WhereShouldWeGoMSP

Cancun Girl's Trip - Hilton All Inclusive Trip Report 2.27-3.4.2026

2026-02-28T13:33:00.000-06:00

My friend Kelly and I enjoyed a tropical getaway to Cancun in February. We booked an all inclusive because the price was right and we really didn't feel like doing much other than sitting by the pool and relaxing and that was pretty much all we did.

view from the room's balcony

I forgot to take room photos on arrival, so ignore all of our stuff. The room was nice and the beds were comfortable, although the pillows were pretty flat and useless.

The bathroom was a but unusual as it was all glass walls, but it worked fine. The shower and toilet were private at least.

The lobby entertainment...lady playing a key-tar! So retro!

We had dinner the first night at the Mexican restaurant called Maxal. The drinks were great and the food was OK overall. I wasn't wowed by any of the dining options but everything was fine.

The only dining option at breakfast was the buffet, Vela, which we visited every morning. It was fine and there was plenty to pick from. The omelets and breakfast burritos were made to order and very good. Forgot to take photos of those items though.

It wasn't difficult to secure chairs by the pool. The resort wasn't packed, but it wasn't empty either. There was a mixture of tourists and convention goers throughout our stay.

We really enjoyed the drinks at the lobby bar each evening before dinner. They made a good espresso martini.

The singing chef from the Italian restaurant, La Luce. We had dinner here our second night and went back our last night as well.

beach view from the quiet pool.

lunch/snack from the poolside taqueria

Our third night we had dinner at Auma, the steakhouse.

My filet was actually quite good. Very tender! The backed potato was a bit odd as it seemed to be boiled rather than baked, but it tasted fine.

bracelets were also the room key, which was quite handy

We enjoyed the mezcal mango margaritas a lot!

and the martinis...

We went back to the the steakhouse for our fourth dinner.

Lunch at the asian poolside restaurant called Sunan. The food was not great, but the sushi roll was ok.

hola iguana!

Our last night was at the Italian restaurant, La Luce, but we were seated outside on the patio.

las day views....

view of North pools from our room

We had a great trip overall. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the resort. We did not have any issues getting reservations at any of the restaurants for dinner once we gained access to the hotel's app/website.

We went to a lounge at the airport before going to the gate for our flight. Access was via my American Express Platinum card, at no additional charge. Our flight home was on time and we had an entire exit row to ourselves which was nice.

Hilton Cancun, an All-Inclusive Resort

Address: Carr Federal Libre 307 Cancun-Tulum Km 248-868,
SM-36, LT-1-01 UPE-1E, 77580
Cancun, Q.R., Mexico

Stonegarden - breakfast

2025-10-19T11:00:00.048-05:00

I've had Stonegarden on my list for awhile now. I saw a picture of their omelette and it looked like a traditional French style omelette. I made a reservation, but it wan't very busy on arrival, so not sure that was necessary. Perhaps a later arrival time, say 10 or 11 am would require a reservation.

I had the french onion omelette with caramelized onions, gouda, parmesan. It was a large and filling omelette and I really liked the onion flavors.

My friend had the the nordic omelette with dill, horseradish crème fraîche, gravlax, capers, lemon zest. This was a newer menu item and it was excellent. (I had a small bite.)

We split a side of the fried potatoes. They were a bit bland but I added some hot sauce, which gave a little kick.

The food and service were both excellent. I enjoyed the light, bright ambiance and relaxed atmosphere. I'll definitely return to try some of the other menu items that sounded interesting.

Stonegarden
Address: 5401 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55417
Phone: (612) 489-7715
https://www.stonegardenmpls.com

Minnesota State Fair 2024

2024-09-01T16:08:00.001-05:00

Since this is so very late and way beyond when the fair occurred, I am just going to post a bunch of photos and call it good. Sorry, I am last and I have no notes to reference. I think the photos are from 3-4 fair visits.

big line for the bus from the County Road 73 park and ride.

Nordic Waffles

Space needle

Crop art

Corn roast

my friend's daughter had chickens in the 4H competition

fresh french fries

pronto pups are better than corn dogs!

Sweet Martha's cookies are a must do!

Nordic waffles again

Turkey to go

Taquitos at El Burrito Mercado

Vietnamese coffee

Amish donut line was huge

but the donuts were so soft and fresh

Tom Thumb mini donuts

slushie drink

cheese curds

deep fried oreos

We made it back to the bus just before a thunderstorm hit!

Las Vegas Trip Report - August 16-19.2024 - The one with the Killers Residency

2024-08-24T19:43:00.000-05:00

This was a very, very quick solo trip to see The Killers residency at Caesars Palace. My first solo trip as well. I had to squeeze it in before the run of shows ended and the MN State Fair started.

I booked Planet Hollywood as it was the nicest Caesars property I could book on my Caesars comps and Wyndham points for the entire stay. It was OK. The room looked decent but the wallpaper was peeling everywhere and the floors were not very clean. But it was fine overall.

view from my room

My flight arrived fairly early around 11am and was able to check in right away, which was great. I headed over to Cosmo for lunch at Tekka bar. Great, as always.

I played a Cosmo a bit and then headed downtown to play a few slots and wander around.

I headed back to PH and got ready for the show. I think I just walked over to Caesars.

I had dinner before the show at Nobu eat Caesars. Smoked old fashioned to start.

crispy rice

show ticket

jalapeno yellowtail

albacore chili ponzu

stage on entry

pre show

seat was right by sound booth

the stage was very, very Vegasy. Fantastic!

The show was amazing and I had the best time!

walked back to PH via Bellagio

early morning in Las Vegas from my room

Saturday morning I had breakfast at The Henry at the Cosmo. Scored a seat at the bar pretty easily. After breakfast I went back to the Diamond check in at PH to ask how to get tickets for Saturday night's Killers show since Friday was so much fun. Once the box office opened I was able to get a single ticket.

I had lunch at Victory Burger at Circa and played a few slots downtown afterwards. Headed back to PH to freshen up and then went over to Cosmo to play some video poker and did pretty well.

Walked thru the Bellagio on my way over to Caesars Palace.

I went to Nobu again and sat by a couple ladies going to the show as well who were very fun.

I was able to get better photos the second night as I knew what to expect a bit. My seat was off to the side but lower level, so still a great view.

I had breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi on Sunday morning.

wandered around the pool areas at PH. Kind of underwhelming.

I made the rounds from Palms to Resorts Wold to downtown. I had a bit of free play to burn at both.

I had a late lunch or early dinner at Viva at Resorts World. The happy hour is a pretty good deal and the quesadillas are quite good.

disco bathroom at RW

I went downtown to Main Street Station to play a bit of video poker at Boar Bar. I had three straight flushes on this trip, which was kind of unusual. I headed back to PH and played a bit more there.

A sliver of the Sphere as seen from my PH room.

Monday morning I had breakfast at Cafe Hollywood at Planet Hollywood. I just sat at the bar.

Not sure what this was from, but it seems fitting.

I really enjoyed my first solo trip. The time went by very quickly, as to always does in Vegas and I didn't get bored being alone. Vegas is definitely ideal for a solo traveler and I'll go solo again.

DDB Quad Report

Melissa

Straight flush 3

Premium quad w/kicker 1

Premium quad 1

Regular quads 5

Vegas trip count: Melissa: #51

Las Vegas Trip Report - 6.14-18.2024 - The one with the big 4-0 birthday!

2024-06-30T14:15:00.001-05:00

This was a relatively short trip to Las Vegas for our Canadian friend Brian's birthday celebration. There was a big group and we had a lot of fun!

I had an early morning flight out on Friday. I discovered that the airport Shake Shack has a very good breakfast sandwich for rather decent price. ($5.99) My flight was on time and uneventful.

Brian had a cabana at the Sahara pool courtesy of his host and we all enjoyed that Friday afternoon.

The cabanas have their own plunge pools, which were nice as you did not have to walk far to get in the water.

After waiting all day for my room it was finally ready around 5pm. Not sure what the hold up was. The room was very nice and clean though. Almost the whole group had rooms at the Sahara. I think this was my first time staying there.

Friday evening the group had plans to go ride the High Roller Wheel at the Linq as a group, which was very fun.

High Roller views

I think we had dinner at Chickie and Pete's before we road the High Roller wheel, but I don't have any photos.

Saturday morning Deanna and I had breakfast at Zeffer's at the Sahara. It was OK, but I would not call it destination dining.

Played slots after breakfast and most of the afternoon with a few wins here and there.

I had a $100 food comp at Fountainbleau so Deanna and I went to Komodo for dinner. It was a kind of trendy clubby sushi restaurant. The food, service and drinks were all very good. I had a Thai mai tai to start.

Japanese milk bread

hamachi serrano

rainbow roll

fried chicken

fried rice

after dinner we briefly played slots, I had a nice wheel win!

room views

I had breakfast at Zeffer's again on Sunday morning before we packed up and headed to the El Cortez for a couple nights.

El Co room was fine as always

Deanna, Brian and I had an early dinner/ late lunch at Siegel's.

Deanna and I played quite a bit of blackjack Sunday night at El Cortez and some video poker as well. We had a very fun table!

Monday morning I believe we went to Magnolia's at Four Queens for breakfast.

I had a great little Wheel win at Circa!

Deanna, Brian and I walked down to Circa for food at Victory Burger as we all had food comps available. I had the nachos.

I had breakfast on Tuesday at Siegel's before heading to the airport. Also, I took the El co shuttle to the airport and it was great. They have a black suburban that is free for hotel guests to take to the airport. My flight home was fine, on time, etc.

This was a very fun trip with a big group. I enjoyed meeting everyone and look forward to seeing everyone again in Las Vegas!

DDB Quad Report

Melissa

Aces 1

Premium quad 1

Regular quads 6

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 50

Las Vegas Trip Report 5.24-29.2024 - The one with our final stay at the Mirage

2024-05-31T11:37:00.137-05:00

John and I had a quick trip to Las Vegas over Memorial weekend to stay at the Mirage one last time before it closed for good to be remodeled into Hard Rock.

Burger from Stone Arch at the MSP airport was quite good. Our flight was fine and we headed to the El Cortez to check in for the first two nights.

I don't have any notes from this trip, so lots of guessing and going off what photos I have. I got a couple quads on video poker at El Cortez, so I think we played there for most of the first night.

Breakfast was at Magnolia's at Four Queens Saturday morning. Solid as always. I believe we played at El cortez after breakfast.

We had lunch at Victory Burger at Circa. I think we both had some food comps to use.

We had dinner at Siegel's at El Cortez. This is the prime rib special. I think I've said before, for the price it is decent.

We went to a newer place called Winnie and Ethel's for breakfast. It is on East Charleston. The food was good and it is pretty close to downtown.

Played a bit a El Co until it was time to head to the Mirage for the last few days of the trip.

I forgot to take room pics at the EL Cortez until we were heading out. Sorry about the terrible photos. Looks like we had a tower king room though.

A few pics of the room at the Mirage. It was a standard king room with a strip view.

We were doing a bunch of status matching on this trip and we both got $100 food credit at Fontainebleau. We ate at the sports book/ bar restaurant there for a late lunch.

I have a receipt for Tekka Bar as well, so I think we went to Cosmo for awhile to play and have something to eat as well.

Monday morning we went to Grand Lux Cafe at the Venetian for breakfast. We've been here before and it is always pretty good.

