Vegas Trip Diary January 2019

We started 2019 with a trip to Vegas! We left on January 1, 2019, and spent five nights at The Cal in Downtown Las Vegas. Temperatures were so, so cold — in the 30’s for most days. Here’s what we did . . .

The Bellagio really out-did themselves with their Christmas display this year. In addition to the soaring Christmas tree and frolicking polar bears, it included majestic horses pulling a carriage you could walk through and a beautiful snow queen. The pictures don't do it justice.

The renovations to The Cal are complete. All rooms, casino and amenity areas are fully renovated. The exception is Market Street Cafe.

If you care, Vacations Hawaii even updated their Aloha coupon books. It used to be green and had a more floral design.

They added two additional banquet rooms to the second floor where slots machines, a bar and the orignal sports book used to be. The area seemed a bit cramped to me, but it had a nice contemporary design. Above are two of the ballrooms.

See the couple to the right side of the picture? The third ballroom is to the right.

They switched the directions of the escalators. The man pictured going down used to be the "up" escalator.  I heard the escalators have been out of order for a while, but they were working fine when we where there.

New York New York skyline from the NYNY-MGM bridge.

Statue of Liberty wears a Las Vegas Knights jersey.

Dancing Bliss lit up at night. Love The Park. Nice place to hang out.

Water feature at The Park. The light changes colors; it was really pretty.

We walked though the new Park MGM (formerly Monte Carlo). The casino was nothing to write home about (don't get me wrong, it was very nice); however, the newly added Eataly is pretty cool. It's billed as an Italian Marketplace with authentic Italian eateries and products. I didn't take any pictures, and we only did a quick walk through, but I'll definitely spend more time here during our next visit.

At Cosmopolitan.

Again, at Cosmopolitan.

On the Strip, early in the morning.

I found a Mariah Carey slot machine at Bally. I'm not sure why they didn't have this at other casinos, especially at Caesar's where she performs. Note slot machine creators: looping an artist's music is a great way to distract players from focusing on how much they are playing/losing. LOL. Needless to say, I didn't do well, but was signing along to Mariah's songs.

Linq Promenade. I really love what they did with this area. They recently added a zip line.

I'm so glad there is an In-N-Out at Linq Promenade. More convenient than driving to the W. Tropicana Avenue location.

It was mostly sunny (albeit cold) during our trip with the exception of this day.

Praying Mantis at Container Park in Downtown Las Vegas.

Back of mama Mantis.

Peeking through the letters of the Container Park sign. Hubby is a bit afraid of heights.

Best tree house ever! If you have kids, a visit to Container Park is a must. It's a great place for young ones to burn off some energy.

Breakfast from Egg Slut, at Cosmopolitan. We ate a Fairfax Sandwich and a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Sandwich. It was delicious! It's best to go early or be prepared to wait in line.

Sprinkles cupcakes! Chocolate (left) and peanut butter.

Both cupcakes were really moist. The peanut butter one had bits of chocolate chips in it. 

First time at Luke's Lobsters. We got the trio, which consisted of one lobster roll, one crab roll and one shrimp roll. I really enjoyed the lobster and shrimp rolls. Surprisingly, I thought the crab was just okay. The clam chowder was really, really good.

Interrupting the food shots with a picture of me standing in front of a giant heart, right outside of Luke's Lobsters.

Back to food. I tried tocino for the first time at The Cal. It's a breakfast dish that's commonly found in the Philippines, among other places. Basically, it's marinated pork belly that is then fried or boiled. We saw another table order it one morning, and we asked the waitress what it was. It looked a bit like char siu, which I like. I ordered it the next morning and it was really good! 

It's always a pleasure to stay and play in Downtown Las Vegas, especially at these two properties.

That's all for now! Until the next trip, Live and Breathe Aloha!