&sparklecity;
Feb. 25th, 2009 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteSo, I'm back from Vegas. Internet access there ranged from $12-15 a day (and wasn't always wireless, wtf!?), and I just didn't want to shell it out. Besides, it was actually nice just having my laptop there without the compulsion to use it.
I had a lot of fun and went to a few new places, including the club Mix atop THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and Tabú (the accent might be going the other way, I'm not sure) in the MGM Grand, where we stayed for the first two nights. On the last night, we stayed at the Luxor which, besides being near the end of the Strip (or the end of the "important" part) and having a long-ass check-in line, was actually quite awesome. I loved the interior decorating in the room!
We had dinner the first night at Shibuya, a high-end Japanese restaurant. I had a tempura combination with tiger shrimp, and it was most delicious. Some of the most unexpected things (large leaves!?) can be fried. Who knew? I also got to try a delicious yuzu juice cocktail (omg yuuuuuzuuuuu!) and a mango dessert with the most delicious yuzu ice cream. Sure, it cost a pretty penny, but it was very yummy and I'm glad I tried something "new."
After that, we took a cab to THEhotel at Mandalay Bay to check out Mix, the club on the top floor. Mix was unfortunately bordering on dead throughout parts of the night when we went. It was great to get in for free thanks to a guy Ryan (Scott's brother) knew through work-- David Crockett, but the DJ had a habit of playing a great song and cutting it off, or a great song followed by a string of sucky songs. Top it off with the fact that it was a long, narrow club, rather than a wide one, and the place was full of people nearly tripping over each other. It was also extremely smoky, so I didn't feel too good toward the end of the night. Having woken up at 5:30a.m. that morning to catch my shuttle to the airport, I was pretty exhausted, but still proud of myself for having lasted as long as I did.
The next day, we slept in and didn't meet up until late in the morning (or early afternoon, I suppose). The buffets were closed for breakfast already, so we ended up having breakfast at The Studio Cafe at the MGM Grand. The menu selection was sparse, so I just had a bagel and cream cheese and some green tea-- nothing else on the menu really interested me. A bunch of the guys at the table even ended up getting the same meal! But it was still pretty good, and our server, Alain, was pretty friendly.
We kind of did what we wanted that day, wandering around and down the Strip, while John and JMac (the birthday girl; John's girlfriend) were planning to see KA, one of the many Cirque du Solelil shows (this one at the MGM Grand). I forgot to ask them how the show was!
The thing about Las Vegas is there are so many shows and things to do or see, how do you choose? Some people get sick of the city (or at least the Strip) after just a few days, but I always leave thinking I didn't do or see enough. True enough, I get sick of the smoke and the crowds, but it's never bothered me to the point where I feel a desperate need to go home. It's also got to do with the company one keeps there in Vegas, and everyone was super-nice to me, so I had a good time.
The Stratosphere isn't exactly in a great place along the Strip, but it was cool taking the Monorail to get there. The Monorail narrator(s) are quite amusing! You'll learn all sorts of fun trivia about Vegas and see sides to it you might not have expected.... We passed through the Sahara, which had a Nascar racing something-or-other and a coaster (Speed: The Ride), but it wasn't running. ;_; I want to go on every coaster in Vegas!
The "highest rollercoaster " I'd heard of at the Strat wasn't really a roller coaster at all! It was a bit like the Superman ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, where it's just a sharp incline track and then a sudden backward shot. The only difference was that "X-Scream" had the track "tilt" down over and toward the street some 1100+ feet below. However, Scott and I didn't ride that one-- we opted for the swings over the Strip one, a.k.a. "Insanity." The line was much longer for that one, since it could only seat 10 people at a time, but I think it was worth it. We'd arrived at the Stratosphere during daylight but didn't leave until night had fallen, and the view from the swings was awesome (even though I could hardly see because the operator made me take my glasses off... stupid, because it wasn't as if we tilted or anything, and my glasses weren't loose at all)!
We took the monorail to the other end of the Strip to see Paris Paris and the fountain show at the Bellagio, and then we walked back to the MGM Grand. On the way, we saw an orange cow followed by three guys wearing giant signboards from their backpacks advertising the Hooters Casino and Hotel. Goes to show that "anything goes" in Vegas....
