Viva Las Vegas – Day 3

Today was the day we knew would be the warmest, so we were looking forward to pool time. We once again hit the café for breakfast, but before changing into our suits, attended the free Craps lesson going on, as Sara’s one goal for the trip was to learn craps. It seems like a very confusing game, even after the lesson – I shall stick to blackjack. Down at the pool, we were slightly disappointed to find that while warm and sunny, a heavy desert breeze was blowing through pretty often. We stuck it out for about three hours though, because we had to log more miles on the lazy river! Eventually though, we couldn’t handle it anymore, so we packed up went back to the room.

From a cab the other night I had spotted Zara at the Fashion Show Mall, so I made a pilgrimage that direction while Sara went down to practice Craps. It was nice to get out and walk a bit. Treasure Island has tried to reimagine itself as “TI”, and across the street from there are the Wynn and Encore, both pretty plush. At Fashion Show mall I picked up the Jones Family favorites, liquor barrels from Ethel M chocolates, as well as a lavender sweater from Zara. I walked home on the other side of the strip and ducked into the Venetian to visit Bouchon bakery of the recommendation of BK. Got pain au chocolat for breakfast the next morning, as well as their versions of a nutter butter and oreo. I let Sara know when I was back at the Monte Carlo and we met in the room to change for dinner and our last evening out.

We had chosen the Monte Carlo not only because of the lazy river, but also because on every previous trip we have eaten at the Monte Carlo brew pub. It’s nothing special, just casual normal food, but we always go there. So, that was our dinner spot for the night as it had been closed the two previous evenings. From there we walked down the street to Excalibur in hopes of finding some $5 dollar tables to play at. We found one blackjack table, but I had to wait quite awhile before finally getting a seat. Sara meanwhile found Craps and roulette, and we both did pretty good! I came out $80 ahead on blackjack and Sara won like $100 at craps! To round out the evening, we went farther down to Mandalay Bay to see what was happening. We had read about their ice bar so we decided to check that out.

It had a hefty cover charge, but since we were big winners we decided to splurge. We also got two drinks included with it, as well as our parkas, gloves and boots to keep us warm. The bar was small, and not very full but pretty cool (literally and figuratively). The bar, tables and benches were all carved of ice, and a bunch of sculptures were around too. Even our glasses were carved of New Zealand Spring water. My drink of choice was the frozen apple. As we were leaving, three guys arrived and begged us to stay – since they were buying, we did two were from New York, one from Calgary, in town for a brokers conference. They were pretty entertaining, so we stayed much later than anticipated, but it was fun. Their next stop was a club, so we parted ways and caught a taxi home. But before bed we had to play a little more Goldfish of course, where we each lost $20 (but not before being propositioned by a new pair of guys. (Big night out for us!)

It was a really good, quick break – especially since it was snowing in Seattle. I had never been to Vegas mid-week, so it was interesting to see how many less people there were, and I’m sure even less due to the economy. We talked to a lot of cabbies about the situation around town, and it’s sad. Hopefully folks will start traveling there again soon…