One of the best parts of a vacation is sleeping-in, a rarity in our household, especially for Dan. On the Sunday morning of our long weekend, we got a very late start. Travel advice for Vegas...11ish on Sundays is the worst time to try to eat a meal. Everyone has checked out of their hotel rooms and they head for the last, splash-out meal of the vacation. You want a buffet? Forget about it.

We wandered, saw long lines, and finally ended up at the Le Cafe Ile St. Louis, basically the obligatory cafe that every hotel offers. Paris did it a little fancier than average and we enjoyed our French themed breakfast.

After breakfast, we drove to The Mirage to see the new tiger cubs.

In the early 2000's, I visited The Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy. It was awesome. In addition to the big cats, they had many other animals, including elephants. All of the animals were clearly well-cared for and it was a beautiful mini-zoo.

The best part was the audio tour. Narrated by both Siegfried and Roy, it was filled with awkward moments and unintentional comedy. I don't think that I stopped laughing the entire visit. Most memorable, was learning how each tiger is like " a delicate little snow flake" and how they like lollipops. Who knew?

I was very excited to go see the tiger cubs and to have Dan experience The Secret Garden in all of its cheesy glory.

I was very disappointed to discover that The Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy is a shell of its former self. Gone, is the awesome audio tour and there are significantly less animal exhibits than on my previous visit. I'm not certain, but I think that they might have used some of the former zoo space to put in an topless/adult pool complex.

The tickets were twenty-two each, pretty steep for what we saw. If they had been half the price, it would have been good value.

Topiary!

Grrrr....

We saw a bunch of big cats...tigers, lions, leopards, panthers...

But nothing beat the tiger cubs. They have four, two white and two orange. We saw two on display with a trainer. Doesn't this guy have the best job on earth?

It took us about fifteen minutes to walk through The Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy, plus another fifteen to watch the dolphins, which live in a multiple pool habitat adjacent to the big cats. We visited during one of the dolphin behavioral training sessions and we watched as they played with rubber balls ( they can open their mouths wide enough to fit a basketball sized ball. Wow.) and pose with tourist who had paid extra for a behind the scenes experience.

That night, we had dinner plans with Dan's former boss and his wife. We started with drinks at Bound in The Cromwell.

This was our first time visiting The Cromwell, a small boutique hotel next to Bally's. Our initial impression was very favorable. We loved Bound, which had amazing, unique cocktails and no televisions. It was classy. Plus, Bound had a book theme going on = Love.

After Bound, we moved to dinner at celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiss' first restaurant, Giada, located at The Cromwell. Being out with friends, I resisted the urge to document our meal, so no food pictures. Giada had spectacular views of the strip and featured a menu filled with tapas. We started with a shared cheese and meat board, which was very good. My main was a three cheese tortellini with braised beef. I was left unimpressed. It was very rich, small, the beef was microscopic, and to top it off, it was expensive. With so many restaurants competing for our business, we would not likely return to Giada.

When we left the restaurant, The Cromwell's elegant atmosphere, had been transformed, as college-aged kids were arriving for Drai's, a late-night club. Security was swarming and the casino was packed. We went back to Bound for after-dinner drinks and found the servers to be overwhelmed. As we were sitting, the club opened and the casino emptied out. I think that it might have been the music from Drai's that kept me up that night. This changed my impressions of The Cromwell. Clearly, I'm getting old and grumpy. Those kids and their music...get off my lawn!!!

Six months is a long time to go between Vegas trips. We were itching to go, so it was an easy choice for our second anniversary mini-vacation.

We woke up early on a Saturday and drove to Big Bear Lake to meet with our contractor. After a quick meeting and a detour to the zoo ( we had to visit the raccoon saloon), we were on our way. These two are just plotting their jail break!

The primary reason for our Big Bear detour, was we wanted to see how easy it is to visit Vegas from the mountain. Unfortunately, our experiment was thrown out, when we encountered major traffic in Baker. Using the traffic app Waze, we were able to find an alternative route through Death Valley. Ultimately, when we rejoined the freeway an hour-ish later, we ran into the same vehicles that we had left behind. However, driving through the desert was a prettier, more adventurous route. Some of the road was just dirt!

We arrived at Bally's in the late afternoon.

Bally's is an older property, with a prime location in the middle of the strip. It was an easy walk to Paris and Bellagio. Because it's not as new or glitzy as other properties, the deals are good. Upon check-in, we were offered a spa suite upgrade for forty more a night. We took the offer. Here is a look at our suite.

The entry-

We had a partial strip view, where we could see the Bellagio fountains and the Eiffel Tower. The decor looked dated in style, but definitely on the newer side. It made me think of Mad Men.

The major room feature was the jacuzzi tub. It was huge. Unfortunately, the jacuzzi had a blown fuse. and although we called maintenance, it wasn't repaired until the last night of our stay. We had several bubble-less baths.

Our only other room issue, was noise on the Sunday of our stay. I'm not sure if it was coming from Drai's or a club at Paris, but there was loud, thumping dance music until early in the morning. I couldn't sleep. Other than that specific issue, the room was very quiet.

On either side of the tub, we had closets ( tons of storage) and next to the closets, his and her vanities.

The toilet and shower were tucked in the back. The shower was very small and darkly lit. It's like the room underwent a remodel, but they didn't touch the shower.

The bed was very comfortable and I liked the sitting area. Overall, this was a very inviting and spacious room, definitely a bargain. Also of note, all of the staff were very friendly and welcoming, especially noticed at check-in and the valet. Bally's is old, but it has a nice vibe.

We didn't spend much time inside the casino and we didn't eat at any of the restaurants inside Bally's. We did however, have a drink at the Indigo Lounge.

We wandered in on Halloween night, to find it practically empty. A small middle-age ( older than us) crowd gathered to hear a live 80's cover band. The band was okay, but the bartenders kept all of the TV's running during the show. It was distracting to us and disrespectful to the band. We made the mistake of ordering off of the Halloween special menu. Here is what we got...

Two Kool-Aid tasting Bacardi drinks in pumpkin sippy cups and tee-shirts. The drinks were awful, the shirts unnecessary. We ended up leaving it all in the lounge. The vibe of the Indigo Lounge just felt wrong, and although it was inexpensive, it was a waste of our time. Here is a picture of the lounge the next day.

Bally's and Paris are connected via an internal walkway. That night, we had dinner at Yong Kang Street, a Chinese dumpling and noodle house that features dim sum carts. We were exhausted from the drive and famished, causing me to forget to take pictures of the experience. If you like dim sum, it's not to be missed. The food is reasonably priced and the atmosphere is fun.

After dinner, we headed to the Fashion Show Mall. Dan had forgotten to pack nice shirts ( I'll have to use that excuse the next time I want to go shopping on vacation), so we went to Nordstrom to pick up a few nice things. I'm a huge Nordstrom fan and I have to admit, that the men's department in Vegas, has the best stuff. It's unique to what is sold in Southern California stores, more playful designs and vibrant colors. Louder clothes. I snuck in a quick peek in my department and came away with an adorable faux fur vest. Happy Anniversary to us!

Even though it was Halloween, there was very little evidence of anyone celebrating it in Vegas. The best we saw was five college-aged girls dressed up as different versions of Britney Spears. They totally rocked it! I prefer Christmas to Halloween, so I was pleased to see this in the mall. Hey Santa, I saw a lot of things in Nordstrom that I'm adding to my list...

2nd Anniversary Trip- Tiger Cubs!

2nd Anniversary Trip- Bally's Las Vegas