Mirage in the Desert
Heading back from a long weekend in Las Vegas with Indiana Jane. Had a great time of course, but our Vegas vacations are always a little different from most people’s idea of a debaucherous weekend in Sin City. Mainly, neither of us really gamble all that much these days; just doesn’t interest us that much. I don’t mind finding a low-limit table in the old downtown and shoot some dice around, but I’ve given up on pretending that I can win enough at any game to make it worthwhile. As Penn Jillette said at his show, “this is Vegas, which means that no one here is really good at math.”
Well, this weekend we decided to explore a new end of The Strip and try a new hotel, The Mirage. Our main priorities for Vegas hotels are primarily:
- The pool - we spend a lot of time hanging out in the sun during the day, a spacious and nice pool is must-have. So far my favorite is at the MGM Grand, huge complex, a lazy river, several waterfalls, and even a lap pool for morning constitutionals. The Mirage’s was pretty good, but felt a little crowded. Last time we were in town (for work) and stayed at the Hard Rock and Lex said that pool was nice, but pretty much a ridiculous scene.
- The food - plenty of good grub destinations all over the city, but invariably you’re going to eat at least a couple of meal at your hotel. This is where The Mirage really fell down. Their in-house cafe were not very tasty and way overpriced. The MGM again does very well here, a solid selection of cafes on the main floor as well as numerous fast food dives in the basement walkway for a quick fix in the mornings.
- Location - there’s a lot to do in every part of Vegas. Its worth trying one end of the strip and then the other and even off-strip for something completely different (Palms, Rio, Green Valley Ranch)
- Privacy - hotel rooms can vary widely in design. Another complaint I had with the Mirage was the noise you can hear from the hall in your room; slamming doors, singing neighbors, housekeeping, etc. Oh well, you can’t have peace and quiet everywhere, even in the middle of the desert!
Other hotels we’ve tried and our thoughts:
- Monte Carlo - central location, nice rooms, poor pool and little food.
- Bally’s - even more central location, nicely updated rooms, quite good food, and right on the monorail. Main drawback is the small square pool.
- Luxor - rooms usually have no view, poor food and poor pool. I won’t even mention the Excalibur.
- New York - solid on all counts, if not a smallish pool. I also love the roller-coaster.
- Sahara - Getting a major update with the Monorail coming to the neighborhood. Crummy food and pool, but you can get suites with an attached room for real cheap. Works well for wedding parties.
- Hard Rock - surprisingly nice rooms, far from the strip, merely OK food, and too small of a casino to house the “scene”.
Every time we go back I look for deals at the high-end places we want to stay: Mandalay (great pool), Bellagio (beautiful), Venetian (hearing a lot of good things), and of course the new Wynn. We checked out the Wynn this weekend and were very impressed with the architecture and the food.
Other fun things we did this weekend included seeing Penn & Teller at the Rio (great show), driving out to Green Valley Ranch for some excellent ribs at a local joint called Lucile’s and staying for a weekly club party out by their pool, and doing a bit of much-needed clothes shopping at the nearby Fashion Show Mall (having a car changes your horizons during the day quite a bit).
Hah, and as luck would have it a friend just sent me this link that agrees with a lot of the above:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/
Damn, now I really want to go back! Whoops, flight time…
