PTR-Cheating on Mickey w/Harry!...OMG! Only a month to go!

[franandaj]

So 2nd day…we drove into Vegas around 10:00AM, we stopped at the Disney Character Warehouse Outlet. Fran found two shirts, but I have become increasingly picky. Most of the stuff, I really don’t need, so I don’t buy it. She on the other hand has over forty boxes of shirts that she is saving up until she can get into them, and the number is increasing. After stopping at K-mart in search of undergarments for Fran (to no avail) we decided to check into the hotel.

For this trip we have returned to her favorite Sam’s Town. Off the beaten path, low table limits, low key restaurants and easy to access, what’s not to like??

So we have a nice room, here’s what it looks like before we take over.

And after

In the center of the hotel is an atrium, complete with animatronic woodland creatures.

So first thing we decide to do is go out and check out new casinos that have been built since we were last here over five years ago. South Point. Now I’m feeling really sorry for this guy whose older house we drive by on the block before we get to the casino. You know the kind, the house was obviously there for a while, it has about 8-9 cars parked all around it, all of them in various conditions of working status. 20 years ago, this guy is living in the boonies, now he’s a block away from a mega casino and surrounded by tract housing!

This is the South Point Casino

So we had lunch at Steak and Shake in the South Point. For those of you who haven’t been to the Midwest and don’t’ know about Steak and Shake, it ROCKs! There was a line to get in even at 1:30PM

We both got the single bacon burger with fries and a chocolate chip shake. This one kicked a$# over the one from the day before, while the other was awesome, this one was OMG! The chocolate sauce and chips plus the other flavors made it AH-MAZING!

The rest of the afternoon was spent gambling at the blackjack tables. We won about $80 which made up for the $60 that we lost on the slots in the morning. Then it was back to the room for Fran to take a nap and me to hook up the computer and start posting TRs.

Next up, our plans for meals are completely changed!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Wow I am pleasantly surprised at how nice the rooms are at sams town. This is refreshing as we always stay near the strip. I loved the middle of the hotel. I will ask my husband about where you ate. He is from okalahoma. By the way his name is chris. And yeah this old fogie finally figured out how to put a ticker. Now I need to figure out pics. Well looking forward to seeing and hearing more.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sam's Town looks great. I too am another one of those that stays on the strip.

Next time I'm in Vegas, we might have to go check out Steak and Shake...depending on what vegetarian options there are for DH, that is....

 

[Leshaface]

Wow that hotel is totally cool!

But that food looks BOMB! ....and here I am, sitting with my crappy homemade ham and cheese sandwich...bleh..the only good thing about my lunch is my flamin' hot cheetos! That shake looks great! I've been in the habit everynight (for the past week and a half or so) of making shakes after dinner (vanilla for DH ( ) chocolate for me! woohoo But my shakes are NOTHING compared to what you had i'm sure!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Sam's Town looks great. I too am another one of those that stays on the strip.

Next time I'm in Vegas, we might have to go check out Steak and Shake...depending on what vegetarian options there are for DH, that is....

The first time I stayed out there with the family we stayed at the four queens.Boy oh Boy I said never again. UGHHH.. Well we are going back for a golf tournament ... well I wont say anything about that as that was part of our surprise. But lets just say we need to stay on the strip in order to be close to everyone.

 

[franandaj]

Sam's Town looks great. I too am another one of those that stays on the strip.

Next time I'm in Vegas, we might have to go check out Steak and Shake...depending on what vegetarian options there are for DH, that is....

The strip hotels are nice, in fact I'm sitting in the Luxor now. But for $27 per night and $5 Blackjack in your hotel (everything on the strip is $10+) Sam's town is not bad!

 

[franandaj]

Wow that hotel is totally cool!

But that food looks BOMB! ....and here I am, sitting with my crappy homemade ham and cheese sandwich...bleh..the only good thing about my lunch is my flamin' hot cheetos! That shake looks great! I've been in the habit everynight (for the past week and a half or so) of making shakes after dinner (vanilla for DH ( ) chocolate for me! woohoo But my shakes are NOTHING compared to what you had i'm sure!

How are you going to fit in that bikini if you keep eating milkshakes?

 

[usnuzuloose]

How are you going to fit in that bikini if you keep eating milkshakes?

Oh great I know you werent talking to me but now I feel convicted. I was eating puff cheetos and peanut butter sandwich. Well milkshakes look good but I dont like them.

