Red Rock Hotel

The Red Rock Resort makes a great first impression.

It is officially in Las Vegas, but it is a world apart from Fremont Street in downtown.

Located close to the mountains on the outskirts of town, it feels comfortably luxurious. In cruise terms, it feels like a brand new, state-of-the-art Royal Caribbean ship, whereas downtown is more Fantasy-Class Carnival. That's to take nothing away from the fun experience downtown.

Our room itself may not have been much larger than the room at the Golden Nugget, but it was much more modern and impressive. Plus, you have to love a television in the bathroom to watch from the tub or while shaving. From the fifteenth floor, we had an awesome panoramic view of the strip and other parts of Las Vegas through our floor to ceiling wall of windows. Interestingly, they included a CD of the same kind of thumping electro jazz music played throughout the hotel to be played on the room's Bose stereo.

The pool area is visually stunning, with cabanas and luxurious poster beds along with padded lounge chairs around the large circular pool centered by a fountain, with smaller rectangular hot tubs close by. On breaks from Julie's seminars, we would sit on lounge chairs while Julie conducted business on her Blackberry.

Some of the bars and restaurants would actually be more at home on a new upscale Celebrity ship than even on Royal Caribbean. After sessions were over at about 9 PM, Julie and I went to the chic Cabo Bar for drinks and chips, but other than that, we didn't hit the more upscale places. Venti Skinny Caramel Macchiato from the Starbucks near the Casino, however, was how we started each day, a splurge from our usual coffee order.

On Sunday I watched the Packers beat the Bears on two enormous screens in the Sports Book. At the adjacent Bagel Cafe, I dined on two humongous slices of pepperoni pizza. It was good pizza and certainly worth the $6.95 price when it came with a side drink. I had some other meals at the food court in the casino over the course of our stay.

I particularly enjoyed the Feast Buffet for breakfast, although I had to wait through the line twice when I found out the $4.99 price only applied if I belonged to the player's club. That is something I didn't like. It should be sufficient to have a room key to get the better price, since I assume that buffet is considered a perk for staying there. If the bottom line goal is to attract gamblers, then I have to say the buffet was an utter failure as a loss leader. From what I could tell, most of the people eating there lived in the area and returned home after taking up table space for a couple of hours and eating a week's worth of food. That dining crowd was quite a contrast from the hip urban professionals that the rest of the hotel seems to be geared to attract. For lunch and dinner, the lines were so long that I decided it just wasn't worth the trouble, despite the fact that the food was good.



With an IMAX multiplex theater, bowling alley and luxurious spa on site, the hotel should have something for everyone, but much went unexplored by us. Julie was in training sessions from 8 AM until 9 PM, and I worked quite a bit, using our room as my office. I spent some time playing video poker, which I understand more than the wide array of slot machines, and on the last day, I found a cool Texas Hold 'Em machine where I actually won back some of my losses. I would have won more, and in fact was ahead for my whole time in Las Vegas, but I got suckered into a big hand when I held pocket aces that were full to three kings at the river. Unfortunately, the "opponent" held a king and a jack as hole cards. With a jack on the table, only an ace for the last card would have bailed me out, but how could I have known that?



In the final analysis, I still have to say that a cruise beats a land trip hands down, if for no other reason than it doesn't nickel and dime you to death unless you choose to go off script. Your necessities are handled, and, of course, you have different destinations arrive at your door. While a land trip can cost less up front, it usually ends up costing more than a cruise by the end.

As a personal aside, our primary purpose for going to Las Vegas was for Julie to attend a wellness conference on behalf of her company. It occurred to me that my three girls were all approaching wellness in their own ways. My oldest daughter Gina's career in epidemiology serves to find the macro answers, like how the built environment effects health. My youngest daughter Amy writes a Healthy U article for her college paper that helps on a micro basis, directed at helping individuals find better health personally. As a Director of Human Resources at a major corporation, Julie is working to improve wellness of her employees in order to help them be more happy and productive, consequently holding down the cost of health care for their self-funded insurance and hopefully improving the bottom line. The decisions made by the high powered human resources executives attending these sessions with her would have a ripple effect on wellness throughout the American workforce for years to come.

Vegas, Baby!

Despite living only a few hours from Las Vegas for most of our lives, Julie and I rarely spend time there. When she accepted an invitation to attend an important conference on employee wellness in nearby Red Rock, I decided to join her, flying in a day early to spend a mini-vacation in Vegas.

I immediately sent out e-mails to some of my childhood buddies, saying it was a chance for the Rat Pack to get together again. I claimed to be Dean Martin, a family man who pretended to drink far more than he really did. Pete, who along with his girlfriend Gayle goes several times a year, said he'd be there. As a smooth dancer, he would be our Sammy Davis, Jr.

