I left San Jose airport late afternoon on Saturday the 21st for Thanksgiving with the family and some friends in Las Vegas. Why so early? Mom was flying in on the 22nd from Ft. Lauderdale on an early morning flight that would arrive at 9am and I wanted to be on hand to meet her, plus I had some friends that were leaving on Sunday that I wanted to meet up with.
I was meeting friends about a hour after my arrival for drinks and dinner and it worked out well since my flight was on time and luggage didn't take long to get, so I was in a taxi and on my way to Cosmopolitan quickly with luggage in the room by 6pm.
I didn't request a fountain view room but received one anyway on the 48th floor. Was surprised to get this view on a Saturday night but perhaps it was because I was only staying the one night at Cosmopolitan. As I entered the room the Bellagio fountains were playing!
Here's some photos of the one bedroom terrace:
As I was moving the next day to Aria I didn't unpack, instead I quickly left the room as I was meeting friends for a drink before dinner.
On my way to the Talon Club I ran into Alicia (Lady Clare) who was also staying at Cosmo that evening. Really happy coincidence to run into Alicia as I didn't know she was in Vegas!
After a short chat with Alicia I rushed off to the Talon Club to join VMB'ers for drinks before dinner. That's Vegaschic on the left, her friend Caroline, BeeeJay, Angie, Leslie Chow and me! I had met Vegaschic, Angie and Leslie Chow this past August but I had missed meeting Caroline that trip so was very happy to meet her.
Beeejay and I have known each other online for many years now and on so many Vegas/gambling/message boards, but have always missed meeting up in person, sometimes by just 5 minutes! It was great to finally meet him in person as he's every bit as nice and fun in real life as on the message boards. Both Vegaschic and BeeeJay write up great live trip reports on vegasmessageboard when they are in Vegas so if you love Vegas trip reports and haven't been reading theirs you are missing out!
Thanks to Vegaschic for organizing our get together and Leslie Chow and his Cosmo host, we had a hard to get reservation that evening at Scarpetta!
We started out with lots of appetizers to share. Oysters of course.
Lardo Wrapped Prawns with Rosemary Lentils & Chili Oil!
Creamy Polenta with a fricassee of truffled mushrooms!
Mediterranean Octopus with smoked potato crema, and baby tomatoes.
I think this was the Pici with lobster tarragon, almond & chili pesto but there's a good chance I'm wrong. I was having way to much fun to pay much attention to the food others were eating.
Actually I was having such a great time I didn't even pay attention to what I was eating. I'm about 80 percent sure this is the Fennel Dusted Black Cod that I ate. LOL!
I think this is the Veal Chop with the semolina gnocchi and baby carrots.
Spiced Rubbed NY Steak with potato pave, spinach and mushrooms.
Beeejay enjoying what I believe was the bone-in Rib Eye and I think one of the specials that evening!
Our table shared two delicious desserts, the one below is the Mascarpone Cheesecake with peaches, blueberries, white chocolate & greek yogurt sorbet.
Leslie Chow had arranged for them to bring over the wonderful salted caramel Bundino dessert from D.O.C.G.
After dinner it was time for a High Limit group pull! Beeejay was on a big winning streak on Video Poker and table games at Wynn where he was staying so his nickname this trip was Lucky Sack, LOL! Vegaschic, Leslie Chow, Beeejay and I each put $500 into the pull and Lucky Sack lived up to his nickname when he got a handpay on the first slot we tried, RedHot 7s Respin!
After that win we went over to $50 Top Dollar and hit the bonus first spin!
I captured some of the fun in this video!
We tried some Video Poker, Quick Hit, Cleopatra II and Diamond Queen but while we had a blast we lost on those slots. Final results was fun 1000 percent, each of us got our original $500 back with $100 extra so we were winners. Thanks Lucky Sack!
