jesslin and I are back from only our second-ever trip to Las Vegas, and we're already planning the next one. We picked a great week to go, especially since the weather was less than ideal here at home while we were gone—suffice it to say that it was clear, sunny, and cool (40s-50s) in Vegas—just beautiful. It's also funny to think that two people that don't really party very much, don't go clubbing, aren't really into gambling (other than poker for me), don't care for crowds or masses of stupid drunk people, or care about anything trendy, fancy clothes, or...etc. REALLY enjoy the place—but we do.This trip, we stayed at the Mirage, since out main objective was to see Love, and that's where it plays. It's a great hotel, relatively not too expensive, good service, good food, and has a great location on the strip, but other than the poker room, its casino is nothing special and only offers rather high minimums at it's table games, and has far too many evil 6/5 blackjack tables. There are some standard 3/2 tables, but they are dealt out of the multideck auto shuffle shoes only. Oh, and the new version of the Mirage Volcano is awesome (see below), as is the Secret Garden with its lions, tigers, leopards, and dolphins (didn't expect the free show there, either, the dolphins were a bit frisky—got to witness 'hot dolphin sex' O.O—even more amusing since there were a bunch of families there at the time—explain that one to your 7-year olds, HA!) definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and I can't forget to mention the utterly outstanding milkshakes at BLT Burger.
We also managed to catch the Fab Four Live, to further help get in the spirit for Love, and wow, these guys were great, and that's coming from someone who has been a rather serious Beatles fan all his life. It helps when the musicians are real fans, themselves. It was also proof that some of the "second tier" shows in Vegas are still very-much worth seeing.
So, about Love: Jesslin and I are both fans of Cirque du Soleil already, so we expected a good show, but Love is truly a special one—not anything we expected, but in a very, very good way—a bit more dance and story oriented, and of course the tribute to the Beatles music—especially their message. There was so much going on, we're sure we missed a bunch of things—truly an amazing experience.
OK, what else...unexpected Hindu shrine in Caesar's Palace garden area, Star Trek TOS Slot Machines, the Dueling Piano Bar at Harah's, Perfect Margarita's at Margaritaville and a kickin' house band, the Bird Habitat at the Flamingo, Lions at MGM, the Shops at Caesar's, Planet Hollywood, and the Venetian, the odd concept of the new City Center still in the works, big empty holes where the Frontier and the Stardust used to be, the new Pallazo and Encore hotels, winning swag, free slot tourneys, etc., etc., etc., a lot more I'm sure I'm forgetting already, too many miles put in on the shoe leather, too many miles put on the credit cards, too few hours of sleep...too much fun...too long a wait until we can go back. (Sorry, too lazy to make links to everything—if you want to find something and can't, let me know.)
So, here are just a couple pics, and a bit of video I took of the Mirage Volcano from our room...
The view from our room at the Mirage:
One of the Lions at MGM:
Looking North on the Strip at twilight:
May post more later as the brain continues to digest everything.
Cheers!
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