I said Mike would be the Chairman of the Board, even though his response was noncommittal. I always say a "maybe" from Mike is better than a "yes" from most people, and he and his wife Linda also joined us. Apparently nobody wanted to be Joey Bishop despite the threat that the fifth Stacey Sentinel to commit would have to be the transvestite version of Cher.

Pete said that across from the Golden Gate Hotel where they always stay, the Plaza Hotel was staging The Rat Pack Is Back, which he said would be the perfect show for our reunion. When we arrived, we purchased tickets for that show rather than one of the more expensive production shows like Jubilee or a play like Jersey Boys, which was Mike's first choice. The singers playing Sinatra, Martin and Davis did a particularly great job covering the vocals, and the comedian who played Bishop did some good ad libs and updates of Bishop's patter. Throughout the show they sprinkled in some very old jokes I remember from when I was a kid. The room set-up, with a horn section, pianist and drummer on stage, felt like authentic early 1960s. The performers didn't have the ability to fill the room with their presence like the originals, and I have to say I have been spoiled by cruise shows, where the house bands are consistently amazing musicians. In any case, it was an enjoyable show.

Rather than the dinner show, we opted to join Gayle and Pete at one of their favorite buffets at the Cannery, about a twenty minute drive from downtown. The wide range of food included was delicious.

Julie and I stayed at the Golden Nugget, a nice hotel with large rooms. Despite temperatures in the 60s, we spent some time by the pool, but it was too cold to take the water slide, which is channeled through a huge aquarium. As usual, Pete and Gayle stayed at the Golden Gate, which I think is where my dad liked to stay. I remember my mom saying something about the great shrimp cocktail in Las Vegas, and that is the best place for that. My dad eschewed the big casinos of the strip, which he rightly said involved great distances from the parking lot to the rooms. The Golden Gate is a small hotel casino with the parking lot abutting it, making it quite easy to access.

The biggest attraction of Las Vegas for us was the Fremont Street Experience, where street performers, from bikini-clad go-go dancers on a long bar outside the Golden Gate to a jamming saxophone player by the 4 Queens, and people dressed as characters like Iron Man and showgirls added to the atmosphere. On the hour, short recorded rock shows by acts like Queen and the Doors were accompanied by a video presentation on the rooftop screen that spans the length of the Fremont Street Experience.

Being in Las Vegas, we of course gambled a little, but for whatever reason, I seem to spend too much time calculating how much the odds are in favor of the house to be able to enjoy giving the casinos my money.

Anecdotally, at one point Pete, Gayle and I had sat at a blackjack table where only one other gambler played. I immediately ordered a free Sam Adams, and by the time it came, I had been dealt a lot of losing hands and dropped $20. Gayle, however, who was sitting on my left, was on a hot streak. Some dude came up and basically squeezed in between us, and Gayle felt like he was throwing cold water on her luck. I was ready to leave anyway, as I had been getting nothing but 13s that busted and would have been beat by dealer 19s had I just stayed. Having the cold dude in my place didn't feel right, so Gayle and Pete got up too. Later, in the course of showing me how to play 3 card poker, Pete won something like $50 in about five minutes, but I just couldn't make myself believe winning was possible. I guess I like slow, methodical gambling, where you get to know the other players and the house doesn't take a hefty cut.

We ended up turning in early, because we were going to meet Mike and Linda at their hotel, New York New York, for breakfast at 8 AM.

The next morning, we met at Il Fornaiao, a "sidewalk" cafe with umbrellaed tables in the casino of NYNY. The service was good in the unique atmosphere. Mike and Linda were heading out to hike at Red Rocks, which is near the Red Rock Hotel where Julie and I would be spending the next couple of days, and we caught a ride with them.

Day-Cation in Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes is a few miles but lightyears away from downtown Los Angeles.  For tourists, it's a beautiful, convenient locale to visit between debarking a cruise ship and flying home from LAX. 

It's also a wonderful place for Southern Californians to escape for a day, like Amy and I did yesterday.  We headed toward the ocean on Crenshaw, and when the street ended, we parked.  After a short stroll, we shot the video footage above, where you can see we enjoyed a beautiful panoramic view.

We proceeded to hike toward the ocean.  Occasionally encountering horses with riders and other hikers, some with dogs in tow, the downhill walk was especially pleasant.  Trekking back up required frequent stops for me to slow my heartbeat and catch my breath, but it was well worth it.

Back at the Jeep, Amy made sure she got her old Dad some water along with salted almonds to rebalance my electrolytes or something, and we were off to our next stop, a Japanese shopping center a right turn on Sepulveda away from Crenshaw that Amy enjoys visiting with her boyfriend.  We decided we didn't feel like Japanese food, so we drove to an adjacent shopping center to a restaurant she said always smelled good but where she had never dined.  Poquito Mas, a Baja taco restaurant.  Okay, at this point, I think we technically had ventured into Torrance, but that's the way of the South Bay.  Cities fade into each other.

