A dream come true

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Geo: 36.0846, -115.172

Justin and I were up early and off to Lenotre. Sadly, while good, it wasn't as good as anything you would get in Paris. We wandered around a bit before meeting up with the rest of the boys. Heading back through Caesar's Palace, we came across a good-looking food court. It'd be worth coming back here later to sample the place selling American BBQ.

Everybody checked out of the hotel, and we were off to lunch - there was some talk of going to Todai, another buffet, but a few of us were sick of the gorgefests. So instead, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant located in Chinatown (if you could even call it that, it was just a handful of Asian stores and restaurants in a strip mall).

The menu listed a cherimoya shake - excitedly, I ordered it, since I had not had it since this past Christmas' trip to South America (http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/7/1230691320/tpod.html#pbrowser/pwong/7/1230691320/filename=img_3443.jpg) But sadly, they didn't have any 😞

Off to the airport - having a few coins in my pocket, I was going to blow them in the slot machines located in the terminal. But none of them took coins, only credit cards and bills, so the coins went unspent.

The flight was oversold, and an offer of a round-trip ticket to anywhere in North America was made to anyone who would give up their seat. If only I didn't have things to do in the office tomorrow ... it's not that I wanted to stay longer in Vegas, it's just that I wanted that free flight!

All in all, Vegas has been a bit disappointing, but that's probably my fault for having too many expectations. Overly-hyped and overly-Disneyfied, a return visit isn't warranted any time soon, unless there's another stag to attend. Other than cheap hotels and even-cheaper buffets, it's not a great value. But Las Vegas would be a great place to go if you wanted to stay in a nice hotel, check out a few shows, go to the spa, do some shopping, and eat at some great restaurants. Though a little pricey, it looks like they've got an amazing array of high-end dining options once you step outside of the buffet trap that everybody seemingly falls into.

I'm still a little dumbfounded by how developers have managed to create a little piece of everywhere else in the world, right here, in the middle of the dessert - I don't see much appeal in that. But of course, if they happened to build a hotel called "Spain", and completely staffed it with female employees imported from the land of the beautiful little brunettes, I would never find a reason to leave North America ever again!

I usually love writing blogs, but have found these Vegas ones to be a bit of a chore - other than embarrassing incidents, nothing terribly interesting happened on this trip. Granted, there were still a ton of tourist sites we never went to, because we weren't terribly motivated to go. Guess those things can be done the next time in Vegas, but I really can't say when that will be!

But really, none of this is important. The key point is that all of John's friends helped him finally realize his life-long dream of becoming a cover girl, and appearing on the cover of Playboy magazine.

All this leads us to the song for the trip - which song could possibly capture the essence of this trip? Why, none other than "Cover Girl", by New Kids on the Block!

Cover Girl

I get up in the morning and I see your face, girl
You're looking so good, everything's in place
Don't you know I could never leave your side girl
Won't you stay here with me and be my bride?
Don't you know you're my kind, you're just what I like
Girl you're everything, don't you know you're alright
The only girl I've always needed for so long

Chorus:

Oh, oh-oh, she's my cover girl
Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh
Oh, oh-oh, she's my cover girl
Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh

When I look through the pages of a magazine
Still, your pretty face is the prettiest I've seen
Don't you know I only want to be with you
No other girl could make me feel the way you do
You're my everything

Chorus twice

It's alright
Oh, yeah, it's out of sight
Let me say it's alright
Ah, yeah!

Don't you know I only want to be with you
No other girl could make me feel the way you do
You're my everything

Chorus and fade

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Photos

o
Pain au chocolat - flaky, but a little hard, and a bit too buttery. Good, but something wasn't quite right about it.
Justin's raspberry mousse - amazing! The mousse was covered in a chocolate shell that was almost liquid-like, and the mousse seemingly evaporated on your tongue. It's tough imagining finding a better one in France. It didn't sound like Justin found the croissant all that special.
And it's not in the picture, but the peach tartelette was flaky, however the pastry was too hard and crunchy. Forgettable cappuccino.

r
D'oh! I need to stop wearing light-coloured clothing, because I inevitably stain it. This time, the culprit was a bit of chocolate.

zzn
Caesar's Palace was the most impressive hotel on the strip, for the sheer size of its grounds. Plus, it was a buzzing place the other day when John strolled through in his lovely outfit!

zzo
It seemed to stretch on, and on, taking forever to walk through. Imagine how long that walk would be, if you were dressed in a grass skirt, coconut bra, pink tights, and bunny ears?

zj
Inside the shops at Caesar's Palace.

s
Stupid - the Mirage and TI are sister hotels, and you can take a shuttle between the two. Who's stupid idea was this?

t
The TI is less than a 5 minute walk away, and I'm sure the shuttles run much less frequently than that. But of course, if it was 45 degrees out, maybe the shuttle wouldn't be such a stupid idea, after all.

b
Last lunch for the boys - a Vietnamese restaurant is a fitting setting for a group of Asians, no?

c
And just to remind John - now that he's getting married, his life is over! Though Peter really shouldn't be pointing a gun at John's head, since he is next on the list ...

v
We started with some spring rolls, which were served with lettuce, and also some things I've never before seen served alongside them - pickled carrots, cucumbers, and daikon. The spring rolls were alright, bigger than those you find in Calgary's Vietnamese restaurants.

u
The pho was alright, but the noodles had a great, firm texture. The beef balls were a little blah. A decent meal, and a nice departure from the buffets.

d
New York, New York - one last outfit for John. This time, he didn't have to parade around in it, only take some photos.

e
Another group photo - something was missing ...

f
... the bunny ears! It wouldn't be complete without it!

g
One last group photo, this time done correctly!

h
Note to John - if you ever do end up in prison, make sure you don't wear the bunny ears, because you'll end up being very popular with the other inmates ...
And, I'd like to point out - my only ideas for this stag were the prison jumpsuit and the ball and chain. The bunny ears, grass skirt, coconut bra, pink tights, and handing out those cards on the strip were all the ideas of other people. In case there is ever thought of retribution, I am quite innocent in the whole matter.

i
Still having time to kill before the flight, we hung out at New York, New York. We were all exhausted from the past few days, so none of us wanted to do too much. A few guys grabbed some ice cream and we sat around for a bit.

j
Justin, showing us what kind of activities took place in the hotel room he shared with Jason and Tri.

k
The group split into two, with some staying at New York New York to gamble, and the rest off to see Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. On the way, we checked out another Peter Lik gallery, which was almost exactly the same as the one found in the Paris hotel.

l
Excalibur buffet - $25 for an all-day buffet, with in and out privileges! I've heard it's crap, but you can't beat the price.

m
Interior of Luxor - over-rated.

v
Dinner was from Moe's Southwest Grill, located at our airport terminal - a large burrito, stuffed with beans, guacamole, rice, and steak.

w
It was served with some stale chips and crappy salsa.

x
New form of advertising on the plane - on the fold-down tray. Pretty ingenious, actually. But this might be better if they placed advertising on the underside too, as that's the side you'll likely be staring at for hours on end.

zzzz
John finally realizes his life-long dream and appears on the cover of Playboy magazine.