Thanksgiving week

 
(I-15 to Vegas)
We decided to head to Vegas for Thanksgiving week since rates were fairly cheap and I had the week off from work and school. I have never stayed downtown before but decided to check it out and booked a night at Downtown Grand, a block away from Fremont St.


The rooms are nice and reasonably priced. A weeknight rate with resort fee cost a little under $70.00.
The room had a flat screen TV and was spacious enough for two people. Not much of a view though.. since we were facing the other tower attached to the hotel.

This was our first night ever staying downtown and we were curious to check it out. One of my favorite areas downtown is Container Park. Its located across the street from El Cortez, and the complex is made from shipping containers that house retail shops and restaurants inside.

(Pinches Tacos Art)
We decided to eat at a place named, "Pinches Tacos."
I had the Grande Nachos with carne asada and they were DELICIOUS.
I also really enjoyed my Agua de Jamaica (Hibiscus water)

Container Park is a great little place. The park had a band playing in their concert space which made the shopping experience more enjoyable. Also, the security out in front does a good job at remaining active and keeping the place calm. Overall, I can't wait to go back and enjoy a few more of the restaurants Container Park has to offer.

(Purple Potato Pizza from Pizza Rock)
Our night in Fremont St. was interesting to say the least. Started off at The D and made our way to La Bayou where I got free drinks by playing nickel slots, and extremely fast service. Service their is quick since the place is pretty small and usually empty. I kept tipping $2 per drink, and I never had to track a waitress down. Basically that whole night we just went from casino to casino and did some sightseeing. Oh, and had a slice of pizza at Pizza Rock which was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. The only thing that sucked, were the encounters with shady people...and there were a lot. I'm not even gonna lie, it was shade fest.
No, I don't want to take a picture with you. No, I don't want your shitty CD. NO, I do not want to give you $1.00 because you're so close to getting a bonus on your favorite machine.. (True story)
This was my main issue about Downtown, it felt like I was always being hassled in some way. Downtown does have a lot of unique places though, and that's what gets me to go back. I'll get more into that on my next post..

(NYNY Corner room view)
The next day after our delicious breakfast of Egg Mcmuffins we headed to the strip to check into our room for the night at New York New York. We had an amazing view from our park avenue room facing mid strip and Red Rock Canyon on the other side. Corner rooms are great because they offer more views. Once we settled in, we headed downstairs to the Zumanity box office to pick up our tickets for the night. Then we headed to the casino to play for a bit. I usually gamble anywhere from Min. up to 4x's but I find that I do better on Min.to 2x's a bet. I was playing $1.00 a push and stopped after it was giving me nothing in return. I changed my denomination and sure enough I got a bonus a few spins later at $0.50 a bet. I've gotten a bonus on Miss Kitty  betting $1.25 before that paid out less than this bonus.


After a bit of gaming, we headed upstairs to get ready for dinner at Nine Fine Irishmen. Nine Fine Irishmen is located inside the casino and is a decorated Irish pub.

We had a BOGO Entree from a MyVegas reward and decided to put it to good use. I ordered the Fish & Chips and they were better than ones I got at, "Fulton Fish Frye" which is also located at New York New Yorks' food court.

(Fish & Chips) ^

(Sheperd's Pie)  ^
After dinner we headed to the theater to see Zumanity. Zumanity is known to be a "sexy" show due to the advertising. I wouldn't say it was sexy..but it was very entertaining and humorous. It was like any other Cirque Du Soleil show but with topless performers. Overall, I did enjoy the show and was glad we were also able to use a BOGO from MyVegas as well. After the show there was a bit of time to do some more gaming and got this good hit at Min. bet on Buffalo.

After, we headed upstairs to enjoy the amazing view.

Loving the view.

Thanksgiving morning in Las Vegas
(Our other view facing Red Rock and T Mobile arena)
Thanksgiving morning was our time to check out and head over to Luxor, which we booked on a special offer. It was hard to leave that room and the view it had to offer. We've stayed at Luxor many times before, so we weren't excited for the move. Before we went to Luxor we decided to have breakfast at Hash House a go go at the Rio.

