Memorial Day Weekend in Vegas

Before I start on our recent trip to Vegas, I wanted to let you know that our photos from our trip to Puerto Vallarta can be found here.

So since there was the long weekend, I decided that it would be a good time to go to Vegas again. This time, we stayed at the Bellagio in a penthouse suite. We knew that there was a special lounge for checking in, but we couldn't find it at all. Nick asked one of the people at the counter (she was just standing there but wasn't available for check-in) and she showed us the very discreet, unmarked door to this area. We were checked in immediately and so we headed off to our room. The suite was huge, with a really large living area (which, in retrospect, is not something that we really need in a hotel room--it's not like we're entertaining anyone when we're there), and two bathrooms off the main bedroom, both with TV's in them. Nick took a video of the room, which we'll share with you once he's uploaded it.

Our trip was actually very busy, which Nick liked 'cuz that meant less time for me to lose money gambling. After we dropped our luggage in our room, we headed off to find a snack and then to our spa appointment. Nick had the watsu again and I went with the raindrop therapy, which involved drops of oil being dropped on my back, followed by a massage. It was interesting, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. I liked the sensation of the oil being dropped on my back, but that was only like 20 minutes of the entire session...I wished it was longer. Afterwards, we had dinner at Michael Mina, which was wonderful (but we were very, very full), and then we walked to the Venetian to see the Blue Man Group. I had never been any of their shows, but had seen them on TV, so I was expecting 90 minutes of them hitting pipes which they would move in order to change the tone. But they incorporated a comedy routine, which fit very well with their concept, and overall, it was very enjoyable.

The next morning, we woke up rather early for us on a weekend to get ready to be taken on a helicopter ride of the Grand Canyon (photos can be found here). Neither of us have ever been in a helicopter, and I was incredibly scared I would get sick due to turbulence. But there was no reason for me to worry at all...yes it was bumpy, but it wasn't a left/right bumpy, which gets me very sick. And even though it was turbulent, I wasn't scared at all like I get in airplanes sometimes...I actually felt safe in the air. The views from the copter were amazing and flying through the canyon to see the layers of rock was incredible. We landed and had lunch before flying back and taking one pass over the Vegas strip. It was a wonderful experience and now I won't hesitate to fly in a helicopter again.

After some shopping (did you really think I would go to Vegas and not buy some Vosges?), we headed for the Wynn to see Le Reve. According to Nick, it was theater in the round 'cuz the water stage was in the center, and the seaters were essentially rings radiating out from the stage. The show was amazing, with wonderful artistry and an impressive stage that went from a pool and transformed into a multi-tiered fountain. There weren't very many acrobatic sets though--the show seemed to focus more on the story of a woman trying to find her love (I think), so there were many dance segments.

When the show finished, we went to the MGM Grand for our dinner reservation at Joel Robuchon. Our thinking was, it's a three star Michelin restaurant that has availability for us, so why not? We had the crazy 14-course degustation menu and were not disappointed (although, I'm not sure if it was really worth the $385/person cost). There was an amazing bread presentation with something like 15 different types to choose from. The dishes were fantastic and their sizes were appropriate given how many courses there were. We had frog legs for the first time there, and really, it tasted like chicken. Really good, tender chicken though (also, I kept thinking that I'm eating Kermit, which sort of made it harder to eat it). One of the last courses was a dish of spring root vegetables, but what made it special was the very miniature size of the vegetables. The carrots were, I swear, less than an inch tall, and there were onions that were the size of a pea. It was all very, very cute, and very delicious. After the dessert courses, we were presented with the ice cream selection and then an insane confection tray with 45 different items to choose from, all made in-house. If my stomach wasn't on the verge of exploding, I would have tried one of each, but instead, I had the apricot gelee, coconut marshmallow, and fleur de sel caramel, all of which were fantastic. If they were available in a box to take home, I would have sooo purchased one.

The next day wasn't too exciting. We had a couples massage at the spa. The massage was nice, but it was disappointing that the Bellagio spa didn't have more options for couples, or a longer massage option (the one that they had was 50 minutes long). I looked at the Wynn's spa menu, and they offered various other treatments which could be added a la carte to any couples massage. We had lunch at Noodles, which was the Chinese restaurant in the Bellagio. It was overpriced for what it was, but the food was good. I spent the last 45 minutes before leaving for the airport on Roulette, where I had awful luck and lost all my money. But at least I was able to last 45 minutes. One man came up to the table with $500, asked for $25 coins. He put $200 down on the first spin of the wheel and lost (in fact, everyone lost), and then put the rest on the next spin and lost again! And then he left as if nothing really happened...it was quite amazing to watch really.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention was that a few of the casinos had the new Star Trek slot machines (unfortunately, the Bellagio was not one of them). The seats had speakers in them, so if you won, your seat would vibrate, which made for a very strange sensation. One thing with this game that was different from the ones that I've played so far, and admittedly I haven't played that many, was that you could create an account with the game so that if you left and came back, you could sign in. The reason being was that there were certain bonus games (you started out with two games) that you could unlock by winning medals, and the only way that medals seemed to be awarded were through bonus games. You needed 40 medals to gain a rank, and I think unlock more games. To give you an idea of how hard it was for me to get medals, I was lucky enough to win the bonus round twice, and only got 5 medals. I would have needed to play for a lot longer if I wanted to gain another rank. It was still a very entertaining game, but since there were only 4 machines in any given casino, it was hard to find one that was open. Maybe next time when we visit, there'll be more open seats.

So that was our Vegas Memorial Day Weekend...I hope all of you had a great long weekend as well. The next trip that we have planned is in the middle of June to Boston for Nick's cousin's wedding.

dolphins, statues, and good food

Howdy again!

