Wednesday 8/10
Leave SAV around 2... long day of air travel, but with the bonus of Atlanta Hawks Bar and Grill (A gate near -- I think gate A32). STRONGLY suggest the BBQ sandwich and a whiskey smash. It's not cheap, but is a terrific meal and always worth the walk. This was during the time of the Delta debacle, but the pilot was amazing. We had him, but zero flight attendants because of all of the changed flights during the outage. Three or four flight attendants that were on board as travelers stepped up and worked the flight to get us moving. We were around an hour late but extremely appreciative. Got our rental car, and headed for our first night at The Orleans. It was extremely late for our east coast systems & we crashed to begin again on Thursday. Room 1331 - not a great view but a decent enough room.
Thursday 8/11
Peppermill. After all, it's pretty much a first day tradition. We split a meal and felt human again. After breakfast, we took a few pictures of the Riviera while a little bit was still standing.
Then we headed to the Aveda Institute. Since it's a school, you get a great deal. We each had facials. The tab for two facials with extractions was $81. We got a small discount for a sale but they are always around $40 each. They post sales on FB too. What a deal! Took a short break for a Coke and Mrs. Fields double chocolate brownie (from the airport) before the next stop.
Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah - DO NOT get your directions from Google. You'll end up in the wrong place. Get them from the website. Also, look for a Groupon since it's not cheap.
https://casadeshenandoah.com/experience/getting-here/
We didn't do the mansion tour, but visited the museum, animals, and they paraded a couple of horses out to exercise. One of the horses actually did a lap in a specially built pool. Also visited the part of the museum with his cars and plane. Guillermo was an excellent guide and it was just the two of us and him on our tour.
Dinner: Orleans French Market buffet - used some hotel credit and a BOGO coupon. Quite the deal and the desserts were marvelous. It's generally a good buy anyway, but if you do not care about seafood, always check if weekend buffets include it or not. It has great potential to jack up the price if a brunch or buffet has booze or seafood. Just a quick and easy tip.
Time to go to our new HOME away from home. The Mirage. Kudos to excellent help from Jesus at the front desk. We had a room on the 18th floor with a view of the pools and dolphins. It was on their west wing. Slightly up in gambling at Mirage for both of us. Kaysha came by and offered up a massage right at the video poker slots. I am not one that likes spending a bunch of money. DO.IT! It was outstanding. That was one of the best neck and shoulder massages I've had, and I've had a few. The lovely Tina is our drink goddess again! She even remembered us from the last trip. <3 If you have her, treat her well and you will be in return. Tip her at least $2 a drink. She takes great care of you, is a ton of fun, and if you drink Fireball (raising my hand here) she may even sing "This girl is on FIRE" when she brings your refill. Worth the price. Fun times.
Friday 8/12
Cravings at Mirage with a BOGO from Las Vegas Advisor's coupon book.
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/whyjoin-mrbdetails.cfm?CFID=179046059&CFTOKEN=62266694
Orleans for a bit since they did comp our room and they send us great deals. Daryl down $80 for the morning. Ashley down $7. Orleans was not good for gambling this morning.
Back to Mirage for some quality pool time. That was so nice. Got inside before my pasty self burst into flames.
Found a local beer. Joseph James from Henderson, NV. I really like the Weize Guy Hefeweizen. Got some goofy gambling socks I love. Bootlegger Bistro for a late lunch/early dinner. We actually ended up eating at an odd time. It was even a little early for happy hour, so basically it was a late lunch for them. Because it was technically lunch, the prices were a little smaller as were the portions which both really worked out well. I had the baked penne with meat sauce and Daryl had lasagna. The salads were perfect and the bread with dipping sauce (close to a marinara) was drool worthy. I have got to learn to double check if dishes have ricotta cheese, since I'm not a fan. For me it was good, but not great.
Saturday 8/13
Blueberry Hill-YES! If you are willing to go off Strip, get to Blueberry Hill. We got the French Toast Chef's Special with bacon and eggs and added on a la carte one cinnamon swirl pancake. St. Joseph's aspirin that thing was wonderful. I could have a short stack now.
