Las Vegas and Death Valley: Las Vegas Day 4

Our last day in Las Vegas, time seems to go by so quickly here.  This morning we decided that we would head over to Caesar's Palace which is right across the street from Harrah's.

The easiest way to get into Caesar's from where we crossed the street is the long walk through the forums shops.  Caesar's is a massive property so no matter where you go, it's a walk.

The entrance to the forum shops.

The walk through the shops.

The entrance into Caesar's hotel and casino.

We spent some time gambling, which followed last night's trend except Val did even better and I did even worse.  It looks like it's going to be that kind of trip for me.  Soon we were getting hungry and spotted Gordon Ramsay's Pub and Grill which has recently opened, but unfortunately it was closed for lunch because the staff was going through some sort of training.  We were disappointed as the menu looked very good. 

After lunch we left Caesar's and headed across the street to the Flamingo and then down the street to the Quad again.  After that it was back to Harrah's and up to the room to rest our tired feet.  I used the time to buy some Internet time and update the blog.  We went down to the casino early this evening as we wanted to get to bed early since we head to Death Valley tomorrow morning. 

Our trip to the casino proved fruitful mainly thanks to Harrah's.  There was a promotion going on for our visit which gave us $300 in free slot play so we decided to use it on a $5 machine.  After going through the first $200 winning nothing, we were happily surprised to hit for $600.  We had to play out the rest of the free play and then we split the $600 between us.  This allowed me to break even for the day which meant I would go home with at least some of my gambling money.  As for Val, it just increased her win for the day and even though she still lost overall on the trip, it means she will take most of her money home with her.  We always expect to lose everything, so anything we bring home seems like a win to us.

After our surprise win at the $5 machine we decided to have dinner at the buffet and call it a night.  As usual it has been a great trip and time has flown by.  We are looking forward to meeting up with Michael and Mikie at the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley tomorrow and to start exploring Death Valley.  It will be quite a contrast between the masses of people in Las Vegas and the isolation of Death Valley.

Las Vegas and Death Valley: Las Vegas Day 3

After sleeping in again, we decided we would hop on the monorail and head down to Ballys and the Paris.  We were able to get a closer look at the construction of the Linq Project from the monorail and it is really a massive project.

The back half of the site of the Linq Project.

A closer and better view of the towers for the High Roller observation wheel.

The monorail arrives and it's time to head for the Paris.

We walked around a bit and had lunch at the café at the Paris.  The Paris café is much nicer than the one at Harrah’s and we had a very good lunch.  From there we decided to get back on the monorail and head down to the MGM Grand.  The MGM Grand is a huge place so we did a lot of walking.  Val did excellent gambling while I had a terrible day.  In fact I finally just quit and watched her win to preserve what money I had left.  Finally around four, she decided to head to Harrah’s so it was back to the monorail for the trip back.  At Harrah’s it was back to the room to cleanup and relax a bit before we headed out for the evening.

As usual, we spent most of the evening gambling, again with mixed results.  Unfortunately for me, this meant Val had a very good night and I did terrible.  Only a fortuitous win at the end of the night saved me from a complete disaster.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow.  We kind of let time get away from us so dinner tonight was a late meal at KGB Burger, the gourmet burger restaurant at Harrahs's which is pretty good.  After that we returned to the room for the night.  Tomorrow is our last day in Las Vegas before we head to Death Valley.

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.

Las Vegas and Death Valley: Las Vegas Day 1

We left Tehachapi around 9:00 and headed east on Highway 58 towards Barstow and I-15.  Traffic was very light on both 58 and I-15 so we were in Las Vegas by 1:00.  As usual we are staying at Harrah's which, as I’ve said before, is not one of the best hotels in town, but the location is great and it is fine with us.  We checked in, but our room wasn’t ready so we checked our bags and had an uninspiring lunch at the café and then did some gambling until our room was ready around 3:00.  We were happily surprised to see we were comped a nice suite on the 32^nd floor.  I told them we were here for my birthday so maybe that helped get us a nice room.

We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and relaxing and then decided to go down to the casino for the evening.  Before we went, I wanted to take a shower and while I was in the shower Val decorated the room with balloons and a birthday banner, a nice surprise.  Our gambling was up and down all evening and we ended up losing most of our daily gambling allotment, but we had a lot of fun and we were on our way to bed by 11:30.

Las Vegas and Death Valley

Time to hit the road again, this time for a short trip to Las Vegas and Death Valley.  I told Val I would like to spend my birthday in Las Vegas and we talked to our friends Michael and Mikie (they went with us on our White Rim Road trip) about a trip to Death Valley so we decided to combine the two.  So Val and I will be spending the first four days in Las Vegas and then Michael and Mikie will join us at the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley.