We both ordered their signature dish, tilapia fish tacos, which had a "market price" of $6.75 for the platter on this day.  A sign advertised "$2 Day Beers," which turned out to be any bottle stocked, so I chose Modelo Negra, always a solid choice.  Amy had a fountain Diet Coke, but many of the other diners had tall Coke in bottles, presumably the famed Mexican Cokes that use real sugar instead of corn syrup.  A waiter brought us a small helping of tortilla chips, and Amy brought back some green and red concoctions from the salsa bar.



Buffy the Vampire Slayer's High School

When our plates arrived, they were heaped full of delicious beans and rice along with the overly stuffed tacos.  The tortillas are not ONLY made on site but made fresh for each order, and they are fantastic.  The Corona batter on the tilapia is thick, crispy and delicious, and the fish itself mild and tasty.  Everything we ate was fantastic.  Looking at their web site, I see they have a lot of other locations, including several in the San Fernando Valley, but I'd never eaten at one before.  I definitely will again.

After lunch, we headed to another South Bay institution, the Skechers Outlet Store at the corner of West 190th and South Vermont, which I think is called Harbor Gateway, which might be a pseudonym for some other city.  In any case, it chalk full of bargains.  Amy had been looking at sporting goods stores for hiking boots over her college break, and she found the perfect ones there, plus some dress flats, and the total bill was under $50 despite the fact that the second pair was too inexpensive to qualify for the 50% off the second pair promotion.  If you're in the area, check out this outlet for my home town company, Skechers.

Buffy's House

Amy and I had a great day together, a vacation without traveling far from home or spending much money. And for you TV fans, on the drive from Poquito Mas to the Skechers Outlet, we drove right past Buffy the Vampire Slayer's high school, which Amy had visited earlier in the week with some friends.  Buffy's house is also near by. 

If you're going on a cruise from Los Angeles or Long Beach, why not enjoy the wonderful South Bay?  You'll learn why we love L.A.

Fiesta Bowl 2011

Our primary purpose for driving to Arizona on New Year's Eve was to watch UConn play Oklahoma at University of Phoenix Stadium on the following evening. We just decided to add the Grand Canyon to the itinerary, despite the additional hours of driving, because we had been meaning to go there for several years.

I can't claim we had been loyal UConn Huskies fans all year long. In fact, I was surprised to learn that the young football program had a team selected for a BCS bowl game. With my UConn-attending daughter Amy coming home for Christmas coinciding with a bowl game within driving distance, I asked her to check prices on campus. They were very high, with hotel and game packages starting at well over a thousand dollars per person.

I did a search online and came across TicketsNow.com, a web site that acts as a broker for resale of tickets. With fees, shipping and tickets for what I would call decent seats but what some might call nose-bleeds, it came to under $40 per ticket, so we took a chance that the site was reputable. It turned out to be a good gamble, although the tickets arrived by Federal Express while we were in Montana, and they were almost returned to sender.

The stadium complex is awesome. There was a sanctioned tailgate party with live music and street food in an open quad lined by restaurants and bars, including Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. When Amy and Jordan went their own way, Julie and I headed to my buddy's place, which was packed.

This made the fourth Margaritaville we've visited, following New Orleans, Jamaica's Ocho Rios and Key West, and despite being nowhere near the ocean, this was undoubtedly the largest and had the most elaborately designed interior, featuring full scale wooden boats with seats and tables, palapas and a seaplane hanging from the sky. I noticed the map painted on the ceiling included the island of Los Angeles sitting in the ocean north of Baja and east of the coastal city of Las Vegas.

After a beer, we headed to the stadium, where we bought hotdogs and a huge Diet Coke on the way to our seats.  We found Amy and Jordan waiting. At the corner of the endzone and a couple of decks up, we had a great view of the movement on the field. We couldn't see the players sweat, but we could watch the game unfold.

If you happened to see the game, you know it was a rather onesided affair, with UConn never really threatening to overtake the Sooners. Our section was on the UConn half of the field, but a lot of red-shirted Okies had taken advantage of the available seats, including one guy in a red Snuggie who was either funny or obnoxious, depending on how you looked at him. One other Oklahoma supporter, a shaved headed guy who must have topped 300 pounds but seemed quite drunk from the outset, staggered up and down the steps a few times for beers until he missed a step once and smacked his head hard.  He got to his feet and staggered away, but he never came back.  If nothing else, it seemed UConn male fans were less inebriated and their female fans more attractive.  Go Huskies!

From the opening kick off, the Huskies looked like they were just happy that someone had asked them to go to the dance. They seemed to forget the necessary steps. On the second play from scrimmage, their running back gained six but ran out of bounds before being hit. Had he dived forward, he might have made the first down. Third and less than a yard, Oklahoma stacked up the line and stopped UConn, something repeated on several plays over the course of the game which could have made a difference.

