December 26, 2007

Xpu-ha, Mexico ~ Day one

We flew US Airways, they offered the best fare and most direct route. The flight from Vegas to Phoenix was cake. We were offered to upgrade to first class for the flight to Cancun. We pondered it for a minute, but declined. We boarded the plane and quickly realized it wasn’t going to be a full flight, we hoped that we’d luck out and have a row of seats to ourselves. Everyone boarded and no one took the aisle seat, I scooted over and we relished in our first score of the trip… poor man’s first class. Flight went by fairly quick.

The new airport terminal is very nice and efficient, I was blown away, such an improvement! There were no long waits, we were on our way in no time.

We caught the Thrifty shuttle outside the terminal to retrieve our rental. We booked an economy for $9/day. We were given a bare bones Ford, manual, no power steering, radio or door locks. The process was painless and we were off.

Before heading to our hotel we stopped in Playa Del Carmen for pesos and dinner. Our favorite place to park on 12th near the bank has closed as the surrounding buildings have been demolished. It took sometime to find a new place to park, but we eventually settled on a place off of 10th near 8th. We stopped at the ATM, cigar shop, and then continued on to Yaxche.






I ordered Cochinita Pibil and Frank had Kinich. Both dishes were delicious. Bellies full we headed to Xpu-ha.

It was after seven o’clock by the time we arrived at Al Cielo




much of the staff had gone home, except the chef. He assisted us with our bag, led us to our room and pointed out the refreshments he left for us. We changed into shorts, grabbed cervezas and ran out to the beach. It felt great to feel the soft sand between our toes and the warm sea crash at our feet. We toasted and relaxed beneath the stars. Ahhh...

Back to the grind

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We surely did. I have some catching up to do here before the new year. I never posted the rest of the condo photos so I need to get to those. Also, need to share the details of our trip to Mexico and our most recent stay the Signature.

I will mention, that we had the most fantastic meal at Delmonico last week. We started with beef satay compliments of the house for locals, then shared the tableside Caesar, Frank ordered the special... t-bone lamb with grilled gulf shrimp, brussel sprouts prepared with mushrooms, onion and bacon. I ordered the bone-in rib steak and twice baked potato with cheddar and bacon. It was fabulous. The lamb was out of this world. I had no clue it could be so good. We passed on dessert for fear it couldn't possibly measure up to the phenomenal meal we had just consumed. We've been pleased by Delmonico on past visits, but never to this extent. It was incredible.

December 5, 2007

Review: Bootlegger's Bistro

Last night, Frank and I had dinner at Bootlegger's Bistro. We started with toasted ravioli, yum! Nibs of garlic breadsticks were also brought to snack on while we waited for our entrees. Frank ordered veal parmesan, penne and vegetables were served on the side. I opted for chicken piccata, accompanied by fettuccini alfredo and veggies. Everything was quite good, the veal was the standout. Total before tip was $60.

December 3, 2007

Review: Stripsteak

Saturday, we had seven o’clock reservations at Stripsteak for Frank’s birthday. When we arrived, the restaurant was packed to the gills. It took a minute to get a table ready for us. Atmosphere is loud, but nice; it reminded us of an older sibling of Stack. We looked over the menu; initially we had trouble deciding because there were many appetizing selections to choose from. However, we felt it’d be blasphemy to try anything but steak on a first visit. Consequently, I selected the filet and Frank chose the bone-in rib eye. We also ordered prawns and a Caesar to start, and potato cakes and onion medley as sides.

An onion focaccia was brought to our table along with our drinks. It was delicious. We devoured it while waiting for our appetizers. The prawns were excellent, and the salad was decent. Next, we received complimentary duck fat fries; three kinds were served each with their own dipping sauce: herb fries paired with ketchup, truffle fries served with truffle aioli, and BBQ sauce accompanied the paprika fries. We didn’t care for the sauces, but the fries were tasty. Additional bread was delivered, but we maintained restraint as we didn’t want to spoil our appetite before our entrees arrived.

The steaks were prepared to order. A tad dry, but great nonetheless. The potato cakes were excellent and the onion medley was quite good, as well. Who knew there were so many varieties of onions? We were much too full to try dessert, so we passed, but they sent us home with a bag of fiddle-faddle. All in all, it was a great dinner. The meal was $177 before tip. While Stripsteak rounds out our top three Las Vegas steakhouses, it’s not likely that we’ll return in the future. It lacks value and individuality, both are key, when we seek a standout in a sea of hundreds.