As usual, when we head east, we get a jump on the trip by making the quick drive to Tehachapi to make the drive to Las Vegas shorter and give us more time on our first day.  We left home just after noon and were in Tehachapi just before three.  After checking in and getting situated we headed out for an early dinner at the Red House BBQ.  As I have mentioned before, this is a bonus for staying in Tehachapi as they have excellent BBQ.  To be honest, our ribs today were not up to there usual standards, but they were still good.  Val and I both got sides of Mac & Cheese and coleslaw and they were both very good.  The Mac & Cheese is really tasty.

The Red House BBQ

We ate early because the Academy Awards are on tonight and we wanted to watch the show tonight which starts at 5:30.  This year we managed to see all the nominated films and most of the best actor / actress nominee films so we are interested in the results.

I'm not sure whether I will have an Internet connection the rest of the trip so I may end up having to report on this trip when we get home, we'll see what happens.  Stay tuned.

Trip to Lake Tahoe

It has become a tradition with us to take a short trip to Lake Tahoe every year right after New Years.  It gives us a chance to relax and get away after the hustle and bustle of all the holiday activities.  During our summer visits we enjoy hiking and exploring the back roads of the area, but in the winter we prefer viewing the lake and mountains from the warmth of our hotel room.  Lake Tahoe is about a seven or eight hour drive for us so on the way up we usually leave a day early and stay in the Sacramento area so it's only a short drive the day and allows us to arrive early in the day.

We left home mid-morning on Saturday and after a lunch stop at Harris Ranch on I-5, we were in our hotel room in El Dorado Hills (just east of Sacramento) by 4:00.  We slept in a bit on Sunday morning as the prediction was for snow on US-50 through the Sierras and we didn't want to drive on icy roads.  Last January there was almost no visible snow along the highway, but we could see this year would be different as we started to see snow at the lower elevations.

Snow along US-50.

As we got higher in the mountains the weather predictions proved to be accurate as it started to snow.  As we got to the higher elevations chains were required, but luckily we have 4-wheel drive so we didn't have to get out in the cold and wet to put on chains.

Driving conditions weren't too bad, but the going was slow so it took us longer than usual to get from Sacramento to Tahoe.  We always stay at Harrah's Hotel, which is just across the California state line in Nevada.

Arriving at Harrah's.  The hotel is just across the state line.

We arrived at Harrah's around lunchtime and to our happy surprise, our room was ready.  We unpacked, had lunch and then tried our luck in the casino.  After a while of not winning, but also not losing too much, we were back in our room and were treated to an amazing sunset as the storm started to break up.

Later we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, did a little more gambling and then called it an early night.  

Monday, our first full day, we walked around a bit, gambled a bit and just relaxed.  Although not as spectacular, we had another beautiful sunset to end our day.

We woke-up Tuesday morning to beautiful blue skies and cold temperatures.  There is so much more snow this year than last. Last year there was virtually no snow, not even on the visible mountain slopes so the skiers were unhappy and the local businesses were unhappy.  This year it is very much the opposite as there is snow on the ground and on the slopes.

Today was our day to drive down into the Carson Valley and visit Reno, Nevada.  One of Val's favorite stores is Coldwater Creek and there is one in Reno.  She had gotten gift cards for Christmas so she wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to use them as there are no Coldwater Creek stores in our area.

Coming down into the Carson Valley

We made it to Coldwater Creek.

We were surprised by the amount of snow on the ground in the Carson Valley, it was the most we'd seen on our winter visits.  After Coldwater Creek we had a late lunch in Reno and then back to Tahoe.  After relaxing a bit, we had dinner at the hotel cafe and then finished the evening gambling a bit.

Wednesday we woke to very high winds as a cold front was moving in and more snow predicted by evening.  We spent the morning walking around some of the other hotels and after lunch we decided to walk over to Heavenly Village to check out the shops and have lunch.  Just across the state line in California there is a gondola in Heavenly Village which skiers use to get to one of the Heavenly ski areas.  You don't have to be a skier to ride the gondolas and Val and I have done it in both the summer and winter.  The views of the lake and surrounding area are spectacular from the top.

The gondola station.

The skating rink is pretty empty on a mid week afternoon.

After walking around and checking out the shops we had lunch at the Driftwood Cafe which is one of our favorites in the area, especially for breakfast.  If you are in the area, we highly recommend it for breakfast.  After lunch, it was time to get back to the hotel as the weather was starting to change and it looked like the snow was coming.

