We stayed at the Palazzo - it was perfect. The rooms were gorgeous, the casino was not too big, and the restaurants and shops were great. Of course, so was the company! We met up with my sister and brother-in-law the first night - Cindy and Barry stayed a few nights and we definitely made the most of those days! We went non-stop. We had dinner the first night at a Japanese-Brazilian restaurant where the portions were small but the flavor was huge. It was delicious - probably the best sashimi we have ever had (and in land-locked Vegas of all places). The four of us spent the rest of the night on the strip, reacquainting ourselves to our favorite places.
The Palazzo lobby - as do all casinos, this place has its scent pumped throughout. Unlike the sickening sweet, coconut tanning oil smell of the Flamingo, or some of the other very perfumed casinos, the Palazzo smell is bottle-worthy. I'd like to spray it in my house...although I'm sure it's caffeine laden to keep you up all night, so maybe that's not such a good idea. But it does smell good - it was very calming and delightful.
We had dinner the second night at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris. We sat outside (although it was easily 105 degrees) and had a perfect view of the fountain show at the Bellagio. It was a beautiful view, excellent food (I had the heirloom tomato salad with basil, balsamic, and blue cheese, and a cold carrot-ginger soup...yum).
Our next stop that night was the Mirage for the Cirque du Soleil show, LOVE! It's hard to describe Cirque du Soleil shows, but this was an amazing experience. If you enjoy The Beatles at all this is worth seeing. It's less aerobatic as some of the other shows, but the story and music make it moving and unique. Will and I decided it was the absolute perfect show for us. We LOVED it and would go again (even though there are so many good shows to see in Vegas). We spent the rest of the night walking around the strip, having an absolute blast.
The boys bought some giant beers...but they shared (thankfully, they come with plastic cups and are intended for sharing, like a pitcher, although I'm sure there are a whole lot of college kids who buy and drink their own...bleck). We ended up at our favorite spot on the strip, O'Shea's. It's old, dingy and has no pleasing scent, but it's cheap and fun. The boys played craps for a while and then we all watched a 90's cover band that was pretty good. While we were watching the band, Barry struck up a conversation with the guys standing next to us...Turns out they are in the Air Force and were in Vegas doing some training. He introduced them to Will and no more than 30 seconds later we find out that these guys are on a crew with a good friend of ours, Aaron (who is stationed in OKC). He wasn't out with them that night, but Will called him right then to let him know we were in town and wanted to get together - small world, this is, huh?
Our third day was spent on Freemont, in old downtown Vegas. Despite some annoying construction going on 20 feet from our blackjack table, we had some serious fun, and won some money in the process. There was one really awkward moment where the dealer thought she heard Will call Cindy "mom," and hilarity ensued. We ended up back at the Palazzo for dinner and decided to go to Woo, a Pan-Asian restaurant, where we sat in the foyer. It was strange - they bring menus you have to share, our waiter looked like Doogie Howser, MD, and the food was small (but tasty). After our tiny meal we headed to Mandalay Bay to check out an ice bar. You pay for a ticket, get all suited up in a parka, boots, and gloves, and head in. The whole place is made of ice - the walls, bar, tables, seats, sculptures, glasses...everything. It was very small (probably because it's made of ice, and it's in the desert), but it was totally a memorable experience. Barry and Cindy even ran into someone they sat next to on the plane (a diabetic doctor who ate candy the whole way as he monitored his insulin pump) - again, what a small world. Because of the tiny dinner, we ended up taking a cab from the ice bar to In-N-Out Burger! A nice treat...
Will and I spent a lot of time walking around after Barry and Cindy left. It was incredibly hot, but we just stopped in a casino when we needed some a/c. A few of my friends from work came in later in the weekend, and we were able to see a comedy show with them and spend some time at a dueling piano bar where we met Fake Guy Fieri. It's really a long story, but basically involves a look alike who just happens to be from right here in Washington. Weird.
We had a drink at the Nine Fine Irishmen in New York, New York. This bar is one of Will's favorites, but he was tired of me taking pictures and wasn't thrilled about yet another - see that expression? It says, "How did I end up with this crazy woman who thinks we need a picture just because we had a Guiness here?"
We finally met up with Aaron! He joined us for dinner on our anniversary - ha! We had dinner at Lavo, which was a little disappointing (the food, not the company). Of course we had to talk about when Will was in Aaron's wedding (the weekend after Aaron was in ours) and ended up in the hospital the morning of the ceremony due to salmonella poisoning...and how we both ended up sick by the next day, the day we left for our honeymoon!It's hard to sum up a week-long Vegas trip in one post, especially with all of the memories made. The unexpectedness of it all was just so fun - crazy Vegas, we love you!