November 30, 2007

Review: Trader Vic's

Last night, we headed over to Planet Hollywood so Frank could play poker while I shopped. We wanted to grab a bite beforehand, we figured we'd try Trader Vic's or Earl of Sandwich. While we looked over the menu at Trader Vic's the hostess gave us a card good for a free appetizer. It lured us inside. You have a choice to dine on the outside patio or indoors. We opted to eat inside since it was pretty cool outside. The restaurant has a nice ambience and the patio will be great in the warm months.

Service was decent. We shared a Caesar salad to start. It was edible, but not great as it was overdressed resulting in limp romaine. Frank chose rack of lamb and I went with the pork chop. We snacked on pinapple sesame bread while we waited for our entrees to arrive. There's a foursome of condiments to try: chinese mustard, coconut peanut butter, wasabi aoli, and Trader Vic's table sauce. I loved the peanut butter and Frank liked the chinese mustard best.

Both entrees were cooked to perfection and presented beautifully. The BBQ pork chop was served alongside mashed potatoes and Maui onion marmalade. Curry rice noodles accompanied the rack of lamb. Each dish was well prepared. Bellies full we requested the check, our bill was $75. We had an enjoyable meal, but didn't feel that it'll be worthy of a return visit.

November 29, 2007

Unsatisfied Cravings

We’ve been in a Mexican state of mind as we near our upcoming trip. We’ve been longing Mexican food like mad. We’ve tried a few restaurants nearby, but none have satisfied our hunger for fresh salsa and authentic dishes. The most disappointing experience was at Macayo. The food was bland and the salsa was among the worst I’ve ever tasted. Most recently, we were swayed to try Mi Casa at Silverton; they sent us a $25 gift certificate by mail. Said and done, our meal cost $8; I can’t imagine paying a dollar more than that. Chips were excellent and salsas were fair, but the entrée portions were tiny and poor quality. I had a pork tamale that consisted solely of pork fat. The best meal of the bunch was at Viva Mercado. They recently moved to their new location at Rainbow and Spring Mountain. It is quite an improvement over the prior establishment; it’s roomier and has better décor. Even service improved. Overall, our meal was good, the carnitas were excellent. Still it was a failed attempt to satisfy our craving, I guess will have to hold out another ten days until we can dig into the real thing... La Cueva del Chango, perhaps?

Home Improvements

I finally uploaded photos of the work we did to the Vegas condo. You'll find pictures of the living and dining room below. I'll post other rooms tomorrow.

Before After

Before After

Before After

Before After

Before After

November 13, 2007

Another one bites the dust

Early this morning, Frank and I watched the Frontier implosion. It was my favorite yet. We were fortunate to have access to the VIP/Media viewing area, I scored passes through work. Nice to have front row seats to say farewell to the Frontier. There was a large group from The Plaza (expected to open 2011) in attendance. They were pretty pompous. Each sported ponchos to protect their suits from debris and dust masks. They ran for cover when the dust cloud erupted... funny stuff. It's their heads in my video, they were able to cross the caution tape shortly before the firework display got underway. Anyway, here's a sample of the fireworks & implosion from my perspective:










If interested, check out Media Coverage here

November 6, 2007

Never a dull moment

Per usual, a lot is happening in our neck of the woods. Frank finally finished up in Laughlin, he’s now back in Las Vegas full-time. We have the Laughlin condo on the market and we are hopeful that it sells quickly. The updates to the Vegas condo are coming along; although, I took this past weekend off from home projects. I was in need of break, but I’ll be back to work this weekend. As we’ve decided to tie up all the loose ends as soon as possible so we can put our Las Vegas condo on the market, as well.

We’ve done some house hunting and determined that most of the new housing developments don’t meet our needs. Therefore, we’re expanding our home search to include resale homes. Despite it being a buyers market, homeowners are still not keen on accepting offers contingent on sale. So, we plan to sell both properties to avoid troubles purchasing our next home. For now, we’re reviewing properties on realtor.com to get an idea of what’s available. There are plenty of viable options, hopefully that’ll be the case when we are ready to buy.

Amid all this bedlam, I have two trips on the horizon. I will be heading to Chicago over Thanksgiving weekend. Missing Nicky’s first birthday and recent milestones (walking, talking, etc.) have broken my heart. So, I figured the long weekend will be well spent with family I miss terribly.

Two weeks after I return from Chicago, Frank and I will be on our way to Xpu-ha, Mexico. Our passports arrived last week and they were the last item needed to prepare for the trip. We are anxiously awaiting our vacation; we are in dire need of some rest and relaxation.

