Henry Tenby - Las Vegas Holiday 2007

Las Vegas Holiday

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As we were leaving Cravings, people were coming in from the early LOVE show. They told us that the LOVE show was spectacular! They had seen other Cirque shows and LOVE rates up there as one of the best, and is a must see for any Beatles fan. So we’ll definitely get advance tickets next time we’re in Vegas. After dinner we played the slots at the Mirage and lost about $40 between all of us. At 2200 we went to the LOVE store where I bought a fantastic tie-die style LOVE t-shirt on sale for an amazing $12! What a great deal. We also watched as the 2200 show attendees entered the show room, through an amazing walkway with colored glass floor and amazing changing colors under the floor. Very groovey! Some of the people in the standby queue also got into the show, but not all of them. There was maybe half a dozen of the dozen waiting that got in.

The Peter Max Gallery at the Forum Shops at Caesar's
At 2230 we walked over the Forum Shops at Caesar’s to show M the Peter Max gallery. I love his work. Last summer when we were in Vegas his smallest 6 X 6 inch works were selling for $1200, which was well beyond my financial capability. And this year those same 6 X 6 works were priced at $1995! The clerk in the Peter Max store told us that just last week Peter Max was in the store hosting a visit by Alice Cooper, who ended up buying three paintings. The again, Alice can well afford three paintings at $25,000+ each! M and IME then checked out a lady’s clothing store and we left the Forum Shops at 2300 as that is their nightly closing time.

At 2300 IME and I took M back to the Flamingo as she was again rather knackered and she took the elevator up to her room to retire for the evening. IME and I then walked over to O’Shea’s and lost about $20 on various slots. Had two beers for $3.50 using a 2 for 1 funbook coupon and then walked through Harrah’s. The dueling pianos were going at it in the piano bar. The crowd was going nuts as a gal on one piano was playing “I wanna Rock and Roll All Night” by Kiss, while the fellow on the other piano was countering with Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” and they were both really excellent. The dueling pianos at Harrah’s allows members from the audience to take the pianos and do their own duel against each other. As the sign says “ Ever wanted to be a lounge singer? Here’s your chance!”

Jackpot at Casino Royale
By 1230 am we were back at our favourite Casino Royale where we had a seat at their 1 cent big WOF. The seats were empty except for IME and me. Within five minutes of 40+ (2 line plays) I hit a $225 jackpot! I hit the 1000X line and got a double payout. Wow.. that’s a big win for us! We were very happy and having lots of fun! We then played the Nurse video game and gave about $40 back to the Casino, before leaving and heading back to the Flamingo around 0130 am. At the Flamingo we had another go at their 5 cent big WOF and lost about $20. We were back in our room by 0200 am after yet another fun, action packed, exciting Vegas day!

DAY 6) FRIDAY JUNE 29 2007
As usual IME and I spent the morning at the Flamingo pool between 0830 and 12 noon. It really is a fantastically comfortable place to start the day in Vegas. Specially when it is going to be well over 100 degrees. The pool visit is a great way to charge the batteries for the day. M again woke up a bit late and she went for her eggs and toast to Denny’s just up the strip next to Casino Royale. She met us in the pool around 1130 and we decided to meet her in the lobby at 1300 after our showering and changing in the room.

We met up with M in the Flamingo lobby at 1300 as planned and then took a taxi over to Wynn. We walked M through the luxurious Wynn property and she was quite impressed with its lavishness and nice shops, and we then dropped M across the street at the Fashion Show Mall (FSM) as M wanted to do some shopping for an hour or so. The FSM has a gigantic metalic UFO as its landmark on the strip. It is about 100 feet in diameter and can be seen from miles away. Apparently, Steve Wynn disliked it so much as a visual eye-sore infront of his casino, that he offered the owners of the mall $30 million to have it taken down. His offer was declined, so Wynn built a small mountain in front of his casino to block views of the silver disc from his property. Anyhow, we agreed to meet M at the T-shirt Diner store by the strip entrance on level 2. The T-shirt Diner will print up custom t-shirts from their huge selection of off-color and humous t-shirt designs on display. My personal favourite was the “I sharted” t-shirt. M didn’t know what shart means and was grossed out when I made the explanation. For those of you who don’t know what shart means, just rent the movie “Along came” with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston.

While M was checking out FSM, IME and I went across the street to the New Frontier casino, as we have never been there and were curious to check it out. It’s a bare bones basic casino much like Casino Royale, Greek Isles, Bill’s or O’Shea’s. Gilley's Bar at the New Frontier boasts "Cold Beer and Dirty Girls" with nightly live mud wrestling and bikini bull riding, as advertised on their huge billboard right on the strip. But they also have some great food deals, which is what we went to check out. We were a bit hungry and thirsty so we bought two of their huge and very refreshing $1.99 margaritas, which are served in a very generous pint-sized plastic cup. We then took the drinks into their Mexican restaurant (as they instructed us) and split their $5.99 daily special, which was a platter with two soft shell tacos and beans and salad trimmings. They also served us a huge plate of nachos and salsas as a complimentary starter. The daily special was very filling and more than enough for the two of us to share, and it was quite an excellent lunch for $10 (including the drinks) for the two of us. Only in Vegas! After lunch we played some slots and lost a bit of money and then went back to FSM to meet up with M.

More Shopping at Fashion Show Mall
At 1515 IME and I met M in the mall just near the T-shirt Diner as planned, and then IME and M went into the Zara store to have a look. IME ended up buying four very nice summer shirts for a great deal, and M purchased a very nice hair extension from one of the kiosks in the mall, which she was very happy with! At around 1540 we all cabbed it back to the Flamingo. IME and M went up to the rooms while I check my emails in the lobby.

At 1400 my aunt picked us up with her car to take us for dinner with my cousin (MT) and his family as they all live in Vegas (and love it!) Knowing that IME and I are huge sushi fans, MT took us to the Makinos all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant near where they live in Summerlin. I have to say it was better than Todai. The price was around $25 per person and the sushi spread was fantastic! It included medium sized AKC legs, many seafood salads, and an excellent selection of sushi and sashimi. We were all very impressed, even my sister M who is a vegetarian. Between 2000 and 2200 we visited at my cousin’s house and got to meet his one year old baby son, played some X-box guitar, and had a great time getting caught up with them all. It is too bad we can’t see them more often. All the more reason to visit Vegas more frequently!

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