Off to Vegas! Days 2-3

When last I blogged, Kristen and I made it to Vegas and spent Sunday evening wandering the Strip, seeing the sights and eating and drinking delightful things.  Unfortunately, after we headed back to the Monte Carlo, the rest of our evening was not as lovely; we had some extremely noisy neighbors that kept us up through most of the evening, requiring a call to hotel security to ask them to intervene (when Kristen called, the security guys went, “oh, it’s room 206, isn’t it?”  Apparently, other folks had been calling as well). 

Since morning found us worn out from tossing and turning all night, we decided some serious R&R was in order.  Kristen booked herself a massage, and I headed down to the pool area to enjoy it before the heat became too scorching.

At the pool, tanning my calves

As the sun rose higher in the sky, I moved around a bit, not really wanting to be in the sunshine.  As is my wont while in a lawn chair, I nodded off in the shade, only to wake up and find myself sweating in the sunshine yet again.  Confused by how this could be, I realized that I’d forgotten to take in the effect of the sun’s glare off the gigantic mirror buildings that surrounded us.

Thanks, Aria.

I eventually headed back to the room to shower off my sunscreen and met Kristen coming back from her massage, which was lovely.  We cleaned up and then headed back to the pool area to eat lunch at the PUB, a restaurant inside our casino that offered a great draft beer selection.  In fact, we had a 2 for 1 beer flight voucher, and we felt it was high time to put it to good use.

Two of the beer flight selection menus

My flight came from the Belgian menu,

and Kristen’s was a mix of both

The PUB was out of a few of our chosen selections, so we picked again and finally had complete flights.

What is this?  

There’s something rotten in Belgium!

After lunch, we wandered around a bit, doing some random shopping at the stores within our hotel.  At the candy shop, Lick:

I sent Chris this picture with the caption:  YESSS!

I received a note back that just read:  NOOOOOO.

After wandering around in the heat for a bit longer - we went across the Blvd to the half price ticket seller in the Coke bottle and bought tickets for the Blue Man Group show that night, then headed back into the Monte Carlo to exchange them – the effects of our lack of sleep the night before were catching up with me, big-time.  In order to be a functioning human being (and not a sleep deprived monster), I suggested a nap should be on the agenda and Kristen readily agreed.

After we awoke, it was time to get changed and head to Caesar’s Palace again, this time to eat at Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay’s Vegas eateries.  Kristen and I have both eaten at Mesa Grill before, and it has a high spot on our list of favorite Vegas places; thus, it was a no brainer that we’d eat there at least once before we headed home.  We split appetizers of the mushroom quesadilla (which we consumed completely) and the goat cheese queso (which we were too full to eat, but we took home and Chris ate later, which made him quite happy) as well as a main course of rabbit (delicious, delicious bunneh).  We also enjoyed a few house margaritas and telling stories back and forth.  So much fun was had that we didn’t take pictures!  Instead, here’s one from Google of Bobby Flay, looking pleased that we enjoyed his cooking:

“I’m so pleased you enjoyed your dinner!”

Thanks, Bobby!

We headed back to Monte Carlo, stopping for a brief respite at the Lily Bar inside the Bellagio (quiet, peaceful, good cocktails).  After a quick stop in our room (to put the aforementioned queso on ice), we headed back downstairs to see the Blue Man Group.  I’ve seen Blue Man once before (12 years ago with Mom in Chicago), and I was pleased to see that they were just as hysterical as I remembered.  This was Kristen’s first time, and we both howled with laughter at the show; I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Obligatory pre-show selfie!

After the show, we were bushed, so we headed back to the room again to conk out for the night.  Thankfully, our neighbors were either new or had learned their lesson from the previous night, because we both slept like logs.

On Tuesday morning, we got in gear after a quick trip to Starbucks and checked out of our room around 9:30, throwing our stuff in the car and heading across the Blvd to the Miracle Mile shops inside Planet Hollywood.  We shopped for a little while and then headed to Hexx, the new chocolate shop inside Paris for some souvenirs for the folks back home.  After we settled up there, we headed across Paris to Mon Ami Gabi, my absolute favorite Vegas eatery; the food was once again wonderful, and we had a prime location in the atrium, perfect for enjoying the weather and people-watching.  After a great lunch, we headed back to our car, and thankfully, the trip home was uneventful and the drive passed fairly quickly.  I have zero pictures of anything we did on this day, so here’s a shot of Mon Ami Gabi in all of its splendor:

Gorgeous, non?

Another successful Vegas trip was in the books!

Later,

Amy