Look out Starbucks...

There are new kids in town. A few weeks ago, to much fanfare, Dunkin' Donuts opened the first of many locations in the valley. Tomorrow, SexxPresso will start serving up some of the hottest coffee around.

October 23, 2007

Review: Isla

Last Thursday, Frank and I finally tried Isla at TI. The restaurant has nice decor with Mayan artwork on the walls. Menu offers a variety of dishes to choose from. Frank ordered a carne asada burrito and I had the tamale. We snacked on chips and salsa while waiting for our food to arrive. They serve three kinds: tomatillo, picante and chunky. All were tasty, but they lacked heat. Chips were fresh and warm, tortillas are made in house.

Presentation was very nice. Probably the prettiest Mexican food I have ever been served. Rice had the flavor of tomatillo salsa; it also had corn and peas. Pretty good, but I could have done without the peas. Beans were good and had great texture. The pork in my tamale was excellent, tender and flavorful. As the menu described, it was topped with a sweet and spicy sauce. I didn't taste any spice, just sweet, too sweet really. Had it had heat, it would've been superb. The carne asada in Frank's burrito was prime and well marinated. Although, they dressed it up with too much pico, crema, etc. that the flavor of the meat was lost. All in all, the food was quite good, but they tried a little too hard and dishes were too mild for our tastes.

Service was fine to start, but after our entrees were delivered we became invisible. I never got a refill, but eventually, a busboy did bring Frank another iced tea. It took about 10 minutes after we finished our meal to grab the waitress’s attention for our check. Total came to $36 before tip.

October 13, 2007

Vacaciones Dulces

Been awhile since I checked in. It’s been a busy month. We’ve been working hard updating our Las Vegas condo and getting things in order at the Laughlin condo so we can get it listed for sale.

Our Las Vegas condo has made quite the transformation. We have painted every room, replaced the thermostat, ceiling fans and light fixture, blinds, interior and closet doors and carpet throughout. We’ve done all the work ourselves with the exception of the carpet installation. All the money spent, sweat and frustration has been worth the reward. The place has character; it’s bright and welcoming.

However, we haven’t made it to the finish line yet. Our replacement interior doors were special order, they came in Tuesday, we hung them, but they still need to be painted. We’re also adding hardware to our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Knobs are purchased, so it’s just a matter of time. The bathroom needs some work, too, but I’ll focus on that once we get the rest of the house complete. Once I finish up my current projects, I will post before and after pictures.

All work and no play got us itching for a vacation in Mexico. I was planning to go in January or February, because I burned through my vacation time earned this year and only have sick time remaining. That plan was foiled when Frank realized he could go in December or not until April. We like to head to the beach while weather isn’t as favorable here, so we focused on a trip in December. Fortunately, we each got approval for time off. I managed to find the cheapest airfare yet. Al Cielo in Xpu-ha had availability and is offering us a 10% discount on each night since we are returning guests. Lastly, I booked a rental via Thrifty for $9/day. This trip has shaped up nicely. We need to get passports and then sweet vacation is only two months away.

September 6, 2007

Painter wanted

Home Depot offered rebates on Behr paint over Labor Day weekend. It was just the excuse we needed to get our latest home project underway. We also chose new carpet to be installed. There’s soon to be no more royal blue, baby. Woohoo!

We prepped the living and dining rooms on Monday and got started on the ceiling. Early on, Frank realized that painting is not particularly fun and the strain on his back wasn’t doing him any good. We decided that we'd finish up the paint in the tray and seek quotes from painters to see if we could get the job professionally done.

The last two days we met with painters from various sources and each quote was more than we were looking to spend. The cheapest quote was $1075 (labor only), our place is only 957 sq ft. and we're not even doing the bathroom. So, it’s just not worth spending that much dough. Looks like I’ll have to suck it up and do it myself.

September 4, 2007

End of Summer, really?

It is hard to believe Labor Day has already come and gone, especially when temps are still in the triple digits. When living in Chicago, pools would close for the season beginning Labor Day weekend. Now, it’s just another weekend that crowds flock to Vegas to soak up the neon and have fun in the sun.

Frank and I had hoped to take Nicky for the weekend, but Jeff’s mom died of a heart attack on Friday morning. Amy, Jeff and Nicky caught the next available flight to Chicago after they caught word of her passing. Losing a loved one at any time is difficult; I can’t imagine how hard this must be for Jeff and his family. Goes to show you, you can't take life for granted.

