|
About
|
|
"Everybody sees what you appear to be, but few feel what you are."
Machiavelli,
The Prince
|
|
|
Lauren's Webpage...home of the "Engineer/Troublemaker"
|
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Las Vegas 2009
Dan and I left for Las Vegas in the early afternoon of December 27th (after some post-Christmas shopping) with no comprehension of what we had in store. It turned out that we weren't the only ones who decided to drive to Vegas at that time because the traffic was absolutely horrendous. So by the time we arrived we had been driving for 7.5 hours, which is almost twice the usual trip duration. Somewhere along the way (probably while crawling through Baker) we realized that we were going to miss our 8 PM dinner reservation at Craft Steak so I called them in an attempt to reschedule. Fortunately they had an opening at 9:30 PM, their last seating of the night, and with a little luck we made it there just in time. We were staying at the Excalibur, but we initially parked at the MGM Grand (the location of the restaurant) so that we would be on time. Dan and I had both been planning to change clothes at our hotel before dinner because Craft Steak is a nice restaurant, but due to our limited time frame we did some quick wardrobe enhancements instead. So in the parking structure of the MGM Grand I swapped my Converse All Stars for boots and buttoned up my cashmere cardigan to hide the fact that I was wearing a Trogdor t-shirt. I guess that was enough to make myself presentable for dinner because they let us in. The food at Craft Steak is amazing, by the way. I would highly recommend eating there because not only do they have delicious steak, but the starters and sides are pretty incredible too. After dinner Dan and I drove over to the Excalibur, checked into our room (a smoking room, unfortunately because we arrived so late), and slept off our large, late dinner. (As a quick aside, I paid a little extra for a "widescreen" room at the Excalibur, which is supposed to have a large window with a superior view, but since we were on the first floor our view was of the side of the casino building. It was a total rip-off. We did see some abandoned gardening equipment which I can only assume someone has given up for lost, but I don't consider it a "view.")
Our first goal for December 28th (after moving into a non-smoking room) was to have breakfast at Hash House a Go Go because when we saw this restaurant on "Man vs. Food" it looked too irresistible to miss. Apparently it's a very popular spot in Las Vegas because we had to wait a while to be seated and then a longer while to get our food after we ordered. In deference to "Man vs. Food" Dan and I ordered their famous Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict (see photo above), but split it between the two of us since we had early dinner plans. I would have liked to try their French toast as well, but the chicken was already more than even the two of us together wanted to eat. And it was pretty good too! After breakfast (more like brunch or lunch since it was afternoon by the time we were finished) we headed over to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, made famous by "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel. This is quite a popular place too because of the show, but we were lucky enough to find a parking space and not have to wait in line to go inside. Also, we were fortunate to see the father and son owners of the shop who are featured on the show actually working there that day. We didn't buy anything, but it was neat to see the place in person since we've seen it on television so many times. Our last stop before dinner was Caesar's Palace because I wanted to go to FAO Schwartz. On our first trip to Las Vegas in 2001 I saw a stuffed cat there that looked a lot like my cat Bob (black, white, and fat), but I didn't buy it and I've regretted it ever since. This time there were tons of stuffed animals in FAO Schwartz, but no stuffed fat cat. Too bad. We did see a version of our favorite stuffed monkey, but it wasn't nearly as cute as the one Dan brought home from the DC Zoo a couple of years ago. Despite browsing though three floors of toys we left empty handed, but we were looking forward to our dinner reservation that night. We weren't able to eat at the flagship Joel Robuchon restaurant because it was completely booked during our trip so we went to L'Atelier instead, which is a slightly more casual a la carte version. To be honest, L'Atelier was still a bit fancier than I'm comfortable with, but the food was good and Dan really enjoyed it. Going to new restaurants with Dan is always fun. No matter what the food tastes like it's always a good experience. The morning of December 29th Dan and I checked out of the Excalibur very early to drive back to Los Angeles because Dan was hosting a Dungeons & Dragons get together at our house at noon. On the drive we could see snow-covered mountains in the distance - a gorgeous view, especially from the middle of the desert. Luckily the traffic was light on the way home and we arrived at our house at 10:30 AM with plenty of time to prepare for guests.
Posted at 11:22 AM, 0 Comments
|
|
|