After breakfast, we went to the pool at the Mirage for awhile. I am going to miss this fantastic pool.

After getting ready fro being at the pool we went to Resorts World to get something to eat and play a bit. We went to Viva for happy hour. I learned you have to activate your food comps in a machine before trying to use them. I was so hungry I forgot to take pics of the food. Looks like we had chips and salsa, quesadillas and a tuna tostada, per the receipt.

I had been saying all day that I waned to go to Main Street Station to play video poker and get a royal, so that is exactly what I did! I think the bartender Jose is good luck! LOL!

We eventually made our way over to Fremont Street and had a late dinner at Chart House at the Golden Nugget.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at The Pantry at the Mirage. I think we went to the pool at the Mirage for a bit after breakfast.

We had a late lunch at Gordon Ramsey Burger at Planet Hollywood. I think we had some food credits from the Caesars status matching to use.

I have video poker quad pics from Cosmo, Park MGM and Ellis Island. So I guess we went to a few different places to play that afternoon.

Wednesday morning we went to Wicked Spoon at the Cosmo for breakfast. I think we had a BOGO from John's silver status.

I think we wandered back to the Mirage via the Bellagio since I have pics of the Bellagio Conservatory. Pretty as always.

This was a fun trip overall, especially the part where I got my second lifetime royal flush at Main Street Station! : )

DDB Quad Report

Melissa

Royal flush 1

Aces w/Kicker 1

Premium quad 2

Regular quads 6

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 49

Las Vegas Trip Report 3.27- 4.2.2024 - The one with the inaugural girl's gambling trip

2024-04-06T16:19:00.130-05:00

I'm just going to dash off a quick summary of the first girl's only trip I took with my friend Deanna. I flew out after work and arrived in Las Vegas around 8pm. I took an Uber to the hotel.

I hit the Delta sky club while waiting for my flight. The new club down by the G gates is really nice.

Stayed at The D for the first two nights. The rooms are not fancy, but they are totally fine. I got in a bit late, but had some time to play a bit of video poker and some slots.

I'm not sure where I had breakfast. There are no photos of that and I have no notes from this trip.

Anyway, our first documented meal was at 8 East at Circa. I think we both had some food comps. And the food was solid, as always.

After dinner we went to Main Street Station to play a bit of video poker at Boar Bar. Then we finished up the night at Vue Bar at The D.

Apparently I had breakfast at McDonald's at The D. It is what it is.

The view from the room at The D is kinda terrible because of the wrap on the building.

We packed up and moved to El Cortez for the next 3 nights. The rooms are decent and recently renovated.

We went to Pizza Rock for an early dinner. Very good, as always.

I somehow won $400 on these old dollar coin slots at El Cortez. Which was needed as I had just gotten destroyed at blackjack if I recall correctly.

nice hit on Buffalo Chief

Saturday morning we walked over to Eat behind the Container Park for breakfast. This is the truffled egg sandwich. One of the best breakfast sandwiches I've ever had. Seriously.

It was a long day of gambling. I played everything from video poker to blackjack and did ok overall.

Prime rib special at Siegel's at the El Cortez. The veggies are not great, but the prime rib and baked potato are decent, especially for the price, which is $19.99 I believe.

view from my El Cortez room

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Siegel's at The El Cortez. It was fine. We had a bunch of food comps, so it was free, so that's not bad.

I actually won a bit on the Luxury Line!

We went to the Cosmopolitan to pay video poker and grab something to eat. You know I love Tekka Bar and stop whenever I can!

I had the trio of hand rolls I believe. Excellent as always.

Monday morning Fremont walk

I walked down to Saginaw's at Circa for breakfast as I had food comps to use. I had the breakfast sandwich. It was decent. Did not love the breakfast potatoes, but they are OK if you add some hot sauce. I wish they had hash browns instead though.

We drove down to South Point to play and possibly because Deanna had some free play. We probably had some time before we could check in at Gold Coast.

We shared a room at Gold Coast as I was only there for one night. The room was OK. I think the rooms were being renovated, and this is an unrenovated room.

We had dinner at Cornerstone at Gold Coast. Everything was on happy hour and quite good.

I had a few decent hits on dollar Wheel of Fortune at Gold Coast.

View from the room at Gold Coast

Deanna and I had a great trip. We had a ton of fun! We probably didn't eat enough meals, but most days I think we at least had breakfast and an early dinner, which is sufficient. We played an absolute ton of video poker and I managed to stay above water overall. I had a note that I finished the trip up $300. Not bad for such a long trip really. The two straight flushes, aces with kicker and quad aces hitting a couple times helped a lot. We also played a bit of blackjack and did ok there as well. Flights were uneventful and fine. Flew Delta as usual.

DDB Quad Report

Melissa

Straight flush 2

Aces w/Kicker 1

Aces 2

Premium quad w/kicker 2

Premium quad 4

Regular quads 21

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 48

Puerto Vallarta Trip Report 2024 - 2.9-20.2024 - Tropicana and Old Town with Pub Crawl and Taco Tour

2024-02-16T16:12:00.002-06:00

Yup, another Puerto Vallarta trip report. This was a longer trip so lots to cover! We had direct flights on Delta and landed early and got out of the airport in about an hour, which is not bad. We grabbed a taxi to the Tropicana.

The room was 547 and it was ready when we arrived. Nice views as usual.

view from room 547

We had a curves at the hotel and then walked over to El Dorado for a late lunch / early dinner. Shrimp tacos above.

shrimp enchiladas. After eating we went to El Granero to make reservations to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday and had a drink there. We went to Twisted Palms for happy hour. Also stopped at Monsoon Brewing for a drink. Then we headed back to the Tropicana to settle in and get ready for bed. It was a long day of travel.

Saturday morning we headed to Coo's Kitchen for breakfast.

Vallarta omelet for me as usual.

the cornbread is still great!

After breakfast, we sat on the beach at the hotel for the day. We had lunch at Langostinos on the beach. Fish and chips.

mahi mahi

It was a cool and cloudy day. After getting ready, we went to the Circle Bar, which is not on the Rio Cuale island. IT has a nice view of the river.

Dinner was at Bravo's in old town. We shred a caesar salad to start. The food and service were all very good. Advance reservations are essential.

coconut shrimp

chicken Parmesan

Churros at El Romantic Churros. The carmel sauce was really good.

Sunday, breakfast was at Johnny's Diner, which is always very solid and not usually all that busy.

After breakfast, we sat by the pool at the hotel for the day. Had a happy hour slihie drink at Blondie's before going to watch the Super Bowl.

We went to El Granero to watch the big game. The place was packed and the service was super slow to start out. We got our food after a 2.5 hour wait. They did an ok job keeping up with drinks though.

Monday we tried a new place called Jacobi's restaurant for breakfast. It was OK. Hot cakes and bacon.

Burrito Manero

another cloudy day....

We got chairs at Swell Beach Club for the day and had lunch there. Burger, I think.

quesadillas

We met Scott and Rena at Nacho Daddy for trivia, but the trivia guy did not make it that day. So we all went to Twisted Palms for happy hour.

Marinate en Fuego menu as it is not online.

Martini en fuego dinner was very good. I think Scott had made reservations ahead of time. Caesar salad to start.

some type of fish

camarones

They brought out a dessert sampler for us to share as well.

Tuesday we went to Mi Cafe for breakfast. Still very, very good and affordable too.

We sat on the beach at the hotel for most of the day. It was pretty easy to get palaces on this trip. We went to Tacos Revolution for late lunch.

We joined the pub crawl that Scott and Rena lead each year in February. Stops included Pinches, La Escondida sports bar, Salty Caesar, Gringo Loco, Nacho Daddy, Kelly's Sur Favor, Twisted Palms and Bar La Playa.

After the pub crawl a group of us went to The Greasy Gourmet for dinner. Pizza

gyro with fries

I was feeling under the weather on Wednesday. I stayed in the room the whole day. It was a cool and rainy day anyway.

Thursday, I was feeling a bit better and had toast for breakfast. We sat by the pool at the hotel for most of the day.

Went to Tacos Sonorita for dinner.

tacos, beef I think maybe?

al pastor tacos

Friday was another breakfast at Coco's Kitchen.

The French Toast with almonds is excellent. Finally had my appetite back too. We were supposed to do a taco tour, but we moved it to Saturday in hopes that I'd be feeling better.

We had massages, did a bit of shopping and had coffee drinks at Xocodiva. I bought some chocolates as well.

kinda cloudy again

We went to dinner at Gaby's Restaurant just off the malecon. It was pouring rain!

mango margarita

chis and guacamole

I think we shared the chicken fajitas.

The next day was clear and sunny at last.

We spent the day at La Palapa and had reservations for beach chairs. Had breakfast and lunch there as well. Playa del Sol breakfast is always solid.

cool vintage poster!

So many guys with saxophones on this trip, LOL. WHY?!

club sandwich

We did a food tour of the Versailles neighborhood. It seemed like a good way to learn our way around the area and find some hidden gems.

First stop, La Matona for a la matona. Basically like a quesadilla.

Second stop, Chepina for pozole.

Third stop was Machuk 2, for tacos in a spot that is car wash by day and taco stand by night. Interesting!

sirloin taco and volcano taco

Fourth stop was Abulon.

shrimp tacos...these were really good with the blue corn tortillas

Fifith stop was Elotica for corn ice cream that was very delicious.

Sixth stop was Tacos Huichos for al pastor tacos. Very good ones too.

antlers saxophone guy! lol The dog appreciated the music I guess.

Last stop was a churros guy in Versalles area. They are all over! The food tour was very good and a lot of fun. It ended up being quite a bit of food too. We were stuffed.

Sunday, we went to Memo's Pancake House. An old favorite, but solid as always.

We sat on the bach at the Tropicana for the day and went to the 'new' Daiquiri Dick's for lunch. The place was remodeled fully.

wedge salad

tuna tacos

We did the hike on the beachfront to the La Playita condos and restaurant. It was not too terribly far and not bad terrain.

I think we missed happy hour though. Excellent drinks and views though.

We ended up taking a taxi back to the Tropicana as we did not feel like walking back.

new burger place we did not get a chance to try.

drinks at Bar La Playa

We went to Yamback Brewing just off the male con in centro for drinks and dinner.

The pizza was great!

lights working on the pier again!

View form inside El Sofa, our breakfast spot for Monday morning.

Tasty and affordable sandwiches for breakfast.

We sat by the pool at the hotel for the day. Went to Tuna Azul for lunch. Service was a bit slow, but fine after we got seated. Tuna tostada. Very affordable prices.

shrimp tacos

I think we went to Cuates y Cuates for drinks around sunset time.

Went to a new place called Homun in Versailles area. Tuba drink

meow

pollo frito picante sandwich

fish of the day

chocolate tart for dessert. Homun was excellent and I would return.

Our last breakfast was a Coco's Kitchen, because, why not. It is my favorite! Vallarta omelet again.

oatmeal with fruit

I think there were whales just offshore.

We walked around Old Town a bit after breakfast.

The mini super is still there and very useful if staying at the Tropicana!

We packed up and grabbed a taxi to the airport. Flight home was uneventful, which is a good thing. It was a good trip overall, even though I was not feeling well for a couple days and we had a lot of cloudy and rainy days.

This was my 11th trip to Puerto Vallarta.