We had room service for dinner that day-- I had a fairly tasty chicken quesadilla (more chicken than anything else), but it was a bit spicy. We ended up heading to Tabú after that, which was a GREAT club. Great bartender, nice music, fun people-watching. The bathrooms even had candy and every known body product in them! Unfortunately, I think I overdid it with the alcohol and it, in combination with the smoke (caused my asthma to flare up, and the effects of my emergency inhaler weren't fun), I started to feel sick. I cut out of there ahead of the others and was practically passed out by the time I made it back up to our room on the 12th floor of the West Wing. I vaguely remember Scott coming in later, but everything after 2:30 a.m. is kind of a sleepy, sick-feeling blur.
The next morning we woke up with only a little time before the breakfast buffet at the Bellagio (which I went to with my cousins for Shaina's bachelorette party) closed, and with all the time it takes to get ready, we didn't make it. We also had to check out by 11am, so we had to spend time cleaning up and packing. We managed to get out of there on time in order to head to the Luxor via the free tram. Unfortunately, the free tram was out of service, so we had to walk through the Excalibur (EEEW; seriously, the only good thing in that joint is the "Thunder From Down Under" show!) to the Luxor. It wasn't a bad walk, and it's nice that a lot of the hotels are connected by bridges or tunnels.
We got breakfast at the MORE buffet at the Luxor, which wasn't bad at all, though it wasn't nearly as big as the buffet at the Bellagio (can you tell I really liked the Bellagio from when I went there?). It was still very filling, and we ended up going back up to the room to digest for a while. Well, while in Vegas, time seems to slip by pretty quickly, and we ended up staying in the room through the Oscars. We got dinner afterwards at the "sexy" (I didn't really think so; the female servers just wore cut-off shorts and slightly-tight tees) T&T Tacos and Tequila restaurant in the atrium of the Luxor. Service was a bit slow, but the steak fajita Scott and I split was pretty delicious (even though the beans were... well. BEANS!)
We had to get up pretty early the next morning to catch a cab to McCarran, and it turned out that right as we got through security, Southwest called and told me my flight was cancelled! All the monitors throughout the airport seemed to say it was just delayed, so we took the time until Scott's flight to grab some breakfast and scope out the airport eateries. There wasn't much to choose from; if there's an airport that's "got it all," (free wifi, cool stores and nice restaurants) I haven't been there yet. I waited with Scott at his gate until he had to leave, and when I headed back to my gate, it turned out my flight really WAS cancelled, despite the screens saying it was only delayed from 9:55am to 10:20 or 10:50am. So I had to head to a gate on the other end of the terminal to catch a flight going to the same airport. I ended up last in the second boarding group, which meant I didn't get much of a selection of seats!
Since I had so little sleep, I ended up passing out on the flight, and I fell asleep on the shoulder of the guy next to me! Oops! The flight attendant even remarked how nice the guy was to have let me sleep there... I was so embarrassed! But I woke up in time to get a quick Coke and some delicious Honey (!) Roasted Peanuts, and we taxied into the gate I predicted... A4!
ETA: I neglected to mention that Flava Flav (yes, THE Flava Flav) was on my flight. I knew only because he convinced some of the flight attendants to let him make an announcement, in which he thanked the crew and the airline and gave props to Southwest's new Business Class. I honestly thought it was fake until I saw the flight attendants taking pictures with him and people asking him for autographs after he got off the flight. He didn't have any crew with him or bodyguards or anything, and for all intents and purposes, he totally looked like a regular guy. He left the airport on his own, never stopping at the baggage claim or anything, but I still thought it was kind of cool. I didn't say anything to him, though; I don't really know much about him other than the fact that he's got a TV show. :P
Well, because of the flight brou-ha-ha at McCarran, my bags didn't arrive on my flight. I stuck around about an hour in the on-again, off-again drizzle waiting for the flight and feeling cramped because the Southwest/US Airways terminal over at Burbank is about the size of a sardine can. Good thing they're redoing it, but I don't know if they can really make it bigger or more comfortable, only more efficient (one would hope). For my trouble, I got a $50 Southwest travel voucher (that's about the cost of one flight during sale season!).
I came home and pretty much slept the rest of the day. There was just no way that I could have made it to my Shakespeare class at 4:20 and comprehended a single thing the professor said about Hamlet. The rest of the time I was awake I tried to get some school work done, but without having had 'Net in Vegas and time to go to Vons to do price checking for my Nutrition class, there wasn't much I could do.
And thus, another week of school began. Now it's almost halfway over and I've got a full to-do list. Time flies, I guess. I wonder if I ever truly relax, even when I'm going to someplace that's not "home" for something that's supposed to be a celebration. Maybe "drama" and "stress" are invisible yapping dogs on a knotted leash around my wrist, always following me around....
Songs that have been stuck in my head lately:
"Thinking It Over" - Dana Glover
"Superman" - R.E.M.
