SATURDAY:
We slept in and didn't stir until the decadent time of 09:30. Being that it is my birthday, I think that a room service breakfast is in order. Our waiter is at the door within 45 minutes of placing our breakfast order. Gail is being a good girl and orders oatmeal and an English muffin with peanut butter. I am more ambitious and order eggs, chicken fried steak, hashbrowns and sourdough toast...I'm ready to take on the day! My daughter and her friend Ana are supposed to fly in today, so we drive across the street to the Gold Coast and set up the comped room for them. A free premium room for the weekend is pretty good for the amount of gambling that I do; I guess the 9 hours of BJ that MadMan Mike and I put in last March at the Gold Coast, paid off. Gail and I sat at the bar and played 9/6 JOB for quite a while; I racked up quite a few points and cashed out $50 to the good. We then played some BJ with Gail walking away with $50. She had a coupon for some free play which she turned into $20. While we were at the BJ table I received a call from my daughter informing me that their flight had been delayed by about an hour..no problem. Ten minutes later she calls back and says that the flight has been canceled. Seems that they had some sort of "medical" emergency on the plane and the flight crew was too shook up to continue on to Vegas. She was making arrangements to get from Santa Rosa to San Francisco and see if they could still catch a plane and be in Vegas later that day. It's always something.
Gail and I went back to the Rio and tried to plot out what to do to salvage our plans for tonight. I called Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and the lady was more that gracious to cancel our dinner reservation and put us down for Sunday night. Where do Gail and I dine tonight on such short notice? Called Olive's at the Bellagio, but couldn't get in until after 8 PM. I have always liked dining at the Range at Harrah's and a quick phone call got us a reservation with a table overlooking the strip. We dressed up and went down to the Wine Cellar and we each ordered a wine flight. Gail tried their featured flight which consisted of Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc, their reserve chardonnay, Kendall Jackson reserve merlot and a 2007 Cabernet...can't recall the name. The white wines were very nice. Gail didn't like the merlot...she just doesn't like frickin merlots. I thought that was good, but nothing special. We both agreed that the Cab needed to age a few more years to smooth out some of the rough edges. I order the syrah/shiraz flight . This consisted of an Australian shiraz, Tait, "The Ballbuster", the Shafer "Relentless" and another Australian shiraz, Mollydooker "The boxer". The ballbuster is really a full bodied wine, the Relentless is very good, but the Mollydooker knocked my socks off...wow! There is a guy sitting next to Gail at the bar and we strike up a conversation with him. He is a prosecutor from Illinois and a really interesting guy. He really is into wines, and we quickly are deep in conversation...but time is short.
Being fortified with some excellent wine, it was time to head down to the strip for dinner. I decided to take a cab, which I thought would be the easiest way....wrong. I tell the cabbie TWICE that we want to go Harrah's. He shoots out of the Rio and instead of heading east on Flamingo, he heads south. Down under the freeway and comes up on Harmon and turns onto the strip. I complain to the cabbie that he is taking us on a "buggy ride", but he is adamant that this is the quickest way. My blood pressure is starting to rise and then he starts to turn into Paris. "Where the hell are you going?", I roared. He says that he thought we wanted to go to Paris. No way man, I clearly told you Harrah's TWICE. So he drives farther north and instead of turning right onto Flamingo and taking the back way to Harrah's, be continues to plod down LV Blvd which is wall to wall cars. We get to Harrah's and the fare is close to $16...Gail gets out of the cab, cabbie turns to me and I hand him $12. He starts to complain and I tell him "Not another f**king word, you lying SOB"! I haven't wanted to choke the shit out of someone in a long time, but this joker came real close. This is why I always rent a car in Vegas.
We are seated at a window side table as requested; there is a jazz duo playing in the lounge area and my blood pressure quickly returns to normal. Ken, the wine steward comes over and we talk about a wine selection for dinner. Ken quickly realizes that I know a little about wines, so he suggests a nice 2004 syrah that is not on the wine list....he's only got a few bottles left. Turned out to be a really great wine...score. We both had their filet and lobster tail special which was delicious. The waiter brought over a small cake for my birthday and took a picture of Gail and I to mark the occasion. My daughter Jen called and they were able to get another flight, but they would not be arriving until a little after 9 PM....too late to join us for LeReve.
After our wonderful dinner we strolled down to the Wynn for the show. What to do with the extra tickets. Don't think Steve Wynn would appreciate me hawking tickets in the casino. Gail says that we should just give the tickets to some nice couple...right. Try giving something away for "free" in Vegas....they will call the cops. I give the tickets to Gail and told her to take her best shot. After being rejected several times, Gail gives up. I ask one of the ticket takers in the show lobby if she knows of anyone who would be interested in a couple of free tickets, as I have a couple of no shows. A young man standing a few feet away says, "Are you serious?". Sure, it's my birthday, it's my treat. The guy is overwhelmed. Turns out that his name is Max and he is from Oxford, England. He is in Vegas on limited funds for a friends wedding. One of his friends is involved in the show and Max had come down to see him. Talk about being in the right place and the right time. Max is elated with the show; midway through he leaves and comes back with a huge bag of M & M's. This is the 3rd time I have seen the show, and it has changed quite a bit from a couple of years ago. Gail was speechless, she really loved the performance. Max wanted to give me $20 for the ticket, but I wasn't having any of it. My treat Man, welcome to America.
The girls gave me a call...they are in town, settled into their room at the Gold Coast and will meet us at the Salute lounge at the Palazzo.
I have three consecutive 14 hour work days...got to get some sleep...will finish up in a couple of days...thanks for reading.