With the unexpected change of plans were able to get many errands done and we even had a couple fun outings on Sunday. We had a 2-for-1 coupon to the Titanic Exhibit at Tropicana so we checked it out. Neat to see the recovered artifacts and whatnot, but we enjoyed the Bodies Exhibit far more.

Later that night, we dined at Seablue. This time we had Prawns, Seablue Salad, NY Strip and Halibut. We ended the fantastic meal with tiramisu for dessert. Dishes are fresh and light, it enables you to eat well without feeling overstuffed.

August 28, 2007

There's no place like home

We took a week long trip to visit friends and family in Chicago. We attended a wedding, baptism and White Sox game. We ate all our old favorites: White Castles, Nicky's Gyros and Hot Dogs, Calzone's, Ricobene's, Beggars and Giordano's Pizza, Golden Palace Chinese, Italian beef sandwich, nachos, brats, and polish sausage. Even all the good eats couldn't keep us from missing Las Vegas. We had a good time, but it was apparent that Chicago is no longer home, Vegas is.

Review: Grotto

Two weeks ago we thought we’d try Binion’s Steakhouse for dinner, we had reservations for 8pm.

The restaurant was packed to the gills. There was a line four parties deep to check in with the maître d, but no one was arming the desk. There was party that was waiting to be seated that were completely blitzed, they were falling all over other patrons and were incredibly obnoxious. When they were seated the rest of the diners waiting let out a sigh of relief in unison. Then all kinds of comments were muttered... I hope we won't be seated near them...

Finally, the maître d returned and checked in a few people. Things were less chaotic once the three ring circus was seated. 15 minutes had passed by the time we gave him our name and then we were informed there'd be a wait, and we'd be called when a table was ready. Okay? I thought the point of a reservation was to avoid this... we waited a minute and then decided if the experience had been this much of a fiasco already, we couldn't imagine how the actual meal would go. We told the maître d to remove us from the list. We left and headed over Golden Nugget to try our luck at Vic & Anthony's.

Vic & Anthony’s was far more professional and organized. Unfortunately, it would be a 30 minute wait for a table. We were starved and decided we’d try Golden Nugget’s Italian Restaurant, Grotto, instead.

They were able to sit us right away at a table with a view of the pool. Service was slow to start and unfortunately continued throughout the entire meal. Bread was served with olive oil and spices, it was delicious. Frank enjoyed an Italian house salad for an appetizer, while I snacked on the fresh bread. He ordered the veal parmesan which happened to be the largest portion of veal he’s been served. I chose the bucatini amatriciana. I was pleasantly surprised, it was likely the best pasta I’ve had in restaurant. We shared tiramisu for dessert, there was plenty to share and it was a delightful end to a good meal. Had service been better, it certainly would’ve been a great experience. Total for dinner was $64 before tip.

August 8, 2007

Sweet Escape at the Signature

Our stay at the Signature had been a long time coming, but in the end it was well worth the wait. After a few failed attempts, we made last minute reservation under the Summer Splash promo and booked a junior suite for $169.

Sunday afternoon, we decided we’d try to check in early, we arrived at the entrance on Harmon Ave., where we were politely greeted by security at the gate. He verified our information, returned with a parking pass and directed us to Tower 2. Valet was efficient, as was the bellman who promptly assisted us with our bags. The level of service we received immediately impressed us and we hadn’t even formally registered as guests. Check-in was a breeze, our request for a junior suite with a balcony on a high floor overlooking the strip was honored, we were given keys to room 35-705.

When we arrived at our room, housekeeping was still tidying up. So, we called to the desk to see if we could get another room assigned. A quick second later, we were headed up two floors to 37-705. We met the bellman in the elevator and he followed right behind us. He was courteous, as well. We were pleased by the accommodations and view.

As you enter, the bathroom was to the left





Then there’s a dry bar in the entry and large closet to the right. Across from the closet is a heavenly bed covered in plush linens, the alarm clock beside the bed has an iPod docking station.





Opposite is the kitchen/entertainment area. TV swivels and it’s equipped with a DVD player. Kitchenette has everything you’d need except a dishwasher and oven.





Next is the living (with sleeper sofa) and dining areas, followed by the sliding glass door that leads to the balcony.










That offers these views
















After we got situated we set off to find food since we were starved. Lunch offerings at MGM didn’t appeal to us so we headed to Mandalay Bay via Trop to Excalibur to catch the tram. We thought we'd give Burger Bar another try and see about making reservations at Stripsteak for dinner. After an easy jaunt we were told it would be a forty minute wait when we arrived at Burger Bar. No thanks. We opted to dine at Giorgio, next door, instead.

