When we woke up in the morning, we took it easy, showered, and headed down for breakfast. While eating another great meal, we started talking to one of the other couples staying at the inn. Tony and Connie were from Las Vegas (Henderson actually) and had come out for a couple of days of rest. We talked with them all through breakfast and for about 1/2 hour to an hour after we were all done. Tony worked for the state mental hospital, and Connie worked for the Henderson Police Department. The entire conversation was very pleasant, and they were really nice people. It was a great way to end our time in Zion, because right after we finished talking with them we headed up to the room to pack and check out.
After we checked out, we headed up to Las Vegas for another type of fun. This time we were staying at the MGM Grand, but we hadn't decided where we would head for dinner quite yet. After asking the front desk and concierge a couple of questions, we headed up to the room to get settled in. When we got to the room, we dropped our stuff off, got changed into Vegas clothes, and headed out to have fun.
Once on the casino floor, we headed over to the section of the hotel to look at the restaurant menus and figure out what we would have for dinner. After checking all of the menus for the restaurants in the MGM, and initially choosing Pearl (a Chinese food place), we decided we really weren't in the mood for Chinese after all. So, we decided we might want to go to Rum Jungle (in Mandalay Bay) and went back up to the room to call in a reservation. After setting up the reservation, we headed downstairs to the casino again.
We did make a slight detour first and went over to Coyote Ugly to get our drinks filled up first. I started with a "Coyote's Newest", and AM got a "Sex on the Beach". Of course we both got an extra shot of rum, otherwise the drinks would be a little too sugary. With drinks in hand, we headed back to MGM to start throwing some money away (also known as gambling).
On our previous trip, I had decided that we should always bet max on the video poker machines, because if we ever hit a royal flush, we would kick ourselves for missing the full payout (if you don't bet the max credits, we actually have a lower payout percentage). To counter the higher loss rate on a per hand basis, we had both started practicing video poker at home and learning when and what cards you should hold. This managed to keep our rate of money loss about the same as when we were betting just a quarter, but unfortunately I still went through $40 in about 20 minutes (I was getting "dealt" nothing). On the other hand, AM was doing pretty well. At the end of an 2 hours, we were up $20 between the 2 of us.
It now being close to dinner time, we headed back up to the room for a while. After getting changed into our Vegas night clothes, we headed over to Mandalay Bay for dinner. Once we got there, we saw Red Square next to Rum Jungle and decided we would rather try some Russian food. This works pretty well, as we have yet to repeat a dinner restaurant between visits. While AM was getting us a table at Red Square, I headed over to Rum Jungle to cancel the reservation. When I got back, they seated us immediately and the waiter was out right away to explain the menu and take our drink orders. I decided that I should hold off on any more alcohol for a while, but AM got a Mojito (not really vodka based, but she wanted something she knew she would like).
We also decided to be very adventurous and try steak tartar for an appetizer. We knew in advance that it was raw steak, but we figured that if we were going to try it anyway, Vegas should be the place. When the waiter brought it out, we were both really nervous at seeing it. Not only is it raw ground steak, but there is a raw egg on top of it and a few items on the side that get mixed in. After everything was mixed together (raw ground beef, raw egg, crème fraîche, onions, and parsley), we dished some of it onto a piece of toast and tried it. Thankfully, we were both pleasantly surprised. It actually has a nice creamy texture, isn't chewy in the least, and a very mild flavor. I can't say that I would have this very often, but on a rare occasion I would definitely order it again.
For the main course, we decided we would evenly split 2 dishes that we wanted to try. To do this, we ordered the strozapretti stroganoff and chicken kiev. When they were brought to the table, we cut each in half and started to try them out. Both dishes were good, but the stroganoff was absolutely amazing. I highly recommend this place to anyone staying at the south end of the strip.
After dinner, we headed back over to MGM to do some more gambling. When do play video poker, we always find 2 machines next to each other so we can talk while we play and ask each other what they would do with the cards that get dealt. A couple of times over the next 40 minutes we each got a 4 of a kind, which prolonged our play quite a bit. After about an hour, down to $1.25 left of the gambling money for the day, I got dealt the queen, king, and ace of hearts, the king of clubs, and the 10 of diamonds. I could have kept the 2 kings to at least break even on the hand, tossed the king of clubs and tried for a straight, or tossed both the king of clubs and the 10 of diamonds and go for the royal flush. I decided to go for the royal, held the 3 cards, and hit deal.
Well, of all things to happen, I hit it. A royal flush. $1000. When the machine started counting, I just sat there staring at it for a moment in shocked disbelief. A moment later AM turned to look at my machine because it was "counting up" for so long, and she just stared for a moment. Then she asked "Am I dreaming?" The only response I could think of was "I don't know." For the next 3 minutes the machine counted up credits while AM and I started to celebrate. This basically paid for vacation, or made us break even on gambling for the year, whichever way you prefer to look at it.
Once it finished paying off, I contemplated for a quick moment playing a couple of more hands to get up to $1010 or down to $1000 even. Then I though "a malfunction voids all credits in the machine" and quickly hit "cash out". We headed over to the cashier (I didn't want to trust one of the automatic machines in case it ate the ticket) and cashed it immediately, splitting the money between us. To celebrate, we headed over to New York, New York to watch the dueling pianos.
On the way to the dueling pianos we got a refill at Coyote Ugly again (a hurricane this time), then went over to listen. As usual, the pianos are fun, but unfortunately they were plying for tips a bit much this time and kept playing about 10 seconds of a song before switching to another (just enough to get you psyched and ready, then disappointed when they stopped). After about 20 minutes of this, we headed over to Big Apple Bar to listen to Phoenix for the night.
We've actually heard Phoenix perform a couple of times before, and they are pretty good. Unfortunately, they don't start their act until 9 and it was only 8:15, so we decided to do a little more gambling prior to the start of the show. To burn some time, we headed out and used some of the penny slots for a while. You can really make those last a while if you just want to burn time and not lose a lot of money. At close to 9, we headed back into the bar to listen to Phoenix for the rest of the night.