Wow, I really let this one slip, sorry about that. Hopefully I can still remember the details of my trip!
Zach and I left for Vegas on Saturday (11/16) afternoon. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my last post but my two little girls (L and N) had been suffering off and on from the stomach flu for the past week so Angie and I were really worried about getting it as well. It would be the worst possible time for both of us as I was going to run a half marathon and Angie would be home with two semi-sick girls (they were, for the most part, on the mend.) Well, by the time we landed in Vegas I had a few texts from Angie saying how she caught the stomach bug and was not doing well. Fortunately her cousin came over to feed the girls dinner and then my parents came over later that night to help out the next day. Needless to say I felt awful that Angie was sick and, as is usually the case when someone in your house gets sick, my stomach immediately started feeling like it just wasn't quite right. Fortunately it was just nerves because as soon as the race started I felt 100% better.
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| Hello Vegas! (not my photo) |
Anyway, we ended up going with a private transportation service and the driver was waiting for us at our terminal. Once Chris, Bob, Zach, and I were all loaded up in the car we headed to the expo at the convention center. At the expo we picked up our packets that included our race bib, our chip timer, and shirts (after all, that's why we sign up for races right? For the "free" t-shirt.) The expo was pretty lame. We were expecting a lot of free samples (race fuel, energy bars, energy drinks, etc.) but it was mostly shoes and clothes that were on sale.
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| We rode around Vegas in style! |
We took the tram to our hotel (Flamingo) and proceeded to the check in line. Thanks to Angie's brother Robert I learned about the $20 sandwich. I know what you're thinking and I felt the same way when I first heard this term. I assumed it was not something I should look up on my work computer. It turns out it's actually a way to get room upgrades. Basically when you check in you put a $20 bill between your drivers license and credit card and ask if there are any complimentary room upgrades available. Since we had two rooms booked we decided to try this trick to get connecting rooms. Chris and I walked up to the clerk (the rooms were in our names) and Chris did the honors. Let me point out that Chris lives near Seattle and is a big Seahawks fan. Let me also point out that the clerk that was working with us was also from the Seattle area, and was also a big Seahawks fan. I think you know where this is going. The guy worked at his computer for a couple minutes and then disappeared after telling us he'd be right back. When he came back he said that, unfortunately, there were no connecting rooms available that night but that he upgraded both our rooms to suites! He also said that if we came back the next day he would move us to connecting rooms with strip views! I should mention that we booked our rooms through the Rock N Roll Vegas Marathon website and we got awesome rates. $90 for the first night (Saturday) and $40 each night for Sunday and Monday (per room.) We got the upgrades for the same price (can you beat a strip view room for $40/night?) AND he gave Chris his $20 back!
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| This was about the only time I've rooted for the Seahawks |
Needless to say our trip got off to a great start. After we checked in we headed across the street to Caesar's Palace to grab some dinner. Bob wanted to try Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill so we headed through the casino and made a rookie mistake by getting a table without looking at the menu first. After the hostess seated us and we got our water glasses filled (which I immediately drained) we finally looked at the menu. It's a Pub & Grill, they have to at least have a burger on the menu right? Wrong. Ramsay is a Scottish chef and this restaurant reflected it. The closest things to what we were looking for were Shepherd's Pie and Fish & Chips. They must have been good because they were at least $25. Don't get me wrong, I knew any restaurant in Vegas would be expensive, especially the restaurant of a famous chef, but we didn't want to spend $30 - $40 each to eat something we weren't exactly excited about. We decided to "drink & dash" and bolted before our waiter had time to come over to get our drink orders.
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| Gordon is not happy with us |
We ended up finding a burger joint and had dinner there before heading back to the Flamingo. We walked around a bit, sat at the sports book and watched some college football, and then called it quits pretty early trying to save ourselves for the race the next evening.
Sunday was pretty relaxed as we ate a late brunch at our hotel, walked to Walgreens to get some Gatorade, and then watched football in our rooms until it was time to go to the race. For my race recap go
here.
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| Finally found this nice photo |
After the race we watched the end of the Broncos - Chiefs game (won by the Broncos!) and then took a cab to Freemont Street to get a cheap steak dinner. We ended up at Magnolia's Veranda at the Four Queens and I got the Ribeye Dinner for something like $14. After running 13.1 miles I have to say that was one of the best steaks I've ever eaten. We stayed down on Freemont Street for awhile and then headed back to our hotel. For some reason the Flamingo has a 24-hour brick-oven pizza place right by our elevator so we had to stop and have a pizza before bed. Hey, we burned ~2000 calories during the run so we deserved two dinners right?
The next day was pretty low key but the highlight was definitely the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar's Palace. I always thought the buffet at the Rio was the best. Boy was I wrong. This was the most amazing buffet I have ever seen (of course it costs $45 for dinner.) I can't remember everything I ate that night but off the top of my head I remember having a huge plate of crab legs, sushi, salad, a fancy meat/cheese plate, truffle scalloped potatoes, mini hotdog, Wagyu beef slider, the most amazing sweet potato tater tots with a honey glaze, carne asada street tacos, lime pork green chili, ice cream, cheesecake, fresh chocolate chip cookie, and a few other things I'm not remembering. I would definitely recommend going there if you ever find yourself in Vegas and need to intake 3500 calories. We somehow managed to walk back to our hotel and hung out for a little bit before crashing for the night.
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| Good night Vegas |
We flew back to CO the next morning and we happy to get home to see our families. Overall it was a great trip and I think I've had my Vegas fix for awhile. At least until next February when the Broncos are in the Super Bowl!