Fry's - the electronic store. We don't have any of this chain near us. If you are into tech, flashlights, any electronics, or stuff at places like Best Buy, this is like going to the Holy Land. You turn into a kid finding stacks of things you didn't know you couldn't live without. NOW, every trip must include a stop at Fry's. Took us years to go in, now I never wanna leave.
Lush-https://www.facebook.com/LUSHMandalayBay I have really bad allergies. Some of those highly scented stores give me instant headache and sore throat. Not Lush. I think the difference is that it's natural and not chemical in nature. Always have to buy a few things. If you get a fresh face mask, they need to be refrigerated. If you buy one towards the end of a trip, put it on ice in the room and they'll tell you at the store it's fine in the plane's checked baggage. You just pop it in the fridge when you get home. We were running behind for our lunch date. It was my fault getting distracted while shopping, so Daryl dropped me at Venetian. He put Lush on ice and joined me for lunch a short while later.
B&B Burgers and Beer - Happily meet the infamous Brian Kay for lunch. We ordered a couple of beers and caught up. We strike up conversation like no time had passed. It would be nice to sit outside, but it was crazy hot. I agreed to try oysters (finding out later this would be a mistake) and waited for Daryl to join us for lunch. We enjoyed good burgers and fries and a couple of beers (and waters...hot day and I know the Vegas drill...one drink one water) before departing.
We all march onward to Rhumbar. It was so hot out. Okay so here is a potential tip for ya. They only have overpriced bottled water at Rhumbar. You are going to NEEEEEEEED water while drinking their strong libations. So, either have bottled water in your shopping bag, purse, or something similar or BUY ONE bottled water at their price and refill it whenever you go to the restroom. Tap water is fine, don't be a snob. I opt for the Scottish Sour, Daryl the Strawberry Pineapple, Brian the Old Cuban. I even watered down my drink after having a few sips it was so strong. Sat and chatted. Enjoyed the view at Rhumbar and the afternoon. Brian felt badly first and bid farewell. Soon after, it was me. Those oysters definitely didn't sit well. Luckily, since he's allergic to shellfish, Daryl didn't have the repercussions of bad food. Call it a day after that.
Sunday 8/14
Last full day in Vegas. Sigh!
Cravings weekend brunch is $28.99 w/o champagne, but includes beer and wine (seafood is also on the buffet today). Thank goodness we had a myVegas BOGO (buy one get one) discount. Otherwise there was no way I'd pay that much. It was good, but we weren't interested in seafood. For seafood fans: don't mistake my lack of interest as snobbery of any kind. Daryl is extremely allergic. I do eat fish and fried shrimp, but being in the South and on the water, we can get local seafood anytime.
Headed to Swatch at NY-NY. They have a deal if you buy a watch there, for the life of the watch they will replace the dead battery. That was great timing for me.
Took a last visit to Monte. At least while it still looks like and is named Monte. Very bittersweet. A few changes so far, but still very similar.
Took pics of Topgolf. It is NOT as near the MGM as you may imagine. It's a large facility near Harmon and Koval. Not far from Ellis Island.
Daryl got on a winning streak. We tried CPK for dinner. It was good and we got a chance to try something new to us. I got on a winning streak after that.
It was a nice way to end the trip. EXCEPT we were planning to get gas when we went out to dinner. Since we didn't leave Mirage we'd have to get up even earlier.
Monday 8/15 -- return home.
Headed out at OH HELL o'clock to get gas, return the rental, truck to the airport, and get through TSA. Had a couple of sausage and egg English muffins from Starbucks and a mop bucket of coffee and soon after and head east. I miss at the D gate when they used to have Burger King. We never eat them at home, but got in the habit of getting a Croissan'wich on the way home. I was so tired I actually passed out on the flight. Never happens. I'm on high alert for my Diet Coke and whatever snacks I can get my paws on.
Dinner at Atlanta Hawks again and soon after... get home to Savannah.
After the trip we always to a wallet autopsy. How was the gambling? What's the bottom line? We were net. After heavier than usual gambling for us... we were even with what we left with. That's a win! Maintained our status so we don't have to pay at MGM properties to park, too. Excellent. Already looking forward to the next trip. I'll dust off my planning spreadsheet since I didn't use it on this trip.
