Sunday:
We said goodbye to the dogs, hopped into the car and drove to a hotel in downtown San Jose. Janet has a parking pass for one of the downtown hotels and it’s cheaper to park there and take a cab to the airport than it is to park in long-term parking. Southwest Airlines has a self check-in kiosk that’s pretty cool. If you don’t have to check bags it’s nice and quick.
After eating some lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen we boarded our flight and we were on our way. I’d like to say that the worst thing that happened was that Janet spilled apple juice on me, but that was only the beginning. In the back of the plane was a crying baby. I’ve come to the conclusion that they should make children under the age of 16 ride in the cargo hold. They make dogs travel in the cargo hold, and dogs aren’t nearly as annoying as a howling baby. Maybe I’ll write a letter to the major airlines with my suggestion.
We finally arrived at the Las Vegas airport and could escape that screaming kid. We picked up our SUV rental and drove to the Flamingo. The check-in line was pretty long and one of the supervisors took a check-in window and called us over. She gave us our card keys and we went up to the 28th floor to our room. The keys didn’t work. During our check in, one of the employees had interrupted the supervisor and I don’t think she coded the keys. I left Janet at the room with the luggage and went back down to the hotel lobby.
The check-in line was longer than before so I went over to the checkout line and spoke to the woman there. She immediately took me to an empty station and gave me two new keys. I went back up to the room, and these keys worked.
We sat around and relaxed for a while to unwind from our flight. Then we got dressed up. We had dinner reservations at Picasso in the Bellagio and we’ve been looking forward to this dinner for months. We decided to leave a little early so we could walk around a bit before dinner in the Bellagio shopping area.
We entered the Bellagio and were met by a velvet rope. The man at the rope said that only register hotel guests were allowed past that point because the hotel/casino complex had lost power. Everything was shut down and we wouldn’t get our dinner at Picasso. We were not happy.
As we were crossing the bridge I suggested that we check the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Paris to see if they could seat us. It was still early, and they could. We had the chef’s tasting menu and it was very good. Some of the items were lobster salad, grilled foie gras, rack of lamb and a choice of dessert. They also gave us an additional item that wasn’t on the menu — tuna tartar — because we came over when Picasso turned us away. I thought that the Chef’s tasting menu that we had last year was better than this time, but it was still very good. Overall, it was a fine substitute for Picasso.
The Eiffel Tower Restaurant gives the diner a fabulous view of the Bellagio and its fountains. With the power off the Bellagio looks really spooky.
After dinner we found my brother at the craps tables. He wasn’t gambling; he was working. It’s his job. When he went on break we talked with him for a while then went on our way. We gambled a bit then went back to the Flamingo.
Monday:
Monday morning we drove out to the Valley of Fire. There’s a small casino and convenience store at the Valley of Fire exit owned by the local Indian tribe. The prices are pretty reasonable, about what you’d expect to pay at 7-11. We stocked up on water and snacks and headed off down the road.
The Valley of Fire is impressive; I took well over 100 pictures that day. There’s mile after mile of red sandstone formations that have been sculpted by rain and the wind. A lot of the rock formations take on the appearance of faces and animals. I’ve got one picture of a rock that looks like a screaming monkey, and I saw another rock that looked like either Richard Nixon or Bob Hope.
The park contains several examples of Indian petroglyphs. At Atlatl Rock you can see where steps were carved into the side of the hill 3000 years ago. Metal stairs have been erected next to the ancient steps so you can climb up to see the carvings. Unfortunately, vandals have carved their names next to some of the petroglyphs. There’s an asshole born every minute, I always say. No one really knows what the ancient symbols mean, but my theory is that they’re either representations of peoples’ names (“Rolling Thunder was here”) or phrases like “Elk Tribe sucks. Lightning Bolt Tribe rocks.”
The park also has several examples of petrified logs. I thought it was pretty interesting to see logs that were turned to stone millions of years before humanity’s ancestors had climbed down out of the trees.
We headed up to Fire Canyon/Silica Dome where it looked like they were filming a Lexus SUV commercial. The view was spectacular — they picked a good spot for their commercial — but it kind of ruins the magic when you know that they have the Lexus cabled to a tow truck so it doesn’t go tumbling down the mountain.
We headed up to the White Domes area of the park. They have a 1.25-mile hiking trail that we did. The first part of the trail is pretty tough because the ground is really sandy. After you get past the sand you walk down some rocks to where several movies have been shot. Then it’s around to a narrow canyon then back up the other side. All through the hike we saw several lizards but never did see snakes or Gila monsters.
I think White Domes is my favorite part of the Valley of Fire. We were starting to get tired of looking at red, and the White Domes area was a welcome respite. The white rocks were streaked with various shades of purples and violet and it was quite impressive. I can understand why they shot scenes for the movie Star Trek Generations at White Domes because the place looks really alien.
