The Mandalay Bay End

Even though both of us are early risers, we were able to sleep today until 9am, which was awesome. We got showered and dressed and headed out in search of chocolate chip muffins at the Paris bakery, another Melissa favorite. We were chagrined to see that the bakery was out of the muffins, so we poked around and found an acceptable substitute, pain du chocolate. Yumster! We finished those quickly and then went out to find me some more weather-appropriate clothes. Seriously, you guys, I don't know what I was thinking when I packed for this trip. I had brought one sweater and no socks other than my running socks. You would think I had never traveled before. Anyway, we went next door to the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood casino and found the Gap. I got some more long-sleeved tops and a new pair of awesome sunglasses. Also at the Miracle Mile, we encountered the Nestle Toll House Bakery, where we shared a snack that consisted of a chocolate chip cookie embedded in a brownie. Yes! A dessert inside another dessert! Brilliant! After shopping, we headed toward the Mandalay Bay again, and on the way we kept running into an incredibly stinky drunk/high transvestite in a red bra and a dress who was being really combative with everyone and generally causing a stir. I managed to sneak some pictures of him (I certainly didn't want him noticing and coming over and talking to us), and we managed to shake him and were on our way.

On a suggestion from my friend Rachel (hi!), we went to the Shark Reef aquarium at the Mandalay Bay. I should mention first that the theme at the Mandalay appears to be southeast Asian, and I just so happen to be freshly back from Cambodia and Singapore, so I can tell you that it is pretty well done. The walls and sidewalks are made of big blocks, and just like in Cambodia, there are occasional holes in the blocks (which would have been used to carry them using bamboo poles if we were in a southeast Asian ruin and not in a multi-billion-dollar entertainment complex). The other thing that is great about the Mandalay is that it smells like the beach, like, everywhere. Mmmmmm! The aquarium has a "sunken temple" theme, and it is really well done. For our $17 admission, we got those little audio tour phone things that tell you what all the fish are. On the way in, we were also photographed, and I decided as usual that I was absolutely not going to buy the photos. We'll see how we do with that. Anyway, the aquarium is small but excellent. They have a lot of sharks (of course), but also some good Australian reef fish and Caribbean reef fish, so I got to brag about scuba diving, which I always like. We learned about piranha and touched stingrays and walked through a big glass tunnel that went through the aquarium, so the sharks swam above and below. Plus! You guys! Massive shout-out to the Cambodia trip! Guess what was right next to the GBR exhibit?...A NAGA!!! Yes! It only had 5 heads, but still: Well done, Mandalay Bay. On our way out, we looked at the photos that they'd taken of us on our way in, and seriously: They were awesome. We just could not resist. Augh! I know. We bought the damn photos. Or rather, Melissa did, because she insisted we needed the photos of us getting attacked by a shark. And I cannot disagree. They are awesome.

We went inside and ordered drinks (Sex on the Glacier, of course) and chilled out on the ice couches (HA!...no? OK then).

After the aquarium, we went back through Mandalay Place to do a Lora recommendation: The Minus 5 bar. I went to one when I was in Auckland last year. It is insanely touristy and gimmicky, but you know what? I don't care! The whole bar is made of ice -- even the glasses the drinks come in. We put our stuff in lockers and donned the mandatory parkas and mittens (difference between New Zealand and the US: in Vegas, we were provided with plastic gloves to put on underneath the mittens...an improvement, I say). We went inside and ordered drinks (Sex on the Glacier, of course) and chilled out on the ice couches (HA!...no? OK then). They'd put white fur throws on the seats so it was not unbearably cold, but still: It was chilly in there. We admired the ice sculptures, and I kissed the Elvis ice sculpture, and then we went back out into the real world to get our stuff and move on with the day. On our way through the Mandalay Bay, Melissa indulged me and let me watch the Heisman trophy award presentation. She is a good egg.

