Day 2
On Wednesday morning I woke up around 8:45. Boy that 3 hour time difference sure is niceits usually horribly painful to get up that early on vacation! We headed off to get GF some coffee and then hit the pool. We werent sure where the coffee place was so we headed over to the other side of the casino where the buffet was. (Little did we know there was a coffee place smack dab in the middle of the casino which we passed right by and didnt see
). We found a place near the buffet and got in line. There were only a few people in front of us, but the line sure moved slowly with only one person working.
We headed down to the pool where GF tried to drink her coffee, but it was quite hot so she could barely sip it. GF NEEDS her coffee everydayshe usually has at least a few cups and sometimes a few shots of espresso. What I find amazing about her habit, though, is that she begins to feel more awake within about 60 seconds of beginning to drink her coffee. Shell down three sips and suddenly shes feeling better
. I keep threatening to replace her coffee with decaf and see if she can tell the difference, or if its all just placebo effect.
After some coffee sipping we got in the pool and swam to the other side to see if we could find GFs mother, but we didnt see her. We noticed that the pool was much fuller of pretty, in shape, tanned people than Pop Centurys pool is. Needless to say, we feel more comfortable at Pop!
After the yucky buffet and the cockroach from the night before, I was in need of some pampering. As I was going to sleep the night before I asked GF if we could do something fun and eat somewhere yummy the next day. While I was reading some of the guidebooks I noticed The Cheesecake Factory at Caesars Palace. I dont know why, but it just sounded really good. Id never been to The Cheesecake Factory but had heard good things. Plus the idea of cheesecake sounded darn good! So we made plans to take a walk down the strip and explore some hotels and then eat at the Cheesecake Factory.
After getting out of the pool we got a call from GFs mother who was busy playing slots. GFs father was out walking the trip and the two of them were going to meet at Rainforest Café in the MGM Grand for lunch. They invited us to eat with them but we told them wed already made plans to eat. That, and wed had a very bad experience at the Rainforest Café in Downtown Disney during our last tripwe fully intended to avoid the Rainforest Café at all costs (but you know what they say about the bet laid plans). We hit our room for a bit to shower and change and then hit the strip at about 11:30 am. Wed looked at a map and seen that Caesars Palace seemed to be about a mile away. We knew it was almost 100 degrees out, but figured wed just stop into the hotels on the way as much as possible. After all, weve survived August in WDW.
We took a few pictures of the hotels nearby the Tropicana.
That lasted a few minutes until we realized how horribly hot it was and how far apart some of the Casinos are. After MGM I think its almost half a mile to Planet Hollywood
. Along the way we walked by a store where an employee was standing outside the entrance and caught GFs attention. He asked her if she and I lived together back at home? I thought this was weird right off the bat, but GF answered yes. Then he told us we should come inside for a free gift. Obviously there are no free gifts, so I was happy to keep walking rather than hear about the strings attached. GF asked why it mattered if we lived together and he replied, Well if you have licenses that show the same address, I can give you the free gift. Even though we live together the addresses on our licenses dont match. GF moved to the state quite awhile ago but hasnt changed her license yet
. Luckily this gave us a good excuse to get away from the guy. As we walked we wondered why it mattered if we lived together for whatever the guy was selling.
After what felt like the longest half mile walk of our lives we finally reached Planet Hollywood. Unfortunately by this point GFs feet had begun hurting. This occurs on every vacation we take (we always go somewhere that involves a lot of walking). I think her feet are somewhat flat plus she thinks she has Plantar fasciitis (I dont know what that is, but it sounds bad
). She wears crocs which normally feel fine, but when she does a lot of standing and walking things get painful fast. So sat on a bench for awhile at Planet Hollywood in the Miracle Mile mall. We wanted to look around Planet Hollywood because wed seen that an Earl of Sandwich was going to be opening there. We hadnt found a date online though, so we thought maybe it was already open. No such luck thoughwe couldnt find anything on the map of the Miracle Mile shops that mentioned Earl of Sandwich and didnt see anything when we walked through the Casino either
.
After a short rest on the bench we got up and walked past an information desk where a woman proceeded to ask us if we have licenses showing the same address. How strange that they were asking the same thing again! We stopped and said no our licenses dont have the same address, and then asked why they were asking. They just said it was a time-share thing and they didnt know why the addresses mattered. Strange. (We found out more about this later in the trip.)
After resting up a bit we left Planet Hollywood and headed on to Caesars Palace. GF was already in pain, so I decided I had to start with the bribing. I promised that wed buy monorail tickets and take that back to the hotel to spare her the heat and foot pain. I also told her Id buy her a fancy drink at The Cheesecake Factory, though GF thought that in her tired, sweaty, overheated state alcohol might not be the best idea. After numerous rests along the way we finally made it into Caesars. I headed to the concierge desk and asked for directions to the Cheesecake Factory and was directed to the shops attached to the hotel.
It was probably around this point in the trip that we started to realize just how humongous these hotels/casinos are. We walked all the way through the casino area and found the mall entrance. I took a look at the map only to find that the Cheesecake Factory was all the way at the end of the mall. At this point I thought GF might collapse, but she was a trooper and we made it to the restaurant. It was sooo nice to sit down and eat!
I was shocked at how many options were on the menu. Im usually pretty indecisiveluckily being a vegetarian narrows down my options considerably most of the time. After about 15 minutes of trying to decide (we had to send the server away at least 3 times) we ordered. I had a lunch special that consisted of pizza of your choice and salad. I asked for a Caesar salad and a fresh mozzarella pizza. GF decided on the lunch sized miso-salmon but asked for mashed potatoes as a side instead of rice which was no problem. Shes a big salmon fan, but had been unsure about getting this because it was on the pricier side. Well it was a good decision to get it because she raved about it!
. She said it was the best salmon she ever had and cleaned her plate completely. My meal wasnt quite as impressive, but I was very happy with it. It was just what I wanted. Id been hungry for Caesar salad all day but I also always love pizza. I had a bit of pizza left and got that packed up while we were waiting for our cheesecake. Im more of an adventurous cheesecake eater while GF likes her cheesecake more pure. We tried to compromise but realized the only thing we could both agree on was the plain cheesecake. It seemed boring when we picked it, but man was it good.
More to come: Another long, hot trek back to the hotel and then more time with GF's parents.