We left Santa Barbara on Sunday morning, made a few stops along the way in Camarillo and Oxnard for some shopping, and arrived at our hotel room in the Golden Nugget in record time. First thing we did was hit up the Firefly tapas restaurant at the Plaza Hotel, a mere 2-minute walk from our hotel. We discovered it during our summer trip with friends earlier this year, and enjoyed it so much, we HAD to go again. Last time, we were seated in the lounge area, this time, we got there early enough to try for seating in the main restaurant area. We got a booth overlooking Fremont Street-- here's a shot of it, complete with the lights up top, from our booth:
Afterward, we hit up the Rush Lounge, another great discovery from our summer visit :-) This time, the regular performers were there-- Frankie Moreno and his band. The music was original and quite good-- all sorts of different styles, but the best part was the off-color humor that Frankie and his brother Tony offered up between songs. The highlight of the evening? A discussion of eggnog that spawned this memorable quote from Tony:
"You can even put it (eggnog) in your condom when you need to fake an orgasm!"
Here's a shot of Frankie (on the piano) and Tony (on the bass):
The next day, we decided to check out the pool area of our hotel, voted one of Vegas's top pools. The main attraction? It's shark tank. You read that right-- a huge shark tank right in the middle of the pool. You get great views of it from almost all the restaurants in the hotel, the pool and lounge area itself surrounds the tank, and you can climb up to the second floor-- where there is not only a smaller, adults-only infinity pool, but the entrance to the water slide-- which goes right THROUGH the tank, so you're sliding right alongside the sharks :-) There was also a really nice bar (the H2O) area with fire pits and a nice, warm jacuzzi. Only the heated small pool and the jacuzzi were open during our trip, though, or I would have totally made several trips down the slide to see the sharks :-) Here is a shot of them (the plastic tube is the slide):
After a delicious lunch at the GN buffet, we headed down to the south end of the Strip to the Luxor, where we toured the Bodies exhibition. It was really fascinating to see the insides of our bodies at work with real life preserved human models. They even showcased artificial joints, various diseased organs (like the blackened, emphysema and cancer-riddled lungs of smokers) and even fetuses at various stages of development.
We wandered around Mandalay Place, the shopping/dining area between Luxor and Mandalay Bay, where I gagged trying to browse a Lush store, and where we enjoyed Happy Hour at the Minus 5 Lodge/Lounge. We only sat in the lodge part of it-- I didn't realize until we were leaving that there WAS an actual refrigerated bar area behind the lodge-- brrr!
That night, we waited about 1.5 hours in line for the Carnival World buffet at the Rio. I was worried that by the time we got in, I wouldn't be hungry any more, but we timed it just right-- I was famished by the time we got our seats. And the buffet? Well worth the wait! It must've been 10 miles long, and showcased just about every cuisine from every country you can imagine! We had planned to hit up the Rio's iBar afterward for a drink, but were simply too stuffed and bloated after dinner, so we just went back to our room and crashed on our beds, watching cable TV.
The next morning, I took a dip in the jacuzzi, even though it was drizzling and the temperature had dropped to about the low 50s. The water was nice and warm, and I energized myself with a bit of water aerobics-- whew! What a way to wake up and work up a sweat! Here's a shot Allan took of me-- you can make out part of the H2O bar in the background, and the nice comfy (albeit wet!) seating:
We then headed back down to the Strip to hit up Harrah's for their buffet for lunch (with our 2-for-1 coupon), and to catch the Mac King Comedy Magic Show. We had gotten free tickets to it during our August trip. We were too busy and tired to redeem it then, but since it was still valid now, we decided that this was the perfect time for it. All we had to pay was $10 apiece for a drink ticket-- and we basically enjoyed a free show with our drink purchase! Mac King was pretty funny as well-- a bit like Bob Saget, he was able to tell some rather adult jokes that only the adults would get-- it was obscure enough to fly over the heads of the children in the audience.
Lunch left us so full that we opted for a light dinner at the Carson Street Cafe in our hotel, after another trip to the Rush Lounge to redeem our 2-for-1 drink coupon :-) Next day was brunch at the GN buffet again, and then homeward bound we were!
It rained during our entire trip, but it wasn't a torrential downpour like it was in southern California. During the times we were outdoors, the rain was light. And though it was cold outside, it wasn't so cold that we needed jackets everywhere we went. In fact, we ditched our coats after the first day, opting instead to carry small umbrellas that easily fit in my purse. Most of the time we were only outdoors for brief periods of time-- long enough to go from one destination to the other. This, for instance, is what I typically wore (this is a shot of me in front of the Golden Nugget, after we enjoyed the Fremont Light Show, the end of which was holiday-themed and set to Andy Williams's "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year")
As I've probably mentioned numerous times before, December right before Christmas is one of the best times to hit Las Vegas. The crowds are much thinner and you don't have to worry about being trampled or encountering human traffic jams in popular spots like the Strip or downtown along Fremont Street. Everything is beautifully decked out in holiday decorations, and the music everywhere (like the Bellagio fountain accompaniment, or the Fremont light show, or shopping centers and restaurants) is likewise Christmas-themed. The fact that it rained this year was a bonus: first, it meant warmer temperatures (well, at least during the first half of our trip), second, it meant higher humidity (desert dryness can be a bitch, especially in the cold winter) and third, it meant even fewer people than you'd normally find in December :-)
We've also found what's probably our favorite hotel thus far (and between the two of us, we've stayed in about 8 different hotels-- on the Strip, off Strip, and downtown): the Golden Nugget. It's centrally located right in downtown Vegas, and it feels like one of the more upscale hotels, yet its rooms are inexpensive-- we, of course, stayed in the cheapest rooms they had (at $39/night), and even they were large, spacious, well-insulated and newly renovated. The hotel itself has some interesting shows (some of which I plan to see next time), the Rush Lounge is an awesome place to hang out for drinks, relaxation and enjoying live entertainment, the buffet is inexpensive and really delicious, and of course-- you can't beat the awesome pool area!
More photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2607043&id=3605072
Viva Las Vegas-- here's to next year! :-)
