Zachary

The band

The other band

Cooking stuff (temporarily inactive...)

 
For our 2 year anniversary, we flew off to Las Vegas for a few days. We went mid-week to save on plane and room prices. Gambling was cheaper too since the casinos were slow. We stayed at Treasure Island hotel which has grown up a bit since I last saw it. Much more "adult"... TI (as they like to call it now) had the neatest bar called Kahunaville. Wednesday night they had a band, and Thursday night it was karaoke, but that wasn't the neat part. The bartenders were right out of a movie, juggling bottles and shakers, pouring 5 drinks at a time, slinging bottle openers around like guns, rolling glasses down their arms...holy cow! Neat stuff!! TI also has a street side show that I'm sure is worth watching. It was cancelled the two nights we tried to see it. :-( Overall though, a fun hotel.

The highlights of our trip include seeing the Cirque du Solei show, which was, of course fantastic (though not as good as La Nouba). We followed up the show with an expensive, very excellent, steak dinner in our hotel. We did lots of window shopping at the upscale malls, walked around many of the casinos, including the new Paris (mmmm, good crepes). Hard Rock turned out to be one of our favorite hotels. Comfortable, not too big, cool black jack dealers, fun atmosphere - seemed to cater to the 30-something crowd. The Stratosphere was hands down, the worst hotel. Another night we had a fabulous Italian dinner at the Mirage - soooo good. And the last big highlight: I played poker! Texas hold 'em 3/6, meaning the first two betting rounds are $3 and the last two betting rounds are $6. Fixed, low, betting makes the whole thing less intimidating. I was a bit nervous, especially when I had a hand worth playing, but after a couple hours I calmed down and made less mistakes. I only lost $40 bucks - not bad for a few hours of play. And the highlight for J.T., was passing through the Bellagio on our way out to find a handful of professional poker players in the poker room. J.T. is always watching the poker shows and tournaments on TV and it was a real treat to see TJ and the Professor in action at the same table. We wanted to get an autograph or two but had to catch our plane instead. Maybe next time!
posted by hbt at 8:51 PM