Leave SAV around 2... long day of air travel, but with the bonus of Atlanta Hawks Bar and Grill (A gate near -- I think gate A32). STRONGLY suggest the BBQ sandwich and a whiskey smash. It's not cheap, but is a terrific meal and always worth the walk. This was during the time of the Delta debacle, but the pilot was amazing. We had him, but zero flight attendants because of all of the changed flights during the outage. Three or four flight attendants that were on board as travelers stepped up and worked the flight to get us moving. We were around an hour late but extremely appreciative. Got our rental car, and headed for our first night at The Orleans. It was extremely late for our east coast systems & we crashed to begin again on Thursday. Room 1331 - not a great view but a decent enough room.
Thursday 8/11
Peppermill. After all, it's pretty much a first day tradition. We split a meal and felt human again. After breakfast, we took a few pictures of the Riviera while a little bit was still standing.
Then we headed to the Aveda Institute. Since it's a school, you get a great deal. We each had facials. The tab for two facials with extractions was $81. We got a small discount for a sale but they are always around $40 each. They post sales on FB too. What a deal! Took a short break for a Coke and Mrs. Fields double chocolate brownie (from the airport) before the next stop.
Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah - DO NOT get your directions from Google. You'll end up in the wrong place. Get them from the website. Also, look for a Groupon since it's not cheap.
https://casadeshenandoah.com/experience/getting-here/
We didn't do the mansion tour, but visited the museum, animals, and they paraded a couple of horses out to exercise. One of the horses actually did a lap in a specially built pool. Also visited the part of the museum with his cars and plane. Guillermo was an excellent guide and it was just the two of us and him on our tour.
Dinner: Orleans French Market buffet - used some hotel credit and a BOGO coupon. Quite the deal and the desserts were marvelous. It's generally a good buy anyway, but if you do not care about seafood, always check if weekend buffets include it or not. It has great potential to jack up the price if a brunch or buffet has booze or seafood. Just a quick and easy tip.
Time to go to our new HOME away from home. The Mirage. Kudos to excellent help from Jesus at the front desk. We had a room on the 18th floor with a view of the pools and dolphins. It was on their west wing. Slightly up in gambling at Mirage for both of us. Kaysha came by and offered up a massage right at the video poker slots. I am not one that likes spending a bunch of money. DO.IT! It was outstanding. That was one of the best neck and shoulder massages I've had, and I've had a few. The lovely Tina is our drink goddess again! She even remembered us from the last trip. <3 If you have her, treat her well and you will be in return. Tip her at least $2 a drink. She takes great care of you, is a ton of fun, and if you drink Fireball (raising my hand here) she may even sing "This girl is on FIRE" when she brings your refill. Worth the price. Fun times.
Friday 8/12
Cravings at Mirage with a BOGO from Las Vegas Advisor's coupon book.
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/whyjoin-mrbdetails.cfm?CFID=179046059&CFTOKEN=62266694
Orleans for a bit since they did comp our room and they send us great deals. Daryl down $80 for the morning. Ashley down $7. Orleans was not good for gambling this morning.
Back to Mirage for some quality pool time. That was so nice. Got inside before my pasty self burst into flames.
Found a local beer. Joseph James from Henderson, NV. I really like the Weize Guy Hefeweizen. Got some goofy gambling socks I love. Bootlegger Bistro for a late lunch/early dinner. We actually ended up eating at an odd time. It was even a little early for happy hour, so basically it was a late lunch for them. Because it was technically lunch, the prices were a little smaller as were the portions which both really worked out well. I had the baked penne with meat sauce and Daryl had lasagna. The salads were perfect and the bread with dipping sauce (close to a marinara) was drool worthy. I have got to learn to double check if dishes have ricotta cheese, since I'm not a fan. For me it was good, but not great.
Saturday 8/13
Blueberry Hill-YES! If you are willing to go off Strip, get to Blueberry Hill. We got the French Toast Chef's Special with bacon and eggs and added on a la carte one cinnamon swirl pancake. St. Joseph's aspirin that thing was wonderful. I could have a short stack now.
