keno
obsessed with countdown timers
We left early on a Friday morning (8:55am flight, early for us) and the short flight had us on a cab to NYNY at about 10:30am. We went to the invited guest check in, but our room wasn't ready. We asked for a high floor, near the elevator and received a nice room. We didn't even try to get an upgrade, as it doesn't really matter to us. We'll leave those for the folks who care more. They gave us the keys to the room, and told us to call the front desk back at 1pm or so to get our room number. We had already given the bell desk our bags.
Headed over to the craps table to see how much money we'd give them this trip. Boy, was it a lot! The trip was not off to a good start in the gambling area! By 1pm, we were down quite a bit and not too happy about it. It turns out on this trip that Em and I couldn't gamble together, or we'd just loose tons.
After 1, we got our room and went to unpack then headed over to Diablo's for some lunch and margaritas. We just had the really big nachos, as the food there doesn't look so great, but the Nachos were fine. The best part was the pitcher of margaritas. We spent quite some time there, as it's great to people watch when you're sitting right on the edge. I'm not sure what we did the rest of the day, but we ended up at Nine Fine Irishmen at about 9:30pm to watch the band and drink good beer and stayed the rest of the night there, leaving at about 1:30am.
On Saturday, we headed downtown for some cheap gambling and shrimp cocktails. And to get a cheesy gift for our daughter from one of the vendors. the shrimp cocktail was as tasty as ever from the Golden Gate, but the gaming wasn't good anywhere downtown for us. After a while, we decided to head back towards the strip and took a cab to the Mirage. We were hoping to see the volcano, but found out it only lights up after dark (it was early afternoon yet). So, we headed over to O'Sheas to hang out and grab a beer at the bar. We sat in the little bar area there and they were having a Rock Band contest (the video game). It was pretty lame, but fun at the same time, at least when the contestants picked good songs. They'd give anyone who played the game a free beer. We never did it, but had fun making fun of the people who were playing, and met some interesting people along the way. Once it got dark, we headed over to Mirage to watch the volcano. It was getting cold outside, and the heat from the fire pots around the volcano were very welcome! Directly after the volcano, we decided to head back to NYNY (we were getting very cold, typical daytime wear was shorts), and jumped on the Deuce for the first time. Vegas was pretty dead this weekend (MLK birthday weekend), so we figured it was a good time to try it. There was no wait to get on the bus and plenty of seats, so we just lounged our way back to NYNY and stayed warm doing it.
We gamble some more, lost some more, then went back to Nine Fine Irishmen that night to finish the night at around 2am or so.
On Sunday, we wanted to watch some games, so we headed down to Hard Rock via their shuttle from MGM to the cafe. This is a great free service! We headed in to eat at Pink Taco before the game and got there right when Pink Taco opened. Had their great Tortilla soup and one of their taco entrees to share, plus a couple of margaritas. Then we headed in to the center bar to watch the game. The HR was filled with mostly Cardinal fans, so it was great to watch the first half with them. A bit through the 3rd quarter, Em was ready to go back to NYNY, so we got on the shuttle and headed back. We got into NYNY just in time to watch the last couple of minutes of the game, it was great! Then it was nap time for a while, and then we came back down to watch the second game at the new center bar in NYNY. We sat next to a huge group of people who were there for a b-day, and they were a blast. We watched the second half of the steelers game with them and had a blast, then hung out with them for most of the evening, before of course, going to Nine Fine later that night. Now, we live nine fine by itself, but we really like the band as well. We are psuedo-friends with the band members and regularly talk to them between sets, as well as hang out with all of their real friends who come out to see them and live in Vegas. Every time we go, some of the bands friends are there and we end up talking to them most of the night as well. And, our streak goes un-broken, as we've ALWAYS met a non-US person while at NineFine, usually multiple. But this time, we met a Scottish man that lives about a mile from us, which was pretty cool.
Monday was go home day, but not until the afternoon. So, we decided to go see the Bellagio fountains that day before leaving. It was round noon or so when we got there, when we heard that the fountains don't start until 3pm. We couldn't wait that long as we had to leave NYNY by 2:30 to catch our plane. So, we checked out the conservatory which was done up beautifully for the Chinese New Year. As we were leaving, we could see that the fountains had started (at about 1:30), so we were quite bummed but didn't get to see any of it. We walked back down to NYNY to get a cab and our bags to head to the airport, for another uneventful flight.
