Las Vegas trip report - The one with all the Thanksgivings - 11.23-28.2016

We started our Thanksgiving adventure with drinks at Ike's and ate near our gate at Mimosa, one of the restaurants with the iPad ordering. (The iPad ordering is rather handy and good for ordering drinks as well.) Our flight was uneventful and we left a little bit late but we arrived almost on time. We took Uber to Mandalay Bay because there was a promo for a free Uber ride from the LAS airport.

The check in line was non-existent and we got a slightly larger room than the standard for free on the 13th floor. They wanted to charge for all other upgrades, and our room was free via MyVegas.

The rooms have been remodeled recently and were quite nice. The rooms have always been quite large, which is great.

view of mountains from Mandalay room  

After settling in, we wandered around the casino a bit and did not see any good blackjack.  John placed a bet in the sports book, I played a little video poker and we decided to take a Lyft over to Hooters to play $5 blackjack, as is some sort of tradition for us now. I have no recollection of how we did, but it must not have been awful. I don't think we stayed out very late either as we were both tired from work and traveling.

Thursday morning we got in touch with John's mom and Al, and met them over at the Luxor where they were staying for two nights. We walked over to New York New York and went to Tom's Urban for brunch and to watch the Vikings Lions game. John's steak burrito is above.

beach bum omelet

The food was all very good and once they got the game on the TV near us, all was well. The service was good and we were able to use a MyVegas award for a BOGO on Tom Size beers as well, which the M life gave to us as a $15 credit to use at Tom's Urban, which worked out well.

We went to the Bar at Times Square to watch the second half of the football game and used the MyVegas $50 drink credit. The piano players were not there yet, which was perfect, and the drink credit went pretty far.

After that, we took Lyft over to Ellis Island and played some slots and blackjack there and used a couple different Las Vegas Advisor and American Casino Guide Coupons, including the one for four free drinks, which John's mom and Al found to be a great deal. The beer made in-house is not bad either. We also saw some kid win $10,000 on a bar top keno machine, which was entertaining.

We headed over to the Linq casino and were feeling a bit hungry but had awhile until our dinner reservation, so we had a few appetizers at Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen.

Fireball chicken wings- John loved these and really liked the toppings on the side that included peanuts and wasabi peas.

I had the sashimi won tacos, which were quite good. In fact, everything was surprisingly good there. I guess I wanted to hate it, but I'd consider going back actually. Afterward, we wandered around the casino and the shopping area until our dinner reservation.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Hash House a Go Go. They had a turkey dinner special, which most of us ordered and it was very good.

After dinner we took Lyft back to the Luxor and we all called it a day early. It had been a pretty long day.

Friday morning, John and I went to Veranda for breakfast. The service and room were very nice, but the food was just average.

I had breakfast hash. It looked good, but there was a lot of liquid in with the meat and potatoes under the egg and it made the potatoes very soggy.

After breakfast, we went to the casino for a bit to use our MyVegas free play. I burned through mine pretty quickly and John doubled up to $50. We needed to switch hotels, we were moving to the Golden Nugget and John's mom and Al were staying the the Golden Gate. So we packed up our room and I took a Lyft downtown with our bags, while John went to Luxor to accompany his mom and Al to Golden Gate as he used a room comp for their reservation.

Our room was not ready until later, so we checked our bags and headed over to Main Street Station to play video poker until they called to let us know our room was ready. I totally forgot to take photos of the room this time. We booked a Gold Tower room and upgraded to Gold Club, so we were on 16. The Gold Tower had been updated a year or two ago, but our room was looking quite worn actually with a lot of nicks and scratches on the furniture. Also, when we stayed on Gold Club previously, they offered bottled water and this time all that was available was coffee in the mornings and a few snacks. I don't think Gold Club is worth the extra money anymore.

We decided to have lunch at Nacho Daddy downtown. I started with a blueberry margarita.

chips and salsa to start

Mexican street burger for John

I had the enchilada nachos and they were really good. The enchilada sauce really added a lot of flavor.

After lunch, we went back to Main Street and John and I played blackjack while John's mom and Al headed to 777 Pub for happy hour.