It was getting late and there were still a few places we wanted to see. We went to The Cabins, three cabins made in the 1930s out of native rock. They were tiny. There were also carvings that looked to be more Indian petroglyphs. Finally we drove down to The Seven Sisters then to the far end of the park.
We headed back to Las Vegas and got ready for dinner. Before we left, I called Picasso to see if we could get a new reservation. Nope. They didn’t expect the power to be back on before Thursday.
We went over to Caesars and were seated in one of their nicer restaurants. And weren’t given a menu. And didn’t see a waiter. And noticed that a couple of waiters were arguing about who had our table. Screw them, we left.
We went over to an Italian place next to a fountain and got seated. They had hockey games on the television in the bar so I asked them to put the Sharks/Blues game on the TV that I could see best. They did. I was a little surprised on this trip to see that hockey games seemed to dominate the televisions in all of the bars. Yes, I know that it’s the playoffs, but hockey games were far more prominent than the baseball or basketball games I expect to see on the sets.
We ordered our food — Janet had the risotto special and I ordered veal Parmesan — and we ordered a bottle of Italian wine. Janet is the official taster and she tried the first sip. Then she had me try it. It didn’t taste right to me either, so we had the waitress try it. She wasn’t sure if the wine was OK either, so she took it to the bartender and had him try it. He wasn’t sure either, so they brought us a bottle of California cabernet instead.
My veal Parmesan was fabulous, but Janet and I both thought that her risotto was a bit firm and not soupy enough. Risotto has to be cooked slowly for a long time, and we felt that they just didn’t spend enough time on it. It had a nice flavor but wasn’t perfect.
After dinner we took a cab downtown to Fremont Street. They have the street covered and every hour they have a light show and play music for about 15 minutes. It’s entertaining but now that I’ve been there I don’t need to go back. The casinos in downtown Las Vegas are quite a bit seedier than the ones on the strip.
When we were walking around on Fremont Street we came across a booth that had dog tee shirts. We took a look at his silk screens and found some for a Belgian Sheepdog. The pictures he had looked exactly like Lisa, so both Janet and I now have Lisa tee shirts.
Tuesday:
We went over to The Venetian at the Grand Lux Café for breakfast. At the table behind Janet was another screaming brat. I decided that my idea for having children travel in aircraft cargo holds should be applied to restaurants, a kind of “Kennel for Kids” where parents could store their children so that their crying won’t disturb other patrons. The food was OK but breakfast wasn’t pleasant.
We had wanted to head over to the Bellagio to see the Monet exhibit on Tuesday. We’re both big fans of Monet and we wanted to see some his original work. Unfortunately, the power at the Bellagio was still off. No Monet viewing for us.
We decided to head out to Hoover Dam. It was really crowded and parking was scarce so we didn’t do the tour. The water level was really low that day and it made for some interesting pictures.
We drove back from Hoover Dam and stopped in Henderson at the Ethel M chocolate factory. It’s a self-guided tour and there wasn’t much happening in the factory. We did pick out some individual pieces of candy to make a box. It’s amazing how quickly “two pieces of that, and two of those, and a couple of those” add up to a pound and three quarters of chocolate. Ethel M’s also has an extensive cactus garden and we walked around there for a while.
Dinner on Wednesday was at a Mexican place along the canal in the Venetian called Taqueria Canonita. They seated us at a table that was right next to the canal. This is one of the places where the gondolas stop and the rower sings. It was pretty cool.
For dinner Janet had pork wrapped in banana leaves and cooked for five hours. She said it was the best pork dish she ever had, and that included roasted pork that she had in Hawaii. I tried it and it was wonderful. If you go to Taqueria Canonita, this is a must-try dish. And no, you don’t have to wait for five hours for your dinner.
I had the Chili Relleno, but it wasn’t an ordinary Chili Relleno. The chili pepper was not only stuffed with cheeses, it also contained fruits and nuts. It was very unusual, and very good. I enjoyed this one a lot. Both plates came with black beans and cilantro rice. Our waiter got a pretty good tip for recommending these two items.
After dinner we walked back to Paris and helped them maintain a positive cash flow. Besides the gambling losses, Janet bought several poodles (not real ones, obviously) because they reminded her of Rolfe.
Wednesday:
Our last day in Las Vegas and we had a room service breakfast. As we were packing Janet decided that she needed another carry-on bag to store the crap treasures that we bought. We walked back to Paris and bought a bag with a Degas painting on it. We walked back through Ballys and Janet found another poodle that reminded her of Rolfe, and now we had room to take it back. All in all I think she bought three poodles and a crocodile from the Elton John store in Caesars.
The flight back was bumpy but no crying baby’s, so that’s a plus.
Overall it was a good trip but with some disappointments. The Monet exhibit goes until the middle of September so we still might be able to catch it, and we can attempt Picasso on the next trip. The Valley of Fire is awesome and a must see. I’d put it with Death Valley as a place I’d like to go back to.
Stumble it!