Soleil shows; I am actually seeing one in New York this Saturday in New York. I have seen Mystere three times, KA twice, etc. My point, and I do have one, is that I do know Cirque du Soleil and this show was just not up to their usual high artistry. I would avoid it. Oh well


We went to a club afterward but didn’t stay too long. It is sort of hard to stay out very late when you are up and about 5:30 am almost every morning.

Saturday ….

Saturday during the day was a repeat of Friday except mid-day I tried my luck at craps and it just reinforced my feelings I should stay with the slots. I just can’t seem to win. Oh well.

That evening we saw “Star Wars in Concert†at the Orleans Arena and I loved it. They have a symphony orchestra on stage beneath a huge plasma screen. They had the peep who played C-3po introduce various scenes from the different Star War movies. It was just fantastic. I am not a Star War fan at all but I loved this.

You should definitely go see it if it comes near a venue near you.

They showed pictures of Carrie Fisher who played in an early Star War movie. Perhaps it was the very first Star War movie: regardless; I kept on thinking that Carrie Underwood had played the Orleans Arena just a week earlier and she is engaged to a hockey player named Mike Fisher and when she gets married she will also be known as Carrie Fisher. Ha Ha Ha I crack myself up

Afterward, we ate somewhere at the Orleans and while waiting for H, I played some Egyptian themed slot machine and won over $100 on their first pull. I quit immediately for the night.

Sunday …

The morning was the same as always at the pool …

Went to Mass at the Shrine of the Holey Redeemer, which is located across from the Luxor. I had previously read on one my earlier trips this church was build to accommodate the Catholic visitors who come to Las Vegas. It has no local parish.

I like this church ‘cause you can throw casino chips into the collection basket when it comes around. I mean, really, where else in the world can you do that? I do not know if it is true, but they say a monk goes around to the different casinos weekly cashing in the chips. He is known as the chip monk. Get it? Chipmunk!!

Back to the pool …

They apologize but actually tell us that they have to close the pool at the 7 pm closing time to accommodate a wedding. It is a Jewish wedding. We are eating dinner at the Veranda when we hear the blowing of the ram horns to announce the beginning of the ceremony. The rabbi seems to go on forever before he announces them man and wife. Mazel tov!!! And, then, they started playing country music of all things. It was so funny.

I love county music. I was here in April for the ACM Awards and have tickets for Garth in August. And, so, I was enjoying the music but it ended too soon.

I bumped into the groom later on in a hallway. He had a yarmulke (skullcap, for you non Yiddish speaking peeps), cowboy booths, and talked with a Texas drawl. I thought that was pretty funny.

Monday

I was up around 4:30 am; this was my full last day. I walked over to the Luxor and played Stampede for about an hour and won about $300!!! Woo Hoo!!!

I mentioned that I like the casino early in the morning. The only real problem is the guys who give you that look wondering if you’re a working girl. I just ignore it. Oh well. 


I was walking back thought the Mandalay Bay by the poker area. There is a security booth there and about 20 feet directly in front of it there is this roulette table where this couple was in some type of argument with another couple. The guy was ‘brutish’ looking man with a controlled fury who was almost yelling to this Asian woman, who was with her date/husband,


I apologize for the use of the word ‘brutish’ but I cannot think of a better word to describe him. He looked like an angry drunk.

I just can’t imagine how you can get into an argument with perfect strangers at a roulette table in Las Vegas. I mean, really, it is not like you are on third base and asks for a card that causes everyone to lose.

Anyway …

This guy’s friend (who also looks brutish and drunk) walks over to them from someplace else in the casino and I think it will end now; he will calm his friend down. I turn to watch this card game and the next thing I know this guy’s friend has thrown a glass at this woman that hit her. I see it out of the corner of my eye. Holy Smokes!!!

SECURITY!!!

He kept on yelling ‘Go Home Whore.’ She was NOT a working girl and he kept moving towards here.

The guy the Asian woman was with was about half the size of the guy yelling at her and so he had the good sense not to do anything. There was one security guy there telling the guy to back up be he kept on coming.

Suddenly, ten or more security peeps got there. One even came on a bicycle. The bike had a little red flashing light on it. It was wild!! They surrounded this guy that was yelling and walked him off still yelling at this woman. I was hoping he would be arrested but I doubt that was going to happen. I learned one thing; call 911 if you are assaulted. I would not trust hotel security to handle matters. That guy should be in jail not simply escorted out the casino.

Excitement over …..

Rest of the morning at the pool. Same as always.

About 4 pm we head over to the Mandarin Oriental. We had arranged to see their pool area. We got there and they had someone take us for a tour of the pool area.

It is on the 8th floor and it is barren. It is more like a long narrow lap pool surrounded by cabanas. No one was in the pool. There was very little greenery and I doubt there were 20 lounge chairs. It just looked cold and uninviting. I would never stay here.

Funny – after the pool tour we went to SkyLounge at the 23rd floor. I was impressed with the prices more than the view. A Grey Goose on the rocks was $20.50 and a club soda was $8.00. I thought that was funny.

Afterwards, we walked around Chrystal and then to the Bellagio to see the Conservatory. We ate at an Italian restaurant and than watched a few fountain shows and back to the hotel.

Tuesday …

Fly back home

 

Thanks for the post. Interesting story 'bout the lout at the roulette table. I've seen a few idiots having arguments in Vegas. Most often these incidents were on the sidewalk in the Flamingo, IP, Harrah's area.
Security guy on a bike with a flashing red light - love it.

klater, GVJ

 

Good report. Glad you peeps had fun

The bike cop cracks me up too...little red light...ha!

Shame about the Elvis show...I just got an offer that included some free tix -guess I know why.

 

Big Elvis is free and gets rave reviews. Viva Elvis is hardly free and is frequently ripped.....ironic huh?

 

Great report, thank you for posting!!

Question for ya on that Stampede machine. Is it a 25 cent machine with reels or is it one of those new video penny slots? I remember an old slot called Stampede where there were bars with a Horseshoe in the middle of them. Is that what you played at Luxor?

 

Glad you had fun. Enjoyed your report and thanks for posting!