Corner and I are back from a whirlwind mini-vacation to Las Vegas. We both worked a full day last Monday and then flew from Monterey to Las Vegas. The plane ride was a whopping hour and two minutes. If you’re unfamiliar with air travel, that means there was enough time to turn my iPod on for less than 10 songs.
Upon our arrival in Vegas, we were both starving. We hopped on our shuttle to the hotel (we stayed at the Flamingo) and of course we were the last ones to get dropped off. Finally at about 10:30pm, we met up with my dad, Robin, Mary, Greg, Ward, and Mona at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafe, which was attached to our hotel but still really hard to get to because you had to wander through the entire casino in order to get there. I ate some sort of jalapeno burger with salsa. It would have been quite tasty if it hadn’t been super soggy. The service sucked too, but I was almost too tired to notice.
On Tuesday morning, Corner, Robin, and I went to the Flamingo’s hotel spa. None of us had ever been to a spa before, and we all got the spring fling special: 25 minute lemon ginger body scrub, 25 minute express brightening facial, and a 25 minute passionflower Swedish massage. I also added on a eucalyptus and peppermint scalp massage. It was quite possibly the best $185 I have ever spent. After our spa packages were complete, Robin and I hung out in the sauna and sweated away our impurities for awhile. Then we showered. The spa had these amazing showers that had 4 showerheads each. I want one in my house.
After the spa, we went down to the huge outdoor pool at the Flamingo (but not before Corner and I had accidentally stumbled across the “European bathing” pool….which basically just means you can go topless…and you have to pay $15 to get in if you aren’t a female). We enjoyed one of the giant hot tubs and entertained the idea of buying a giant hurricane or pina colada, until we actually went up to the bar and found out that one drink costs $18. No thanks.
We met up with Robin’s cousin and her husband for some Thai food that evening. We ate at Archi’s Thai Kitchen and it was probably the best meal of the trip, not to mention one of the cheapest meals we had while in Vegas. I ordered the spicy eggplant dish. Our server asked how spicy we wanted our dishes (on a scale of 1 to 10). She warned us that a 4 is approaching the danger zone; I ordered a 6. It was pretty spicy (but DELICIOUS). Then we went to a nearby grocery store to stock up on cereal bars, candy, wine, and vodka. Definitely my kind of grocery shopping trip, and it was way cheaper than spending $18 for a drink at the pool.
Wednesday we woke up to cold, rainy weather. We ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and then went to see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor. It was pretty damn cool — they even had a huge piece of the ship (“The Big Piece”) that they brought up and have specially preserved. That evening we went to see Terry Fator. The show was a lot better than I expected but not something I would have picked out on my own. We also ate dinner at a buffet that was $25/person and I definitely did not eat $25 worth of food. Oh well.
Thursday was still cold, but less rainy. We went to the mall for a few hours and I got some cute sweaters at EXPRESS (damn Monterey for not having a decent mall with stores I actually like). Then I hung out with Dad at Club de Soleil while everyone else went golfing. We watched the first season of The Office, drank rum and Coke, and then went down to the hot tub for a bit. After everyone got back from the golf course, we piled in the car and drove into town to see Anthony Cools. The show was absolutely HILARIOUS. I laughed so hard my throat hurt afterwards.
And I only lost $8 gambling. I’d say it was a successful trip, but I wish the weather had been a little warmer so we could hang out at the Flamingo’s awesome pool a few more times. It was great to see Dad and Robin without having to go all the way to Michigan.
