Vegas
Went out to Vegas on a personal errand and took Lux Bus America for the trip. Normally, driving is the cheapest option but the bus is great is you are travelling alone. Pickups are throughout the major areas of Southern California. Caught the bus at the Anaheim location, the parking facilities does charge $5 per day. Almost like airport parking! The bus was your typical tour bus with TVs interspersed throughout and individual sound ports trays and power ports. Beverage, snacks, and restroom facilities too. In some ways, it felt like an airplane but on wheels. The company must attract a lot of tourists as most of the passengers were from Europe, India or Australia. The bus was packed in both directions even though it was a weekday. Maybe I was catching the spring break crowd.
The trip does make one pit stop at the Barstow station. I've occassionally stopped in the area because of Popeye's. I've never walked into the station but it is an interesting place to people watch. The station is a major stop for buses and Greyhound serves as a station. I laughed to myself when I went to the restroom and a woman was in a stall doing her business while talking on the cellphone then walks out of the stall pulling on her shirt covering her belly holding her bag of food with the other hand.
Arrived at Harrah's and decided to buy a day pass on the monorail to get to the Hilton Las Vegas. I've never taken the Las Vegas Monorail. I don't think it ever made sense either because of pricing or alternative modes of transportation. At the moment, the one day pass of $15 was reduced to $12 which made it a better bargain for me. It also helped that the day pass is a 24 hour pass rather than a "day" pass as so many transit passes go by. The rail was comfortable and convenient for my purposes. I may be tempted to use it again even if I have a car when I go back to Las Vegas.
I was in the typical room at the Hilton. At least the type I'm always given, the hotel has been consistently been giving me the north tower between 17th and 21st floors. I can't complain much though since the room was $39. I haven't been to the hotel in awhile and noticed a couple of changes. I think the dancing girls next to the card tables didn't do so well because the area looked like it was being deconstructed. The Fortuna Coffee and Wine Bar expanded to include more seating area.
Grabbed dinner at Lawry's. I've never been to the Las Vegas location given all the other options on the strip. I had a certificate that needed to be used and I decided to spend it here. The restaurant has a very Frank Gehry feel to it and I do wonder who did the architecture. The most modern feeling restaurant that I've been in under the Lawry brand. Since I just had prime rib from the night before at a Lawry's carvery, I ordered the rib eye steak with au gratin potatoes. A lot of fists for me at dinner and I was happy to have done so. The steak was excellent and I really enjoyed the potatoes with my glass of reisling. The desserts rarely appeals to me at Lawry's and I headed over to Aria to visit Jean Phillipe patisserie for a sticky bun and snickers cake. The sticky bun was good and the snickers cake was good. I don't know if I would call it a snickers cake though. It was a chocolate nouse with caramel and nuts in the middle. It was tasty when chocolate cravings hit. Headed back to the monorail at Bally's. In using the monorail, I did go through the Flamingo and Bally's, hotels I haven't been in for quite some time. The Flamingo looked the same and I noticed a TCBY in their food court. I don't see TCBY outside of airports too often. The Bally's reminded me of the Hilton Las Vegas decor for some reason with a decent sized sportsbook area.
To explain how the travel logistics work, I have to take the city center tram from Aria which I caught at Crystal. The mall, by the way, was very empty probably because all the stores are high end. At first, I thought maybe because no one is really around during the week but Vegas was pretty hopping for a Wednesday. No one has told Vegas we are in a recession. :) From Aria, took the tram to Bellagio and then walked to Bally's. A lot of walking but helpful in burning calories.
The next day, I was up early to grab some breakfast at the buffet in the Hilton. I'm not normally in Vegas during the week and found the difference in selection at the buffet good. No carving station, crab legs,ice cream machine, or full dessert selection. It was replaced with grilled pork chops (good), chicken fried steak (a little dry), and fresh waffles (good). For what I was looking for, it was suitable especially since it was free.
