The bastard went to Vegas, had a great time and hasn't told us all about it? The son-of-a-bitch never did tell us about the first time he had sex with his wife, or fiancee or girlfriend or whatever, also. So, now he really owes us. Use your mighty powers to wrench this stuff from him.
What's an EBC cup? Anything to do with Everest Base Camp? Edit: Aha, Encore Beach Club located in the Encore Hotel and Casino near the Wynn hotel.
Pool parties arent supposed to be open. They found a loophole by allocating a number of lounge chairs for hotel guests while requiring everyone else to reserve a daybed or cabana.
Updates since I'm back on a computer. Saturday Actually rented a car in LA to drive up. Didn't want to get on a plane quite yet. Got a Kia Optima, pretty nice handling car. Drove up Saturday Morning. Quick 4.5 hour-ish drive. Got a little bit of a detour in LA because they were doing some road construction near Ontario, CA. Stopped at Eddie's World in Yermo outside of Baker. Large gas stop. Look it up. For HCP, they have a lakers shrine in the back of the store. https://eddieworld.com/ Drove straight to Vegas. Needed a quick lunch, so we hit up the Fashion Show Mall across from the Wynn and got a sandwhich at Earl of Sandwhich. It was ok, not mind blowing like people seem to think. Went to Nordstrom, it seems like they took half the inventory out of the store, it was very bare. Masks weren't required in the mall but most people had them on. Checked in at Encore. 50% capacity. Hotel was pretty spaced out, not a lot of people. Its not the "normal crowd", seemed like a lot of bargain hunter types at the hotel since the rates were so low. Not a trashy crowd like other casinos, but it wasn't the usual for the most part. Parking was easy and free. Parked on the floor of the casino entrance every time with a good spot, so it was easy to go in and out. Went to the pool. There was a wait list, we had to wait about 20 minutes to be able to go in. Went to get a $19 drink at the Eastside Lounge while waiting. Pool was nice. It was windy (95 degrees or so), so it felt cold. Hit up some random thrift shops to see how the merch was. Kind of a waste of time to be honest. Driving around Vegas, you don't realize how fucking ghetto that city is. Lots of people all kinds of fucked up dispositions walking around the streets, all injured and shit. Got back to hotel. Went to dinner at Chica at Venetian. Made a reservation, its South American/Latin. It was good with nice ambiance. Service had something to be desired, the waiter seemed overwhemeled. Every employee everywhere had to wear a mask. Went to the floor at Venetian, shit was CROWDED with no masks. We got out of there quickly, just seemed dumb to be in that environment. Just chilled in the room the rest of the night. Its so nice to have a nice, king bed, AC blasting, and just chillin.
Sunday: Went off strip for Breakfast. Shit is like 1/3 the price of eating on the strip. Hit up Babystacks Cafe, which does like filipino/hawaiian breakfasts with like a bunch of pancakes. Lots of Hawaiians in town, so good place to grab some grindz. Got back to hotel, decided to hit up Encore Beach Club/Pool. They allocated a number of chairs for hotel guests so we got that. Made friends with a couple from the midwest, he was a big car dealer of some sorts and just sold his biz before the covid hit so he was straight chillin'. We drank for a few hours. Grabbed a sandwhich at the deli counter at Encore, and ate it and chilled in the room to sober up. After that, we hit up a few weird antique malls/flea markets. One was really weird, it was called Fantastik. It felt like I was in a 1990s cheeseball casino giftshop on crack. The people in the mall were fucking weird, mix of all kinds of characters. You could get some weapons, and wig and beds, and all kinds of crap. It was insane. We got there pretty close to closing, so we had to walk through fast. Drove through fremont street. Didn't go down, they had health check points going in. Not sure how it was inside, but I heard the live music was stopped on Friday until they see how COVID does. Ate dinner at Lotus of Siam at their OG location. Good stuff. One of the best rated Thai spots in the US. Drove down the strip. They are doing a SHITLOAD of road work on the strip, shit was moving slow as fuck, it was annoying. Was a bit sunburnt so we just stayed in the rest of the night and remained lame and safe from teh coronas. Monday: Checked out Hit up antique malls (bought a tiki mug and a circus circus mug from the 90s) Went to the army surplus store in North Vegas. They didn't have as much as I thought they would, it was pretty big, pretty much like Andy and Bax and shit like that. That area was super ghetto, it must have been projects because we ended up in some cracked out neighborhood, they had shared dumpsters in the middle of the street, it was a fucking trip. Then went to some Flaming Fajita Restaurant Then the Bass Pro World shop. Shit was cool. Lots of people in line to buy guns. The End.
Not sure if they club crawls are running, but there is a pool crawl. Go to 3 pool parties (Bare at Mirage, Flamingo Go Pool and Daylight at Mandalay were the ones last time). In between you get on a big ass bus with stripper poles and free beers and shots of shitty liquor. Its a good time if you want to get wasted in the afternoon one day. MGMs pool is nice, but its crowded as fuck. I heard they were closing the lazy river, not sure if that's true or not. It used to be hard to get a chair.
Get reservations to the Sterling Brunch at Ballys if you can. Shit is expensive (maybe $130 per person?), but the quality is awesome. Unlimited Perrier Jouet Champagne, lobster tails, prime rib, steaks, caviar, oysters on the half shell, etc. Not a fan of most of the buffets. I preferred going to Station Casinos for their basic buffets, places like Red Rock or Green Valley Resort. If you are only there for the fist time, I'd skip it though. Go to the Wynn, Bellagio or Bacchanal Buffett at Cesars (although I really didn't like Bacchanal at all, but its highly rated). Night time, some will have the good big ass crab legs instead of the shitty snow crab legs. If you like Seafood, the AYCE sushi spots off the strip are DOPE. Goyemon, Sushimon, etc. At MGM, I like eating casually at the Wolfgang Puck Cafe. I mean, its not going to blow you out of the water, but its pretty solid. I did Emeril's a few times, its just meh. For steaks, I like Del Frisco's Double Eagle, STK in the Cosmo (really cool vibe in there) and SW Steakhouse at the Wynn (they do this crazy Cowboy Crusted Bone in Ribeye for 2).
You guys got to hit up my friends place called Modern Mantiques next time you are in Vegas. From NE Portland great guy. https://www.modernmantiques.com
If its your first time in Vegas, definitely hit up the Neon Graveyard at night. Hit up Fremont Street too. Its gotten a lot better and is probably honestly better than walking the strip nowadays.
I really enjoy Fremont Street. Always really fun bands playing. And the gambling, tables and slots, is way looser/friendlier odds.
Drinks are so much cheaper. Vibe is way cooler. The strip has gotten so gentrified nowadays. Go to New York, New York. Go to Bellagio to see the fountain show and the observatory. Aria is a waste of time. Cosmo is good for the food. Ceasar's Palace Forum is cool to walk through once. Mirage and TI are a waste of time. Not much to see at Wynn/Encore anymore, they took the Jeff Koons art out of there.
If you ever stay at the QQQQs make sure you go up to the pool on the roof of Binions. It's out of the 1960s. Not big, no one is ever there except for the towel girl but the view is insane. The new Circa looks crazy, that pool is going to be insane but it might change the vibe of downtown.
