I recently got back from Vegas two days ago. I was there from Sunday through Wednesday. I went with my father and brother, and the highlight of the trip was perhaps the six movies I saw. In addition, I also saw my first Triple A game (I'll get to more on that later).
The hotel we stayed at was Southpoint. If you've never stayed there, I recommend it. It has a mini arcade, a bowling alley, and a first run Cinemark movie theater on the second floor. This was our first time going to Vegas since around 2009, and like the last time, instead of stopping in at state line, we went straight into Vegas and stopped at the Rio and ate Sunday Brunch at their Carnival Buffet. We made good time, as we got in right when church would have normally been starting for me (10 am).
If you've ever been there, you know what you get, with buffet stations spanning the room (big at that), with food selection varying from American to fish, to Asian, and Mexican, and a center island with desserts (left a lot to be desired). The only desserts I found worthwhile there was the bread pudding. Half the desserts were sugarless, so I skipped those, and there were mini cake squares, but there were flies on them, so I skipped them.
Upon eating at the Rio, we went to Southpoint (the hotel we stayed at), and got to check in early (about 1-1:30). The first thing I did there was see a movie. It was either that or listen how tired my father was, so I went off on my own, and saw Total Recall. This was another reboot in a long list of Hollywood reboots lately, and I have to admit I enjoyed it. Especially for what it's worth.
Later that night, I saw two more movies, this time with my brother and father. The movies we saw were Hope Springs (my favorite out of all the movies I saw), and The Campaign (hilarious comedy). I didn't actually pay for any of the movies I saw that day, as the second movie was paid for, and the first and third I won tickets, so that's always nice when it's free.
Hope Springs is the movie with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, whom go off on a week long trip to try and rekindle their marriage, now that they're in their 60's. Steve Carell plays the shrink that helps couples rekindle what they once had, or at least tries to. Meryl Streep is the one that pushes to go on this trip, and Tommy Lee Jones is the stubborn one, always complaining about anything and everything. The chemistry between the two is convincing, and you'll laugh throughout the movie.
The Campaign is the comedy starring Will Ferrell and the guy from the Hangover. I'll leave it at that, as his name is too long. Anyways, if your a fan of comedies such as The Hangover, or recent ones such as 21 Jump Street, you'll no doubt want to go see this one. The comedy is nonstop from beginning to end.
That was the first day. The second day, I didn't really do much of anything until nighttime, and that was when we went out to see the Las Vegas 51's play. That's the Triple A team of the Toronto Blue Jays. They played the Iowa Cubs (which is the Triple A team of the Chicago Cubs, obviously). We got tickets just three rows behind the dugout, but didn't sit in them. That's because the temperature at game time was 109, so we sat in the club restaurant on the second level. If you go see a game in Vegas, that's probably the only way you'll be comfortable, unless you get tickets directly behind home plate in the red section, as there are ceiling fans.
The restaurant is nice. It's air conditioned, which is a plus. You can either bring in food from the concession stands, or you can buy food inside. They have an a la cart menu you can choose from, or a meal you can choose. The meal consists of two black bowl that you fill up. You get to choose from salads, a soup of the day, or fruit, whichever you decide to pick, and three entrees. I went with a green salad in one bowl, pasta salad in the other, bbq chicken as one entree, rice as the second, and turkey with gravy as the third. The price was around $9.99 or so, but it was worth it. Drinks weren't included in price, and they were $3 (which is about the going rate for sodas at ballparks these days).
When we left the game, the temperature was 102, so as you can tell, Vegas doesn't cool down in August (probably all of summer). On day 3, we went down to the M Resort (which has only been open for a few years), and ate at their Studio B, which apparently was voted by one of the many publications as best Buffet in Vegas (I'm sure there's different awards for the one's on the Strip), as Southpoint is about 15-20 mintues from the strip, and the M is about 30 minutes from the strip. They're the first two hotels/casinos you'll really notice as you enter Vegas. The buffet is good, and has many different stations, similar to the Rio, but smaller. The desserts there are more on the Italian side. We actually ate there on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday as we left Vegas. That night on Tuesday (the last night there), I saw three more movies, as well I had nothing better to do.
Those three movies I saw were the new Ice Age, The Dark Knight Rises (I've now seen it 4 times), and The Odd Life of Timothy Green. I wasn't that impressed with Ice Age, and found it to be the weakest of the three big animated movies I've seen this summer. The Dark Knight Rises, well there's no need to explain that again. As for the last movie, apparently it's been getting bad reviews, but I actually enjoyed the film. There was only 11 people in the theater for that showing, and it was a midnight showing.
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