Viva vacation or flying off to Vegas

Let me start by saying this - there are no pictures. While I had my camera in my bag the whole time, I never once thought to bring it out. I was too busy having fun and enjoying the sweet, stress-free vacation personalities that both Ben and I don the moment we leave the metro DC area.  That's not to say that we're not nice, fun-loving people at home. But we seem better able to shed the stress when we're out of town.  This trip was no exception.  But it always takes a few hours to kick in...

My ire was up on the plane when I realized I was seated next to a passenger that had no sense of personal space and was a charicature of a tourist, snapping shots out the window while leaning into my middle seat to get the right angle.  Alas, I made it off the plane without making him eat his camera, which, while still in DC-impatient mode was an achievement unto itself.

We made it to the hotel, this time The Mirage, just minutes behind my parents who had flown in from Detroit, checked in with out incident and found our lovely, recently renovated room.  By now it was 1130AM PST, lunch time by any standard.  But we'd been up since 530 EST and hadn't eaten anything in many, many hours.  We wasted no time meeting up with my parents and making our way over to Mesa Grill in Caesar's.  This spot has become our regular first stop in Vegas.  The food is always great and, at lunch at least, the value is good, even by Vegas standards. 

Ben had made his drink decision before we even entered Caesar's - a prickly pear margarita.  He wasn't disappointed when it was delivered.  Aside from being pink and a little frilly, the taste was just as he remembered.  Tart, yet sweet, strong but well balanced.  I was thrilled to find they had one of my favorite wines on the menu, a Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir.  So with our drinks in hand we settled in to decide on lunch. I should probably mention here that my parents, my father in particular, are not the most adventurous eaters.  But I have to give them credit, they hung in with every restaurant choice we made and I hope genuinely enjoyed themselves (if not, they are way better actors than I realized!).

Ben and I decided to split a first course - Tiger Shrimp and Roasted Garlic Corn Tamale with Corn Cilantro sauce.  Amazing! The masa was flavorful and delicious without being dry and the sauce was the best mix of cilantro with all the sweetness of the corn.  My mom started with the Gala Apple Salad, made with baby spinach, Maytag blue cheese, toasted pecans and orange vinaigrette dressing. While it was a Ntina-free salad thanks to the pecans, Ben tasted it and they both assure me it was a delicious blend of flavors. 

After thoroughly enjoying our appetizers, our mains arrived.  Three of four of us went with a tried and tested favorite - the Mesa Burger.  A fresh beef patty, grilled to order with sweet Vidalia onions, double Cheddar and horseradish mustard.  It's nothing fancy, but somehow Bobby Flay has harnessed all the possible tastiness of a burger in this one, perfect plate of meat.  My Mom and Dad both loved theirs.  This was the second time my Dad had enjoyed this dish which he labeled, "The best burger I've ever had."  Ben and I had decided to share our meals, my burger and his Yucatan Chicken Tacos served with peanut chile smokey BBQ sauce.  Yum! But in the end, I burger-hogged because it was just so good.

After lunch we meandered around the casino deciding what to play before meeting up at the Sports Book (where my Dad can nearly always be located when in Vegas) to head back to our hotel.  We whiled away the afternoon "playing the puppies" and the "ponies" with my Dad in the Sports Book and, for a brief period, riding my Mom's beginner's luck at Craps.  Her beginner's luck, in fact, was the end of any luck we had playing Craps for the duration of the vacation, but for about an hour or so, we rode it to winning.  Add in a little roulette and a LOT of people watching and suddenly it was 8PM PST and we were trying to figure out where to head to dinner.

My Dad had been telling us that he really liked the steakhouse in the Mirage, Kokomo's.  Since chances were good that we'd be making most of the restaurant selections for the vacation, we'd opted to go with his recommendation on that first night.  The rotten part was that we were all too tired from the long day of traveling and the time change to be able to really enjoy our meal and my memory is clouded by a combo of wine and exhaustion.  I can say we enjoyed our meal and that Ben did have some fantastic crab legs (these suckers worked out before making their Deadliest Catch debut, they were seriously meaty!).  All in all, it was a great start to our vacation.  More fun to come!