After a nice rest, we woke up early this morning to get some breakfast and then head over to a water park with dolphins. As it turns out, starting in May the water park doesn't open until 11, so at first we had a few minutes to kill.


But once we got into the tank with the dolphins, it was all worthwhile!


We have photos and videos to prove how much fun we had, but those are for later. Anyway, after that we headed back to the hotel to change and rinse off the salt water a bit, then headed into the town for lunch.

Puerto Vallarta is a cute town, with lots of little shops and cobblestone streets. One of its best features is a boardwalk that runs the length of downtown, called the Malecon.


The first thing most people notice about the boardwalk is the series of statues down the northern section. A couple of these were truly breathtaking, and some could better be described as unique. I took a lot of photos, so we'll post them to picasa when we have a better connection.



One of the other things we noticed down there were intricate, beautiful sand sculptures. The artists were there, touching them up, as well as asking for tips, actually. I tossed in a fiver. Five pesos, that is. Okay, I'm cheap, but these artists appreciate every penny.


This photo does not do justice to the level of detail involved in these sculptures. Le sigh.

In some ways, this town reminds me too much of the US. It's got Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, the usual car brands, and all the chain restaurants you expect (Starbucks, Chili's, Baskin Robbins). We've been having authentic mexican food, risking our digestive tracks by eating salsa and blended margaritas (yes, Jerry had one too, though he didn't quite finish it). Trust me, the local food is worth the risk of food poisoning.

Speaking of chains...


After all was said and done, Jerry had a spa appointment involving a chocolate wrap, and I did some reading by the beach. We had a fantastic dinner by the marina at a restaurant called Tikul. It was delicious, and the kind of service that always serves from the right and clears from the left. The asparagus soup with garlic flan [sic] was delicious.

Bienvenidos a Puerto Vallarta!

Well, it took longer than we hoped for, but we're here! We were harrassed a bit on our way out of the airport by different groups trying to sell stuff. Canopy tours, fishing trips, that kind of thing. I may have agreed to listen to a 90-minute schpeel from another hotel in exchange for a 4 night stay voucher (must be used in the next year and a half) and two free massages at their spa. I think I'll bring a stopwatch with me to enforce that 90 minute time limit. Their rep was just so convincing!

Anyway, once we got to the Westin, the first thing we noticed was the view.


Nothing to complain about there. They have three pools dotted with palm trees inside. Apparently the location was a palm tree farm before they built the hotel, so they preserved 600 of the trees. Even the ones where they wanted to build pools. The trees are numbered. The numbers are painted on the side. Number 192 is pretty nice.


By the way, the local style is heavy on bright colors, such as pink. And Jerry is very excited to be here. Though we're a bit tired and frustrated at the trip. Oh, the beach is just gorgeous.


We wandered out of the hotel and found the marina nearby. It's funny, we went from one marina to another for vacation. But it's more tropical here after all. Kind of makes me wish we had a yacht to sail down here in.


The marina has a ring of shops, realtors, massage places, realtors, restaurants, and realtors. By the way, want a condo for $100k? Anyway, we found a non-sketchy ATM, which charged a 7 peso fee. Thing is, all the exchange places were offering much worse rates than the banks do, and 7 pesos is about 60 cents. So, um, that's about the best ATM fee I've ever seen. :-) It feels weird seeing such big numbers for prices, since everything looks like it costs 10 times as much, and they use the dollar sign here to mean peso. Of course, it's actually a bit cheaper than things would be in the states, since it's about 13.25 pesos to the dollar.

Some places even have a good sense of humor about this whole flu thing.
By the way, no flu for us yet! We'll keep y'all posted.

While we ate dinner outside by the beach, there was a wedding going on. It was pretty. Especially with this sunset as a backdrop:


Later, the happy couple fired off some fireworks, which we intended to watch from our balcony jacuzzi, but we had gotten dried off and ready for bed by the time they actually fired them. Still, we had a nice view from our top floor bedroom.

...and so our trip to Puerto Vallarta begins!

So we're here in LAX waiting for our flight, but I wanted to write a short post about our adventures in LAX. First, we woke up at 7:10 this morning, which is really early for us on a weekend, and then got ready to leave for LAX (but not before I sold all my turnips in Animal Crossing...I don't want them to spoil while we're gone). We walked into the international terminal, and noticed that there was a huge sign that said "Mexicana" with an arrow pointing away from any of the ticket counters. It made us wonder if LAX was separating them from all other airlines due to the swine flu. The Mexicana ticket counter is actually two floors down where arrivals are. It looked like a permanent location for them because all their signage was up and they had the plasma TV's with flight statuses installed. It's a strange place to have a ticketing counter in an aiport...

Anyway, when we arrived at the Mexicana ticket counter, we noticed that our flight was cancelled, making us very concerned that we wouldn't be able to go at all. i started thinking about what we would do if we couldn't go and how we really should have checked our flight status before leaving for the airport. Fortunately, Mexicana had transferred our reservation over to Alaska Airlines, and their departure time was only an hour later than our original flight, so it really wasn't that bad of a situation, just a little bit of inconvenience.

While we were eating breakfast, we were wondering what the time difference is between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta and we discovered that it was two hours. However, Nick found out that the area of Puerto Vallarta is actually located across two Mexican states, Jalisco and Nayarit, each located in different time zones (Puerto Vallarta itself is in Jaliso, but borders Nayarit). Jalisco, which is where our hotel and the airport are located, is in Central time, but Nayarit is in Mountain time. Tomorrow, we are going to the Sea Life Water Park located in Nayarit, but they have informed us that they follow Puerto Vallarta time. It seems like this could be very confusing for people not used to so easily crossing time zones, but I guess the locals get used to it.

That's all for now, we'll give you an update tonight when we arrive at the hotel.