Las Vegas Trip Report 11.22-28.2023 - The One With Thanksgiving Friends Meetups

2023-11-30T15:07:00.015-06:00

At last, here is a quick recap of our Thanksgiving Las Vegas trip. We stayed at Wynn and Cosmopolitan.

We had a newly remodeled room on the Wynn side of the resort, which was very nice.

We took an Uber down to Fremont street as some friends were in Vegas for vacation as well.

We all decided on dinner at the Chart House at the Golden Nugget. It was very good as always. Prime rib.

mahi mahi

Shaggy was playing a free show on Fremont Street!

After dinner and watching Shaggy for a bit, we need up at Downtown Grand and played craps for the rest of the evening. I finished up $4, which I left as a tip. Not a bad run for a few hours of play.

On Thursday, we had breakfast at Terrace Point Cafe at the Wynn. Excellent! Power Rancheros above.

Serrano Benedict

view from Wynn room

Went back downtown to hang with our pals until they had to head out to the airport. Played a few slots here and there.

John and I had dinner at Nobu at Paris. We played some video poker before our reservation.

We did the Omakase tasting menu, which cost $175 each at the time. We both had the $100 Caesars Diamond celebration credit to offset the cost a bit. First course was shrimp salad.

chef's sahimi assortment

rock shrimp tempura

black cod with miso

beef tenderloin

whisky cappuccino. Overall the tasting menu was very delicious and enjoyable.

Friday we had breakfast at Jardin At Wynn. Breakfast tacos above.

Huevos Rotos for me

Played a few slots at Wynn after breakfast.

In the afternoon, we headed downtown to El Cortez to meet up with my pal Deanna. We played Video poker for awhile and then headed to 8 East at Circa for a late lunch/happy hour meal.

I think John and I headed back to the strip and ended up playing video poker at Resorts World for the evening.

Seating for Formula one race was still up

Saturday morning, we haded downtown for breakfast at Magnolia's Cafe at Four Queens. Forgot to take photos, but we've been plenty of times before.

We went to Mirage for a slot tournament and John actually placed and got a bunch of free play the next day. After the tournament we ate at Diablo's Cantina.

Nice Wheel of Fortune win at Mirage!

We finally made it to a Golden Knights hockey game.

There is a rather elaborate show before the game itself starts.

I'm not sure were we had breakfast on Sunday. Possibly the Wynn buffet, but I am not sure

On Sunday, we moved over to the Cosmo. The rooms are really showing a lot of wear and tear and have some cleanliness issues, mainly in the bathroom.

Tekka bar lunch

view from Cosmo room

Deanna and I did the tasting menu at China Poblano after playing video poker at Chandelier bar before dinner.

Monday morning John and I took the rental car to a newer place called Morning News for breakfast.

Sandwich was called Shelly Yoko

I had a sushi snack at Proper Eats food hall at Aria

We met a friend for drinks at Clique Bar at Cosmo and watched the Vikings game.

Dinner was at Blue Ribbon at the bar, I believe.

Our final breakfast was at The Henry at Cosmo before heading to the airport.

This trip had us meeting up with a lot of friends from far and wide, which made it a very fun trip overall. Flights were on Delta as usual, and uneventful, which is a good thing.

DDB Quad Report

Melissa

Aces w/Kicker 1

Aces 1

Premium quad w/kicker 0

Premium quad 2

Regular quads 12

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 47

John: 42

New Orleans - 10.28-31.2023

2023-10-31T18:03:00.097-05:00

We went to New Orleans for my 50th birthday, or rather the weekend before my birthday. Just going to post the pictures and note where photos were taken, in case I need to look back for some reason.

We stayed the first night at the Roosevelt Hotel using the Fine Hotels American Express Platinum card credit. I had a Hilton credit and a Fine Hotels credit to use on property, which was nice.

The hotel is historic and definitely older, but pretty nice overall. The pool was awesome. I think I have pic go that later on.

After settling in to the room we went to the Sazerac bar for a sazerac. It was a better rendition than last time we stopped here.

We went to MRB Bar and Kitchen for a late lunch or early dinner.

Brieux Carre Brewery for a drink

Tiki Tock

Wandered along Frenchmen Street a bit and found a band at Cafe Negril

Had a couple drinks and bread pudding for dessert back at the Roosevelt at the Fountain Lounge

Sunday for breakfast we had the brunch buffet at the Fountain Lounge at the Roosevelt.

We sat by the pool for awhile after breakfast. The rooftop pool was a really nice spot.

We took the trolley down to Harrah's casino.

We took a pedicab from Harrah's to the Erin Rose bar for sandwiches form Killer Po Boys.

We had a late check out from the Roosevelt and some Fine Hotels credits to burn, so we had a drink at the Sazerac bar before checking out and heading to the Hyatt Centric.

Spacious rooms at the Hyatt Centric.

We wandered around a bit stopping at Sneaky Pete's, Chart Room and saw a first line.

Beach Bum Barry's Latitude 29

We had dinner at Peche. Took an Uber there and back. The food was excellent!

tuna crudo

brabant potatoes

whole fish

fried brussel sprouts

Monday morning we had a brunch reservation at Brennan's. The courtyard seating area was very charming.

fried chicken salad

The food was excellent as well. I had eggs hussarde. I'd definitely go back.

inside Brennan's

We took the trolley over to the Word War II museum and spent a couple hours there.

We had a late lunch at Cochon Butcher

drinks at Court of Two Sisters

Bought tickets in advance for Peroration Hall which was great fun in a very intimate room.

Walked over to Jewel of the South for a couple drinks.

toro bites

I had the scalibut, which is a special dish here

bluefin tuna

On Tuesday, our last meal was at Cafe Fleur de lis. Very solid and walking distance from the hotel.

After breakfast we went back to the Hyatt, packed up and took an Uber to the airport. I should note, the New Orleans airport has been redone since our last visit and is quite nice now.

Overall we had an enjoyable trip. There weather was really nice the first couple of days and was chilly and cold the last day, Monday.

Las Vegas Trip Report - 08.30-09.05.2023 - The one with rain and B-52's

2023-09-15T17:37:00.009-05:00

We basically went to the MN State Fair, went home and packed up and headed to Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend. A whirlwind end of summer time! I have zero memories of the flight, so I assume everything was on time and as usual.

We checked in at Paris, thank goodness for status matching to Caesars Diamond status from the Wyndham credit card or else we would have been in line for ages.

The room at Paris was totally fine.

After checking in we wandered around at Paris playing video poker at Claude's bar and some assorted slots. Got a couple quads, so not a bad start.

Thursday morning we had breakfast at Cosmo at Wicked Spoon. Not bad as usual and even better at a buy one get one price as a players club benefit.

My Cosmo free play was a win....

We went downtown to use some free play and use a few coupons. We had lunch at 8 East.

We stopped at El Cortez and DT Grand to redeem some free play. John decided to play in a blackjack tournament at DT Grand. He made it to the third round, while I played video poker at the bar.

Some sort of sushi snack at 777 pub at Main Street Station. No quads to be had at Main Street today.

We went back to Cosmo and played at the sports book bar. We had a late dinner/snack at the Cosmo food court or food hall or whatever it is called. I had Tekka Bar once more.

Friday morning we had reservations at Mon Ami Gabi. We even got seated on the patio outside.

We went over to Bellagio. On MyVegas free play at Bellagio, nice line win. No wins on free play at Park MGM. I got a quad (7's) on free play at Aria.

Conservatory at Bellagio

We had intended to go to the pool, but it rained off and on most of the day. We had lunch at Javier's at Aria. It was expensive, but quite good.

We used a MyVegas comp for free drinks at the Aria lobby bar. I do love when they give you snacks with the expensive drinks though.

We went over to Palms to play blackjack and some slots.

We went back to Paris to change for dinner, walked over to Cosmo for dinner at Beauty and Essex. I think we just grabbed a table in the bar. The tomato soup starter is above.

hamachi crudo

french dip and onion rings

I think we called it a night shortly after dinner. The next day was cloudy and rainy again! Crazy weather.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at The Henry at Cosmo.

short rib benedict

We played at Paris and Horseshoe casinos for awhile after breakfast, packed up our stuff and ubered downtown. We checked into El Cortez. It was fully comped from a fall mailer. They put us in an upgraded room, a tower premium suite. It had a separate living room and bedroom.

The room was nice, but the pillows were not great and there was a lot of noise from the street. We were only on the third floor. Higher up maybe would have been a bit quieter.

We had lunch at American Coney at The D. We played at Vue bar awhile. Then went to Main Street, where I got aces with a kicker. YAY!!

pouring rain!!

Dinner was at Pizza Rock. I started with an espresso martini.

margarita pizza

After dinner we went back to El Cortez and played more before heading to bed.

Sunday morning we went to Magnolia's at Four Queens for breakfast. Excellent as always.

We played in the casino most of the morning.

We had lunch at Eureka. The burgers were tasty and they were mostly free since we had tons of food comps from El Cortez.

John had more free pay at Palms so we went over there to play and bit and then had a snack at La Popular CDMX. Pretty good overall. We just sat at the bar.

tuna tostadas and ceviche is below

Next, we went to the Mirage to use some free play, played at the Venetian a bit, the new sports bar is nice and has decent video poker. And I got a couple quads, which is always nice.

We had bought tickets awhile back to see the B-52's at Venetian Theater. It was a very fun show with everyone dancing the whole time. It was billed as their last round of shows ever, but they've since added more dates. Of course!

Monday morning we wet to Saginaw's at Circa. Both of our breakfast sandwiches were fine.

After breakfast I went over to the North Premium Outlets to shop a bit.

We played at El Cortez awhile and had lunch at Siegel's. The food was pretty good and totally comped except for tip.

Huge win on buffalo at Golden Nugget! I just kept playing and kept winning.

We did some free play at Circa, I used it to play Ultimate x and I won $160. I played blackjack and finished up a bit. Then we went to Golden Gate and I had a great hand where I split 8's 4 times, doubled twice and won the whole thing for $90 win in one hand.

We checked out the new outdoor bar at Plaza. It was pretty hot under all those lights. And even though there are slots in the bar top, their comp system is strange. I just paid for a drink and did not play.

We stopped at Chart House for a little late dinner and called it a night.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Magnolia's once more, packed up, checked out and headed to the airport.

One last hurrah at the airport. Hey, you have to try sometimes! Especially since it seems like people always win the jackpot at the airport.

I had one of the best trips I've had in a long time. I didn't hit the ATM once and I left with more cash than I started with. Total win! We used so many food comps and managed to win a bit on free play as well.

DDB Quad Report

Melissa John

Aces w/Kicker 1 2

Aces 1 4

Premium quad w/kicker 2 0

Premium quad 3 3

Regular quads 17 8

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 46

John: 41

Trip Report - Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Disneyland, California Adventure 5.12-20.2023

2023-05-29T18:23:00.011-05:00

We've been discussing the idea of going to Disneyland for awhile now, so we finally decided to go for it. We added on stops in Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles as well. Los Angeles is so huge and sprawling it feels like we barely put a dent in the many things to do there, but we did a lot! We rented a car for the entire trip to make getting around a little easier.

Our first hotel was the Ocean View Hotel in Santa Monica. The room was compact, but nice and clean. And it was right across from the Santa Monica pier. We could also walk to many things in downtown Santa Monica.