We slept in and didn't stir until the decadent time of 09:30. Being that it is my birthday, I think that a room service breakfast is in order. Our waiter is at the door within 45 minutes of placing our breakfast order. Gail is being a good girl and orders oatmeal and an English muffin with peanut butter. I am more ambitious and order eggs, chicken fried steak, hashbrowns and sourdough toast...I'm ready to take on the day! My daughter and her friend Ana are supposed to fly in today, so we drive across the street to the Gold Coast and set up the comped room for them. A free premium room for the weekend is pretty good for the amount of gambling that I do; I guess the 9 hours of BJ that MadMan Mike and I put in last March at the Gold Coast, paid off. Gail and I sat at the bar and played 9/6 JOB for quite a while; I racked up quite a few points and cashed out $50 to the good. We then played some BJ with Gail walking away with $50. She had a coupon for some free play which she turned into $20. While we were at the BJ table I received a call from my daughter informing me that their flight had been delayed by about an hour..no problem. Ten minutes later she calls back and says that the flight has been canceled. Seems that they had some sort of "medical" emergency on the plane and the flight crew was too shook up to continue on to Vegas. She was making arrangements to get from Santa Rosa to San Francisco and see if they could still catch a plane and be in Vegas later that day. It's always something.
Gail and I went back to the Rio and tried to plot out what to do to salvage our plans for tonight. I called Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and the lady was more that gracious to cancel our dinner reservation and put us down for Sunday night. Where do Gail and I dine tonight on such short notice? Called Olive's at the Bellagio, but couldn't get in until after 8 PM. I have always liked dining at the Range at Harrah's and a quick phone call got us a reservation with a table overlooking the strip. We dressed up and went down to the Wine Cellar and we each ordered a wine flight. Gail tried their featured flight which consisted of Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc, their reserve chardonnay, Kendall Jackson reserve merlot and a 2007 Cabernet...can't recall the name. The white wines were very nice. Gail didn't like the merlot...she just doesn't like frickin merlots. I thought that was good, but nothing special. We both agreed that the Cab needed to age a few more years to smooth out some of the rough edges. I order the syrah/shiraz flight . This consisted of an Australian shiraz, Tait, "The Ballbuster", the Shafer "Relentless" and another Australian shiraz, Mollydooker "The boxer". The ballbuster is really a full bodied wine, the Relentless is very good, but the Mollydooker knocked my socks off...wow! There is a guy sitting next to Gail at the bar and we strike up a conversation with him. He is a prosecutor from Illinois and a really interesting guy. He really is into wines, and we quickly are deep in conversation...but time is short.
Being fortified with some excellent wine, it was time to head down to the strip for dinner. I decided to take a cab, which I thought would be the easiest way....wrong. I tell the cabbie TWICE that we want to go Harrah's. He shoots out of the Rio and instead of heading east on Flamingo, he heads south. Down under the freeway and comes up on Harmon and turns onto the strip. I complain to the cabbie that he is taking us on a "buggy ride", but he is adamant that this is the quickest way. My blood pressure is starting to rise and then he starts to turn into Paris. "Where the hell are you going?", I roared. He says that he thought we wanted to go to Paris. No way man, I clearly told you Harrah's TWICE. So he drives farther north and instead of turning right onto Flamingo and taking the back way to Harrah's, be continues to plod down LV Blvd which is wall to wall cars. We get to Harrah's and the fare is close to $16...Gail gets out of the cab, cabbie turns to me and I hand him $12. He starts to complain and I tell him "Not another f**king word, you lying SOB"! I haven't wanted to choke the shit out of someone in a long time, but this joker came real close. This is why I always rent a car in Vegas.
We are seated at a window side table as requested; there is a jazz duo playing in the lounge area and my blood pressure quickly returns to normal. Ken, the wine steward comes over and we talk about a wine selection for dinner. Ken quickly realizes that I know a little about wines, so he suggests a nice 2004 syrah that is not on the wine list....he's only got a few bottles left. Turned out to be a really great wine...score. We both had their filet and lobster tail special which was delicious. The waiter brought over a small cake for my birthday and took a picture of Gail and I to mark the occasion. My daughter Jen called and they were able to get another flight, but they would not be arriving until a little after 9 PM....too late to join us for LeReve.
After our wonderful dinner we strolled down to the Wynn for the show. What to do with the extra tickets. Don't think Steve Wynn would appreciate me hawking tickets in the casino. Gail says that we should just give the tickets to some nice couple...right. Try giving something away for "free" in Vegas....they will call the cops. I give the tickets to Gail and told her to take her best shot. After being rejected several times, Gail gives up. I ask one of the ticket takers in the show lobby if she knows of anyone who would be interested in a couple of free tickets, as I have a couple of no shows. A young man standing a few feet away says, "Are you serious?". Sure, it's my birthday, it's my treat. The guy is overwhelmed. Turns out that his name is Max and he is from Oxford, England. He is in Vegas on limited funds for a friends wedding. One of his friends is involved in the show and Max had come down to see him. Talk about being in the right place and the right time. Max is elated with the show; midway through he leaves and comes back with a huge bag of M & M's. This is the 3rd time I have seen the show, and it has changed quite a bit from a couple of years ago. Gail was speechless, she really loved the performance. Max wanted to give me $20 for the ticket, but I wasn't having any of it. My treat Man, welcome to America.
The girls gave me a call...they are in town, settled into their room at the Gold Coast and will meet us at the Salute lounge at the Palazzo.
I have three consecutive 14 hour work days...got to get some sleep...will finish up in a couple of days...thanks for reading.
