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Only a hour flight away from Las Vegas we visit frequently, sometimes once a month. I'll be sharing our trip reports, tips on making the most of your stay in Vegas, reviews of restaurants and shows we have seen, along with my thoughts related to our favorite place to get away from it all.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Cosmo, Aria and Palazzo Oh My! Thanksgiving week of 2015!

I left San Jose airport late afternoon on Saturday the 21st for Thanksgiving with the family and some friends in Las Vegas. Why so early? Mom was flying in on the 22nd from Ft. Lauderdale on an early morning flight that would arrive at 9am and I wanted to be on hand to meet her, plus I had some friends that were leaving on Sunday that I wanted to meet up with.
I was meeting friends about a hour after my arrival for drinks and dinner and it worked out well since my flight was on time and luggage didn't take long to get, so I was in a taxi and on my way to Cosmopolitan quickly with luggage in the room by 6pm.
I didn't request a fountain view room but received one anyway on the 48th floor. Was surprised to get this view on a Saturday night but perhaps it was because I was only staying the one night at Cosmopolitan. As I entered the room the Bellagio fountains were playing!
Here's some photos of the one bedroom terrace:
As I was moving the next day to Aria I didn't unpack, instead I quickly left the room as I was meeting friends for a drink before dinner.
On my way to the Talon Club I ran into Alicia (Lady Clare) who was also staying at Cosmo that evening. Really happy coincidence to run into Alicia as I didn't know she was in Vegas!
After a short chat with Alicia I rushed off to the Talon Club to join VMB'ers for drinks before dinner. That's Vegaschic on the left, her friend Caroline, BeeeJay, Angie, Leslie Chow and me! I had met Vegaschic, Angie and Leslie Chow this past August but I had missed meeting Caroline that trip so was very happy to meet her.

Beeejay and I have known each other online for many years now and on so many Vegas/gambling/message boards, but have always missed meeting up in person, sometimes by just 5 minutes! It was great to finally meet him in person as he's every bit as nice and fun in real life as on the message boards. Both Vegaschic and BeeeJay write up great live trip reports on vegasmessageboard when they are in Vegas so if you love Vegas trip reports and haven't been reading theirs you are missing out!
Thanks to Vegaschic for organizing our get together and Leslie Chow and his Cosmo host, we had a hard to get reservation that evening at Scarpetta!
We started out with lots of appetizers to share. Oysters of course.
Lardo Wrapped Prawns with Rosemary Lentils & Chili Oil!
Creamy Polenta with a fricassee of truffled mushrooms!
Mediterranean Octopus with smoked potato crema, and baby tomatoes.
I think this was the Pici with lobster tarragon, almond & chili pesto but there's a good chance I'm wrong. I was having way to much fun to pay much attention to the food others were eating.
Actually I was having such a great time I didn't even pay attention to what I was eating. I'm about 80 percent sure this is the Fennel Dusted Black Cod that I ate. LOL!
I think this is the Veal Chop with the semolina gnocchi and baby carrots.
Spiced Rubbed NY Steak with potato pave, spinach and mushrooms.
Beeejay enjoying what I believe was the bone-in Rib Eye and I think one of the specials that evening!
Our table shared two delicious desserts, the one below is the Mascarpone Cheesecake with peaches, blueberries, white chocolate & greek yogurt sorbet.
Leslie Chow had arranged for them to bring over the wonderful salted caramel Bundino dessert from D.O.C.G. 
After dinner it was time for a High Limit group pull! Beeejay was on a big winning streak on Video Poker and table games at Wynn where he was staying so his nickname this trip was Lucky Sack, LOL! Vegaschic, Leslie Chow, Beeejay and I each put $500 into the pull and Lucky Sack lived up to his nickname when he got a handpay on the first slot we tried, RedHot 7s Respin!
After that win we went over to $50 Top Dollar and hit the bonus first spin!
I captured some of the fun in this video!

We tried some Video Poker, Quick Hit, Cleopatra II and Diamond Queen but while we had a blast we lost on those slots. Final results was fun 1000 percent, each of us got our original $500 back with $100 extra so we were winners. Thanks Lucky Sack!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Uber Fun at Cosmopolitan, Aria and G2E!

This started out to be a five day trip with me flying out of San Jose as usual but instead changed to a six night trip flying out of San Francisco a day earlier then planned on Virgin America. My friend Boots had to change her dates for Vegas due to work and I wanted to spend a couple days gambling with her before G2E (Global Gaming Expo) so that's why I added the extra day and decided to fly out with her from SFO.