Headed over to the craps table to see how much money we'd give them this trip. Boy, was it a lot! The trip was not off to a good start in the gambling area! By 1pm, we were down quite a bit and not too happy about it. It turns out on this trip that Em and I couldn't gamble together, or we'd just loose tons.
After 1, we got our room and went to unpack then headed over to Diablo's for some lunch and margaritas. We just had the really big nachos, as the food there doesn't look so great, but the Nachos were fine. The best part was the pitcher of margaritas. We spent quite some time there, as it's great to people watch when you're sitting right on the edge. I'm not sure what we did the rest of the day, but we ended up at Nine Fine Irishmen at about 9:30pm to watch the band and drink good beer and stayed the rest of the night there, leaving at about 1:30am.
On Saturday, we headed downtown for some cheap gambling and shrimp cocktails. And to get a cheesy gift for our daughter from one of the vendors. the shrimp cocktail was as tasty as ever from the Golden Gate, but the gaming wasn't good anywhere downtown for us. After a while, we decided to head back towards the strip and took a cab to the Mirage. We were hoping to see the volcano, but found out it only lights up after dark (it was early afternoon yet). So, we headed over to O'Sheas to hang out and grab a beer at the bar. We sat in the little bar area there and they were having a Rock Band contest (the video game). It was pretty lame, but fun at the same time, at least when the contestants picked good songs. They'd give anyone who played the game a free beer. We never did it, but had fun making fun of the people who were playing, and met some interesting people along the way. Once it got dark, we headed over to Mirage to watch the volcano. It was getting cold outside, and the heat from the fire pots around the volcano were very welcome! Directly after the volcano, we decided to head back to NYNY (we were getting very cold, typical daytime wear was shorts), and jumped on the Deuce for the first time. Vegas was pretty dead this weekend (MLK birthday weekend), so we figured it was a good time to try it. There was no wait to get on the bus and plenty of seats, so we just lounged our way back to NYNY and stayed warm doing it.
We gamble some more, lost some more, then went back to Nine Fine Irishmen that night to finish the night at around 2am or so.
On Sunday, we wanted to watch some games, so we headed down to Hard Rock via their shuttle from MGM to the cafe. This is a great free service! We headed in to eat at Pink Taco before the game and got there right when Pink Taco opened. Had their great Tortilla soup and one of their taco entrees to share, plus a couple of margaritas. Then we headed in to the center bar to watch the game. The HR was filled with mostly Cardinal fans, so it was great to watch the first half with them. A bit through the 3rd quarter, Em was ready to go back to NYNY, so we got on the shuttle and headed back. We got into NYNY just in time to watch the last couple of minutes of the game, it was great! Then it was nap time for a while, and then we came back down to watch the second game at the new center bar in NYNY. We sat next to a huge group of people who were there for a b-day, and they were a blast. We watched the second half of the steelers game with them and had a blast, then hung out with them for most of the evening, before of course, going to Nine Fine later that night. Now, we live nine fine by itself, but we really like the band as well. We are psuedo-friends with the band members and regularly talk to them between sets, as well as hang out with all of their real friends who come out to see them and live in Vegas. Every time we go, some of the bands friends are there and we end up talking to them most of the night as well. And, our streak goes un-broken, as we've ALWAYS met a non-US person while at NineFine, usually multiple. But this time, we met a Scottish man that lives about a mile from us, which was pretty cool.
Monday was go home day, but not until the afternoon. So, we decided to go see the Bellagio fountains that day before leaving. It was round noon or so when we got there, when we heard that the fountains don't start until 3pm. We couldn't wait that long as we had to leave NYNY by 2:30 to catch our plane. So, we checked out the conservatory which was done up beautifully for the Chinese New Year. As we were leaving, we could see that the fountains had started (at about 1:30), so we were quite bummed but didn't get to see any of it. We walked back down to NYNY to get a cab and our bags to head to the airport, for another uneventful flight.