John and I decided to go to dinner at Oscar's Steakhouse. John's mom and Al passed and went back to their room instead. I had the citrus crusted sea bass with garlic spinach and pea puree.

John had the spicy Spilotro steak, which was infused with garlic, red chili flakes and Ralph’s smashed potatoes. John said it was spicy and delicious. We used a coupon from one of the coupon books to get 25% off, which was a great deal. The food and service were very good again this time.

After dinner we played blackjack at the Plaza as the Golden Gate did not have any open tables at all.

When we got back to our room there was this plate of cookies and a couple bottles of water, complements of the hotel, for being repeat visitors. The cookies were delicious and it was a nice gesture. The only other time we've ever gotten something similar was when we stayed at Aria a couple years ago.

Saturday morning we had breakfast with John's mom Susan and Al at DuPar's at the Golden Gate.

best sourdough toast around!

The food was excellent as always. I can't recommend DuPar's enough.

After breakfast we wandered around downtown a bit, visiting the Container Park for Small Business Saturday, where I got some chocolates at Jin Ju Chocolates. We stopped at El Cortez next and watched some football in Parlour Bar for a bit.

Next, we took Lyft to Paris casino and went to Beer Park to watch more football and use a Groupon we had gotten. The beer was a bit high priced but it is a neat place with a variety of beer options and a pretty good food menu as well. The pretzel we tried was great. I should also note, it was a bit chilly outside, but they had plenty of heaters around so the temperature was very comfortable.

Next, we went to the Stratosphere to Level 107 lounge for happy hour. This is a terrible picture of the ahi tuna poke appetizer.

John had chicken wings and Susan and Al had a shrimp cocktail. 

We went up to the observation deck so Susan and Al could check it out, but it was super windy and quite cold, so we did not stay long. We headed back downtown and we went to the Golden Gate to play blackjack and Susan and Al went to 777 pub for drinks.

We headed over to the Cal to the Redwood Grill as we were a bit hungry, but not enough for a full meal, so we ordered a few appetizers to share.

seared ahi

pineapple shrimp

crab cake

The service and food were all very good. We should go back for a full meal next time we are in Las Vegas. The prices were not too expensive and the dining room had been recently remodeled and was very pretty and comfortable.

Sunday we all had breakfast at the Peppermill. And here is the only picture I took all weekend with humans I know in it. Bit of a fail there. Wish I had a group photo.

After breakfast we headed back downtown and played slots here and there, some video poker at Four Queens, some blackjack at Golden Gate and I somehow managed to turn $5 in free play at The D into $97 cash on a Goldfish machine. I guess using free play can be worth it sometimes as this is my first win on something like that I can recall. John and I also stopped at the Downtown Grand and played craps with a small group that was on a good roll, John and I both did pretty well, probably my best craps outing to date.

We all met for lunch and went to Pizza Rock, which was excellent as always. 

We took Susan and Al to Banger Brewing as I don't think we checked it out last time they were in Las Vegas with us. John and I went back to the Golden Gate to play blackjack for awhile. I'm pretty sure Susan and Al went back to 777 pub for dinner and drinks. They loved that place.

John and I had a reservation at Yardbird for dinner. We'd only had brunch here before. This is a blackberry bourbon drink. Very yummy.

John had the fried chicken with fries. The chicken is so juicy and the sweet and spicy sauce is amazing. Though it does not need the sauce, it adds a little something.

I had the shrimp and grits. It was very good, but I think the chicken is the way to go. 

We had bought tickets to Mystere in advance. On arrival we were assigned seats much closer than those we had purchased, moved from section 206 to 104. It looked like the upper levels were pretty empty and they moved a lot of people closer, which was appreciated. Mystere was very good, but I think we liked Ka a bit more as it had more action. After the show, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. It seems like the days are longer now since we can't seem to sleep in any more, which makes it challenging to stay up very late.

Monday morning we had breakfast with Susan and Al at Magnolia's Veranda at Four Queens. I forgot to take photos, but we've been there plenty of times before. Just assume we had eggs and sourdough toast and you get the idea. After Vegas, Susan and Al were heading to California and on to Hawaii to visit one of Al's sons there. We headed home to Minnesota and had an uneventful flight home. Another great trip in the books. Time to plan another!!