Thursday, June 25, 2009

TRIPPY (part 2)

So when left off, C and I had seen some more sights and enjoyed time by the pool on Saturday, our second full day in Vegas.

We freshened up and headed to the monorail, so we could go check out the Wynn and Encore. Those hotels are so hard to get to - C knew there was a shuttle running from the monorail stop to the hotels, but they stopped doing that in February. Not wanting to follow instructions and (I quote) "Get on the southbound shuttle, go to the next stop and walk from there") we figured we'd just walk from where we were. No need to ride the monorail again, right? Wrong. We hoofed it through some back roads and sketchy apartments until we got to the Wynn and the Encore. We had to step through some bushes to cross the street. It was like we were sneaking up on the hotel!

But how much was that walk worth it - what a gorgeous place! Both hotels were elegant, charming, fun and regal all at the same time. The interiors were so pretty. I was that girl, taking photos of the floral arrangements just because they were so breath-taking. We passed the Wynn Theater and the Encore Theater, home to Circque de Soliel's La Reve, the late Danny Gans and future home to Beyonce for four nights in July. Eventually we had gawked enough and made our way to dinner.

Gorgeous, no?

Chris chose a quaint little spot in the Wynn called the Terrace Pointe Café. I was delighted with his selection. Cute, cute, cute. We enjoyed our meal and dessert very much, and even though it was dark outside, we could still see the lush landscaping of the pool area that the restaurant was overlooking.
Great dinner and yummy dessert

After dinner, we enjoyed touring the hotels a little more. I thought he was just super-impressed with the decorations, but turns out when Chris's jaw hit the floor he was not so much caught up in the flora or fauna but in Miss Ricki Lake, who had just waltzed past us looking svelt as ever.

We hopped in a cab and headed off to Fremont Street. I think they should have left Fremont Street alone. I understand the point of enclosing it to make it more pedestrian, but I think the lights and all were probably just fine the way they were - no need to add a ceiling. We walked the block, took some photos and decided we'd seen enough.

Vegas!

We rode the people mover at Bally's on our way to see the Bellagio Fountains for the first itme in their entireity. Holy cow. The song was from the suite from the ballet Gayaneh and is called "Dawn, Ayeshe’s Dance." I was glad we got to see classical music as that is how I had always envisioned the Fountains (thanks, Ocean's Eleven). Knowing we'd be back at the Bellagio the next night, we moved on and decided to go try our hand in the casino at the Monte Carlo. I played some slots and then Chris and I picked a Roulette table to play at for a while. He blamed our bad luck on my selection of hot pink roulette chips, but whatever.
Come on, machine, work with me!

And now, Sunday. My birthday. We slept in and then meandered out way to the MGM Grand Brunch. There was a lot of people and a lot of food. I happily gobbled up my birthday brunch and then we decided to spend the majority of the day at the pool. We joined the dancing people playing in the wave pool before parking it in the wading pool.

After a long stint in the sun, I went upstairs and got into my party dress for the night. First stop: Bellagio, to pick up our tickets to see O. I felt like a little girl playing dress up in my shiny new dress and silver heels, strolling through the Bellagio with C. It was all just too good to be true. We got our tickets for the show, and decided to grab a drink and appetizer at Fix, an interesting restaurant/lounge around the corner from the theater. Chris had wanted to try Fix, and for good reason - we decided since the menu looked so great and we had time to kill, just to go ahead and eat dinner, and we were not disappointed. It was great food, artfully served.
Told you I was feeling fancy!

We slid into our seats at O with only a few minutes to spare. O was clever, creative, whimisical and more. There was diving, acting, fire, contortionists, comedy, trapezes - it literally had it all. I am happy to say that O gets the distinct honor of being named my top recommendation of what do to in Vegas.
In our seats, waiting for O to begin

After the show concluded, we utilized my free play money at the casinos, where I won $5 (woohoo!) and saw the fountains again (another classical piece - "Winter Games") before moving on to a club so we could shake our groove things. We settled on Pure at Caesars Palace (side note: did you know there is no apostrophe in Caesars because they want all their guests to feel like a Caesar? It's plural, not possessive - interesting, right?).

We get to Pure and are happy to see the line is not that short. I reach into my purse to get my license out, when I realize my license is still in my beach bag back in the hotel - a good hike away. Big, fat oops. I was SO embarrassed. Of course, Calm McEasygoing hardly batted an eye before marching us back to the cab line. I wanted him to fuss at me so I wouldn't feel so guilty. I mean, of course I didn't MEAN to leave my license, but I didn't want to be so selfish as to insist we go get it and come back. But, on the other hand, I certainly wasn't ready to call it a night. So, rather than make the long walk to go get it, we hopped in a cab, swung by the Monte Carlo and were back at Pure within about 20 minutes. Quite a fail, but at least a fixable one.

We walked in and the place was empty. Well-lit and lovely, but empty. Everything was white, silver, cream or ivory. We wondered where all the people were, until we saw an elevator to take us upstairs. Jackpot. The view from the terrace was AMAZING. And on the terrace itself, more white and silver and gorgeousness. We had an absolute blast, dancing and people watching long into the night, until we decided it was time to head back.
Party people!
Our view at Pure - priceless!

The next morning we checked out and headed to the airport for our 11 am flight home, which was much less raucous than the flight to Vegas. I was so sad to leave but very happy with my memories. We definitely conquered Vegas and I have no regrets about the trip. It was so perfect, worth the wait and I can't wait to go back!
View out my plane window - goodbye, Las Vegas!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Oh goody!

wordpress blog stats