We had dinner at Water Grill which was just a block or so north of the hotel. Oyster sampler to start.

spot prawn nigiri and trojan roll

key lime pie for dessert

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Junky's Cafe, which was a short walk from the hotel.

we rode the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier

carousel on the pier

lunch at The Apple Pan

great burgers!

drinks at Chez Jay south of the hotel

ended up eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the end of the pier called Maria Sol.

breakfast at Elephante in Santa Monica

prosciutto scramble

breakfast sandwich

sun finally came out as we were packing to leave Santa Monica

We drove from Santa Monica to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to check out the Sunday flea market.

We headed to downtown Los Angeles and checked in to the Kimpton Everly Hotel.

We had a snack at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was the meeting point for our next item on the itinerary.

Yup, we did the TMA tour! LOL!

We saw a lot of theaters and LA landmarks. The tour was actually pretty great and lots of fun.

Saw even saw some stars! This is Tiffany! Of 'I think we're alone now' fame in the 80's She was outside a club on the Sunset Strip.

And this is Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. Well, the back of their heads anyway!

For dinner we went to the Tam O'Shanter. Started with a caesar salad to share.

tam cut prime rib

california cut prime rib

Monday morning we went to DuPar's LA for breakfast. It was as good as the Las Vegas location!

After breakfast we walked around the Farmer's Market and The Grove shopping areas.

We made a stop at the LaBrea tar pits and walked around looking at the pits.

Taquitos Cielito Lindo at a market across from Union Station.

drinks at Homebound Brewhouse at Union Station

We took a shuttle bus from Union Station to Dodger Stadium.

We went to a Dodger's game. They played the Twins and the Twins lost in extra innings.

We had breakfast at Clark Street Diner. It's been in tons of movies and I forgot to take pics of the room and the food. oopsie.

The next day we went to downtown Los Angeles and rode the Angels Flight railway/funicular. It made a lot of noise....

We walked through the Last Bookstore. That's an archway made of books behind me.

Grand Central Market food hall in downtown LA

Angel City Brewery was near where we were having dinner so we started there with drinks.

We had dinner at Sushi Gen. Very authentic Japanese style sushi and sashimi.

The Mermaid tiki bar after dinner. Sorta kinda loosely tiki.

We had breakfast just off Hollywood blvd at Mel's diner. Very solid actually.

cool sign!

We checked out of the Everly Hotel and started making our way to Anaheim. We stopped at an outlet mall and a Disney thrift shop along the way.

Also grabbed lunch/snack at Del Taco. It wasn't bad. Definitely affordable.

Next up, Disneyland! Well, first we checked in to the Disneyland Hotel. I figured if we were going to do this, we might as well stay as close to the park as possible. It was truly expensive, but the room was nice with lots of cute details.

The headboard had a button to push and the headboard lit up with fireworks above the Cinderella Caste and played When you wish upon a star.

view of the pool and Trader Sam's Tiki Bar. We didn't have time to visit the pools unfortunately.

We walked around Downton Disney and looked at all of the shops and went to Ballast Point Brewing for a snack.

I had managed to secure a reservation at Trader Sam's Tiki Bar.

mai tai and shrunken zombie head drinks

pupu platter

The lights change depending on what drinks are being served and there's sort of a light show.

piranha pool (frozen) and tanga cooler drinks

Thursday morning we were up bright an early for hotel guest early entry at Disneyland. It was worth it to get going super early as we got a lot of rides done right away. After that we used the app to schedule rides whenever possible. It really cut the waiting times in line.

the Jungle Cruise

churro snack

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

Rise of the Resistance

We had a late lunch reservations at Blue Bayou. The restaurant is indeed the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Shortly after we were seated the fire alarm went off and we had to go outside for about an hour or so. After the all clear, they re-served our drinks and started service from the beginning.

creole chicken

filet mignon

Many rides are the same as the Magic Kingdom in Florida but some are much different. It's a Small World is an example. The ride at Disneyland is much longer, more elaborate and loads outside.

Friday morning we were up early to visit California Adventure park. Once more we did a ton of rides right away. We had brunch at the Lamplight Lounge.

nice view of the Incredicoaster form the Lamplight lounge

Next, we headed back to Disneyland to Galaxy's Edge for a reservation at Oga's Cantina.

Fun food and drinks, but they really shoo you out when your time is up.

the enchanted tiki room

We rode the Jungle Cruise again and it broke down. A boat is being towed in above.

Dinner at Corn Dog Castle back over at California Adventure.

We stayed pretty late for our last park day. We had so many steps! We rode the monorail back to the hotel. Very convenient and fun. Disneyland and California Adventure were so much fun. I think we both enjoyed it more than we expected to. Granted, everything was crazy expensive, but I don't think we will be going again for awhile.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Tangaroa Terrace Tropical Bar & Grill at the hotel.

robes in the room! : )

phot pass pics!

What a whirlwind of a trip! We did a lot, but barely put a dent in the many, many things to do in LA. I guess there's always next time!

Las Vegas Trip Report April 5-10.2023 - The one with fancy drinks, new bars, new restaurants

2023-04-16T16:58:00.002-05:00

Finally back with another Vegas trip report. We took a taxi to Aria and checked in. The room was fine, showing some wear.

Wednesday night we played a bit at Aria and Park MGM. We enjoyed the newish sports book/sports bar at Park MGM. The bar had decent video poker and large tap beer selection.

Thursday morning we had breakfast at the new Aria food hall at Egghead. The sandwiches were pretty good. It's a nice option for a quick breakfast.

We went over to Planet Hollywood to get Caesars Diamond cards form our Wyndham credit card status matching. We played a bit at Planet Hollywood. We also stopped by Cosmo to use some free play.

We had lunch at Posh Burger at Aira. It was free due to a MyVegas award redemption. The burger was OK and the fries were not great.

I managed to turn my MyVegas $25 free play into $40. Not bad. We took an Uber to Palms as John had some free play to use. I got a few quads on video poker, but nothing too exciting. We also went to Gold Coast and played blackjack awhile.

We headed back to Aria to get ready for dinner. Before our dinner reservation we played a bit at the Aria sports book bar. The hellfire roll is shown.

tartare trio

crispy shrimp

roasted branzino

We also had some oysters, which I forgot to take a photo of. The food and service were all very good. They had a very fun drink menu. I ordered and old fashioned and it arrived in a metal flask that I got to take home. Kind of a fun souvenir.

Friday morning we had breakfast at Magnolia's at Four Queens. Apologies for the bad photo. I guess we've been here before, so not a big deal.

Anyway, we spent the day downtown- playing at Vue bar, El Cortez, Downtown Grand, Golden Gate and Circa.

We had lunch at 8 East at Circa. Excellent as always! Short rib dumplings shown above.

Dan Dan noodles

brisket fried rice

After lunch we headed to Main Street Station and I finally got a few quads. The Bar Bar always comes through! We also stopped at the Plaza and played blackjack and used some coupons.

We popped into Sand Dollar Bar at the Plaza. The drinks were very good, they had an interesting beer selection and a good band playing that was not too loud for our old people ears. We called it a night and took a taxi back to Aria.

We had breakfast at Bardot Brasserie at Aria. Pretty sure we made a reservation a bit ahead of time, at least on arrival at Aria. They were quite busy, so not sure you could just walk in.

crab Benedict was excellent

After breakfast we went over to Park MGM to do some free play. I won $78 on the firecracker game and managed to not give it back. We headed back to Aria to pack up and check out. Moving day....

We moved to Resorts World and were able to check in right away, which was really nice. The rooms are nice and there is a small fridge for guest use also.

After checking in we played a few slots at Resorts World. I had a couple nice hits.

For lunch we tried the food court at Resorts World. I tried the sushi and John had a chicken sandwich at a different stall.

We decided to try to get into Here Kitty Kitty Vice Den, the hidden speakeasy at Resorts World.

The drinks were fun and tasty and it is a cute little bar with good service.

crazy bathrooms at Resorts World near the food court

crazy bathrooms at Resorts World near the Food court

We headed over to Mirage to do status matching with Hard Rock's new program. I think I got $100 food credit and John got $50. So we played a little bit and went to Heritage Steak for dinner at the bar.

We had almost exactly enough to cover our order, maybe slightly over, so that was nice! Gotta love free food!

Sunday morning we walked over to Bagelmania across the street and a couple blocks away form Resorts World.

The bagel sandwiches were tasty and decently priced. Very large also.

We sat by the pool for awhile after breakfast. Then we got showered and ready and went downtown so John could do some free play at the Golden Nugget.

We had lunch at Huey McGoo's at The Fremont's new food court. It wasn't bad. It wasn't as good as Raising Cane's though.

We played blackjack at Golden Gate then went to Circa and played more blackjack and some slots. Next, was Main Street for a bit.

We went back to Resorts World and checked out Allee Lounge or Starlight on 66, whatever it is called these days I am not sure. Anyway, it has bar snacks with the fancy drinks and a nice view.

Dinner was pizza at Mulberry Street Pizzeria

Monday morning we headed over to Peppermill for breakfast. It is conveniently located right across from Resorts World. The food was good as always.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to pack up and took an Uber to the airport.

I'm not remembering exactly how well I did not this trip, but after looking at the photos and notes, I am vaguely remembering that I think I ended close to even or just a little down.

DDB Quad Report
Melissa John
Aces w/Kicker 0 0
Aces 0 0
Premium quad w/kicker 0 1
Premium quad 1 1
Regular quads 6 7

Vegas trip count:
Melissa: 45
John: 40

St Martin St Maarten Trip Report February 14-22.2023 - with an extra stop in Miami

2023-02-28T19:23:00.001-06:00

Our winter vacation this year was to St Martin/St Maarten in the Caribbean. We had found a great deal with our frequent flyer miles on American Airlines. We had an early morning flight at 6am, and got into SXM by 4pm.

We stayed at the Atrium hotel in Simpson Bay. It was close to quite a few restaurants and shops and right on the beach. It was an older property, but it was clean and recently updated.

We unpacked and went to Captain's Rib Shack for dinner.

We unpacked and went to Captian's Rib Shack for dinner.

The next day we were up bright and early for a day on Celine Charters Enigma catamaran for an island tour.

The captain and staff were really amazing. The lunch was also excellent and all freshly prepared on the boat. The tour lasted most of the day and we stopped a couple times to swim and snorkel in different areas.

We had dinner at Skipjack's just down the way from our hotel. John decided to select his own lobster.

Finished lobster was huge with lots of accompaniments.

I think I had some sort of fresh fish of the day.

We had breakfast at Zee Best, just across from the hotel off the main road. It was hopping and very busy, but they get everyone in and out quickly.

We took a taxi up to Maho beach to watch the airplanes land at the airport. The runway really is right there! And it is really, really loud when large planes land! The road is right behind these parked cars with the airport property right after that.

We had a couple drinks and watched planes land at Sunset Beach SXM.

We had lunch at Tortuga Maho Beach.

We wandered across to the bar on the other side and had one drink there. Sunset was the better bar for sure. We went over to the area near the casino where there were a number of shops and restaurants. Once the casino opened we played blackjack there a little bit.

Moulin Fou for dinner. I think we just went and put in our names and came back at the time they told us to, which worked out fine.

tuna tartare

ribeye steak for John

mahi mahi for me. The entrees came with excellent garlic bread and some soup in the tall shot glass as well as rice and creamy cajun sauce.

The next day we had a car we rented dropped off at the hotel to use for a few days. We drove up to Grand Case for the day.

Rainbow cafe lunch. It was a very cute, trendy instagrammy type place.