I had the Italian sandwich, Frank chose chicken parmigiana sandwich and we each had a side Caesar salad instead of fries. Service was a bit bizarre as our food arrived before our drinks, but the meal itself was fine. Bill before tip was $36.

Afterwards, we decided to play some ponies at the race book. We won two exacta bets, but neither paid enough to offset other bets made. Next, we toured the casino floor and made our way to restaurant row. No one was manning the host podium at Stripsteak, so Frank used the phone there to make a reservation. The operator transferred him to the desk where we were standing, so Frank answered his own call. We got a good laugh, but no ressie. We figured we'd call later if we decided we wanted to return for dinner.

We were ready to relax so we made our way back to the Signature. Along the way we glanced over Seablue’s menu and decided on dinner there, so we made a reservation for 8:30 on the spot. We returned to the room and drew a bath. After a delightful soak, we lounged around in bed and flipped through the channels on TV.

Frank wanted to play poker so he called the room and added his name to the list. We also called housekeeping to request turndown service. About twenty minutes later, we headed down to MGM’s casino. I wandered the casino floor playing misc. slots and had no luck. Meanwhile Frank couldn’t catch any good cards playing poker. So, he moved on to blackjack. I met up with him there, since I considered playing, as well. But the Asian dealer of death cleaned him out in no time, so I didn’t want to lend myself to the same beating.

We sauntered through the casino eventually making our way to Seablue. The restaurant was far less crowded than we expected, midway thru our meal we had our entire section to ourselves, which we appreciated. After reviewing the menu we settled on chilled prawns to start, and Frank also selected a Caesar salad. The prawns were so fresh and delicious we ordered more. Frank enjoyed his salad, as well. Flatbread with a trio of tapenades was also served. We were careful not to spoil our appetite before our entrees arrived. I selected the kurabota pork chop and Frank went with the bone-in NY strip steak. Both were prepared to perfection and served alongside a medley of veggies. The meal was outstanding, Frank insisted that he would order more prawns, if nothing on the dessert menu grabbed him. However, tiramisu was an option too hard to resist. It, too, was excellent. Our total before tip was $170. Superb food and service escalates Seablue to one of our top three restaurant experiences in Las Vegas.

After dinner we stopped at the arcade. We played a game of air hockey. Frank won as usual. Then we moved on to racing video games which I'm much better at. Frank beat me in the first race, but I took him in the rematch. Always fun to bring out the inner-child every now and then.

We were entitled to two drinks at the Signature lobby, so we planned to stop on our way back to the room. However, we got wrapped up in our conversation and forgot about the detour. Upon our arrival to the room, we saw that we had not received turn down service as requested. Frank placed a call to housekeeping, they offered their apologies and said they’d be right up. We took the opportunity to have drinks at the lounge. Frank ordered a double shot of Patron Silver, wanting to use up our full credit I ordered the same. Little did we know, our bar tab came to $48. Craziness. There was a blitzed group at the bar that were quite obnoxious so we hurriedly finished our drinks and returned to the room. Housekeeping was still there, so we waited on the balcony while they finished up.

After they left we got comfortable and lounged on the balcony enjoying the beautiful evening.







Later, we retired to bed and slept like babies. I awoke refreshed and decided to soak in the tub one last time. After showering, I brewed a pot of coffee for Frank and prepared a cup of hot tea for myself. Frank showered, while I read a magazine on the balcony. He ordered breakfast from the in-suite dining menu. Banana nut French toast for me and an swiss, cheddar, provolone omelet for him. About thirty minutes later, the door bell rang, our breakfast had arrived it looked and smelled fabulous. Too bad my picture doesn’t do it justice. We dug in, the meal was well-prepared and everything was excellent. Breakfast was just shy of $40 before tip, worth every penny, too.






Sadly our time at the Signature was winding down. It was time to pack and check-out. Frank called the belldesk and had valet bring the car around. Wonderful not having to wait. We settled up our bill at the front desk and we were on our way. Back to the real world…

The only problems we encountered were with housekeeping, every other aspect of our stay exceeded our expectations. We will gladly return to the Signature in the future

Review: Canter's Deli

Last week, I met Frank for lunch at Canter's Deli inside Treasure Island. Frank ordered for me, so our sandwiches we served by the time I arrived. I had turkey & swiss on wheat. Frank had corned beef Rueben. The meats were very good, juicy and tender. The corned beef was really lean, too. Frank still likes the Rueben better at Carnegie Deli, but Canter's is a good alternative.