Before heading back, I went back to Bellagio to eat at Noodles for lunch. I was looking at a website for cheap eats and saw the posting. I should have known that a restaurant in Bellagio wouldn't be cheap. Although my soya chicken was on the pricey side, the chicken was done well and ther service was quick and gracious. The only thing is that the rice was terrible, reminded me of Uncle Ben's. Afterwards, grabbed a sticky bun from Jean Phillipe patisserrie. I was tempted to get some gelato but stayed with the sticky bun for the ride home.
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| From My Travels |
The trip does make one pit stop at the Barstow station. I've occassionally stopped in the area because of Popeye's. I've never walked into the station but it is an interesting place to people watch. The station is a major stop for buses and Greyhound serves as a station. I laughed to myself when I went to the restroom and a woman was in a stall doing her business while talking on the cellphone then walks out of the stall pulling on her shirt covering her belly holding her bag of food with the other hand.
Arrived at Harrah's and decided to buy a day pass on the monorail to get to the Hilton Las Vegas. I've never taken the Las Vegas Monorail. I don't think it ever made sense either because of pricing or alternative modes of transportation. At the moment, the one day pass of $15 was reduced to $12 which made it a better bargain for me. It also helped that the day pass is a 24 hour pass rather than a "day" pass as so many transit passes go by. The rail was comfortable and convenient for my purposes. I may be tempted to use it again even if I have a car when I go back to Las Vegas.
I was in the typical room at the Hilton. At least the type I'm always given, the hotel has been consistently been giving me the north tower between 17th and 21st floors. I can't complain much though since the room was $39. I haven't been to the hotel in awhile and noticed a couple of changes. I think the dancing girls next to the card tables didn't do so well because the area looked like it was being deconstructed. The Fortuna Coffee and Wine Bar expanded to include more seating area.
Grabbed dinner at Lawry's. I've never been to the Las Vegas location given all the other options on the strip. I had a certificate that needed to be used and I decided to spend it here. The restaurant has a very Frank Gehry feel to it and I do wonder who did the architecture. The most modern feeling restaurant that I've been in under the Lawry brand. Since I just had prime rib from the night before at a Lawry's carvery, I ordered the rib eye steak with au gratin potatoes. A lot of fists for me at dinner and I was happy to have done so. The steak was excellent and I really enjoyed the potatoes with my glass of reisling. The desserts rarely appeals to me at Lawry's and I headed over to Aria to visit Jean Phillipe patisserie for a sticky bun and snickers cake. The sticky bun was good and the snickers cake was good. I don't know if I would call it a snickers cake though. It was a chocolate nouse with caramel and nuts in the middle. It was tasty when chocolate cravings hit. Headed back to the monorail at Bally's. In using the monorail, I did go through the Flamingo and Bally's, hotels I haven't been in for quite some time. The Flamingo looked the same and I noticed a TCBY in their food court. I don't see TCBY outside of airports too often. The Bally's reminded me of the Hilton Las Vegas decor for some reason with a decent sized sportsbook area.
To explain how the travel logistics work, I have to take the city center tram from Aria which I caught at Crystal. The mall, by the way, was very empty probably because all the stores are high end. At first, I thought maybe because no one is really around during the week but Vegas was pretty hopping for a Wednesday. No one has told Vegas we are in a recession. :) From Aria, took the tram to Bellagio and then walked to Bally's. A lot of walking but helpful in burning calories.
The next day, I was up early to grab some breakfast at the buffet in the Hilton. I'm not normally in Vegas during the week and found the difference in selection at the buffet good. No carving station, crab legs,ice cream machine, or full dessert selection. It was replaced with grilled pork chops (good), chicken fried steak (a little dry), and fresh waffles (good). For what I was looking for, it was suitable especially since it was free.
Before heading back, I went back to Bellagio to eat at Noodles for lunch. I was looking at a website for cheap eats and saw the posting. I should have known that a restaurant in Bellagio wouldn't be cheap. Although my soya chicken was on the pricey side, the chicken was done well and ther service was quick and gracious. The only thing is that the rice was terrible, reminded me of Uncle Ben's. Afterwards, grabbed a sticky bun from Jean Phillipe patisserrie. I was tempted to get some gelato but stayed with the sticky bun for the ride home.
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