Quick report from August 2004

This will be short. I was in Vegas for work for 2 weeks, so I talked my wife into coming down 3 days early so she could see the city..it was her first time.
Flew down via Allegiant Air, which was great. 2.5 hour straight flight from Sioux Falls, SD. I had rented a car via hotwire, and I wound up getting Hertz. I booked a standard which would be a Mustang for $17.95/day. Checked in with them, got the key and took the shuttle to the lot. Walked down the row (wow, it was hot)...no car in the assigned spot. By now the shuttle had already took off..I was having a Plains, Trains and Automobiles moment. We started to walk toward one of the buildings when we saw a sweet Mustang Convertible. I glanced at my rental agreement, and the plate matched the car...this was turning out to be a great beginning!
Popped the top down and took the wife on a tour around Vegas, then drove into downtown..then cruised down the strip. We had a Jacuzzi Suite at the Luxor so we valeted the car and stood in line for check-in. I asked for an upper floor room with a view, we got 12th floor, which wasn't too bad and we faced the strip. The tower blocked part of the view, but we could see the Tropicana and part of MGM. We really liked the room, it was a decent size, and my wife loved the hot tub.
We had reservations that evening at Sambas in the Mirage. It was ok. I've eaten in better Brazillain steakhouses, but it was good food.
The next day we explored the strip a bit more, we rode the monorail a lot that day, and had a good experience. That evening we ate at the Bellagio for their buffet, we waited about an hour to get in, but it was really worth it. That buffet was great, and service was awesome, I never had a glass over half empty.
For my wife's last night in town, we picked a show to go to..my wife wanted a real Vegas show, we settled for La Famme (ok, not a real Vegas show). We had 3rd row tickets which seemed pretty good. A Japanese group came in and had seats next to us, and front row..they weren't all together, and were a bit upset, so I offered to swap seats. We were now front row center. That was actually too close, I could have reached out and touched the girls when they were on the front spinner..it was kinda weird.
My wife had to fly out the next AM very early. So we crashed for a few hours sleep. I was still there for 2 more weeks. I was working but managed to spend some time downtown and walking the strip. I actually spent a lot of time at the Boardwalk. I managed to win a cpl hundred dollars on slots on the 2 occasions that I gambled there. I am not a big gambler, so it was pretty cool.
I have a bunch of pictures from our trip..you can see them here...

August 2004 pics.

 

KMS, excellant pics with probably an excellant camera.

 

Nice pic of the Circus Circus neon, excellent score on the convertible.