Viva Las Vegas, Baby! Day One...

I absolutely have to start at the very beginning of our trip, which was my birthday. Our anniversary had been the day before, but we'd decided that celebrating it in Vegas would be a definite plus, so we waited. We weren't wrong to wait and we weren't disappointed.

The Wynn was so amazing. No. That isn't the right adjective. The Wynn exceeded all of our expectations in every possible way. The Wynn is phenomenal. We were astonished time and time again at what a well oiled machine this hotel is. I suspect much of it has to do with the fact that Steve Wynn lives on the top floor and is a constant, unexpected presence, which is what it takes. I saw him walking through the casino twice during our stay.

We had a straight through flight to Las Vegas the day of my birthday, which in itself, was a treat. Southwest Airlines is another finely tuned machine. Head 'Em Up And Move 'Em Out. Our flight arrived on time and we were ready to roll.

We arrived at The Wynn, were allowed to register and get into our room at 10:00 AM, even though the check-in time was 3:00 PM. Hmmmm... Yet another plus.

As you can see, our room was very nice and the view was spectacular. We could have spent a bit more and stayed in The Tower, but as little as we were in the room, I just didn't see the reason for it. We were perfectly happy with our room and the service we received. Our room overlooked the golf course, which is beautiful. We didn't have time for the likes of playing golf. We were there to gamble... and gamble we did.


The view from our room was spectacular, both day and night. My attempts at taking pictures at night, of our view, was evidently a lesson in futility. I just couldn't get it on the right setting, I guess.

This is a picture of my two favorite dealers, Monty and Danielle, at The Wynn. While sitting at Monty's table, I won $900.00. Danielle was the back-up dealer for Monty's table and she was adorable. Monty was a total scream. If you ever watched Seinfeld... this guy was the spitting image of Elaine's big, good looking, dumb guy boyfriend, who was so funny. He wasn't dumb by any means. The main reason I won was the people at our table. Every once in a while, you'll sit at a table with just the perfect mix of people and the cards begin to flow. This was my day and I seized it. Everyone at the table was funny and believe me, our table was overflowing with good bullshit. I laughed so hard, for so long, my cheeks actually ached. Giggling AND winning at Blackjack is definitely as good as it gets.

Mr. Snooty was busy playing the slot machines and would drop by the table periodically. He even sat at our table for a while and played, but he doesn't really like Blackjack. Too much guesswork, I suppose. Once I informed the table it was my birthday, the cards just started flowing, so I milked it for all it was worth.


At 7:30 PM we had a dinner reservation at one of the top notch Wynn restaurants, Bartolotta, where we were able to dine outside in one of their romantic cabanas. I had the Cappesante Dorate con Porcini (seared sea scallops with porcini mushrooms) for an appetizer, which was heavenly, while Mr. Snooty had the Cocotte di Parmigiano-Reggiano (parmigiano-reggiano custard with wild mushrooms). Next, I had the Lasagnette con Ragout di Crostacia ("rags" of pasta with lobster, shrimp, langoustines, crab, tomato and white wine). Mr. Snooty had the Pescano d'amo al Forno (fresh caught Mediterranean fish of the day) which turned out to be a Red Snapper. Just as we were about to order a bottle of wine, the Wine Somelier brought us a bottle of wine and said "someone" sent it to us. We couldn't imagine who could have sent us the wine, but we drank it all and it was lovely.

Then, the waiter brought us dessert, which was a divine little something like an Italian pudding cake with Happy Birthday written across the top of the plate in chocolate. We totally devoured it as we finished up our lovely wine. Then, I was ready to hit the casino and the Blackjack tables again, where I won another $200.00. I finally went back up to our room around 1:00 AM and fell into a deep slumber. Mr. Snooty was already dead to the world, so I quietly climbed into bed and drifted off with dreams of multiple hands of 21.

The next morning, Snooty Daughter called to see how we enjoyed everything. She and our son had been the ones who sent us the wine for our anniversary and she was wondering why we hadn't called to praise her and Snooty Son for their wonderful idea of sending us a lovely bottle of wine. I had to laugh and tell her our waiter's English wasn't very good, which is probably why he didn't tell us who it was from. Frankly, it was all we could do, just to order from the Italian menu. We could hardly understand every other word the waiter spoke. Still, I was thrilled that the kids had been so thoughtful.

To Be Continued Tomorrow....