We had reservations at Bamboo House for dinner. It is out of town from where we were staying so we took a taxi there and back. It was up a steep dark winding hill. Glad we did not drive.

We had breakfast at La Sucriere at very authentic French bakery.

After breakfast we drove up to Orient Beach to hang for the day. We ended up at Bikini Beach Club.

rental car

We watched the sunset and had drinks at Roxy Beach Club near the hotel.

We had dinner at the oddly named Balls and Wine. The food and service were excellent though.

We drove to the ferry for Pinel Island and spent the day at Karibuni for the day.

view from beach chairs

Mahi burger

fresh fish possibly wahoo. The food was really good too!

view of St Martin from Pinel Island

dinner at Pineapple Pete's

Breakfast at Astra on Welfare Road.

We drove in Phillipsburg and walked around for the morning until it was time to return the rental car.

downtown Phillipsburg

lunch at Greenhouse, which was a bar and grill next to our hotel

we spent the afternoon on the beach in front of the hotel

view from Lagoonies Bistro

dinner at a new restaurant that had just opened call NOLA Bayou Bistro.

crawfish cake

creole shrimp

blackened snapper

pecan gateau

went back to Zee Best for breakfast again

After breakfast we took a taxi up to Dany's at Cupecoy Beach Bar, which was a very rustic beach bar.

Dany's ribs

chicken

Dany's at Cupecoy beach

Had some apps for dinner at the St Martin Yacht club , which was not fancy, just a casual bar on the bay.

Reveil for breakfast

After breakfast, we packed up and took a taxi to the airport. Our flight was a bit delayed leaving SXM, but it did not matter since we were staying in Miami anyway.

We got to walk on the tarmac to board the plane

SXM terminal views

great views of the island on takeoff

There was a large snowstorm rolling into Minnesota on the day we were supposed to fly home. Since AA issued travel waivers we switched our connecting flight from MIA to MSP to a couple days later. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Miami Beach using IHG certificates/points. It wasn't great, but it was right on the beach and you got access to beach chairs daily. And I think it had just been renovated. I don't think we did anything on arrival day as it was sort of late by the time we got out of the airport and to the hotel.

We had breakfast at Latin Cafe a few blocks from the hotel inland.

Holiday Inn is on the left

view of pool from room

lunch at Piola Mid Beach right near the hotel

We wandered down the beach and had drinks at Bungalow by the Sea pool bar

drinks at TacoTaco, a sort of hidden tiki bar

dinner at Blue Ribbon Sushi Miami Beach

We had breakfast at Soho Beach House next door at Cecconi's

We rode the trolley around for awhile and had lunch at The Tavern which was near the hotel.

After lunch I think we headed to the airport for our flight home finally.

So we made it home, but a couple days later than planned, which was fine. It was better to enjoy a couple nights in Miami than sit at the airport with cancelled flights.

Las Vegas Trip Report November 22-29.2022 - The one with smoky old fashioned quads

2022-11-30T00:00:00.001-06:00

As is our tradition, we went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving once again this year. I think we booked flights using a companion fare on Delta.

We upgraded ourselves to first class on the way to Las Vegas, which is always a nice treat. We also rented a car on this trip since we were in town for a week.

We stayed at the Wynn using Wynn slots game points and I think I also booked the first night using Fine Hotels and Resorts from my American Express card, which gave us $200 rebate, free breakfast, a spa credit and a resort credit in an amount I can't recall. Since we hd just stayed here in September we were able to book via the slots app and not buy additional chips.

We were assigned a nice, newly renovated room once more.

After checking in and unpacking a bit, we played some slot nin the casino and went to Parasol Down for a drink.

The drinks above, smoked table side or bayside as the case was, are the Havana as shown in the photos above. Very tasty and fun presentation.

view from the Wynn hotel room

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at Terrace Point Cafe. The food and service were very good.

After breakfast I had an appointment at the spa for a massage. I always enjoy the facilities of the spa at Wynn as they have a number of hot tubs and showers for guest use. After getting showered after my appointment, we hopped in the rental car and went to Virgin Hotel, Ellis Island and El Cortez. John had a nice blackjack run at Ellis Island. I got a few quads on DDB.

We had dinner reservations at Casa Playa at the Wynn. the food and drinks were excellent, but definitely Wynn prices.

I think we played a few slots after dinner and did not stay up very late.

view from the room at Wynn

On Thursday, Thanksgiving, we headed downtown to Four Queens for breakfast at Magnolia's Cafe. It was great, as always.

We hit a bunch of casinos downtown and had lunch at American Coney. We watched the Vikings game at Circa and then headed back to Wynn to take the car back. We decided to grab and Uber and go back downtown for dinner though.

We went to 8 East for dinner at Circa and then played blackjack at Golden Gate for awhile.

Friday morning we drove out to Suncoast to have breakfast at DuPar's. Sorry about the bad pic, almost totally forgot to get one. After breakfast we played some slots at Suncoast, I got an Aces quad at least, and then we went to Rampart Casino to use a coupon. We also stopped at Orleans and I had a nice win on Wheel of Fortune.

We took the car back to the Wynn and walked over to Resorts World. I think John had some free play and I played at the center bar a bit. We grabbed an Uber to go downtown.

We were sort of dressed up to go to Barry's Prime later than evening, so we decided to try getting into Legacy Club again. This time they let us in, which was cool. The views were great and the drinks were very good also.

Next, we headed to the basement at Circa for dinner at Barry's Prime. We started with the table side smoked old fashioned for two.

we split the caesar salad

tater tots

mushrooms

rib cap

After dinner we went over to Golden Gate to play blackjack for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning we decided to head over to the Venetian for breakfast at Yardbird. Excellent as always.

We packed up and headed over to Caesars Palace to check in. We got lucky and got a room well before check in time, which was needed since we had plans that afternoon.

The room looked OK but was not the cleanest

view from room at Caesars

We grabbed an Uber and headed to Allegiant Stadium for a UNLV game. We wanted to check out the new stadium, but didn't really want to go to a Raiders game.

After the game we went to the Golden Tiki for a drink.

We went to the Palms and had something to eat at Mabel's BBQ, which was quite good. Apologies for the odd lighting. I think we played a bit at Palms, but I am not sure.

We slept in sort of late Sunday morning and then headed downtown to Eat for breakfast. It was great as always.

John dropped me off at the outlet mall and I did a bit of shopping. He went downtown and I grabbed an Uber to meet him at the California.

lunch at Pizza Rock

We stopped at Atomic Liquors for a drink and to see if they had any interesting t-shirts.

We walked over to the Cosmo to play a bit of video poker at the bar there.

We had a late dinner at Nobu at Caesars. I started with a smoked old fashioned. I went with those a lot on this trip.

We both had status matched to Caesars Diamond status earlier this year, so we both had $100 credit for the diamond celebration dinner as well as some rewards credits to each of our cards. This really helped bring the price down for a very expensive meal.

Monday morning we had breakfast at the Henry at the Cosmo. Great as always.

After breakfast we drove over to the Palms as I think John had some extra free play to use. I had an epic run on video poker, which I really needed as I wasn't doing great to this point.

Bellagio holiday display

Please do not attempt to eat any items within our holiday display. yikes! We used a MyKonami free play and I hit a quad, which was nice. We found ourselves walking back and forth from Caesars to Cosmo quite a bit.

We had lunch at China Poblano and played some video poker afterwards. I don't think we stayed up very late. A week in Vegas is a long time, even though we don't stay up super late most nights.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the Wicked Spoon buffet at Cosmo. We used our Sterling BOGO offer. It was not super busy very early in the morning, but getting it put on our cards took awhile as they were having issues with the system.

We packed up, checked out and returned the rental car. There was a delay on the flight home as there were storms in Minnesota, so they held off boarding at LAS. I played a little video poker and got a quad at the airport, which was great!

Overall, I think I finished a little bit up for this trip. I was way, way down until we went to Palms on Monday afternoon and I had an epic run getting 4 quads in an hour and since one was aces with kicker that helped a lot.

DDB Quad Report
Melissa John
Aces w/Kicker 1 1
Aces 4 1
Premium quad w/kicker 0 0
Premium quad 4 1
Regular quads 10 8

Vegas trip count:
Melissa: 44
John: 39

Las Vegas Trip Report September 21-27.2022 - The one with Bazaar Meat

2022-09-30T00:00:00.009-05:00

For our September Vegas trip, we stayed at the Wynn and Resorts World. I think we used Wynn Slots game points for most of the Wynn nights. Even though you have to buy chips to redeem rooms for the game, when you can get a weekend room for the price of the resort fee, so it still feels like a good deal.

The rooms at Wynn have been undergoing renovations and we got one of the updated rooms. It was very nice, as always.

We arrived around 8pm and checked into the Wynn and unpacked a bit. We played a few slots in the casino and a little video poker. We had a drink at the Lake of Dreams and headed to bed.

view from room

Thursday morning we had breakfast at the Wynn Buffet. I forgot to take photos, except of my dessert plate.

After breakfast we headed to the pool for awhile. After the pool, we showered and went to Orleans to meet my friend Deanna who was also in town from Texas. We went with her to Gold Coast and got the freebie of the day, a blue long sleeve shirt. I mostly played assorted slots.

John and I had dinner reservations at Mizumi at the Wynn. John had to run back to the room to change shoes as they enforced the dress code. We had a variety of sushi items. The service was very good and the restaurant had a nice view of a waterfall.

After dinner, we sat by Lake of Dreams and watched a couple shows.

On Friday morning we headed downtown to Magnolia's for breakfast. After breakfast we did a little coupon run around downtown. Four Queens, Downtown Grand, Golden Gate (where John had an epic blackjack run winning $500) and Plaza. I had a couple quads at Golden Gate and a couple more at Vue bar at the D.

We had a really late lunch or early dinner at 8 East at Circa with Deanna. The food was excellent as always.

We played at Circa for awhile and then went over to Main Street Boar bar for some video poker. Details of the evening are vague and unclear. : )

Saturday morning John and I had breakfast at Jardin at Wynn. After breakfast we packed up and moved over to Resorts World for the last few nights of the trip.

Love that Wynn had liquid hand soap at the bathroom sink!

And I always enjoy an in room robe!

I think this was the first time we stayed at Resorts World. I think we used Hilton Honors points to pay for the room. Not a bad redemption, it was a standard amount of points, even for a weekend night stay. The room was nice, if a bit on the small side.

Liquid soap at the sink, but no robes.

We had lunch at the food court at Resorts World; Famous Foods Street Eats.

John had BBQ

I had Yakitori

After lunch we went over to Palms as John had some free play there and then we headed over to Cosmo to pay a bt more and have dinner at Blue Ribbon.

view from room at Resorts World at night

In room minibar as well as a small refrigerator for guest use. Very nice!

Resorts World pools

cool restroom entrance at Resorts World

Sunday morning we haded to ellis Island to watch the Vikings game. The game was not especially memorable to me, I guess they did come back and win though.

We had breakfast/lunch at Ellis Island's Front Yard. The room was nice enough, but they kept changing the TV channels people were trying to watch and the food was just OK. We were told there was supposed to be a minimum spend for our reservation, but we didn't quite get there and it was not enforced.

After the game we went to South Point with Deanna to see her condo that she was staying in right next door and we all played awhile in the casino.

John and I headed back to Resorts World and I went to the North outlet mall to shop a little. John and I headed to Sahara and payed some video poker before dinner at Bazaar Meats.

