Las Vegas, NV, USA: 4/12/09 - 4/16/09

I'll never forget that first letter from The Venetian offering me free nights. Maybe I just really like The Venetian, Vegas, gambling, and getting free stuff, but it felt like I had achieved a rite of passage. I was offered 2 to 4 nights (on midweek dates) for as often as I'd like between February 15, 2009 and April 30, 2009. Constantly reminding myself that I need to keep my job (and to study for the CFA), I resignedly booked only 1 trip for the 4 days that coincided with Uyen's spring break. Given the rather long duration for a Vegas trip, our goal was to see as much of the non-casino sites that we could.

Day 1
So, our 5 day/4 night stay in Sin City began on Easter; but, don't worry, we only left after Uyen attended church. Our first stop of this trip, even before Vegas, was Calico Ghost Town in Yermo, just east of Barstow. Like everyone else who's made the drive between LA and Vegas, we had passed by the signs countless times and finally decided to check it out. Turns out Calico has been under the auspices of Knott's Berry Farm and, therefore, remains well maintained. Calico's heyday was during the turn of the 20th century when silver was being mined there. Around the town now, there are antique buildings/artifacts on display, a couple museums, shops, a short hiking trail, and a train tour that's available. It was similar to other ghost towns I've been to, but this place did remind me that there are Chinatowns everywhere (see the top sign on the signpost and all pictures can be clicked on to view the full-size image).

Day 2
Each day we chose one excursion to go on, returning at night to The Strip to eat, lounge by the pool, and gamble. Our first outing was to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is directly west of The Strip by about 35 minutes when driving. There's a free self-guided audio tour available at the visitor's center, which we did until we got too hungry and had to head back out to Bonnie Springs, the nearest city with food and about 10 minutes away. In case this wasn't clear, there is no food for sale at Red Rock, but Bonnie Springs is more than adequate in case one forgot or didn't know (like us). Bonnie Springs is a quaint little city/attraction that is dedicated to the preservation of "old Nevada" and is founded by/named after a once Las Vegas dancer. The people running the place are extraordinarily polite and the food (classic American fare) isn't bad, especially when starving. We even made some new friends.

Once we were refueled (and had a chance to study the various hikes), we headed back to Red Rock, which basically consists of one 13 mile driving loop with various points of interests/trailheads along the way. There are 19 hiking trails, ranging from 0.75 mi to 6 mi. We decided on the Keystone Thrust trail, which was supposed to be a moderate 3 mi hike to see the "most significant geologic feature" of Red Rock. Long story short, when we got to the end (or basically as far as we could go before dropping off a sheer cliff), we (and other hikers who were there) didn't know what we were looking for! I felt like Rachel in that Friends episode when she couldn't see her baby in the sonogram. I kept on looking for something in the distance to no avail, but, upon coming home and googling, I found out that it was a fault that we were basically walking on/along (reference 1, reference 2). I just want to say: a placard at the destination would have really helped. At any rate, despite our naïveté, the hike itself was great and Red Rock is definitely a place we will return to in the future (after remembering to eat first at Bonnie Springs).


Before even heading to Red Rocks in the morning, we had first stopped at Tix 4 Tonight and picked up tickets for the 10:30PM showing of MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris. For the uninitiated, Crazy Horse Paris is MGM Grand's adult show offering and, relative to the others we've seen (Fantasy @ Luxor, X Burlesque @ Flamingo, Folies Bergère @ Tropicana, and Zumanity @ NYNY), Crazy Horse was the hands-down overall favorite for both Uyen and me, plus everyone gets a free souvenir program. Fantasy and X Burlesque were more juvenile (and filled with juveniles, which certainly didn't add to the experience) as was represented by what I'll call the "side-acts," for which both had very crude and borderline offensive comedians. Being Cirque du Soleil, Zumanity is great, but for the price, your money is much better spent seeing one of the classic Cirques (especially "O" and KÀ). A very close second to Crazy Horse was Folies Bergère, which had a skilled and funny magician as its side-act. Sadly, Folies ended its run at the Tropicana in March of this year, just months before its 50th anniversary. It was truly a classic. But, Crazy Horse faithfully carries on the tradition in an avant-garde fashion with terrific side-acts: a popping dance duo and (I'm still not really sure how they did it) a human puppet show featuring "Micro Jackson" (RIP). It's just one of those things you've got to see to understand.

