This morning we enjoyed a shopping tour of Las Vegas’ newest mall, Town Square Las Vegas. This outdoor plaza is located near (across the strip) from McCarran Airport. Fortunately for us it was a cool, breezy day, perfect for outdoor shopping. The center is anchored by Borders (yay) and Fry’s is at the far end (another yay), which should give you your bearings if you’re at all familiar with the Las Vegas landscape. 
The place has really been designed to be a relaxing experience (such a novelty in high-octane Las Vegas) and is well suited for families. Even Fido is totally welcome, and the center has doggy bars set up throughout. After an hour of shopping it was time to eat. Today we would participate in what is known as a dine-around, where we would sample food from several different restaurants to get an overall feel of the center.Oh lordy, did I say sample?
I can honestly say that I’ve NEVER eaten as much food as I did today in my whole life. We started out with a snack platter at Tommy Bahama’s (coconut shrimp, goat cheese, tuna poke, key lime pie), and then made our way to the Yard House. I’ve eaten at the Yard House in Long Beach and Pasadena so I’m already a fan of their cuisine. However Yard House went ALL out and served seven sampler dishes to each person. We had Chinese chicken salad, pasta with garlic lobster sauce, a half hamburger, orange chicken, and so on. Urp.
Next we made a brief stop at Louis’, a fine seafood restaurant only open for dinner. A couple of appetizers later, we were escorted to Louis' Fish Camp, a casual seafood facility across the way. I promised myself that no matter what, I wasn’t going to eat what they served here. Sadly deep-fried, softshell crab is one of my favorite favorites and so I was forced (forced I tell you) to eat half of it. Finally we ended up at Brio, a Tuscan style restaurant where we enjoyed desserts and coffee around an open fire pit.
The good news is that visitors to Town Square won't ever feel like there aren't enough food options to make them happy!
City Center
After our extended lunch, we waddled our way back to our bus, and were then brought on to tour the pre-opening offices of the new City Center project. This project will, in essence, change the entire landscape of Las Vegas. It is so overwhelming, I'm not sure I can find the words to do it justice, so I'm stealing verbiage from their press release.
A joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, CityCenter is a (more than) $8 billion mixed-use development, built on 76 acres along the Las Vegas Strip between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. The groundbreaking design introduces a dazzling vertical city in the heart of Las Vegas’ sprawling horizontal grid, and will include a 57-story condo-hotel called Vdara, two residential high-rises known as Veer Towers, the city's first Mandarin Oriental, The Harmon Hotel and a 4,000-room resort casino. CityCenter represents the most significant privately financed project in the United States.
Phew, even the sales center was overwhelming. We got to wander through life-size model rooms of every part of the project and watch a multimedia display of the ongoing progress of this community.
We were given a three-hour break this afternoon, which some people spent using their free Las Vegas Monorail passes to tour other parts of the city. I’m embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t nearly that ambitious and I spent most of my free time napping and working in my room.
The Palazzo Hotel
In the late afternoon, we were given a tour of the posh new Palazzo Hotel. Inside we toured Jay-Z's sports bar 40/40, which should have felt very "boys only" but was quite accessible and comfortable inside. If I could do my 40th birthday all over again, I'd probably have it here.
We also toured the Palazzo Pool Deck, which had amazing views overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, and was particularly brilliant at sunset.
All too soon it was time to eat, again. Hard to believe but there I was munching my way through Tortilla chips at Dos Caminos, an upscale Mexican restaurant located in the Palazzo. I’m embarrassed to admit that I did end up eating most of my grilled steak. Someone, please, help me find my stop button. The Jersey Boys
The great thing about Las Vegas is that no matter how much fun you’re having, things can always get better. After dinner this was certainly true, as we were hosted to a preview performance of The Jersey Boys, the musical based upon the life story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. A warning to the big girl, the seats in the theatre are tiny, so try to get yourself a place on the aisle, but other than that, this is a definitely must-see show. The singers were so incredibly talented and by the time the performers transitioned into the Act 1 Finale of “Oh What a Night,” even the Korean grandma and grandpa sitting next to me were up and rocking out.
The late show got us back to our hotel about 1 am, and I was so tired that I barely had the strength to take a dip in my Jacuzzi tub. I didn’t even notice the hotel had given us a bottle of red wine until the next morning.
2 comments:
Sounds like you had a great time and I am going to have to try out the samplers at the new mall. I agree with you about Vegas, things can always get better and that is true. If you are bored in Vegas that is a problem but you found the Jersey Boys. That sounds like a fantastic musical and I will have to see that some day.
Definitely you want to see Jersey Boys, it was so great. I can't wait to go back and see it again. I think it's the kind of show that gets better when you see it a second time.
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