Marty & Mrs.' Vegas Vacation (Vanity That Surpasseth All Understanding)

Vanity Central | 12/25/05 | marty_fierro

[martin_fierro]

Photos & vid clips from Marty & Mrs. Fierro's Las Vegas trip:

12/18/05: Left for Vegas

• Ate breakfast at the airport Burger King:
  
• SkyMall catalog sure sells some weird stuff:
  
• Had dinner at the Golden Nugget's buffet. Food and service were very good, and they had a KILLER bread pudding.
• Filmed the Fremont Street Experience in the old downtown (broadband recommended to view)
• Went and saw Tony Bennett perform at the Golden Nugget. For a guy who's been at this for almost 60 years, he put on a heck of a show! He was able to make the stories he told -- which I'm sure he's recounted thousands of times already -- sound fresh. He even turned in an EXCELLENT rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Highly recommended show.
  
  This really is him, honest (cellphone camera in low light).
• Drove down The Strip and marvelled at how much things have changed (grown) since we were last there 5 years ago.

12/19/05

• Filmed footage at Hoover Dam. Pre - 9/11 they offered a couple different levels of tours, some with much more acce$$ than others. Nowadays there's just one standard tour. The tourguide had no love lost for the L.A. Times.
• Here's the New Mexico state seal, shown as one of the states directly benefitted by the Hoover Dam
  
  "Crescit Eundo" must be Latin for "WTF"
• Sign on top of the Hoover Dam:
  
• Jackelope for sale in Ye Olde Hoover Dam Gift Shoppe:
  
• Ate lunch at the Irish pub "Fado" at Green Valley Ranch, where the Travel Channel reality show "American Casino" is filmed. Food and service were very good, but the place was DEAD (due to the time of day/year).
• Donned some Elvis sunglasses and posed by the Las Vegas sign.
  +
• Headed over to the Rio and watched their "Carnaval in the Sky" show. Not bad! Mrs. F. was complaining about not catching any tossed necklaces when one landed right in her hands.
• Drove up to the North Strip to check out the Bonanza Gift Shop (found nothing of interest) and the Stratosphere Tower. Didn't try any of the carnival rides up there.
• Ate dinner/watched an abysmal Monday Night Football game (Green Bay at Baltimore) at this pub in the pub of the hotel where we stayed.
  
  Food & beer were so-so; service was AWFUL. The volume on the forest of TV sets was turned up so high that you couldn't hear yourself think. Not recommended.

12/20/05

• Mrs. F & father-in-law took a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon; I went and checked out the Impressionist art display at the Bellagio.
• Walked around Mandalay Bay and saw the sharks/fish at their Shark Reef exhibit.
• Ate lunch at the Pharoah's Pheast Buffet at the Luxor. The food wasn't real fancy, but there was virtually no waiting to get in and the service was very good. Marty LIIIIKE.
  
  They even had Galumphkies 'n'at!
• Saw the live lion exhibit at the MGM Grand
• Noodled around in New York New York:
  
  Out front in a 9-11 Tribute, the above t-shirt was displayed. Could it be from the Pittsburgh area?
• Inside New York New York was this recreation Art Deco mural:
  
  Does it read "NEWS BLDG" or "NEWS BLOG"? Hmmmm....
• Went back and saw the Christmas displays at the Bellagio's Conservatory.
• The Water & Light show in the lake in front of the Bellagio is also a must-see.
• Walked across the street to Paris and checked out the view from the replica Eiffel Tower.
• Staggered down the street to the Fatburger restaurant and had some pretti nasti fast food.

12/21/05

• Went to the Venetian to arrange a gondola ride for later that evening. Bumped into a guy dressed in a Borg costume on the Las Vegas Monorail.
• Walked up to the new Wynn Resort/Casino to check it out and to try its buffet. While the food there ended up being very good, the experience was degraded by the long wait in line, awful decor (it's UUUGLY) and snarky help.
• Hiked back down to the Imperial Palace and checked out their Classic Car show.
• Went back to the Monte Carlo, rested, changed, and then returned to the Venetian to see the Blue Man Group (good stuff!).
• Took a gondola ride at the Venetian.

12/22/05

• Checked out the "Titanic Artifacts" exhibit at the Tropicana. On display were actual items retrieved from 2.5 miles beneath the North Atlantic, including a large segment of the ship's hull. Very moving/poignant.
• Walked around The Flamingo just to be able to say we'd been to Bugsy's old place. The grounds are illuminated in a weird pink light when the sun reflects off the buildings. The flamingo and penguin habitats were very good.
• Spent a couple of hours at the Forum Shops at Ceasar's Palace. Took in an exotic car display while there and saw joesixpack1's ride:
  
• Had dinner at Il Fornaio inside New York New York.

12/23/05: Came home

[saganite]

So where's the pic of you with the Elvis sunglasses on?

[brivette]

Very cool.

[martin_fierro]

Ring-A-Ding-Ding PING

Related thread

[martin_fierro]

That would be one of those things that happens/stays in Vegas.

You get the idea.

[saganite]

Looks like Elvis was hittin' the chocolate factory. I'm sure your pic is "better".

[Experiment 6-2-6]

Pharoah's Pheast Buffet

There's something actually called a PHEAST and you ate it?

[phantomworker]

Thanks for sharing. Lots of vicarious pleasure from that! ;) LOL!!

vi·car·i·ous (v-kâr-s, -kr-, v-)
adj.

Felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another.

[martin_fierro]

It was phreaking phabulous.

[Fierce Allegiance]

There's something actually called a PHEAST and you ate it?

Part pheasant, part beast?

[Fierce Allegiance]

(Vanity That Surpasseth All Understanding)

Yup, got me, I understandeth not.

Glad you had a good time! I'd love to do the damn tour.

[Slings and Arrows]

I've generally had good experiences in the Monte Carlo's brewpub. I'll be back there in June for a conference; hope they haven't gone downhill.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Congratulations on a successful Vegas run! We probably passed each other at the airport - I came in on the 23rd and I'm here at Mandalay Bay right now posting this. ;)

[martin_fierro]

Hey, I have you & the other LV regulars to thank for your input!

It really helped pare down what was/wasn't worth seeing. Saved us a lot of time/hassle.

[martin_fierro]

I dunno -- maybe they were just having a bad night.

They bill the place as "cigar friendly" -- there's a cigar vendor *right there* fer crissakes -- but the hostess gave me grief when I lit up. I pointed out to her the wording in a printout of theirs that I had and continued to smoke.

They had this gimmicky tall beer decanter that held a pitcher or so worth of brew and gave the college kids something to focus on/talk about.

But what really cheesed me off was ordering a brew for my father-in-law at 8:45pm; having to wait until 9:15 for it to be served; and then being charged more for it "because our prices go up at 9:00 pm."

The place sure didn't make a good first impression with me.

[Charles Henrickson]

No wheelchairs either, it looks like.

One of those suckers slips off, it's a long way down.

[Serb5150]

Tony Bennett is amazing live, I'm glad you enjoyed the show!

[Charles Henrickson]

Just dam.

[martin_fierro]

Yeah, very enjoyable show.

And the best part...? NO POLITICS!

[durasell]

Glad you had a good time...