Las Vegas 2014 - Day 3

Today we took a much needed break from hiking.  We spent the day between Sports Book, poker, tables with a little machine hopping mixed in.

For dinner, we went to one of our longtime favorite restaurants her in Vegas.  The Roma Deli & Restaurant in Las Vegas is a Italian Deli with seating and operates as a restaurant serving authentic Sicilian food.  

It's a small local place owned operated by family members.  We eat here every trip to Vegas.  Ron had the meatballs & spaghetti, while I had fettuccini with homemade Italian sausage & peppers. 

The meatballs were huge and absolutely delish!

Las Vegas 2015 - Day 2; Lake Mead Hiking

Today's morning hike was The Anniversary Narrows located in northern Lake Mead.   We left the hotel in the dark to reach the trailhead around 7am.

The Narrows are awe inspiring when consider Mother Nature with the force of water, cut 200 yards through a huge mountain.  

It was a little creepy to look up through the tiny openings and see blue sky so far away from where I stood.

We came across some pretty plants growing among the rocks and boulders.

I am glad it's winter here.  It was in the 40's when we began and 20 degrees warming on the return trip.  It can get really hot, really fast in the desert.

The 6.6 RT mile hike took 3 hours to complete.  I won't lie, we were exhausted afterward.  It was worth every step.

We have only been to the southern end Lake Mead and decided to stop at the Northern side on the way home. 

It is so sad to see how low the water is compared to our first visit, thanks to global warming.  I doubt our great-grandchildren will have the opportunity to see this man made lake.

I spent this evening on the strip.  First we had dinner at Paris Las Vegas.  This has always been our favorite buffet because of all the great french dishes.  But, it was not as good this time, so it will be our last.  Next visit we will try one of the smaller cafe restaurants.

After dinner we walked down the strip, stopping to make donations at various casinos as we made our way to the Mirage to see Beatles Love show.

The shows was fantastic.  One would not have to be Beatles fans to enjoy it.  It was a huge productions with very elaborate costumes.

After the show we stopped at The LINQ casino.  All I can say is WOW.  It is very spacious and everyone from the waitstaff to the dealers to the pit boss were are very friendly and welcoming.  I would love to spend more time here.

Las Vegas 2014 - Day 1; Red Rock Hiking

Sunrise as we began our hike

Beautiful moonlight as we drove through the canyon to our hike

We love hiking on our trips.  It's very inexpensive, requires little equipment expense and is a great way to really see the area.  Our first hike of this trip is along Red Rock Canyon.  When we choose our trail it was considered moderate.  We are amateur/recreational hikers.  Once we got to the trailhead, the trail was marked as difficult.  Still we decided to give it a shot.

Our Stairway to Heaven

The trail is mostly rock of course.

 The beginning was small pebbles but as we continued on, they became larger including several boulders.

The views were still breathtaking.  The trail is named ice box trail & it lived up to its name.  The temperature really drops as you walk between the mountains, it's like walking from the desert into an ice box! It was incredible.

If you have never visited Red Rock Canyon while visiting Vegas, you have missed one of their most beautiful areas around it.

In the afternoon, we used a complimentary buffet to the Hollywood Casino BSL's new sister casino, the M resort.  The resort was a short drive from the strip, it was a nice day to drive with windows down. 

 The buffet is beautifully setup & the foods we tried were good, the buffet included wine/beer, gelato and a gourmet coffee bar.  The casino was strangely quiet, unfriendly & nothing special.

Las Vegas 2014 plans

Planning our week.

We decided to return to Vegas last October when we received a special offer from Southwest for less than $300 round trip.  Hubby also receives free rooms from The Orleans.

We have bought discount show tickets from The Mirage to see Cirque du Soeil Beatles Love.  We might see another show if we find another discounted enough.

We have some mountain hikes planned around the area.  We get plenty use of the hotel gym while there too!

We have some favorite local restaurants we visit each time we go.  There's only one casino buffet I really like, Paris.  We like all the French foods.

Vegas 2011-The Room

One of the things I want to include in our blog is a critique of the hotel room/services.

The Orleans is an older hotel located off the strip, compared to new huge resorts on the strip, it is lower in cost as well. I liked the freedom of being away from the strip and all it's traffic.

Our room on this trip is. Non-smoking King Deluxe. The room smelled & looked spotless. The paintings on the wall are New Orleans scenes.




The fleur de lis wallpaper was a nice touch.

The furnishings while clean, should really be updated. The TV is old(not HD). There were mostly just basic cable channels.





There is a separate sitting area with a comfy sofa, chair & coffee table. The bath was sufficient with a pocket door. The bed is comfortable. Our room had a beautiful view of the snow topped mountains.

My critique of The Orleans Casino restaurants :

Courtyard Cafe~ The portions are large, the service was a little on the slow side. I had the 3 course special, (meatloaf, mashed piraña, gravy, steamed veggies), (chicken noodle soup), (apple pie) - all was tasty except the veggies which were rubbery. Hubby ordered the Cobb Salad which was huge and very good! Both dishes were approx. $10.

Don Miguel's Mexican~ I ordered a California Chicken breast sandwich with avocado & provolone cheese, it was a little on the dry side. Hubby ordered

The Prime Rib Loft~it's located on the 2nd floor, service and food were both good, not great, just good. I ordered the Filet topped with a crabmeat sauce & garlic mashed potatoes. Ron ordered Sirloin steak with baked potato. Dessert was apple pie ala mode, which we shared. The pie was definitely large enough for two.





- Posted via iPhone

Location:The Orleans Hotel

Planning Vegas 2011

Well, today we finally booked our hotel for Vegas.  After much deliberation we decided to stay off the strip at The Orleans.  Ron won a $1000 seat at a Horse Racing Tournament.  Because of his entry in the tournament they comped our room for two days, and reduced the price on the remaining days along with a food comp.  The Orleans is NOT one of the newer casinos but they do give better comps than the bigger ones we have stayed in.  It does make me feel at home with all the fleur de lis and Mardi Gras decor everywhere

Our airline of preference is always Southwest,  we got really good prices today and I like not having to pay the luggage fees.  We also got a rental car from less than $200 for the week.  What I normally do is book the rental car and monitor the Internet to check for lower deals, if I do, I cancel and book the lower price.  So the Hotel, Air and Rental Car are all done!

Now it's time to plan some fun things to do!  While we always enjoy doing the strip, this time I plan to venture out of the city limits!