(Bacon Waffle)

(Chorizo and egg)
I had the Bacon waffle which was good and Curt had the chorizo, which looked good. The portions at Hash House a go go are known to be huge so come on an empty stomach.
After breakfast we headed to Luxor to check in. When we got settled in, we went downstairs and Curt got a progressive win on Hot Hot Habanero of $433.55 on a $0.60 cent bet!


After the big win, we wandered up and down the strip to decide on where to eat later that night.
We decided to eat at trevi. We walked from Luxor to Monte Carlo to take the tram to Bellagio. We walked through the Bellagio conservatory and casino and made our way through Ceasers Palace to get to Trevi  located in the forum shops.

We were seated next to the fountain and had a great view all around. Our appetizer, "Melanzane Fritte" was delicious. Eggplant crips with marinara sauce. It was $7 and good enough to share with 2-3 people.

For dinner I had the mushroom lasagna. It was good but very rich. I got full a little over halfway through, but it was flavorful and delicious.
 
I wish I would've ordered the two steak medallions and half a slice of lasagna that was ordered at my table, but next time.
After our very filling dinner we walked (much needed) back to Luxor from Ceasers Palace. I played for a bit and got another decent hit from Buffalo. (up quite a bit now)

The next day (Black Friday) was our last day in Vegas. So we made the most of it. We made our way around the strip, in and out of; casinos, stores, restaurants, and took everything in. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner and we decided to eat close to our hotel because we were tired from all the walking and my feet were hurting at that point, and I wasn't having any of that. We decided to eat at Crossroads at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay which is a short walk from luxor via the mall in between both hotels.

(Menu)

(Fake tree in the middle of the restaurant)
We decided to start with an appetizer, "Vodoo shrimp."

This was simply, hands down, the best thing I had all week. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
I decided to have the Fish sandwich as an entree, and I liked it as well.


The fish was crispy and the bread wasn't soggy. Probably one of the best i've had in a while, and I love fish sandwiches. This was supposed to be our last night in Vegas but one thing lead to another and we decided to book an extra night the following day (Saturday) last minute. We booked an extra night at Red Rock Canyon Resort & Casino in Summerlin, NV. This was great because we wanted to go hiking at Red Rock Canyon but never made it so this was the perfect excuse to go, since we were so close. Also, YAY! Another vegas-y day.

(Lobby at Red Rock)
Check in wasn't til 3:00 pm like most places so we decided to go hiking.
(Visitor center)


These photos were taken in the scenic route one goes through to get to a trail. We decided to do a beginners hike, "Lost creek" was the name of the trail. Perfect hike for beginners and not too long. It was about 40 degrees outside so I didn't want to be out in the cold for long. The trail was short enough to enjoy and had great views and even featured a small waterfall at the end. 


(Me Red Rockin')

Photos DO NOT do this place justice. If you're able to make your way out to Red Rock and enjoy hiking, this is the place for you. You can even stay in your car and take the scenic route, which offers majestic views all around. After our amazing hike we headed back to our resort to check in. 
We had another hike ahead of us because our room was at the very end of this endless hallway. Once we got to our room though, we were more than satisfied.

This was the most spacious room i've had in Vegas and I have stayed in plenty of places. The beds were so comfortable and the room looked and felt modern. 
The bathtub even had it's own TV.

Such a great room, with awesome amenities. Booked a $100 a night rate on a Saturday!

Amazing view of the mountains too. We also had a view of the pool but I didn't take a picture. The rest of the day was spent laying in bed, exhausted from all the walking. That night we decided to have dinner in the hotel, so we decided to eat at the Feast Buffet. We waited in line for about 45 minutes and once we reached the front we noticed an empty queue for, "Hotel guests," which we were. I was pissed off once I saw that especially after the mediocre food. After dinner, I was done and headed to bed. The following day we made the mistake of leaving at check out time (11;00 am) We didnt get on the road til about noon and it took almost 2 hours to get to Primm, NV from Vegas. I ended up getting home around 6:30 pm that day. Everyone from Southern California knows to leave Las Vegas on Sundays at an early time, never making that mistake again.

Palms Place/ Monte Carlo

I go to Vegas plenty of times during the year. Last year being the most, hitting double digits. It's really easy for us to rent a car or take one of ours, jump on the 15, and drive less than 5 hours to our destination. Also, the desert always has the best views.

