Captains Log: 19 July 2014 (cont.)
5:17 p.m.Were all hungry for dinner. Remember, its just after 8:00 p.m. on the East Coast and we havent adjusted to the time change yet. I had originally figured wed eat an early dinner, but the Chinese-Water-Torture-Rental-Car-Retrieval and traffic on the Strip made us run a little late. We head south on the Interstate as I look for our exit. Our maps and GPS are still packed away somewhere in our bags in the back, but Im not worried. Remember how Julies superpower is packing luggage? Mine is my sense of direction and photographic memory. I study maps and Google Earth well ahead of time to get an idea of exactly where Im going. So I know exactly which street Im looking for as we travel. We find the exit and our destination in short order.
5:35 p.m.Weve arrived. Are you all sitting down? No? Ill wait.
5:36 p.m.Everyone ready? Were eating at a burger joint. I know, its a bit of a shock to me as well. And yet, here we are. This place is actually a little different. Its an Asian spin on a burger joint called
Bachi Burger. Wed seen it featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives a while back and noted it as a place to try if we ever happened to be in Las Vegas.
I know Ive made myself an easy target with the number of burger joints we patronize, but thats how we roll. Were not the most adventurous eaters in the world. Actually, we like to make fun of frou-frou gourmet stuff. And when you have a family as large as ours, you cant afford to eat steak entrees every night, anyway. Sandwiches get a lot of play because theyre usually the cheapest items on the menu.
Also, I really love burgers.
Anyway, we pile out of the car and turn the corner, and already theres a bad sign: people waiting outside. I curse the rental car company, not for the first time on this particular afternoon. The restaurant is actually fairly small, and popular due to its TV exposure. The hostess tells us its a 40-45 minute wait. Baby Drew is getting grumpy and wants to eat. Julie tries to tell him its a 40-45 minute wait, but Drew doesnt want to hear it.
We end up trying to use the time as best we can. Julie will feed the baby, while I take the van and check into our hotel and haul some bags into the room. I know from Google Earth that the hotel is on the main road just one exit down on the interstate, so I should easily be able to make it there and back. I ask the kids if they want to wait with Mommy or come along with me. As expected, they elect to wait. I can never, ever, convince any of them to come along with me when running an errand. Its shocking how fast Dad drops in his kids eyes from being the Coolest and Most Fun Person Ever to Total Dweeb. I think hanging out with me now ranks somewhere behind visits to the dentist on my kids list of desirable activities. So, I climb into the minivan alone and set off on the short drive to the hotel, relying once again on my superb navigational skills.
5:54 p.m.I cant find the stupid hotel.
5:57 p.m.Seriously. I should have seen it by now. I think Ive driven too far down this road. Im turning around.
6:08 p.m.Its got to be here somewhere.
6:17 p.m.Ok, Ive been up and down the street and its nowhere to be found. My times almost up. I guess Ill have to head back to the restaurant and admit defeat. Well dig out the map and directions and figure it out from there. Ill just turn around on this cross street here.
6:18 p.m.THERES the stupid hotel. Its down that way on the cross street. I missed one turn. I knew I didnt need directions! Still, times up. Id better get back to Julie.
6:18:30 p.m.Crap. Im getting old.
6:27 p.m.I arrive back at Bachi Burger, not having checked into the hotel or offloaded any bags. Mission failure. Julies still trying to nurse a grumpy baby. The kids are sitting on the curb in the parking lot, looking both bored and grumpy. Julies giving me some major stinkeye. Uh oh.
Its been awful, she says. Drew keeps getting distracted with all the noise out here. The kids keep whining about how hungry they are. I just want to sit down and eat. Shes still shooting daggers with her eyes. I am informed later that this condition is known as being hangry.
Thankfully, they call our name soon after, and we are led to our seats. Its not actually in the restaurantwe are led through a hall to the restaurant next door, a Japanese place that shares an owner with Bachi Burger. Apparently they know my familys reputation already. The place is mostly empty, so I wonder why they couldnt have seated us in here sooner, but theres no use complaining now. We can finally get some food!
Sarahs first order of business was to take off her orthopedic brace. She was recently diagnosed with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and as a result has to wear a brace for 20 hours a day. She typically gets 4 hours of blessed relief in the afternoon, but due to the flight she had been wearing it for longer than usual and needed the break. So she took it off and placed it under the table.
You can be as adventurous as you want with
the menu. You can order a standard hamburger or go all the way up to getting one with foie gras. Its a little pricymost burgers were between $10-$15 apiece, including the kids menu (they got fries with theirs, while it was extra for us). Julie and I tried to cut costs a bit by sharing an order of salt & pepper garlic fries. They had a side of pineapple ketchup, which I just had to try. It was heavenly.
We also tried to cut costs by sticking with water. Not only did we find it important on this trip to stay hydrated in the dry desert air, but staying away from sodas saved us about $15 a pop every time we had dinner.
For my burger, I ordered the Miyagi-san burger, because I figured anything named after the guy who taught Daniel-san the Crane Technique had to be good. This burger featured wagyu beef, chili mayo, a fried egg (Julie: Do they put a fried egg on everything here? Answer: yes), furikake (whatever that is), crispy fried onion rings, and (insert chorus) caramelized bacon.
It was massive.
And it was really good. I dont think Id ever had bacon with caramelized brown sugar on it before, but that was fantastic.
Everyone seemed to enjoy their food. Since we were in the Japanese restaurant, there were chopsticks at every table. Dave decided to give them a shot. Obviously he was also inspired by Mr. Miyagi, remembering his immortal words: Man who eat french fry with chopstick accomplish anything.
6:58 p.m.The hangry episode had subsided and we piled back into the van. We had one final missiongrocery shopping. Part of our familys cost-saving strategy is to make our own breakfast and lunch (or stay at a place with free breakfast), so we needed some essentials: Pop-Tarts, donuts, PB&J, bread, snacks, and lots and lots of water. I couldnt wait to attempt to pack even more crap into the van. We dropped Julie, Sarah and Drew off at a Target (Sarah is still willing to be seen with her mother) while the older boys went with me to make our 2nd attempt to check into the hotel. For the boys, I guess hanging with Dad beats grocery shopping. So I have that going for me, which is nice.
7:08 p.m.we check into the Wyngate by Wyndham of Henderson, NV. The desk clerk promptly informs us that although we reserved a standard room, there are none available. Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?
7:08:15 p.m.Vacation Mojo is back!
7:30 p.m.After unloading some bags, we picked up the girls and Drew from Target. And Sarah promptly informed us that she had left her brace back at Bachi Burger.
Sigh.
So we pile the groceries into the van and head once more down the highway, making this my third separate trip to the restaurant.
8:12 p.m. The boys are all excited to show off the suite to the girls, but they seem less than impressed upon entering. Maybe were all tired. Soon everyone is getting ready for bed. We set up the pop-tent for Drew while he nurses one more time, and pretty soon its lights-out.
11:20 p.m.Drew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him.
1:47 a.m.Drew starts to fuss. I grumble and go give him his binky to calm him down. It seems to work.
2:29 a.mDrew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him. Somebody forgot to inform Drew that we are on vacation now.
Coming Up Next: One of the best dam engineering achievements known to man!
Most of the time.I just can't imagine Smog Check locations taking up valuable real estate on the strip. I don't know about Nevada, but in California cars need to have a special emissions device installed to control smog generation. Most cars sold off the lot already have them installed, but if you buy an out of state car, you need to have it added.
