Vegas Day 2

19 January 2014

We had a leisurely breakfast and chat, including Lena the kitty thoroughly enjoying my attention, then Amanda and I headed to Caesars since she has a lifetime VIP parking pass from a previous customer service issue. We weren’t hungry for lunch quite yet, and neither of us are big spenders for brand name clothes or jewelry, but Amanda wanted me to try Vosges chocolates. I had a bacon milk bar a few years ago on our San Francisco chocolate walking tour, so I knew it was good stuff, but having samples of everything was awesome! We took advantage of their buy 5 get one free special and got the smoked almond bar, carrot chocolate bar and a couple bacon ones to share back home.

We strolled around more, left Caesars to walk outside in the sunshine, then Amanda saw that an alley that was under construction last weekend was already open so we checked out a couple small places, including another daiquiri to go slushie bar called Purple Zebra. The curved wall was all slushie machines, about half alcoholic and half non-alcoholic. We didn’t feel the need to try any since it wasn’t even noon yet.

We crossed the street again back to the Caesars complex, entering through the fancy main entrance, but the moving walkway was stationary today. I still got a great view of the strip from halfway across!

By the time we got back inside to Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill it was after 1pm, so we had no-longer-on-the-menu Black Widow Mojitos from the bar, then our table was ready. We opened our menus and they were still serving Sunday brunch at 1:30pm! Haha! We decided to share the famous tiger shrimp tamales, then ancho chili salmon entree, and chocolate cajita cake for dessert. It was a leisurely meal, very delicious, and plenty of food without overfilling ourselves. While we digested a bit before dessert, Amanda got a coffee, so I tried a Tokay/Tokaj, which I have read about in various Victorian literature but never had the chance to try. Definitely a golden dessert wine but not quite as sweet as my other white wine favorites, moscato, late harvest Riesling or ice wine.

We finally left lunch almost 3pm, ready for a nap so we left through the hidden VIP parking doors next to Gucci, and we had to laugh, since there was Amanda’s Kia parked next to a Lexus and two Mercedes. One of these things is not like the other, indeed!

I had stayed up too late and couldn’t sleep in because of the light and Amanda was also tired, so we napped for a bit before heading back out for our evening. We got to the Las Vegas Hilton by 7pm to pick up our free tickets for MO5AIC, since Amanda’s friend knows the beat boxer singer in the show. Nice to have connections! With tickets in hand and 45 minutes to spare, we shared a couple tasty appetizers at the Tatuado Cantina, and I had a huge blue coconut margarita. Glad Amanda knows the scoop that I could just take the glass with me across the casino into the show, so it lasted quite a while and was very tasty!

MO5AIC is a five-man a cappella singing group with an excellent beat boxer providing impressive percussion as well as singing too, and they have a fantastic show! All of them are extremely talented and great showmen, and the Shimmer Room venue is small enough that I don’t think anyone could have a bad seat. If the CDs they were selling after the show had any of my favorites on them I would have bought them, but they are also on iTunes so I will see if they have more selections there. I didn’t see that Amanda had gone over to thank our beat boxer host so I missed my chance to thank him since then he was mobbed by other fans, but I did get the chance to thank and congratulate the tall blond basso profundo on his fantastic voice and performance as I shook his hand.

More chatting with Vicki and us after we got back, and I prepped the caramel cashew bacon bourbon bread pudding for our brunch tomorrow. We have all agreed to go hiking at Red Rock Canyon tomorrow only ten minutes away from Amanda’s house in hopes of offsetting our decadence. Then it’s William Shatner as our evening event…woohoo!

See all today’s photos by clicking the link below…