Photo below was at San Francisco Airport. My husband plays guitar so I had to take a photo of Metalllica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett's horror movie memorabilia display for him.
There were also some cool guitar's in the collection!
Our flight was on time and we actually landed in Las Vegas a few minutes early. This was my first time seeing the new terminal 3.
Boots hadn't checked any luggage but fortunately mine arrived quickly and we were on our way to Cosmopolitan in a comfortable limo thanks to Boot's Platinum status.
Once we arrived Boots was whisked off to the VIP platinum lounge and since there wasn't a wait in the normal registration lines I was immediately helped too. I learned afterwards that Boots was trying to catch my attention as I could have also checked in with her at the VIP lounge. My lack of attention didn't hurt me this time since there was no lines, but something to remember for the future.
I was in a one bedroom terrace in room 4818 and Boots was in her favorite room called a terrace angle studio. The first photo is the city view from my room.
Below are photos of Boot's terrace angle studio.
Boots had a great view of the Bellagio fountains!
It was late afternoon and we hadn't eaten as we were saving it for dinner at D.O.C.G. so first thing we did was decide to have drinks at Bond Bar.
I loved my drink on the right! I asked the bartender to make me up something spicy with tequila and Thai spices and it turned out strong and yummy. Boot's drink on the left was gin based and refreshing. Neither drink we ordered was on their menu but we were told they might be in the future.
This drink is another one that our bartender is still working on and had orchids in it. While it was made for another customer there was some left over that Boots sampled and she said it was good.
Did I mention how strong our drinks from Bond Bar turned out? Well they were strong and we were tipsy! This video of us playing The Walking Dead will give you a idea of how tipsy I was! Also at the end of the bonus I have the hand pay I got later on Walking Dead after dinner!
Walking Dead Video:
https://youtu.be/AasNn-Es_C4

After The Walking Dead we walked over to Lucky Cat at Cosmo and my card just had a fortune but Boots won a cocktail! If you haven't seen Lucky Cat before I have photos of it later in this report.
We played a few more slots after Lucky Cat but we were really feeling our drinks from Bond Bar and decided to go see if we could get seated at D.O.C.G. a bit earlier then our reservation.
The restaurant was fine with seating us early and it turned out to be a good thing as about 30 minutes later the restaurant filled up and I don't think we would have gotten our lovely corner table if we hadn't been early.
I don't care to dip bread in oil but I do like a little balsamic vinegar! Forgot to take a photo of the bread but did get the plate, LOL!
I really need to start keeping better notes. I believe this is the Cucumber Ginger Fizz that has prosecco, domaine de canton and soda water.
Boots and I share our appetizers. The Heirloom Beets with roasted ricotta and pistachios was great!
Diver Scallops with fregola (small round pasta) and mushroom vinaigrette was delicious. Would be a hard choice for me to pick between these two appetizers next time I dine at D.O.C.G so would  want to share again.
Boots ordered and enjoyed the Ricotta Raviolini as her main course.
We also had a side of Wild Mushrooms with parmigiana. If you like mushrooms,  you will love this side.
The shocker for me was the Swordfish Milanese, it was wonderful! The swordfish was flattened and the flavors marvelous and very much to my personal taste. I would return to D.O.C.G. just to order this entree!
We shared a dessert, that is now a must order for me, the salted caramel Bundino! Yum! Thanks Boots for treating me to a great dinner!
After dinner it was time to get our gamble on with the slots. Before dinner I had mainly stayed even which is almost a win for me on most trips these days! I tried the dollar Big Bang Theory Slot at Cosmo but since the bonus was just a wheel with dollar amounts on it I didn't find it as fun as the penny version of Big Bang.
I played a few more slots without much happening and then noticed that there were more of The Walking Dead slots. Previous to this trip the end of September Cosmopolitan didn't have The Walking Dead slot machines. Now all of a sudden they had seven of them! Three of them are in a corner not far from the main Identity Desk, two are in another section of the casino against a wall in the back and the two that Boots and I had played earlier are in between Bond Bar and one of the outside doors to the strip.

This time magic happened as you saw in the video above if you watched it! During a Wild Attack Random bonus a bunch of Rick's hit for a hand pay! I was so happy now that I came in a day earlier with Boots!
There were a lot of friends I know who love Vegas that were in town the same time as me this trip, some for G2E, others just for their love of Las Vegas! I knew it wasn't going to work out with everyone's plans for us to get together this trip so I had mentioned to just to text me if they found themselves around where I was staying. It was a happy surprise that shortly after that hand pay I had texts from several different groups of friends and we ended up having a drink at Bond Bar together! Thanks to Boots for taking our photo!

Kevin and his wife Judy on the left, Lisa, Anne-Lise, me, Sherri, Julie and her husband Paul. Shortly after this photo my friends Robert and Dean also showed up!
After drinks all of us went for a bit of slot play, but soon the group broke up with everyone but Boots and me leaving Cosmo.
My luck continued tonight, this was the lucky night of my trip! Above I had one of my best bonuses on Ruby Slippers! Here's the link to it:
https://youtu.be/iaZKDZXLJQI
The Walking Dead and Rick were still being good to me with this Wild Attack bonus for $768.00!
Hit the Green Progressive on 3D Dragon's Temple! Here's a link to the video if interested!
https://youtu.be/rBD2emdArn4
Best best bonus so far on Hot Hot 8 when I hit a Jungle Wild Bonus and got the spin for 8 games! If you haven't seen this slot yet here's the video of the above bonus:
https://youtu.be/VwBJBucTBmQ
A little love from my favorite Lord of the Rings slot.
Had some hits on the new Elvis Shake, Rattling and Roll slot machine!
Many slots and lots of fun later it was time to go to sleep and I was ahead about 2k! Great way to start out a trip!