"Hold Me" - Savage Garden
"I'm Scared" - Hoku
Hm.
I had a lot of fun and went to a few new places, including the club Mix atop THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and Tabú (the accent might be going the other way, I'm not sure) in the MGM Grand, where we stayed for the first two nights. On the last night, we stayed at the Luxor which, besides being near the end of the Strip (or the end of the "important" part) and having a long-ass check-in line, was actually quite awesome. I loved the interior decorating in the room!
We had dinner the first night at Shibuya, a high-end Japanese restaurant. I had a tempura combination with tiger shrimp, and it was most delicious. Some of the most unexpected things (large leaves!?) can be fried. Who knew? I also got to try a delicious yuzu juice cocktail (omg yuuuuuzuuuuu!) and a mango dessert with the most delicious yuzu ice cream. Sure, it cost a pretty penny, but it was very yummy and I'm glad I tried something "new."
After that, we took a cab to THEhotel at Mandalay Bay to check out Mix, the club on the top floor. Mix was unfortunately bordering on dead throughout parts of the night when we went. It was great to get in for free thanks to a guy Ryan (Scott's brother) knew through work-- David Crockett, but the DJ had a habit of playing a great song and cutting it off, or a great song followed by a string of sucky songs. Top it off with the fact that it was a long, narrow club, rather than a wide one, and the place was full of people nearly tripping over each other. It was also extremely smoky, so I didn't feel too good toward the end of the night. Having woken up at 5:30a.m. that morning to catch my shuttle to the airport, I was pretty exhausted, but still proud of myself for having lasted as long as I did.
The next day, we slept in and didn't meet up until late in the morning (or early afternoon, I suppose). The buffets were closed for breakfast already, so we ended up having breakfast at The Studio Cafe at the MGM Grand. The menu selection was sparse, so I just had a bagel and cream cheese and some green tea-- nothing else on the menu really interested me. A bunch of the guys at the table even ended up getting the same meal! But it was still pretty good, and our server, Alain, was pretty friendly.
We kind of did what we wanted that day, wandering around and down the Strip, while John and JMac (the birthday girl; John's girlfriend) were planning to see KA, one of the many Cirque du Solelil shows (this one at the MGM Grand). I forgot to ask them how the show was!
The thing about Las Vegas is there are so many shows and things to do or see, how do you choose? Some people get sick of the city (or at least the Strip) after just a few days, but I always leave thinking I didn't do or see enough. True enough, I get sick of the smoke and the crowds, but it's never bothered me to the point where I feel a desperate need to go home. It's also got to do with the company one keeps there in Vegas, and everyone was super-nice to me, so I had a good time.
The Stratosphere isn't exactly in a great place along the Strip, but it was cool taking the Monorail to get there. The Monorail narrator(s) are quite amusing! You'll learn all sorts of fun trivia about Vegas and see sides to it you might not have expected.... We passed through the Sahara, which had a Nascar racing something-or-other and a coaster (Speed: The Ride), but it wasn't running. ;_; I want to go on every coaster in Vegas!
The "highest rollercoaster " I'd heard of at the Strat wasn't really a roller coaster at all! It was a bit like the Superman ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, where it's just a sharp incline track and then a sudden backward shot. The only difference was that "X-Scream" had the track "tilt" down over and toward the street some 1100+ feet below. However, Scott and I didn't ride that one-- we opted for the swings over the Strip one, a.k.a. "Insanity." The line was much longer for that one, since it could only seat 10 people at a time, but I think it was worth it. We'd arrived at the Stratosphere during daylight but didn't leave until night had fallen, and the view from the swings was awesome (even though I could hardly see because the operator made me take my glasses off... stupid, because it wasn't as if we tilted or anything, and my glasses weren't loose at all)!
We took the monorail to the other end of the Strip to see Paris Paris and the fountain show at the Bellagio, and then we walked back to the MGM Grand. On the way, we saw an orange cow followed by three guys wearing giant signboards from their backpacks advertising the Hooters Casino and Hotel. Goes to show that "anything goes" in Vegas....
We had room service for dinner that day-- I had a fairly tasty chicken quesadilla (more chicken than anything else), but it was a bit spicy. We ended up heading to Tabú after that, which was a GREAT club. Great bartender, nice music, fun people-watching. The bathrooms even had candy and every known body product in them! Unfortunately, I think I overdid it with the alcohol and it, in combination with the smoke (caused my asthma to flare up, and the effects of my emergency inhaler weren't fun), I started to feel sick. I cut out of there ahead of the others and was practically passed out by the time I made it back up to our room on the 12th floor of the West Wing. I vaguely remember Scott coming in later, but everything after 2:30 a.m. is kind of a sleepy, sick-feeling blur.
