Las Vegas and Death Valley: Las Vegas Day 2

We slept in this morning and then decided to walk down to the Flamingo to see how they were coming along on The Linq Project which is being built between The Quad (formerly the Imperial Palace) and the Flamingo.  The focal point of the Linq is a huge “Observation” wheel called the High Roller at the rear of the properties which will be accessed through an area of shopping and restaurants.   

Conceptualized picture of the Linq Project

The project has come a long way since we were here in September, but has a long way to go.  The most noticeable changes are the construction of the large towers for the observation wheel 

The towers and frame for the High Roller

and the rebranding of the Imperial Palace to the Quad with a major facelift both front and on the side nearest Harrah’s.  

The new facade of The Quad

The rebranding of the Imperial Palace to the Quad.

Caesars Entertainment owns all those hotels and I believe the intent is to link them all together with Linq project.

Once at the Flamingo, we decided to have an early lunch as we had reservations at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Harrah’s for dinner and wanted to make sure we had an appetite.  Ruth’s Chris is a national upscale steakhouse chain and opened just a month ago in Harrah’s replacing the steakhouse called The Range.  After lunch we walked around the Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo. It's a very nice spot in the middle of all the hotel wings.  

We tried our luck gambling at the Flamingo with mixed results and then headed off to see what had changed at The Quad.  It turned out, most of the changes were outside as the casino was still pretty dumpy and looked about the same except for some areas being closed off.  We gambled a little with Val doing pretty well, watched the “dealertainers” perform and headed back to Harrah’s.  A little more gambling and then it was back to the room to relax and get ready for my birthday dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Our meal at Ruth’s Chris turned out to be very nice, the restaurant overlooks the Strip and has a very nice, modern décor.  Our dinner was excellent, but we were a little disappointed in the steak.  We had the porterhouse for two and it was very good, but with Ruth’s Chris reputation, we expected a bit more.  They surprised us with a great dessert which was a gift for my birthday so all in all, a wonderful evening.  We will be dining there again in the future.

We finished dinner around nine and spent the rest of the evening in the casino with mixed gambling results.  We didn’t lose all of our daily gambling allotment, but we certainly didn’t come out ahead for the day.  It was off to bed around midnight, the end of a great birthday for me.