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| Sheraton Gateway King Room |
Heading to Sin City on this trip for a wedding. I opted to stay at
Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles hotel. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the Sheraton, some of the other hotels in the LAX area is a little dated. It looks as if the Sheraton had a recent facelift and the rooms are large and roomy. I had dinner at
Paparazzi. I had the Garginelli pasta. I'm usually not a fan of lemony dishes but I really liked this particular dish even with the lemon infused cream sauce. The Italian sausage was excellent. Finished off dinner with a whiskey crème brulee and chocolate soufflé cake. The cake came with a large scoop of pistachio ice cream which I think is the highlight of the dessert. The whisky crème brulee was nice as I don't generally have liquor flavored crème brulee.
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| Westin Las Vegas King Room |
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| The Westin Duck |
United Airlines upgraded me on my flight to Las Vegas. On the way, I usually do not like the orange cranberry scones they serve for breakfast but it hit the spot for me this trip. Right before we landed, the stewardesses handed out
Cosmopolitan Hotel promotions. It was in a box of cards but the cards inside we're coupons for food and drink and a box of mints. I guess Cosmo is trying to get on the radar for people flying in. After checking into the
Westin Las Vegas Hotel, I had lunch at
Lola's. I saw that it was featured on
Diners Dives and Drive Ins. I enjoyed my bronzed catfish poboy and side of grits. The bananas foster bread pudding was ok. I wasn't able to enjoy my free drink coupon but I did get a free drink while getting a pedicure at the Hibiscus Spa. In general, the spa facilities were good at the Westin but I was shortchanged a razor and I was surprised that there were no complimentary combs/brushes in the women's locker room. Maybe the crush of clients earlier in the day wiped out the personnel by the time I got there.
Went to
Sunset Gardens for the wedding venue that evening. It looks like an all inclusive facility with tuxedo rentals and beauty salon within the same plaza. Food was decent for a buffet at an event. The wedding cake was pretty tasty. I think the venue catered the entire event according to the bride.
The next day, I went to
Pizza Rock and enjoyed a Diavola pizza. The restaurant has been featured on a couple of food magazines and
The Food Network. After recommending my brother to try the restaurant and his very positive reviews, I decided to try out this restaurant. Nice ambience and good pizza. In some ways, it reminded me of Dangerously Delicious Pies in Baltimore but larger and a bit more upscale. Also, they sold different kinds of "pies." Finished off the meal with a mud pie which was delicious and without nuts (for those allergic).
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| Tropicana Club Suite Living Room |
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| Tropicana Club Suite Bedroom |
After lunch, I switched to the
Tropicana Hotel. They had a promotional rate and I wanted to see if I was going to like the next Hilton affiliated Strip hotel. It appears that the Tropicana has completely refreshed their interior and I like the new look. Luckily as a Diamond, I was able to check in earlier than 2 pm. Initially, I went to the registration desk and after I was told that there would be nothing available, I wandered into the Diamond Lounge next to the Registration desk. Thinking I was only going to hang out and wait for an hour, the Diamond Lounge representative was able to get me a room immediately in the club tower. It looks like the club tower is where all the suites are for the hotel. It was a nice sized room and the bathroom was huge. Verdict? Yep, I'm coming back and definitely going straight into the Diamond Lounge. Branded under the Doubletree brand, I was told I could get the cookies from the food court. I wasn't able to pick up the cookies but it was nice to know that it was possible. The club suite given to me was very spacious and unfortunate that I wasn't able to get more out of the room than sleep. With a 6 am flight, not much time to spend at the hotel but the pool area is nice. Large and tastefully spaced, the cabanas and party nooks made me think it would be a great spot for sunday football watching with pool and drinks. The frozen drinks are also pretty tasty, I think I had the Miami Vice.
The next day, jetted out to the airport. A side note, the signs for the rental return goes missing along the way and I only found it because I punched the address in the GPS. It is off the freeway so you have to get onto the freeway if you are at the airport. On the return, I took my time at the terminal since I checked my luggage and wandered to baggage claim after grabbing a somewhat stale muffin from Marmalade Café. After picking up my luggage, I realized I had forgotten my iPad on the plane and went to baggage services to see if I could verify the United Airlines airplane personnel had it. Luckily, they did but I had to fight my way through security again to get to the gate. Although the baggage services representative mentally rolled her eyes for yet another passenger losing their mobile tablet, I was extremely happy that she was able to give me access into the terminal and the gate agent totally knew who I was when I started sharing my story.
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