The next morning we woke up with only a little time before the breakfast buffet at the Bellagio (which I went to with my cousins for Shaina's bachelorette party) closed, and with all the time it takes to get ready, we didn't make it. We also had to check out by 11am, so we had to spend time cleaning up and packing. We managed to get out of there on time in order to head to the Luxor via the free tram. Unfortunately, the free tram was out of service, so we had to walk through the Excalibur (EEEW; seriously, the only good thing in that joint is the "Thunder From Down Under" show!) to the Luxor. It wasn't a bad walk, and it's nice that a lot of the hotels are connected by bridges or tunnels.
We got breakfast at the MORE buffet at the Luxor, which wasn't bad at all, though it wasn't nearly as big as the buffet at the Bellagio (can you tell I really liked the Bellagio from when I went there?). It was still very filling, and we ended up going back up to the room to digest for a while. Well, while in Vegas, time seems to slip by pretty quickly, and we ended up staying in the room through the Oscars. We got dinner afterwards at the "sexy" (I didn't really think so; the female servers just wore cut-off shorts and slightly-tight tees) T&T Tacos and Tequila restaurant in the atrium of the Luxor. Service was a bit slow, but the steak fajita Scott and I split was pretty delicious (even though the beans were... well. BEANS!)
We had to get up pretty early the next morning to catch a cab to McCarran, and it turned out that right as we got through security, Southwest called and told me my flight was cancelled! All the monitors throughout the airport seemed to say it was just delayed, so we took the time until Scott's flight to grab some breakfast and scope out the airport eateries. There wasn't much to choose from; if there's an airport that's "got it all," (free wifi, cool stores and nice restaurants) I haven't been there yet. I waited with Scott at his gate until he had to leave, and when I headed back to my gate, it turned out my flight really WAS cancelled, despite the screens saying it was only delayed from 9:55am to 10:20 or 10:50am. So I had to head to a gate on the other end of the terminal to catch a flight going to the same airport. I ended up last in the second boarding group, which meant I didn't get much of a selection of seats!
Since I had so little sleep, I ended up passing out on the flight, and I fell asleep on the shoulder of the guy next to me! Oops! The flight attendant even remarked how nice the guy was to have let me sleep there... I was so embarrassed! But I woke up in time to get a quick Coke and some delicious Honey (!) Roasted Peanuts, and we taxied into the gate I predicted... A4!
ETA: I neglected to mention that Flava Flav (yes, THE Flava Flav) was on my flight. I knew only because he convinced some of the flight attendants to let him make an announcement, in which he thanked the crew and the airline and gave props to Southwest's new Business Class. I honestly thought it was fake until I saw the flight attendants taking pictures with him and people asking him for autographs after he got off the flight. He didn't have any crew with him or bodyguards or anything, and for all intents and purposes, he totally looked like a regular guy. He left the airport on his own, never stopping at the baggage claim or anything, but I still thought it was kind of cool. I didn't say anything to him, though; I don't really know much about him other than the fact that he's got a TV show. :P
Well, because of the flight brou-ha-ha at McCarran, my bags didn't arrive on my flight. I stuck around about an hour in the on-again, off-again drizzle waiting for the flight and feeling cramped because the Southwest/US Airways terminal over at Burbank is about the size of a sardine can. Good thing they're redoing it, but I don't know if they can really make it bigger or more comfortable, only more efficient (one would hope). For my trouble, I got a $50 Southwest travel voucher (that's about the cost of one flight during sale season!).
I came home and pretty much slept the rest of the day. There was just no way that I could have made it to my Shakespeare class at 4:20 and comprehended a single thing the professor said about Hamlet. The rest of the time I was awake I tried to get some school work done, but without having had 'Net in Vegas and time to go to Vons to do price checking for my Nutrition class, there wasn't much I could do.
And thus, another week of school began. Now it's almost halfway over and I've got a full to-do list. Time flies, I guess. I wonder if I ever truly relax, even when I'm going to someplace that's not "home" for something that's supposed to be a celebration. Maybe "drama" and "stress" are invisible yapping dogs on a knotted leash around my wrist, always following me around....
Songs that have been stuck in my head lately:
"Thinking It Over" - Dana Glover
"Superman" - R.E.M.
"Hold Me" - Savage Garden
"I'm Scared" - Hoku
Hm.