 

[franandaj]

Oh great I know you werent talking to me but now I feel convicted. I was eating puff cheetos and peanut butter sandwich. Well milkshakes look good but I dont like them.

No, you're not convicted, and besides Old Fogies don't wear bikinis! Leshaface and bangzoom are both taking cruises this summer and in one of their trip reports they are talking about all the workout routines that they are doing and how they plan to fit in their bikinis. (They are not at all candidates for the Old Fogies thread)!

 

[usnuzuloose]

:

No, you're not convicted, and besides Old Fogies don't wear bikinis! Leshaface and bangzoom are both taking cruises this summer and in one of their trip reports they are talking about all the workout routines that they are doing and how they plan to fit in their bikinis. (They are not at all candidates for the Old Fogies thread)!

But I have a cruise in oct

 

[franandaj]

:

But I have a cruise in oct

I don't know much about you...do you plan on wearing a bikini?

 

[Leshaface]

How are you going to fit in that bikini if you keep eating milkshakes?

Are you trying to make me feel bad about myself?!? Everyone should be proud of me though...right now I was getting cornbread out of the oven, and I was thinking, hmm since the ovens on i'll make a quick batch of cupcakes...got everything out and situated..then guilt set it...I put it all away

Oh great I know you werent talking to me but now I feel convicted. I was eating puff cheetos and peanut butter sandwich. Well milkshakes look good but I dont like them.

This is a good combo...I was telling allison, right now my 'thing' is hot cheetos everyday with lunch..i'm obsessed and no one can take those things away from me!! They are just too good to not eat!!!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I don't know much about you...do you plan on wearing a bikini?

A bikini? Bahaaaa

 

[usnuzuloose]

Are you trying to make me feel bad about myself?!? Everyone should be proud of me though...right now I was getting cornbread out of the oven, and I was thinking, hmm since the ovens on i'll make a quick batch of cupcakes...got everything out and situated..then guilt set it...I put it all away





This is a good combo...I was telling allison, right now my 'thing' is hot cheetos everyday with lunch..i'm obsessed and no one can take those things away from me!! They are just too good to not eat!!!

Should I? Shouldnt I ? I am thinking about my sugar free icecream. What is a girl to do?

 

[franandaj]

Are you trying to make me feel bad about myself?!? Everyone should be proud of me though...right now I was getting cornbread out of the oven, and I was thinking, hmm since the ovens on i'll make a quick batch of cupcakes...got everything out and situated..then guilt set it...I put it all away

You're still young. Enjoy your fast running metabolism (and abilities) while you still can! I remember when I was your age (physcially, still am mentally, just things don't work as well as I would like! ) I remember not worrying at all about what I ate, exercised moderately and thought how come I always weigh 125 pounds no matter what I do? Ha! Ha! Ha! Come 30 it's a whole new story! And with each new decade seems to come another 50 pounds.

Should I? Shouldnt I ? I am thinking about my sugar free icecream. What is a girl to do?

Well I'm about to go have a Jumbo Margarita and a big ole plate of Mexican food, so perhaps I should just slap it on my hips!

 

[usnuzuloose]

You're still young. Enjoy your fast running metabolism (and abilities) while you still can! I remember when I was your age (physcially, still am mentally, just things don't work as well as I would like! ) I remember not worrying at all about what I ate, exercised moderately and thought how come I always weigh 125 pounds no matter what I do? Ha! Ha! Ha! Come 30 it's a whole new story! And with each new decade seems to come another 50 pounds.



Well I'm about to go have a Jumbo Margarita and a big ole plate of Mexican food, so perhaps I should just slap it on my hips!

Okay I slapped that sugar free ice cream on my own thighs. Enjoy the food for me.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Boy! Am I glad I wandered back in AFTER lunch...

I'm on a healthy food bend at the moment. So, I made do with an egg, lettuce and cucumber sandwich, no butter, on wholewheat bread.

I think I might just go and slap some icecream on my thighs as well!

Enjoy the food for me too!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Boy! Am I glad I wandered back in AFTER lunch...

I'm on a healthy food bend at the moment. So, I made do with an egg, lettuce and cucumber sandwich, no butter, on wholewheat bread.

I think I might just go and slap some icecream on my thighs as well!

Enjoy the food for me too!