A kickoff return for a touchdown and an interception for a touchdown kept UConn in the game, and they showed flashes of both offense and defense throughout the game, but too often they failed on third or fourth and one, and then gave up big gainers when it seemed like the Sooners's aggressive offense might be pinned down.

The highlight of the game for me, as a former high school band parent, was UConn's halftime show, which was on an Irish theme. I knew trombonist Jay would have been thrilled that UConn played "Devil's Dance Floor," a song by one of his favorite bands, Flogging Molly.

We all enjoyed the game despite the loss. We yelled for them to go for it rather than settle for a field goal, and lamented that they were unable to gain six inches for a first down. We cheered for everything that went right, and sighed when something went wrong. We high fived touchdowns and enjoyed the food.

Looking at the scoreboard as we munched the Tostitos we found in bags at our seats, it occurred to me that this really was the perfect bowl game for us to attend, as we had eaten a lot of Frito Lay products over the course of our lives, and the sponsor was Tostitos. Lest I miss mentioning this, as you may realize, University of Phoenix doesn't have a football team. The reality of that only sank in for me when it was pointed out by my brother-in-law Brooks. The stadium is sponsored by the college which may have a "campus" in an office building near you, no matter where you live, just like the San Diego Chargers play in a stadium sponsored by Qualcomm.

That night, we stayed at a terrific Marriott Residence Inn just a short walk from the stadium.  It cost more than staying a few miles away, but I highly recommend it if you are attending a game there.  Not needing to contend with traffic or jockeying in the parking lot is worth a lot, plus it has free parking at the hotel.  The interior is beautiful, with a stainless steel-applianced kitchenette to make longer stays comfortable.  Our only regret was that we didn't have more time to enjoy the hotel before it was time to head home.  The combination of hotel and stadium complex make this a great place to take a road trip to watch football.
 

Grand Canyon on New Year's Day

We enjoyed a great start to the New Year at the Grand Canyon. Well, to be more precise, we actually started the New Year at the Grand Hotel, where we spent New Year's Eve, and we had a rude awakening when we went out to our car at 7 AM and, upon the Jeep sluggishly turning over, found that its outside thermometer registered 20 below zero. We drove a few hundred feet to McDonald's for breakfast, where we learned the Jeep thermometer was off a bit.  It was actually 26 below zero outside.

We decided we would forego heading out to the Grand Canyon until it warmed up a bit, sipping coffee inside the well-staffed but otherwise empty McDonald's. Who would be crazy enough to get out of bed when it was 26 below zero? My heart went out to one McDonald's employee who arrived shortly after us. The shift supervisor looked at him and asked, "What are you doing here?" Apparently, he had misread his schedule.

That guy's New Year didn't start out very well at all. Can you imagine showing up to work under those conditions only to be sent home?

When we finally drove over to the Grand Canyon around 8, we were pleasantly surprised to find our thermometer kept going up, eventually reaching a balmy 6 degrees by the time we made it to the rim.

After a full day of driving the previous day, we had caught a quick glimpse of Mather Point when we arrived just before sunset, and we wanted to see it again. We stopped at several other view points as the temperatures gradually rose to 23 F, and they all provided phenomenal views.

Nothing can fully prepare you for the Grand Canyon. You've seen photos, but until you see its vastness for yourself, you just can't fathom its immenseness. I hadn't been there since I was about 10, a stop on a cross country summer drive with my family, but the memory had faded. I have no doubt, however, that the snow of our visit added a great deal.

This freakishly cold weather shouldn't be expected, but nonetheless, be sure to bring hats, gloves and warm coats if visiting in the winter. Of course, in summer be sure your air conditioner has been recently serviced and your radiator works. The imminently reasonable admission of $25 per car is for a seven night pass, so you can spend time riding mules, hiking and enjoying the canyon on an extended vacation. For us, it meant we could go inside the park on the day we arrived despite having only a few minutes of freezing daylight left.

The Grand Hotel where we spent New Year's Eve has a nice lobby, and the rooms are attractive, if a bit worse for wear. The room was cool when we arrived, and the heater that ran all night wasn't really up to the sub-zero weather. Nonetheless, we enjoyed New Year's drinks in the western themed bar, and then a great filet mignon dinner for just $21.95 in the dining room. The price of the room was very reasonable at $107 plus tax for New Year's Eve, but we were about the last ones out of the restaurant at 10 PM, when the town rolls up the sidewalks. Rumor had it that one bar was open down the street, but we went to bed.

If you want to experience the great national parks of the west but don't want the hassles of driving, consider one of the wonderful tours by companies like Tauck and Globus. I would be happy to help you find one perfect for you. Just as a reminder, I do sell packages at resorts and tours. "Better service leads to better trips."

Christmas Home Movies Part 2