Vegas - take two.

What goes around, comes around, I guess because here we are back in Vegas.  We arrived about noon yesterday (Wednesday)  - it was a quick 160 mile drive from Zion on the I-15.

.  We had a quick bite of lunch and then checked in to our hotel at The Stratosphere.  Andrew got a very good deal on Priceline for the room, and even after we paid $15 to upgrade to a "Select" (probably code for suckers) room, it was still cheap by hotel standards at about $55/night.  Our room is on the top floor of the bank of rooms, and looks right out on to the tower where we can see the Sky Jumpers.   It's a very posh room compared to the rustic cabins and bunkhouses we've been in for the past 10 days.  We were especially excited to see TV again, as we didn't have a TV in Zion and the wifi was too slow to stream anything.  

View from our room

 We spent the rest of the afternoon going up the tower to take a look around.  They have some crazy rides up there that Andrew is considering.  I find it odd that a guy who doesn't like heights (see the Angel's Landing post) wants to get on amusement park rides 800 feet in the air.  Hopefully he'll change his mind.   After The Tower, we spent about an hour in the casino.  They gave us each $10 for free when we checked in, so we played on that for a while before dinner and then relaxing in the room for the evening  

Sunrise from our room

Thursday morning we were up early, but lazed around the room until about 10 am.  Because Andrew hasn't been to Vegas before (and I haven't been her in 20 years), we went down to explore the strip.  If you are a lover of Vegas, I apologize for this next statement.  We just don't get it.  Help us out, folks - what are we missing here?  The streets are so jam packed with slow-moving tourists, panhandlers and people selling show tickets that it's difficult to walk.  The resorts are just big shopping malls.  I do understand that the main point of Vegas is gambling and shows, and we do like both of those things.  For about 2 hours.  What the heck do you do with the rest of your day?   

View down the Strip

The good, ol' Bellagio.  The fountains weren't on when we happened past.

One of the activities that was on my list, was the buffet at Caesar's Palace - Bacchanal.  Now, I'm not a big fan of a buffet.  I think that the concept of "all you can eat" is crazy if the food is not good.  Who cares that you can fill your plate up 6 times if you don't even like what was on the first one?  Dumb.  One of the great things about Vegas is that celebrity chefs have taken over and raised the bar for dining options.  Bobby, Wolfgang, Gordon, Nobu, and Thomas have all realized that folks will pay a premium to eat at restaurants bearing their name and quality.   It was just a matter of time before someone applied this concept to the Vegas buffet.   The cost is quite a bit higher than the standard buffet, but the food quality and presentation are much, much better.  Take a look at this video and you'll see what I mean.  Hungry now?  

Andrew pretty much at his body weight in jumbo shrimp and gelato.  I was much more adventurous and tried as many different things as I could.  Sadly, what I could hold was not nearly as much as I would have liked to taste.  My favorites were the brisket slider, the lobster chowder, the smoked salmon vichyssoise, and the pork belly.   I especially loved that many items were already set out in little portions which helped to ensure you got to taste more things.

Some of my favs:  at 12:00 - lobster chowder;  at 4 o'clock - Manchego cheese;  at 11 o'clock - pork belly.  On the small plate to the right - brisket slider.  

The gelato station.  I had the green tea; Andrew had the salted vanilla and the black sesame seed.

Crepe station...

...resulting in this beautiful bananas Foster crepe.

After fully mastering the deadly sin of gluttony, we made our way back to our hotel to recover.  Seriously, we may never need to eat again.  Ugh. 

Tomorrow is our last day of this trip - we fly home early Saturday morning.  Nothing much is planned but will definitely post some final words about our most recent adventure, so come on back!