We did the multi course tasting menu at Bazaar Meats and enjoyed it immensely. Lots of fun preparations and presentations with the different courses. It was $150 per person, so not cheap, but delicious.

Monday morning we had breakfast at the Peppermill. It's nice that it is walking distance from Resorts World, especially nice since there are not many breakfast options at Resorts World.

excellent sourdough toast, as always

John and I went to the pool at RW after breakfast and played some video poker and slots.

The center casino bar has really delicious drinks which are comped while playing video poker.

Comped Fiji water at RW! : )

John and I headed downtown to El Cortez to meet Deanna. I had a great run on video poker! We also walked over to Pizza Rock for dinner.

Tuesday morning we had some hotel credit to use for breakfast so we used that at Suns Out Buns Out. The sandwiches were decent and the line was not very long.

We took an Uber to the airport and had an uneventful flight home. Overall, we had a great trip and a fun time with some new dining experiences tossed in for good measure. I did OK with video poker, but I had an epic run at El Cortez on Monday afternoon, which I think kept me up or around even for the trip, which was good news.

DDB Quad Report
Melissa     John
Aces w/Kicker    0 0
Aces    2 2
Premium quad w/kicker    2 1
Premium quad     3 0
Regular quads     9 9

Vegas trip count:
Melissa: 43
John: 38

MN State Fair 2022

2022-09-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

The MN State Fair in 2022 was the back to normal year apparently. Now that it has wrapped, the attendance was normal and no daily records were set. And it felt pretty much normal with weekends being pretty crowded, but weekdays not too nuts.

Our first visit was on Friday, 8/26 for the afternoon/evening

pronto pup

fresh french fries

beer sampler from MN Craft Brewers Guild

Best new food: pork schnitzel sandwich from MN Farmers Union booth

Saw Will Bauermeister at The Hanger

To kick off our second visit on 8/28: Another new food- the Tot Dog form Lulu's Public House at the West End. Very good! John had the Chicken Biscuit for breakfast.

Turkey to Go

Fry bread taco

Frappe from MN Farmers Union

local art from the Fine Arts building, art that I think Maya would create if she could paint as these are all of her favorite things

Rueben rolls from O'Gara's

Our third visit on 9/1 follows:

sweet corn

crop art

Hmong Sausage, purple rice from Union Hmong Kitchen

Grilled chicken thighs, purple rice from Union Hmong Kitchen

hot dog

Turn, Turn Turn at West End Stage

We enjoyed our three visits to the 2022 Minnesota State Fair. The weather was great and there were some great new foods this year, which I seriously hope are back again next year and for many years to come.

Las Vegas Trip Report 6.30-7.5.2022 - The one with COVID as a parting gift

2022-07-10T19:23:00.002-05:00

This trip report is super delayed, but I wanted to post it late rather than never at all. This was supposed to be an early birthday trip for John's birthday.

The G gates at MSP had just reopened to travelers. Everything was very shiny and new!

We stayed at Park MGM for the first few nights of this trip. I think we used Hyatt credit card free nights for a couple nights.

I think we walked over to Cosmo and played video poker at Chandelier bar for awhile that night.

We had made breakfast reservations at Mon Ami Gabi ahead of time. Quite good as always.

We were at South Point and decided to grab lunch there at Baja Miguel's. It was affordable and not bad at all. I think we both had a lunch special that included a drink.

Bellagio gardens

Dinner was at Yellowtail at the Bellagio

mile high roll

tuna tataki

we liked the mile high roll so much we ordered a second one

view from our hotel room at Park MGM

Saturday morning we went downtown for breakfast at Magnolia's. I think we played video poker at Vue bar a bit also.

We went downtown and had a late lunch at at 8East at Circa

I think we wandered around downtown a bit using some free play coupons here and there also. We also stopped at Main Street Station and finished the night at Golden Gate playing blackjack.

Sunday morning we went to Salt and Ivy at Aria for breakfast

ham omelet

After breakfast we packed up and moved over to Cosmo. Our room was not quite ready yet, so we grabbed lunch.

I had lunch at Tekka bar at Cosmo- I also had the threesome hand rolls. Forgot to get a pic. We played video poker a bit before our room was ready.

nice room at Cosmo as always, we had a view of Aria, looking south

We went to Palms and signed up for the player's club and played video poker there awhile before having an early dinner at Mabel's BBQ.

We headed over to the Wynn for the Lionel Richie concert at 8pm. His show was great! He had a lot of fun songs in the setlist.

Cosmo pool for awhile after breakfast. I think we maybe had breakfast at the Wicked Spoon buffet but I'm not totally sure. No pics to help us remember.

After the pool we went over to Ellis Island to play blackjack for awhile

lunch at In and Out at the Linq before riding the High Roller

I had a comp for free ride on the High Roller from my Caesars Diamond status match

We walked back to Cosmo and played video poker at the sports book bar for awhile.

View from the balcony- the room faced the wrong direction to be able to see the majority of the fireworks n the strip, but we could see smaller displays all around the valley.

breakfast at Eggslut before heading to the airport

My parting gift from Las Vegas on this trip was a case of COVID. Although I could have picked it up at a number of places before the trip, so who really knows. John got it about a week later. Yuck.

DDB Quad Report

Melissa John

Aces w/Kicker 0 0

Aces 0 0

Premium quad w/kicker 0 0

Premium quad 1 2

Regular quads 10 3

Gambling was a little tough, I didn't have any great VP hits, but enough regular quads to keep going. I had a couple slot wins (Wheel of Fortune) and a nice $200 hit on a Whales of Cash machine I played as we walked through Flamingo! I know I played some blackjack but I don't think it was anything worth remembering.

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 42

John: 37

Europe Trip Amsterdam Berlin Prague - May 13-31, 2022

2022-06-04T19:20:00.050-05:00

After many, many cancellations and rebookings, we finally got to take our trip to Europe in 2022. I guess we learned a lot about how to reschedule trips, so maybe this was a good thing in a small way. Nah, there was not much good about Covid times. ha.

We started planning this trip sometime in 2019 I think. My plan was to use all airline miles and hotel points for flights and lodging. We had to do a bit of footwork, but all hotels were ultimately booked on points, which really kept expenses in check. Our only spending was on dining, trains, trams and any souvenirs purchased. So while we may not have stayed at the most exciting hotels, we were happy with the places we stayed overall. Hotels in Europe are much nicer than in the USA and the standard of service is much higher. For example, in Prague, the young man who checked us in asked if we wanted any dining recommendations and he pulled out a map and showed us where attractions were and marked some dining suggestions, which I was very impressed with.

Departed 5/13/22 - We originally booked our flights with Delta miles and paid cash to upgrade our seats to DeltaOne. SO worth it. Just magical. Our plane was not the newest iteration of the DeltaOne seats, but it was still quite nice and very plush. The seats reclined all the way flat into a bed and I think I was actually able to sleep a bit on the flight.

The flight time actually passed pretty quickly and we enjoyed the many food options and drink selections. The service was very good throughout the flight.

We were a bit worried about arriving into Schipol airport as they had been having major staffing issues before we arrived. We waited in the customs line for about 45 minutes I think and a bit longer for our bags to arrive and we were on our way. Not terrible.

5/14/22 On arrival we grabbed a taxi and checked in to the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht. We used Hyatt points for the booking. The room was very cool, though it did not have an outside view, just a courtyard view.

Beer tasting room called In The Wildemann

Day's Stone Grill 1870 for lunch/dinner

W Amsterdam rooftoop bar for drinks

view from the W rooftop

5/15/22 breakfast at Pancakes Amsterdam- Dutch pancakes, of course!

We walked around looking at the canals and the flower market.

We did a canal tour withThose Dam Boat Guys. We bought some beverages and they even gave us a small cooler to use on the boat. Very informational and enjoyable. We had the best weather also.

frites from Vlaamse Frites

Exterior of Brewery T'ij

Dinner at The Good Companion

Drinks at a speakeasy called Bar Oldenhof. You had to give a password and such.

5/16/22 We had breakfast the the Andaz before checking out. You ordered off the menu and there were other items on a buffet to select from as well. The service was great.

Next, we had a fun day of adventures on the train from Amsterdam to Berlin. Our first train was taken out of service due to an issue with the doors. The second train did not have enough space for everyone to sit and we stood for a few hours. Eventually they told us to get off and transfer to another track and grab another train to Berlin which had plenty of seating space and was much nicer than the other trains. We made it to Berlin after 9 hours. Not fun, but we survived.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Berlin on Marlene Deitrich Platz. The room was very nice.

We walked to Burgermeister for a quick meal. Either it was excellent or we were starving. Maybe both.

5/17/22 Tuesday we had breakfast at the Hyatt that morning and my German relatives Burkhard and Regina came to our hotel to meet us. They took us on a short walking tour of the area and we visited the Berlin Wall Museum.

Berlin Wall Memorial and Museum- a section of the wall as it was originally is preserved and pictured.

We had a lunch/snack of curry wurst

We then took the train with Burkhard and Regina to their home on the outskirts of Berlin. We took a walk around the neighborhood with Burkhard. Here are pieces of the Berlin wall, in what is now a park near their apartment. The trees are cherry blossom trees that were given to the city of Berlin from Japan.

Schrebergarten are community garden plots people rent. Some have little buildings. For gardening mainly. I suppose because apartments don't have much green space.

We had dinner at Burkhard and Regina's apartment.

5/18/22 Zimt and Zucker for breakfast

We met Burkhard and Regina for a boat tour on the River Spree that flows all around Berlin.

Reichstag

train station

They went back home to relax and change clothes and we had lunch at Italo Fritzen.

Next, Burkhard and Regina picked us up and we took a taxi to the Berlin State Opera. They apparently enjoy the opera often and were very excited to share it with us. We saw the Merry Wives of Windsor.

We had champagne at intermission. Can't say no to that!

They put us in a taxi back to the hotel and we had a drink in the hotel bar before calling it a night.

5/19/22 The next day we spent on our own touring around Berlin. We started with donuts for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts.

We ventured over to the east side of Berlin and went up the Fernsehturm, the TV tower. View from inside.

retro interior hallways

the Fernsehturm, the TV tower exterior

Sirin doner at Alexa mall. Doner kebab sandwiches. They are sort of like gyro but different toppings and bread.

We visited the DDR Museum which was all about life in East Germany under communism. The Trabant was a small car made in East Germany. The design changed very little from the 1950's-1990's.

Ampelman. One of the few remaining vestiges of East Berlin that was kept. I think it is a cute and unique thing to Berlin.

statue of Fredrick the Great, who Burkhard admires greatly and has many, many books about him.

Berliner Weisse is a light beer with fruit flavoring added, found all over Berlin. Very tasty and refreshing.

Brlo Brewhouse for dinner and drinks outdoors in the beer garden. Great beer too.

Brlo Brewhouse for dinner

5/120/22 Yadda Yadda Breakfast Club

Pergamon Museum was built especially for the artifacts brought back from the Babylon.

cool train station

Checkpoint Charlie. My mom and Grandma Leona visited here and I have many photos of this from their visit in the 1960's.

Trabi museum

lunch at McDonald's near Checkpoint Charlie.

Tomasa restaurant for dinner with Brikhard, Regina and the three grandsons, Thomas, Simon and Markus. It was great fun to meet the grandsons as the twins were just babies last time I visited Berlin and now they are 20.