Harrah's Hotel, cross the street and you're in Nevada.

After napping and relaxing for a while we had a good Mexican dinner at the Cabo Wabo Cantina and then it was off to gamble.  It had started snowing in the afternoon and had gotten very cold.  We walked out of the casino to see how cold it was and for a Californian not used to cold weather, it seemed very cold!  I believe it got do to near zero F during the night.

The storm moves in.

Thursday was our last day and we spent most of it in the casino.  It was a very good day gambling, especially for Val. Not good enough to make up for our losses earlier in the week, but we did end up with most of our gambling budget intact, plus our room and all of our food was comped.  We called it a night early as we were leaving in the morning.

We woke up to a surprise Friday morning, there was no power in our room.  It turned out that much of the area on the Nevada side had lost power during the night.  There was plenty of light coming in the windows to see except in the bathroom, but we always carry headlamps with us when we travel so were able to get packed, cleaned up and ready to go without too much difficulty.  Much of the hotel was being powered by generator, but not our wing.  The storm had passed and we had blue skies and we prepared to leave.

The were no driving restrictions and very little traffic on US-50 as we headed for home so it was a pretty easy drive through the mountains. However, the back road we take to get to US-50, Pioneer Trail, was very icy and even driving slow there were a couple of times when you stepped on the brake and the car just kept going.  It didn't slide very far, but enough to make you feel a bit out of control.

Icy Pioneer Trail Road

 

The trip down I-5 seemed to go pretty quickly (maybe for me because Val did all the driving) and we were home by 5:00.

As I said earlier, Lake Tahoe is one of our favorite getaways.  We had a great time and the lake and mountains were beautiful with all the snow.  We came home with most of our gambling money still in our pockets so that part was successful (I consider anytime I don't lose all my money successful).  All in all, we had a great time on our first trip of 2013 and are looking forward to many more this year.

Our next trip will be to Las Vegas in February for my birthday, and from there we go to Death Valley to meet our friends Michael and Mikie for some warmer weather and backroad desert scenery.  After that is our big 30 day cruise to the South Pacific in April.

Washington, Oregon - Day 15 & 16: The Drive Home and Final Thoughts

Day 15
We were up early to get a good start for our journey home, but when we looked out the window of our hotel room all we could see was a dense fog.  By the time we packed up and had some breakfast the fog had mostly dissipated and we were on our way.  The temperature was in the 30's when we left and it stayed in the 30's or 40's most of the day.  As we drove down I-5 we could once again see heavy storm clouds ahead, but except for some very light showers we were able to avoid the bad weather.  Fortunately, we had the good luck to be able to see what it left behind as we drove along.

As we drove up into the Siskiyou Mountains we begin to see more and more snow left by the recent storm.  It was no longer snowing, but it made for a beautiful drive with the snow covered trees.  The drive through Southern Oregon on I-5 is a really scenic drive, especially considering it's an interstate.

Finally as we left Oregon and entered California we saw something we hadn't seem much of the last two weeks - sunshine and blue sky.

When we left Northern California two weeks ago the fall color was just beginning to show, but it was in full change on our return.

Driving south, a familiar landmark could be seen peeking out of the clouds ahead.

Mount Shasta

As we drove on into Redding we considered just driving home all the way, but realizing with the time change we would be driving the last four or five hours in the dark, we decided it was better to stop in Sacramento and finish our drive the next day and that's what we did.


Day 16
The last day of our drive was easy and uneventful.  There were very few trucks on the road which made it a much more relaxing drive and we were home before 2:00 PM, our trip was finished.

Final Thoughts
Val and I both had some misgivings about this trip when we left.  We both wanted to go, but thought maybe it was too late in the fall to go to the Northwest and we both halfway expected to have to come home early because of bad weather.

We couldn't have been more wrong.  Even though sunshine was at a premium, I think that actually enhanced the trip.  The fall color actually was much more striking with the dark clouds and occasional rain and we seemed to be there at the right time as the fall color was in abundance and just beautiful.  Add the rivers, lakes and waterfalls we saw, the Cascades, the San Juan Islands and the rain forests and you have two weeks of incredible scenery.  It has been a while since we have been to the Northwest as we usually seem to end up in the Southwest, but after this trip, we won't be staying away long as there is a lot more we want to do and see.

It was great to see Val's niece and nephew and their families, Nate and Penny and their family, and Rob and Judy. Another really, really good reason to come back to the Northwest.  All and all, a great trip.