Yep that was some de-lish ice cream! Its ok you had your veggies. Enjoy

 

[franandaj]

After Fran had a refreshing nap and I let you all know how our Vegas trip was panning out, we decided to go downstairs to Willy & Jose’s. This is Fran’s favorite Mexican restaurant and she always likes to eat there her first night in town since it’s inside the hotel. As I said, it’s been a long time since we’ve been to Vegas and even longer since we’ve stayed here…
Our first clue that things have changed should have been at check in when they told us the restaurant had been moved to the back of the Atrium. We headed over towards the restaurant…why isn’t anyone eating here? (it was 8PM) Why are the lights all out? After checking the sign they’re only open Wednesday through Sunday!

Now what? My carefully laid plans were falling apart right in front of me. At least my fine dining night was safe, they weren’t open Tuesdays. Which night do we come back and then what to do with the reservation for the other nights? So I quickly decided that we could lose the Del Frisco’s Steakhouse reservation. Other than when I ate at their Ft. Worth location and it was the BEST STEAK I’d ever had, but here was Billy Bob’s Steakhouse right in front of us with no waiting, no driving and minimal reservation swapping. So we went ahead and got a table.

Seems I didn’t chronicle this as well as I though…we started with a Caesar Salad and French onion soup. You can see the salad here, and trust me there is soup in the tureen behind the salad!

Next we split the Ribeye, she ordered the Baked Sweet Potato and I just ate the Garlic Asparagus with my half of the steak.

This was my half of the steak, as I said I was a little off my game, sorry I ate some before remembering to take the picture!

We took home some leftovers and woke up early the next day where I finished off the Ribeye (basically knawed the bone) a she had a prime rib sandwich with my leftover prime rib, some butter and the leftover bread from BillyBob’s.

After that we played a little blackjack and then headed over to the MGM Grand for CSI: The Experience. Once we got through the maze challenge of how to get from the parking garage to the hotel, we decided we better eat something before going into the Experience. They say most people take 45 minutes to an hour so we knew it would take us waaaay longer, and we were starting to feel hungry. We hit Nathan’s at the food court and got a two dog and fries combination, both with kraut and onions.

Then it was on to CSI: The Experience. For those of you who don’t watch the show, it takes place in Las Vegas, and features a team of Crime Scene Investigators who let the evidence guide them to finding the killers in each episode.

We were lead into the scenario room where everyone was presented with three different case options. One where a car had driven through a house and the driver was dead, another where a waitress was found dead in an alley, and a third where skeletal remains were found in the desert, and told to choose one. Then we received our “briefing sheet” a clip board and pen. We watched a quick presentation to tell us to keep an open mind, follow the evidence and look at everything.

Everything said, photography was not allowed, but the first thing our “guide” said, was, “Forget you ever heard that, take pictures of everything. Post them on Facebook!” So here was our crime scene, I think you can figure out the scenario that we chose.

Once we studied the scene, we headed off to the crime lab.

There were various parts of the lab and depending on your case, you examined different types of information and used different techniques. Boards like this would give you hints as to what you needed to think about during your analysis.

There were computers available to help us check the bullets against the gun that was found nearby. We analyzed various hairs, fibers and other evidence found at the scene. Finally you went to the autopsy room for a briefing.

Characters from the show actually guided you through the experience along with actual Forensic Investigators. Our room actually didn’t have a body in autopsy so this was a body from one of the other scenarios. Once you finished, they had a bank of computers where you could file your report to the supervisor, and he reviewed your report. (It was pretty hard to screw it up, they pretty much handed it to you through the computer screens, you’d have to be pretty stupid, drunk or unobservant not to get it right! )

After you filed the report, they played a scenario as to how the crime could have been committed, and confirmed the person that you chose as the perpetrator. You get a diploma that they email to you as a souvenir. Of course you could buy one and have it printed and framed for you at the gift shop, for probably $25, I didn’t bother to look.

Once we finished we strolled around the MGM looking at various restaurant menus and tried to play a few slots, but those big casinos on the strip have to pay for themselves somehow and we learned quickly how they pay for them. We decided it would be better to head back to our low limit better pay off hotel and get ready for dinner. We had a 6:30 reservation at Andre’s at the Monte Carlo, this is where the serious food porn comes in!

 

[Leshaface]

Omgosh that is one of the neatest things i've heard!! CSI experience!!! My mom would LOVE to do something like this...she's OBSESSED with those crime shows...unfortunately, she's the biggest worry wart I know, and I know it's because of these shows. I tell her to stop watching but she's addicted!


That sucks about the mexican food restaurant...I hate when you have all your plans layed out for you, and if there's one minor flaw, everything in your plans have to be changed!

But can't wait to hear about your next foody adventure!!!