Day 3
Next up was Nevada's first State Park, the Valley of Fire. It is located an hour northeast of The Strip, off the I-15. Once again, there was no food for sale in this park, so remember to eat beforehand! Also just like Red Rock, this park derives its namesake from the red sandstone formations, which resulted from the erosion of huge sand dunes over 150 million years ago. Pretty much all of the sights in Valley of Fire are accessible by driving. There are 2 official hiking trails, both of which are short and easy. The longer one, White Dome trail, is a great 1.25 mi loop, where along the way there are remains of an old movie set ("The Professionals") and a slot canyon to walk through. The shorter trail, Petroglyph Canyon / Mouse's Tank, is a 0.5 mi round-trip hike where various petroglyphs can be seen along the hike. At the end of this one is a natural "tank" in the rocks where rainwater would collect. All in all, this is one of the best parks I've been to that would be educational and fun for all ages.


For dinner this night we had made plans for Thomas Keller's Bouchon, located in the Venezia tower at The Venetian. We made reservations on OpenTable.com before we even left for Vegas, so we were pleasantly delighted when we discovered a 15% off coupon to Bouchon in our suite after the first night. We started with a soup and a charcuterie w/ 4 types of meat (that came out on a cutting board) and our main course was mussels and fries. We also had a half bottle of wine to complement our meal and crème caramel to finish it off. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of our food as we didn't know we'd be starting a travel blog at that time and, quite frankly, we didn't want to look like dorks (but don't worry, we've gotten over that!). We also ate/drank so much that we were both somewhat disoriented after the meal, to the point where we fell asleep, unintentionally, upon returning to our suite and woke up at 2AM to do some gambling. There were still plenty of people down there to join us, though; that's good ol' Vegas.

Day 4
Our last full day in Vegas was dedicated to the Hoover Dam. Working for a company that partly owns Hoover Dam, I was able to pre-schedule a visit (thanks Dennis!). Thankfully, there was also food available here, so we finally didn't have to worry about that and were able to have a pleasant lunch before beginning our tour. We participated in the generator tour, which was about an hour and took us down to see the generators and penstocks. After our tour, we walked along the dam, took some pictures, and visited the museum where the old visitor's center used to be. The picture below of the semi-completed bridge is of the alernative route that will finally alleviate the congestion across the dam (those of you who've been know what I'm talking about). It's good to see it's on its way to completion. Also, I've been to the dam before, but everytime, I'm still awed by how ginormously BIG the whole thing is.


Since it was tax day, we went to McCormick and Schmick's on Flamingo Road (just off the strip) for dinner to partake in their tax day promotion: $10.40 entrées and a $10.40 dinner certificate for a future visit.

Day 5
Alas, the time came to bid farewell to our home for the last 4 nights. We weren't quite done with Vegas, yet, though. Just off the east side of The Strip on Flamingo Road is the Atomic Testing Museum, which was highly recommended to me by Jeff (the manager of my group). The reason the museum is located here is because much of the US's nuclear testing in the past was done in the desert just north of Las Vegas. There are actually historical photos of The Strip with the mushroom cloud after an atomic blast clearly visible in the background. Having been born after the atomic age, this extensive and fascinating museum helped fill in the numerous gaps in our knowledge of the nuclear history of the United States. Anyone who has so much as a passing interest in nuclear warfare (or simply desires to be a more educated human being) should visit this museum.

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Cost Breakdown

$10.00 (per car) - Special event (Easter weekend) admission fee for Calico Ghost Town, normally $6/pp
$5.00 (per car) - Admission fee for Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
$66.50 ($24.75+tax/fees x2) - Tickets to MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris from Tix 4 Tonight (visit link for a "$2 off service charge" coupon)
$6.00 - Entrance fee for Valley of Fire State Park
$91.54 - Dinner at Bouchon, with 15% discount
$9.00 - Admission fee for Atomic Testing Museum (we used a 2-for-1 coupon, which can be found in Las Vegas coupon books scattered across The Strip)
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$188.04

Notes:
- Our 4 nights at The Venetian were comped for being a new Club Grazie member. Click the link for more information on their current promotion for new members.
- Our visit to the Hoover Dam was also comped, but the prices are reasonable. The tours start at $11/pp for the Powerplant Tour (the one we took) and parking is $7 per vehicle.
- Vegas is one of our favorite places to frequent, so visit all our Vegas travel guide blog posts for the latest ideas, reviews, and promotions available.