This was in mid August so..it was HOT. Around 105 Fahrenheit and humidity was around 60%..so yeah.
 
We were headed to Palms Place which is a hotel connected to the Palms Resort & Casino.
This was supposed to be a short work trip. Leaving Cali on Friday and Vegas that following Sunday.
Our room was very spacious, comfortable, and quiet.

Even though we didn't have a strip view I was more than okay with it because we had a great view facing the mountains on the 40th floor.


There was a separate sitting area in the room with its own separate TV next to the balcony. 
Our Friday night was very relaxed in Vegas. We walked over to the Palms Casino via the SkyBridge. (Which is a tunnel connected to the palms, with walkways that take you directly to the Casino.)
We didn't do much in the way of gambling but quickly made our way around the Casino to see what was around. There's not many activities to do at the Palms (we dont go clubbing) but they do have a movie theater that seems to have great deals, probably to attract locals and tourists into their Casino. We ate at Earl of Sandwich that night, relaxed, and went to bed.


The following Saturday morning I had a few hours to myself. So I crossed the street and walked over to Einsteins Bagels, which long story short was, underwhelming. The eggs were whipped, and the whole thing was pretty uneatable to me. I ended up walking back through the SkyBridge and getting McDonalds breakfast at the Palms then I decided to play some penny slots at min. denomination to kill some time. I was surprised when I got a bonus fairly quickly on Buffalo and got a great line hit.
 
I was down to $15.22 from my original $20.00 when the bonus hit. I ended up cashing out at $127.00. On a $0.40 cent bet, not bad at all. Needless to say, I started to feel a bit better about my luck and less bored. So I decided to head over to the Gold Coast, another hotel and casino right across the street. I went to the Boyd players card desk and they handed me $5.00 in freeplay along with my card. I walked over to Rainbow Reels activated my freeplay ran a dollar through, and started to play at $0.80 cents a push.. On my second spin I got a great line hit totaling $88.00. I wasn't able to get a picture because security was next to me. I was up about $210.00. Once I got my line hit, I ran the rest of my freeplay through, cashed out, and walked back to my room at Palms Place. I was at the Gold Coast for less than 8 minutes and up another $80.00. When I got back to my room Curt was there so we headed to the strip to eat at Cabo Wabo Cantina. We had a groupon, and the food was
quick and okay..... other than that...you can get a pretty decent view there facing the Bellagio water fountains.
We spent the rest of the day in the Palms resort doing some light gaming, and enjoying the view.

That night we decided to go to the bar located in the lobby of Palms Place called, "Rojo Lounge."
The bar has a very modern design and topshelf drinks. It's a small spot with a few TVs, a couple couches, and a pool table. We sat at the bar and felt quite comfortable. Both our bartenders were outstanding and the drinks were good.

That night we decided to head to the strip. The walk from Rio to Ceasars is a far walk in itself. lol. I don't know what we were thinking, but we did, and we did for no reason because we spent very little time on the strip and headed back to the Palms. I did get a four coin trigger bonus on Pompeii though at Ballys.
.
The trigger paid me the most at $10.00 lol but I wasn't upset because I was up 5 bucks. haha
We were supposed to leave that Sunday..but thanks to our little adventure to the strip...we were in no mood to drive back to SoCal. We ended up booking a room at Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino. Before our room was ready though we headed to The National Atomic Testing Museum
.
We bought a groupon that admitted two people for the price of $23.00. Those groupons are still available according to my app. It was a fun and educational experience and would recommend to anyone to check out if they're interested to learn about the history of atomic testing.

After the museum we went to check in at Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is great because it connected next to city center so you can navigate yourself pretty easily.

We only had a few hours left in Vegas since we were leaving at 2;00 am the following morning. So we decided to hang out and re energize for a bit before heading out to Cosmopolitan to get some secret pizza.

Secret pizza is always a cheap, delicious option on the strip. One slice is very filling, and worth the wait. Secret Pizza is located on the 3rd floor, look for the hallway with picture frames all over the walls. The rest of the day was spent playing a few slots like Texas Tina and getting even more great little hits. At the end I still had my original winnings from Palms and Gold Coast plus little extra.
 \
I headed to bed early that night around 8 pm. We woke up at 2 am and headed out the door to SoCal and straight to work.