5/121/22 The huge Berlin train station. We took a train from Berlin to Prague. This time our train travels went very smoothly. Burkhard and Regina stopped by our hotel before we left for the train station to say goodbye to us. We had a wonderful time with them and appreciated their time taking us around Berlin and their advice so much.

Berlin was very fun to explore. I am so glad that John was able to meet my German relatives at last. They were the best hosts once again and made sure we had a very enjoyable time in Berlin. I've always enjoyed corresponding with them via letters, but nothing can replace meeting someone in person.

In Prague we stayed at the Hilton Prague Old Town. It was in a great location with easy access to trams that we could take all over the city.

view from our room at the Hilton

We took a walk from the hotel through old town and downtown to the river Vltava.

Charles Bridge

dinner at Brick's restaurant

nice view of the river from the restaurant patio

brewery and restaurant called Vojanuv Dvur

5/22/22 We did a food tour of Prague with Martin Blum from Taste of Prague. The tour was very fun and informative. We were in a small group with a few guys from Sweden going to a Tool concert, a family from the US and us.

Started at Lokal restaurant.

exterior of Lokal

Powder Keg House

Kantyna a meat market with prepared food to eat there as well.

Kro Bistro and Bar

Last stop was Eska

The food tour was wroth every penny and we enjoyed learning abut the food and drink traditions in the Czech Republic. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone going to Prague. It was one of the best tours we did on the entire trip.

brewery Dva Kohouti we stopped at after the tour was over

View of the Astronomical Clock from Hotel U Prince rooftop

Charles Bridge at sunset

trdelnik- chimney cakes served with ice cream or plain

astronomical clock in action

bar Pult across form the hotel

5/23/22 Breakfast was included with our hotel at the Hilton so we started with the buffet most mornings. It was pretty good actually. There was also a cocktail hour from 5-6 each evening though we only made it to that once or twice.

We went up the hill to Prague Castle and toured most of the complex.

late lunch at another location of Lokal

Yes, we did another river tour, on the Grand Bohemia this time. It was another perfect weather day too.

We found a cute lttle tiki bar in Prague called Aloha Bar.

view from the Zizkov television tower in Prague

drinks in the tower at Oblaca restaurant

the tv tower form the tram station

5/24/22 Kus Kolace for breakfast - a slightly sweet pastry topped with fruit. very good.

extra breakfast at a little coffee shop - maybe Kro Kitchen

Petrin tower - designed and built by the same person who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but on a much smaller scale as Prague didn't have a large budget.

funicular to Petrin Tower

We got yelled at by a Czech transit employee at the funicular. I am not sure what we did wrong, but she was not happy with us. : ) oopsie.

U Fleku one of the oldest restaurants in Prague

U Fleku beer garden

U Kunstatu sat on the patio in the rain. Large beer menu.

The Butcher Shop for lunch. Our food tour guide worked here and, as he said, the burgers were excellent.

aloha bar again

5/25/22 Narodni Museum a very old museum in Prague with a wide variety of items.

The whale survived accidental bombing in WW II.

Lunch at Cafe Savoy

We went up the hill again to a beer garden in a park Letensky Zamecek.

Anonymous Shrinks Office- you looked a pictures and selected your cocktail from the images.

excellent potato chips too!

Prague was John's choice for a city to visit on this trip and I wasn't that excited about it before we arrived. I thought it was going to be difficult to overcome the language differences. But I found the city to be very beautiful and very interesting.

5/26/22 The airport in Prague was kind of far out of town, so we took a hired car as taxis are quite sketchy in Prague; the hotel scheduled the car for us. The airport was very nice and the bar as as nice as any bar in Prague city center. Our flight from Prague to Amsterdam was short and uneventful.

Our last hotel was the Kimpton DeWitt in Amsterdam. Small, but functional. And a convenient location near the tram and train station.

Super Lyan Bar at the Kimpton, we had a hotel credit to use there.

Bitterballen- a Dutch bar appetizer that is sort of cheesy and meaty and fried. Not bad either!

Cafe Restaurant De Reiger

After dinner drinks at Tales and Spirits

5/27/22 Breakfast at Bagels and Beans

Rjeiks Museum

Geflipt Burgers for lunch

ran into Albert Cuyp market

House of Bols tour

Aepjen bar- the monkey bar- a very old bar in Amsterdam, and very small

view from the patio at Grasshopper bar

5/28/22 breakfast at Mortimer just down the street for our hotel

walking tour of Amsterdam, a market, the food hall, then we did another boat tour.

Cafe de Sluyswacht on the canal

Cafe de Doffer for happy hour- it was across from the place with the baskets of beer.

Pesca vis seafood restaurant- you selected your fish at the start and then your wine and sides later on.

Hotel Pulitzer Bar for after dinner drinks.

5/29/22 Pancakes Amsterdam for breakfast. Another location of the same chain we ate at early in the trip.

Van Gogh Museum day. We booked all of our museum tickets way in advance, which was good because everything was sold out when we arrived. The museum was excellent and had so many Van Gogh original paintings. We did the audio tour which provided insight into his life at the time each painting was done.

Heineken tour. Kind of a neat tour, but the beer is still not very good tasting to me.

The Lion's Head Bistro brewery for lunch

Dinner was at the Seafood Bar

After dinner we stopped at a casino called Carousel Casino Arcade and had no idea what we were doing but we somehow won a few euros.

5/30/22 breakfast at Celia restaurant in the hotel

We visited the Anne Frank House for the morning. Very interesting and informational and you see the inside of the actual rooms they hid in and lived in. Also, a very heavy and very timely reminder, with recent violence against Jews in resurgence in our country, which is unacceptable. We booked this way in advance as well as they only allow a limited number of visitors daily.

Febo a Netherlands fast food place

tiny baby car

The ferry over to A'dam Tower

views from the tower

cookies from Van Stapele Koekmakerij

Brasserie Extraodinarie

5/31/22 Quick breakfast at McDonald's on our last morning because we were stressed about the airport. They had issues all summer with long security lines so we went to the airport really really early. And the lines were fine, actually, we ended up having tons of time sitting around the airport.

hotel kimpton exterior

Amsterdam was a lot of fun. There is so much to do and the museums were all wonderful. It is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. We were very lucky to have mostly great weather and we simply scheduled around the rain that did happen or dressed for the weather. Some areas did get very crowded at night and I can't imagine how busy it must be in the summertime.

I think we were most impressed with the easy transit systems in every city. No matter where you wanted to go, you could simply plug it into Google maps and it would tell you how to get there either via transit, walking or a combination of both. It certainly makes mass transit look sad back home. The German train system was not as wonderful as it had been back when I visited years ago, but it was still functional. Apparently they too have suffered staffing and travel issues all over Europe.

Also, we were able to use credit cards almost everywhere. We made sure to use card that did not charge a currency conversion fee. We did tap to pay almost everywhere and with this method, we did not need to enter a PIN when making purchases. Also, the Netherlands and Germany are both on the Euro currency but the Czech Republic is on their own currency yet, the Crown. We just took out cash on a arrival in Amsterdam and Prague for the few places that only accepted cash.

Our flight home was on time and went smoothly. It was a little rough to be back in coach on the way home though! And after two weeks away, I was ready to go home and see my favorite puppy dog. It was wonderful to be able to stay for such a long stretch of time and make the long flights worthwhile.

Schuller's Tavern

2022-03-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

In all the years I've lived in Golden Valley, I've never been to Schuller's Tavern. Not sure how that happened. I knew it was there, just never made a pint of visiting. We weren't feeling like cooking one night, so we stopped in for dinner. It was plenty busy, but we easily found an open table. Schuller's is a local's place with happy hour, bands on the weekends and free popcorn. They have plenty of TVs and also pull tabs. It's not fancy, but it's not a dive either.

John had the garlic burger brushed with garlic sauce and topped with sautéed onions and melted pepper jack cheese.

I had the bacon cheeseburger with cheddar cheese. It was a solid burger, with a 1/2 pound patty and a nice, fresh bun. The fries were a standard frozen fry, nothing special, but not the breaded type at least.

The service was good- prompt and helpful. The prices for food and beverage are not bad, on the more affordable side. This would be a good spot to watch local sporting events for sure.

Schuller's Tavern
7345 Country Club Dr
Golden Valley, MN 55427
Phone: (763) 545-9972
https://schullerstavern.com

Puerto Vallarta trip report 2.15-23.2022

2022-02-28T12:56:00.000-06:00

Hello to my three faithful readers! I am finally getting back to a bit of blogging. At the very least, I need to document our trips so far in 2022!

2022 brought another year of the pandemic, however we decided to take a winter trip anyway. Things in Puerto Vallarta seemed pretty well back to normal, although many locals were still masking and taking precautions on transit and inside buildings.

For our flights, we used miles on American Airlines and connected in Dallas on the way there and Chicago on the way home. Surprisingly, all of our flights went fine even though AA had had some issues before we traveled. Maybe we were lucky?

As usual we grabbed a taxi at the airport and headed to Hotel Tropicana. Check in went just fine and we even got all of the safe keys right away.

La Palapa for drink and app

Pancho's tacos for dinner

the exterior of Pancho's Tacos

Twisted Palms for drinks and tiki night

Wednesday Feb 16th, we had breakfast at Coco's Kitchen. Excellent as always.

We spent the day on the beach at the hotel, Many palapas open in late morning even, surprising!

Lunch at Swell on the beach

drinks at Bar La Playa

No Se Nada for dinner

art walk in centro after dinner

drink at Margarita Grill

Thursday Feb 17th, we went to La Palapa for beach day.

La Palapa lunch

Inside of One Six One Bar

Los Muertos Brewing

Multi course dinner at Tintoque

We did the tasting menu, which was very fun, but it turned out to be a LOT of food.

river views

On Friday, the 18th we had breakfast at Johnny's diner, got massages and then sat at the pool at our hotel for the day.

For lunch we walked/used funicular to go up the hill to Maria Baja for fish tacos. They ere excellent and the many salsas were fun and delicious.

Bar La Playa for drinks before dinner

116 Pulpito for dinner. The food and service were great once again.

Bar IK at Hotel Playa Los Arcos for drinks and dessert on the beach.

Bar IK at Hotel Playa Los Arcos

On Saturday, Feb 19th, we had breakfast at Tuna Azul. It was just OK, not sure we'd go back. Maybe a better lunch option.

We visited the Saturday market at Lazaro Cardenas park and did some shopping around town.

Brunch at La Capella

Broadway show tunes with brunch

lovely views

We took a taxi up to Los Cuentos Cervceria. We also went to trivia at Twisted Palms that afternoon.

dinner at No Way Jose / OK Jose

tableside Sexy Coffee

On Sunday, Feb 20th, we went to Pancake House for breakfast

Joe Jack's Fish Shack for lunch

Mazcal e Sol for drinks

Hisao Sushi and Bar

Mi Cafe for breakfast on Monday, Feb 21st

After we had massages at Filpe's

lunch San Angel Burgers & Tacos good burgers and fries

Di Cantaro

Mexican variety plate, food was just OK, would not return

Coco's Kitchen for breakfast on Tuesday Feb 22nd.

La Palapa for beach day and lunch

We had drinks at one of the condos up the funicular / hill, called Chictini. They had a decent happy hour I think.

Twisted Palms

Pizza for dinner at L'angolo De Napoli

Coco's Kitchen one last breakfast and then time to pack up and head to the airport. Boo.