Fry's - the electronic store. We don't have any of this chain near us. If you are into tech, flashlights, any electronics, or stuff at places like Best Buy, this is like going to the Holy Land. You turn into a kid finding stacks of things you didn't know you couldn't live without. NOW, every trip must include a stop at Fry's. Took us years to go in, now I never wanna leave.
Lush-https://www.facebook.com/LUSHMandalayBay I have really bad allergies. Some of those highly scented stores give me instant headache and sore throat. Not Lush. I think the difference is that it's natural and not chemical in nature. Always have to buy a few things. If you get a fresh face mask, they need to be refrigerated. If you buy one towards the end of a trip, put it on ice in the room and they'll tell you at the store it's fine in the plane's checked baggage. You just pop it in the fridge when you get home. We were running behind for our lunch date. It was my fault getting distracted while shopping, so Daryl dropped me at Venetian. He put Lush on ice and joined me for lunch a short while later.
B&B Burgers and Beer - Happily meet the infamous Brian Kay for lunch. We ordered a couple of beers and caught up. We strike up conversation like no time had passed. It would be nice to sit outside, but it was crazy hot. I agreed to try oysters (finding out later this would be a mistake) and waited for Daryl to join us for lunch. We enjoyed good burgers and fries and a couple of beers (and waters...hot day and I know the Vegas drill...one drink one water) before departing.
We all march onward to Rhumbar. It was so hot out. Okay so here is a potential tip for ya. They only have overpriced bottled water at Rhumbar. You are going to NEEEEEEEED water while drinking their strong libations. So, either have bottled water in your shopping bag, purse, or something similar or BUY ONE bottled water at their price and refill it whenever you go to the restroom. Tap water is fine, don't be a snob. I opt for the Scottish Sour, Daryl the Strawberry Pineapple, Brian the Old Cuban. I even watered down my drink after having a few sips it was so strong. Sat and chatted. Enjoyed the view at Rhumbar and the afternoon. Brian felt badly first and bid farewell. Soon after, it was me. Those oysters definitely didn't sit well. Luckily, since he's allergic to shellfish, Daryl didn't have the repercussions of bad food. Call it a day after that.
Sunday 8/14
Last full day in Vegas. Sigh!
Cravings weekend brunch is $28.99 w/o champagne, but includes beer and wine (seafood is also on the buffet today). Thank goodness we had a myVegas BOGO (buy one get one) discount. Otherwise there was no way I'd pay that much. It was good, but we weren't interested in seafood. For seafood fans: don't mistake my lack of interest as snobbery of any kind. Daryl is extremely allergic. I do eat fish and fried shrimp, but being in the South and on the water, we can get local seafood anytime.
Headed to Swatch at NY-NY. They have a deal if you buy a watch there, for the life of the watch they will replace the dead battery. That was great timing for me.
Took a last visit to Monte. At least while it still looks like and is named Monte. Very bittersweet. A few changes so far, but still very similar.
Took pics of Topgolf. It is NOT as near the MGM as you may imagine. It's a large facility near Harmon and Koval. Not far from Ellis Island.
Daryl got on a winning streak. We tried CPK for dinner. It was good and we got a chance to try something new to us. I got on a winning streak after that.
It was a nice way to end the trip. EXCEPT we were planning to get gas when we went out to dinner. Since we didn't leave Mirage we'd have to get up even earlier.
Monday 8/15 -- return home.
Headed out at OH HELL o'clock to get gas, return the rental, truck to the airport, and get through TSA. Had a couple of sausage and egg English muffins from Starbucks and a mop bucket of coffee and soon after and head east. I miss at the D gate when they used to have Burger King. We never eat them at home, but got in the habit of getting a Croissan'wich on the way home. I was so tired I actually passed out on the flight. Never happens. I'm on high alert for my Diet Coke and whatever snacks I can get my paws on.
Dinner at Atlanta Hawks again and soon after... get home to Savannah.
After the trip we always to a wallet autopsy. How was the gambling? What's the bottom line? We were net. After heavier than usual gambling for us... we were even with what we left with. That's a win! Maintained our status so we don't have to pay at MGM properties to park, too. Excellent. Already looking forward to the next trip. I'll dust off my planning spreadsheet since I didn't use it on this trip.
