Last Friday afternoon, My Sweetie and I grabbed a non-stop Southwest flight to Las Vegas so we could spend some more time together before she goes off to North Dakota for a couple of weeks.
Anyway, we get to McCarran Airport a few minutes early and rush down to grab our bag before hopping into a cab. During our cab ride to Treasure Island Hotel and Resort, we learned that some cab companies would be going on strike after midnight Saturday. Fortunately, we didn't plan on using any cabs this trip but that information did prep us for the traffic jams to come.
Checking into T.I. began our long weekend of running from one place to another because we had scheduled everything! That means, we were arriving at T.I. in time to put our bags into our room and grab a cab to Planet Hollywood! We needed to pick up our show tickets and then grab a quick supper at Planet Hollywood's buffet, The Spice Market Buffet.
OK. It wasn't the best meal in the world but it quietened our growling tummies. We had a few minutes to spare so we walked through the casino and around the shopping area until showtime (at 2200 or midnight our time!). Finally, we arrived at the theater and checked in at the VIP line. Here, I noticed that our tickets read "Isle B Seat 101" and "Isle B Seat 1." Somewhat confused, I asked one of the actors (who happened to also be an usher) if these seats were actually together. He took the tickets and said "I'll f@#king take care of it. I'm actually an actor and don't work at the theater. Those f@#kheads will fix this for you." In a few minutes, he came back over and handed us two more tickets.
We entered with the other VIPs and found our seats in the theater to watch the most over-the-top, audience-involved, campy show in Las Vegas - "Evil Dead, The Musical in 4D." We purposely did NOT get seats in the "Splatter Zone" but afterwards, I wish we had! Those folks got their own "Evil Dead, The Musical" tee-shirts which was payback for being soaked with "blood" during the show (and intermission)! Really awesome! http://www.evildeadthemusical.com/
The next day, we started early with Eggs Benedict at Kahunaville at T.I. We played slots for a bit before we rented our car and headed out to visit the #1 recommended dining spot in Henderson. After 40 minutes, we found the restaurant - and found it to be closed. :( Bummer. So, we turned around and ate lunch at a really nice Mexican place. However, our main reason for renting a car today was to visit Ethyl M's chocolate shop! Here, we toured their chocolate factory (closed on the weekends), had a sample chocolate, bought some chocolates and a chocolate drink, and walked their cactus garden path. Then, back to T.I.
Our evening was busy again as we had reservations to dine at Japonaise, an upscale place at the Mirage. A fine bottle of chianti and several sashimi and robata courses later, we headed over to the theater to watch our evening entertainment of Ron White.
Ron White was a member of the Blue Collar Comedy team and we had wanted to see him live for some time. I will admit that I was pretty tired but when his warm-up entered, I perked right up. For the second night in a row, I was laughing so hard I thought I'd lose it right there.
Sunday dawned way too early for us. However, we finally drug ourselves out of bed around the butt crack of dawn (or 0800 Las Vegas time). We could barely drag our lazy butts down to have breakfast before we left Las Vegas for the hills. Well, technically, it is a canyon. Yep, we had to go see some rocks at Red Rock Canyon NCA. We paid our $7.00 and stopped by the visitor center. We walked in the 35 mph winds, holding onto our hats, cameras, and hair to the center so we could see what trails were moderately easy to hike. We took the auto tour around the area and found most of the trailhead parking spaces completely full. We did make one hike where Sweetie picked up two souvenirs. These "souvenirs" weighed about 6 to 8 pounds each! More later.
After the tour, we headed over to a state park nearby, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. This ranch once belonged to Vera Krupp (who owned a 33.19 carat diamond which eventually became the Elizabeth Taylor diamond) and to Howard Hughes. Pretty cool place that is the #1 picnic spot in the Nevada state park system. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing very strongly and, as we were preparing to hike one of their paths, the wind blew a large gate into both My Sweetie and I. She has a bruise on her arm and I have one on my thigh. Put us in a right pissy mood, it did.
Heading back to the city, we took the southern route and decided to stop for a quick bite. The first red light we came to, we turned into a shopping center and found Jacky Chan Chinese Restaurant. We had the lunch special that consisted of egg drop soup, sweet & sour chicken, fried rice, and one other entree (I had the Kung Pao Chicken and Sweetie had something else - OK. I'm getting old and have CRS [Can't Remember Shit]). Quite good for $5.95 each! And a lot of food.
We arrived back at T.I., turned in our rental, and got ready for another busy night. Heading over to the Ballagio, we had a few minutes to spare before our supper at the Prime Steakhouse. The steaks were dry-aged for at least 30 days and were delightful. We shared a nice bottle of wine and a small dessert before we had to run.
Across the street from the Ballagio is Bally's. This was the first hotel in Las Vegas I stayed. But, we had come to see the ultimate showgirl extravaganza on the Strip. We were going to watch Jubilee. I have to admit that I was a little hesitant about watching a topless review but the show was so fantastic that a few dozen topless women didn't necessarily make the show any better than it was. I was stunned at the magnificence of the entire production. Plus, way too many times I didn't know in what direction I should be looking! Definitely worth the time to see!
Finally, Monday rolled around and we headed over to Caesars Palace so we could break our fast at Serendipity 3. Soon thereafter, Sweetie went to the salon for a haircut and some coloring. When she finished (looking absolutely gorgeous, I might add), we had a quick lunch at one of my favorite places, Beijing Noodle No. 9. After a run back to T.I. to change, we headed back to Caesars Palace for our supper at a place I've been wanting to dine at for a very long time.
Nobu is a recent addition to the Las Vegas dining scene. We started off with a Japanese beer and a bottle of champagne so I decided to allow our waiter, Chris, make our dining decisions for us. We started with sliced sea scallops with cilantro and a bit of spice and a spoon filled with uni. The uni was probably one of the absolutely best single bites of food I've ever had. We continued with sashimi for two more courses then we had some black cod in miso and then snow crab tempura. We finished up with the absolute best spicey tuna roll I've ever had.
OK. Nobu was an absolute treat for us. I don't recommend it to everyone, however, because it does have a whole bunch of raw fish and the prices are a bit high. But if you like Japanese cuisine and wish to be treated to the pinnacle of Japanese fusion by, in my mind, the most famous Japanese chef in the world (Nobu Matsuhisa), then this is the place for you!
On Tuesday, we were still tired but very happy (and broke) as we headed to the airport. As we checked our bag, the lady said, "Your bag is about 6 pounds too heavy." Rats! Those damn "souvenirs" we picked up off of the ground at Red Rock Canyon were having their revenge. We went through the bag and took out a couple of knee braces, two sweatshirts, and a cane before we finally hit 50 pounds exactly.
Well, the weekend was finally over when we hopped on our flight back home. I will now get a chance to rest before our upcoming camping trip to Palo Duro Canyon!
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