Couple pics of our room at the Tropicana. We had a room in the Superior Tower, lowest floor again. It is not my favorite room, but perfectly OK.

view from hotel room balcony

View from the old own pier

This was my 10th trip to Puerto Vallarta and John's ninth trip. Yes, I've started keeping track of this detail.

Our taxi to the airport was uneventful and our flight departed on time. We had an excellent trip overall. We hit all of our old favorites and a couple new places. We were happy to see most of our favorites weathered the pandemic well and were still there.

Toma Mojo Grill

2022-02-28T07:00:00.088-06:00

Toma Mojo Grill is a new quick service spot over by Ridgedale in Minnetonka. We stopped in on a Saturday afternoon for lunch while running errands in the area.

It isa quick service style restaurant and you simply order at the counter, are given a number and the food is brought out when it is ready. There's a good sized dining area if you wish to dine there.

John had the garlic chicken and hummus bowl with garlic chicken, tomato cucumber salad, arugula, corn, and hummus on a bed of herb rice with red mojo. It's a healthier option and John said the mojo sauce was zippy and tasty.

I had the Toma original chicken sandwich that is topped with chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, onion, creamy herb aioli and green mojo. The sandwich was sizable and had a lot of fillings. I didn't get was much flavor from the sauces as I'd hoped. I'd maybe ask for extra sauces next time. The fires were hot and fresh and I really liked the brava sauce to dip them in. It had a lot of flavor and was not spicy.

The menu had a rather wide variety of meats, serving formats (bowls, sandwiches, salads, etc.) sauces and sides, so it will take a number of visits to find our favorites. It would maybe be helpful if they provided more descriptions on the menu about the sauces. I look forward to returning since it's a convenient location with a variety of menu options.

Toma Mojo Grill
12977 Ridgedale Dr
Minnetonka, MN 55305
Phone: (952) 405-9179
https://www.tomamojogrill.com

Las Vegas Trip Report - 11.23-29.2021 - The One With Sunshine and Turkey Time

2022-02-24T07:00:00.375-06:00

Our annual Thanksgiving trip was back on the calendar for 2021. Good news since we had to skip it last year due to Covid. We again rented a car as we had plans to visit a few off strip places for dining and gambling.

We stayed at the Cosmopolitan for the entire trip. It was nice to not have to change hotels in the middle of the trip like we often do. The first four nights were comped and I paid for the last two nights via American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts, and also got a statement credit of $200, so the stay was half off. Plus I used the spa credit and we used the breakfast credit both mornings as well. Not a bad deal.

I believe they call this a one bedroom balcony suite since it has the separate bedroom area. We didn't have a fountain view, but a view of the strip.

the ice skating rink was very very popular

We arrived pretty late on Tuesday night, unpacked a bit and headed down to the casino to play awhile. I think we sat a Chandelier bar for most of the time.

We slept in pretty late Wednesday morning. John had an appointment for a massage at the spa and the lines for Eggslut were huge, so we grabbed coffee and a light breakfast at Va Bene. I got ready and hung out in the room.

We went to a couple off strip casinos to play video poker and we stopped at In and Out for lunch.

We played video poker at the sports book at Cosmo for awhile before dinner and then walked over to the Bellagio.

on MyVegas free play had a little Quick Hits win

We made reservations well in advance for Mayfair Supper Club at the Bellagio. We were seated after a short wait for a table. I started with a fun champagne cocktail with cotton candy around the glass.

The entertainment was top notch. A live band with amazing singers and dancers.

shrimp cocktail and hamachi crudo

New York strip

beef fried rice

The Cigar dessert. It arrived in a dome of smoke.

and comes with some ice cream on the side

The whole Mayfair experience was very fun. I enjoyed how the entertainment rotated in and out and did a wide variety of songs. The food and beverages are certainly high priced, but the whole thing made for a fun evening. I think we were there for at least two hours, maybe longer?

we took a quick lap through the Bellagio gardens after dinner

After dinner we played video poker at Chandelier bar for a bit before heading to bed. I don't think we stayed up super late.

Thursday morning we got in the rental car and headed downtown for breakfast at Magnolia's. I forgot to take photos, but we've been there plenty of times before. We played video poker at Four Queens and Vue bar before heading over to Circa.

Lunch from Victory Burger at Circa. Chicken fingers for John.

Nachos for me

We had dinner on Thanksgiving at Blue Ribbon at the Cosmo. Tuna rice to start...

sashimi plate...I guess we were not that hungry

Friday morning we went off strip to Blueberry Hill for breakfast. Basic breakfasts for both of us. The food was fine, but nothing exceptional.

We went downtown after breakfast and played at El Cortez for awhile. I didn't have much luck playing blackjack, so I tried a few slots. Nice little win on this guy.

We went down to the Arts District and walked around. There are lots of vintage shops and antique stores down there, but everything is pretty ridiculously overpriced. It is becoming a very nice area with many breweries and restaurants. We had lunch at Soul Belly and it was fantastic. Really good BBQ. The smokers are out front and smelled delicious.

downtown mural

We did a bit of Cosmo bar hopping. Ghost Donkey was the first stop.

Next, Superfrico

calamari

meatballs

Superfrico had some entertainers come through the room every now and then, possibly from the Opium show next door.

We also stopped in to the secret bar next to Superfrico called the Ski Lodge. Because Cosmo doesn't have enough speakeasies I guess. The drinks were really delicious though.

Saturday morning we had breakfast reservations at Mon Ami Gabi. I forgot to take photos of that breakfast also, but we've been there countless times before. It's still good! And it was really busy too!

After breakfast I walked around the Miracle Mile Shops a bit.

I grabbed lunch at Tekka bar. It's a quick and solid choice if you're in the mood for sushi.

John grabbed lunch at Hattie B's. Sorry, no photos of that.

We headed downtown late afternoon. We played some video poker at Main Street. We also played blackjack and did well. I finished plus $25 at Plaza and plus $170 at Golden Gate.

We had dinner reservations at Barry's Prime at Circa. Strawberry fields drink for me to start.

excellent bread basket with a lot of variety

make me sway drink

ribeye

mushrooms with au poivre sauce

The tiny baby dessert plate to finish at Barry's was complimentary. The food and service were all very good. The dining room is very beautiful and they even had a few TVs in case you need to keep up on sports scores or whatever.

We had a breakfast credit to use, so we ordered everything under the sun at EggSlut.

Fairfax with bacon

Gaucho sandwich

We finally tried the slut, which is cage-free coddled egg on top of house-made potato purée, cooked in a glass jar and topped with gray salt and chives, served with slices of baguette. I didn't really like the slut. The texture is very mushy and the flavor was bland. The bread was too hard and crunchy. I would not get it again.

After breakfast I headed to the Sahra spa at the Cosmo. I had a massage appointment. I went early and visited the hot tubs and steam rooms and just relaxed.

After the spa, we went to Holstein's for lunch. Above is the firecracker chicken meatballs.

Nom nom burger

After lunch we went over to the Orleans to watch the Vikings game. I played VP did terrible. John played blackjack a bit I think and some assorted slots. I did get 40 free games on quick hits and won this. Too bad it wasn't more....

We again used the Park MGM Juniper bar BOGO from MyVegas. I finally tried the smoked old fashioned. It was really good. We also had free play at Park MGM and Aria. No wins on those for me.

We went back to Zuma for dinner on our last night. We had reservations in advance. I started with a table side preparation of a Japanese Old Fashioned.

yellowtail

robota chicken wings

shiitake mushrooms

sashimi plate

yuzu pie for dessert

I had some free play to use at Cosmo, and I had a nice win on that.

We had breakfast at The Henry before heading to the airport. John had the flapjacks with a side of bacon.

I had the short rib benedict. So good, as always!

Overall, we had a nice relaxing trip. I did very badly gambling, but luckily time away at the spa helped slow that somewhat. The weather was absolutely fantastic for November, it was high 60's, almost 70 most days, so the sunshine was great. Our flights were on time and and fine even though other airlines had flight issues, Delta was OK as usual.

DDB Quad Report

Melissa John

Aces w/Kicker 0 0

Aces 0 1

Premium quad w/kicker 1 1

Premium quad 2 2

Regular quads 1 8

Well, no wonder I felt like I had a rough trip. I had zilch for quads. Under quadded again.

Vegas trip count:

Melissa: 41

John: 36

I finally took some time to figure out how many times we've been to Las Vegas. I'm ahead in the count because I visited three times before I met John and I had three girl's trips as well.

Murray's

2022-02-21T07:00:00.092-06:00

We visited Murray's back in October for my birthday dinner. We made reservations in advance and we were apparently one of the first reservations of the evening as the doors were locked on arrival. We only waited a couple minutes before the doors were unlocked and we were seated promptly.

We've never tried their famous Silver Butterknife Steak, so we decided to take the plunge. It is a 28 oz. strip sirloin carved tableside for two people.

It also included a choice of Caesar salad or French Onion soup, which I neglected to take photos of. I believe we both had the salad and it was freshly made with a potent Caesar dressing.

We both ordered a baked potato for our side.

My serving of steak after slicing

John's serving. The steak was cooked as ordered (medium rare) and well seasoned with salt and pepper. It was very tender and juicy. Since I love tableside preparation of pretty much any type of food, I enjoyed the slicing and serving of the steak at the table.

The portion was more than enough for two people. I forgot to take a photo of the garlic toast and bread basket, but their garlic toast is amazing. It is chock full of butter and garlic with just the right amount of crunch.

complimentary lemon bundt cake birthday dessert was a nice special touch

The service was very good, friendly and helpful when needed, but not stopping by too many times. The steak for two was not cheap, but the fact that said and a potato were included was nice. They do offer more budget friendly options on the menu as well as non-beef choices. We really enjoyed our meal and I feel Murray's is a great spot for a fun night out downtown or a special event meal.

Murray's
26 S 6th St
Minneapolis, MN 55402
(612) 339-0909
http://www.murraysrestaurant.com/

Side Chick

2022-02-17T07:00:00.081-06:00

Side Chick is a newish fast casual restaurant in Uptown Minneapolis by famed local chef Justin Sutherland. We stopped by on a Sunday afternoon for a late lunch. There was plenty of seating available and we were quickly greeted by a friendly server. A full bar is available with a number of tap and bottled beer offerings, though we stuck with sodas on this visit. There are a good number of TVs so it is definitely a sports bar atmosphere.

John had the three tenders with fries with Cry Baby Craig's hot honey sauce on them. It was certainly spicy, but not so much that your face is on fire. John had ranch and seasoned sour cream as his side sauces.

I also had the three tenders with fries with sweet garlic chili sauce on the side. I should note the waffle fries are the breaded variety, which are not my personal favorite, but these were crispy, hot and fresh, so not bad. I had blue cheese and seasoned sour cream as my side sauces (white sauces in pic). Everything was cooked well and served hot. We found the prices to be affordable, I believe it was $10 for the combo meal.

The menu, as expected, is very chicken focused and offerings include wings, sandwiches and even tacos. There are quite a few different sides available, so it seems like they have something for everyone. They offer a variety of dry rubs, sauces and dipping sauces for the wings and chicken tenders, ranging from no spice to very spicy.

Side Chick seems like a good addition to the neighborhood. I'm looking forward to going back and trying more items on the menu.

Side Chick
3006 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55408
Phone: (612) 886-1917