CHESSNOID

I took a vacation and went to Las Vegas.  It was incredibly fun. I made my reservation through hotwire.com.  I have used that website service before and was very pleased with the service.  This time I booked for an incredibly low rate at the Stratosphere.

In the picking process, they keep it a secret like priceline.com.  You only learn what hotel it is after you book it.  You get to choose if it is a 2,3,4, or 5 star hotel and what price you want to pay and a general idea of where the hotel is located. There are some forums that tell you best guesses of the hotels and some users post what their actual results were.  I think there is some fun in not knowing till after.  Of course, it makes it even better when you get a great deal.  Last year when I went to Seattle, I was able to get a 4 star hotel (the Sheraton) for a phenomenal rate.  It was on short term notice which seems to get the best deals in my opinion.

I checked into the hotel and the checker Ron was actually a Filipino and was very personable.  I asked for the highest room available and he said the 7th floor was the best he had that was non-smoking.  He offered to give me a cheap upgrade to a spa suite for only $50 more and that it was on the 21st floor in the new tower.

I asked how many floors there were and he said 24 so that was pretty high.  He also said the suite was over 700 square feet and 3 times bigger the regular room we reserved.  According to him these suites run up to $300 a night.  Previously, I checked out their website and remember seeing the pictures of those suites and they were very nice.  I asked my wife what she thought. After a quick discussion of the pros and cons, we opted for the cheap upgrade.  Once we got up to the suite, we were extremely impressed and thought the room was beautiful and the view very nice.

The only thing I didn’t like is the idea I was being sold –which I was. It was obviously an easy sale for him since he gave the impression he was hooking me up because we were  fellow countrymen or native brothers. Also because I loved the idea of using the jacuzzi which we did.  After the 4 hour ride, the jacuzzi hit the spot and relaxed me.  We checked out the actual Stratosphere tower which overlooked the entire city of Las Vegas. I think it is the highest structure there. They have 3 crazy rides at the top which of course because of my fear of heights didn’t even consider them.  Going up the elevator for me was challenging enough.  When we got to the top, my legs started to turn into spaghetti.  There are two levels to view the city. the lower one is enclosed and has a gift shop and a snack bar.

The upper level is open and extremely windy.  We took many pictures of the awesome views.  After awhile, the height got to me and my legs began to morph into rubber bands.  I was happy I checked it out but relieved when I came back to earth.

We had picked out about 10 places recommended by frommers to eat at.  The first buffet we ate at was the Main Street Brewery pub in downtown Las Vegas.  The service was good and the selection was good but the food was just OK to us.

From the frommers website and reviews they gave it 3 stars but to be honest, it was just average.  For the price, we could have eaten better tasting food and probably spent less money.

We went to another buffet at the Golden Nugget in downtown.  It was actually a fancy shmancy hotel casino.  On our way to the restaurant, we passed by the swimming pool area.

In the center was a full size aquarium that housed giant fish and sharks. 

Amazing, isn’t it?  Inside the restaurant there were views overlooking the pool.  The food itself was again just so so.  For this particular buffet, we had to wait about 45 minutes in line.  I was really hungry by the time we were able to sit down and eat.

After the meal, we went across town and checked out my favorite hotel growing up Circus Circus.  In my  youth, I played many hours there on the mezzanine playing video games and booth games winning stuffed animals.  That was such a long time ago.  Now that I came back, it seemed so strange.  My wife and I walked around and played a couple of video games like Ms Pacman.  We did catch a couple of great circus acts on the mezzanine.

It’s funny how much walking you do in these casinos.  We headed back to our hotel and just enjoyed our jacuzzi.  We rested up and just picked up some New York style pan pizza for dinner at the Stratosphere restaurants.  Wow!.  Pizza is one of my favorite foods and this was just delicious.  A great treat and  a wonderful way to end the night.  Originally we planned to eat at another frommers recommendation but we were becoming wary of our experiences.

Now we got some fun books that allowed you to gamble and earn comps.  My wife and I are not really gamblers but we can enjoy some of these high tech slots.  We got hooked on a monopoly game themed slot machine.  It was fun when we were winning and boring when our luck had changed.  We eventually earned enough comps that they gave us some treats.  I earned cash back that basically paid for the trips.  The hotel also threw in some show tickets but we didn’t have time to watch any of them.  The representative said she would put the comp tickets in my account that if I came back within 6 months they would still be available. That was nice of her.

When we drove home, I made to sure to fill up my car with gas.  For some reason, gas was only $3.40 in Nevada but $4.00 a gallon where I live.  I was able to get home on just over half a tank. Sweet!  Every time we go on holiday, my wife and I have a great time.  This was no exception.