We walked back toward the Paris but decided to explore some other casinos along the way: the Luxor (Egyptian theme), Excalibur (super cheesy medieval theme), and the New York New York. Of course, the NY NY is a favorite of ours, so we walked around Fake NY for a few minutes, checking out the buildings and storefronts. We found our way outside the NY NY and were stunned to find that the wind had picked up with insane force, so we took a cab for a relatively short trip back to the Paris so we could drop off our shopping bags before heading out to dinner. We decided to have an early dinner at the Bellagio buffet, so we walked across the bridge to get there from the Paris and waited in line, where we were among the first to arrive. The buffet was huge, just as advertised, and we had lobster ravioli, crab legs, shrimp, delicious pasta, fish, everything. For dessert they had a bunch of little tiny pastries and other insanely sweet things, as well as soft ice cream. We both ate an embarrassing amount, for which we felt not bad at all, because we hadn't had lunch today. The buffet took a lot out of us, so we had to sit and let things settle before trudging back across the street to the Paris to rest up.

We got some good lounging done, and at 9:00, we were all dolled up and looking fantastic, if I do say so myself, to head down to the Mirage to see Jay Leno. When we got on the elevator, there were already two guys on there, both wearing cowboy hats and holding drinks, and we knew this was a good time to check something off Melissa's Vegas to-do list: Try on a cowboy hat. The rodeo is in town, and we had been waiting for just the right cowboy to let us wear his hat. This guy happily agreed, but he stipulated that if we wanted to try on the hat, we'd have to "try on the cowboy too." So we did, and we got some great photos right there in the elevator. Fantastic! We bid the cowboys a fond adieu and went out to get a cab.

We arrived at the Mirage in plenty of time for the 10pm show, so we stopped in at a Brazilian steakhouse there and had a few drinks and watched people, which is always a good activity in Vegas. We found the theatre at 9:40 and took our seats, which were better than I had expected. We were in row GG, which in New York and most sports arenas I know means "toward the back," but actually, we were in the 4th or 5th row. Excellent! We'd bought the tickets back in August, so I was glad to see that our planning had paid off. There was a little of everything at the show -- some people in jeans and t-shirts, others dressed in suits and cocktail dresses. We were somewhere in the middle...we liked the idea of dressing up, but it makes no sense to try to look really spectacular in Vegas because there will always be someone who took more time than you did, and of course you run the risk of wearing your nicest outfit and ending up seated next to people in sweatpants. What a place.

The show started right at 10:00 with the opening act, an a cappella doo-wop foursome called the Alley Cats. They were really good and unexpectedly funny. They sang a lot of old songs that my parents like (OK, I admit it, I like them too) and did a great job getting everyone in the mood to laugh. At one point the guy singing bass hopped out into the audience and grabbed a woman in a bright red sequined dress to come up onstage and dance with him. We both saw it coming: The top of her dress totally fell off! Mortifying! The second tenor serenaded another woman in the audience, and the guys also made a Canadian guy named Albert come onstage and join them in singing "Blue Moon." They mocked his fanny pack, and rightly so, but they also taught him some of their moves and featured him on the song. And all's well that ends well, because a drunk high roller gave Albert $100 cash for entertaining us. We were pleasantly surprised with them and really enjoyed their show. They were on for about 30 minutes before thanking us and making space for the main act.

I like Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, and now that I have seen him live, I want to see more of the Tonight Show. He really put on a great act. He talked about the news, which is obviously his specialty. He also went along and asked the whole front row about their jobs and had some really funny insights. We especially laughed at the girl who said she was studying bioinformatics and then got all sensitive when Jay pretended to fall asleep as she explained it to him. Welcome to the club, girlfriend! Science careers are sort of a conversation ender. Jay also told some hilarious stories about his family, which Melissa particularly enjoyed. We were thrilled that he was onstage for over 90 minutes. Definitely a good buy for our $90! We laughed the whole time and left the show in a great mood. The taxi line was way too long, so we ended up hoofing it back through the cold to the Paris. Melissa wanted to get some soup or tea, but there was only one restaurant open at 12:30am at the Paris, and there was a really long line to sit. Instead, she looked around and found some tea and then joined me upstairs for much-needed rest. No one can say we are not taking advantage of Vegas!