Megabeat hit!

Yesterday morning at 9:49am the Megabeat Jackpot hit at Bally's for a record high payout of $186,336. The winning hand received $37,267 and the losing hand received $55,900. Active players in participating Poker Rooms were awarded $4,658. Nice, huh?

August 7, 2007

A taste of the highrise lifestyle

Shortly after three o'clock, on July 27, we arrived at Platinum's valet. The bellman unloaded the car while we checked in. Got everything squared away and we were told that the property is smoke-free, if we were to smoke in the room we'd be charged a $250 cleaning fee. We were issued keys to suite 1514, we met up with the bellman and made our way to our room.

We were in love at first sight. In short, the Platinum surpassed our expectations at every level from accomodations to staff. After we tipped the bellman we ran around the room checking out all the bells and whistles. We've stayed in a ton of hotels over the years and our Platinum experience takes top rank. I even enjoyed it more than the Salon Suite at Wynn and the Cariocas Suite at the Rio.

Kitchen with full-size appliances

Living area w/sleeper sofa

Balcony

Views

Bathroom

Bedroom


We had dinner reservations at Lawry's for 5:30, but we were starved so we head over a bit early. Luckily they were able to sit us right away. Dinner was great as always. I really wanted a hot fudge sundae, but decided against it because I failed to save room. Frank ordered it anyway, we shared about half of it. We were too stuffed to finish, but it was mighty tasty. CC Brown's Hot Fudge is possibly the best I've ever tasted.

During dinner, Frank's friends from Phoenix, Matt and Shane, called saying that they were at the Platinum. There was some sort of miscommunication, Frank didn't think they were coming until Saturday. We reserved Friday for us, but I didn't mind and Frank didn't want to put them out. So, we told them we'd meet them when we finished dinner. But we first made a stop at Gold Coast to stock up on beer and Patron. When we got back to the hotel they were there waiting for us. This was the first time they've met face to face. They've been playing Counterstrike together for a couple years now and Shane has known Frank even longer, because they used to play another game together 6 or 7 years ago. Anyhow, they brought along all their pc gear and got set up in the room. While I enjoyed the views from the balcony. A storm rolled and I was psyched. Not often do I catch lightning show, especially with an unobstructed view.

Eventually the guys came out and joined me on the balcony. We shot the shit, did a couple shots, and then decided we wanted to pack up some beers and head to the pool to take advantage of the strip views. No dice, pool was closed. They closed it early because of the high winds and lightning. Oh well, back to the room. More drinking and bullshitting transpired. Another round of shots caused Matt to derail; he ended up falling asleep while hugging the toilet. Frank and Shane moved him to the sofa and I gave him a water and the garbage.

Shortly after, I decided to switch to water to keep from derailment myself. I chilled for a bit, then decided I would take a bath. Shane and Frank went to Ellis Island to grab a bite and do some gambling. After a heavenly soak, I hopped into bed.

I wanted to get up to catch the sunrise, but I slept through it. Had a lazy morning watching TV, enjoyed the view from the bedroom since it was quite toasty on the patio. Later, we headed to the condo and grabbed some Jersey Mike's for lunch. Matt and Shane met up with us at our place. Frank went back to the Platinum with the them for their guys night.

While I waited for Amy and Nicky to arrive. We hit Old Navy, Babies R Us, DSW, and Kohl's. And then had dinner at Carrabba's. Never tried it before, but we thought it was good. I had Chicken stuffed with fontina and prosciutto in a lemon butter sauce and Amy had chicken marinated in olive oil and herbs. We went back to my place, talked for a couple hours and then Nicky was beat so they headed home. It was nice to have a girls night.

Meanwhile, the guys went to American Shooters gun range. Afterwards, another guy from the server came into town from CA. They met for ribs at Ellis Island for dinner, gambled a bit, played Counterstrike and hit the strip club. They ordered room service $70 for 4 hamburgers, ouch. Later, went to bed when the sun came up.

I returned to the Platinum around 9am. Made coffee for the guys and lounged in bed with Frank. Then read the paper and enjoyed the view while they packed their stuff up. We arranged for late check out so we could leave leisurely. They headed off to lunch and then back to the gun range and onto Sahara to play poker. Meanwhile, I headed home.

There is no doubt I'd like to stay at the Platinum again. Rates were $189/night for Friday and Saturday. Can't beat that, it's really the way to go on the weekend. A regular room on the strip on the weekend can easily run that much or more.