Palm Springs, CA, USA: 2/21/09 - 2/22/09

Toward the end of 2008, Hyatt had a "Faster Free Nights" promotion where Hyatt was giving guests a free night for every 2 eligible stays. We earned 1 free night during that promotion and had to use it before the end of February, so we planned a weekend trip to Palm Springs. At a little over 1.5 hours by car, it's close enough for a meaningful 1-2 day trip but far enough away to make it worth a night's stay.

This was our second trip to Palm Springs together and my second time ever. Our first trip was in August 2008, and, although we were able to do many things then, it was too hot to fully enjoy the city. If my memory serves me correctly, there were a few instances where poor Willy almost passed out. But, we had none of those problems on this trip. The weather was perfect for hiking, eating great food, watching an outdoor movie, and visiting an art museum, without the chance of suffering from a heat stroke.

Day 1
We left for Palm Springs on a Saturday morning and arrived around noon. We first stopped at the Palm Springs Visitor Center to find a map to the trails at Indian Canyons. I ended up having to change clothes and shoes here, too, because Willy had "forgotten" to tell me we were going hiking (even when he saw me leave the house in flip flops and jeans). Luckily, I had packed my running shoes and windbreakers. After getting directions, we were off.

Indian Canyons is gorgeous. The weather in Palm Springs is surreal; how can it be 80 degrees in the middle of February?! The first trail we took was an easy trail in Andreas Canyon. This canyon was different from the canyons I've hiked through in LA because the land wasn't all dry and rocky. In addition to the seemingly barren landscape, there were flowers and streams and palm trees! Yes, palm trees! And an abundance of them as well. What made this hike even more special was that we met a great couple and one of the guys offered to give us a little photo shoot (I guess he could tell Willy's method of using nature as a tripod wasn't working out too well):


After this hike, we went on two more trails. The second one was more difficult. Willy left me a couple of times and I wanted to give up, but the view at the peak was worth it. After that we were about to go home when, thankfully, one of the park staff told us there was one more very short one that we just had to do. This last trail was very short (1 mi round trip), easy, and brought us right up to this wonder:


After Indian Canyons, we popped in Willy's Tito Puente CD (Tito and the Springs = almost a match made in Heaven) and drove to our hotel: Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs. It is right on Palm Canyon Drive, the main street in downtown Palm Springs. After checking in, we hit the pool, showered, and walked to dinner.

If you are ever in Palm Springs, you must go to LG's Prime Steakhouse, which has 3 locations (all local to the Palm Springs area). We discovered this place on our first visit and knew instantly this would become a staple in our places to visit in Palm Springs. We were even lucky enough to get the same server, Mima, who remembered us! We started off with an appetizer sampler and escargot melted in butter and alfredo sauce, shared a filet mignon with creamed spinach on the side, and wrapped up with some vanilla bean ice cream. To complement our meal, we shared a half bottle of red wine.

After dinner, we watched a movie poolside at the Riviera Resort & Spa. We saw a flyer at the Visitor Center advertising this as the last event of the "Modernism Week" festivities, which just happened to be this week, and decided to take advantage of it. I admit I don't remember much of the movie (because I might have fallen asleep) but I do remember that the Riviera has very comfortable private cabana beds. They also provided free popcorn and desserts.

Day 2
After packing up, we went to the Palm Springs Art Museum, which was only a couple of blocks away from our hotel. The museum's visiting exhibits were of Wayne Thiebaud, who grew up in California and is famous for his paintings of food and consumer goods, and Robert Mapplethorpe, a master of photography known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and provocative nudes. Here are some shots of Thiebaud's works that Willy snuck in before security asked him to stop:

After spending the morning at the museum, we went to Pomme Frites, a French restaurant on Palm Canyon Road, for lunch before reluctantly heading home.

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Cost Breakdown

$12.00 - Admission for 2 to Indian Canyons
$113.03 - Dinner at LG's Prime Steakhouse with 2 appetizers, 1 "In Season Special" Prix Fixe (1 salad, 1 entrée, 1 side, and 1 dessert) for $45, and a half bottle of red wine
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$125.03

Notes:
- Our 1 night at the Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs was comped for participating in the Faster Free Nights promotion toward the end of 2008.
- This Hyatt charges for parking, but there is plenty of metered street parking available (that does not run on weekends) all around the hotel.
- We received free admission to the Palm Springs Art Museum because we are friends of a sister museum. Admission prices ranges from $5 for students to $12.50 for adults and is free on Thursdays from 4-8pm.