The Saturday Six, 1/20/24: 6 things I've been up to this week

This is one of the rare times I was unable to post on Friday—we were in Vegas from Sunday until Friday, aka yesterday, and we got back around 10:30pm—so instead you get a Saturday Six roundup, vs. a Friday Five.

Chihuly ceiling at the Bellagio, one of my favorite Vegas hotels

What I've been up to this week:

1. Trip to Vegas. We were there Sunday through Friday, which is a long time for Vegas, but we found a lot of fun things to do. Originally we had five nights comped at Paris, which is a nice hotel I haven't stayed at in a while (I believe I stayed there in 2001 or '02 with my parents, and also 2017 for work); we ended up paying a little extra to upgrade to a mini suite, and it was pretty nice. 
2. Eating good food. Vegas is one of my favorite food cities, and it didn't disappoint this trip either! The most epic meal was probably our last one, at the new Peter Luger in Caesars Palace; there are only three locations in the U.S., the original being in Brooklyn, and this one opened in October. The steak, sides, dessert, and drinks were very good. We also had AYCE KBBQ (all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ) with my friend who lives in Vegas, which is always tasty, and we had a "freak shake" (very large milkshake) at Black Tap in Venetian, another favorite of mine. We always go to In-N-Out, too, since we don't have that in Michigan, and this time we had some Raising Cane's as well, since they opened a location on the Strip close to MGM Grand. 
3. Seeing shows. I had two shows booked, as well as Eiffel Tower tickets; Vegas.com does a Cyber Monday promotion some years where you can buy ANYTHING on the site and then get a $100 off code towards your next purchase, so we EACH purchased $30 Eiffel Tower tickets (viewing deck at the top of the tower) and then got $100 off on our Atomic Saloon tickets, which we saw on Wednesday at the Venetian. Unfortunately, I didn't think Atomic Saloon was that great—it's another Spiegelworld production, so people compare it to Absinthe, which I saw in Jan. 2020 and absolutely loved, but I thought Absinthe was a lot better than this one. This one was also pretty raunchy, which I don't mind, but I didn't find it that funny. However, on Tuesday night we saw Awakening, at the Wynn, and that has to be the most beautiful show I've seen in Vegas—the special effects were really dazzling. 
4. Gambling a bit. I bring a certain amount of cash to Vegas and once it's gone, it's gone, so I budget a bit for every day. I left Vegas a bit poorer than when I arrived, but it was fun; however, my fiance was more lucky on the slots than I was and left a little bit richer. 
5. Seeing the sights. We mostly stayed on the Strip and downtown this time—on our last trip to Vegas, in September, a friend had a rental car, so we went to the Pinball Hall of Fame, which was fun. However, the Strip and downtown have enough sights to see too. We went to Binion's (downtown) and got our photo taken with the $1 million (in locked cases, obviously!) that they have there, and Fremont Street is always fun, too. We were able to check out the new Museum of Illusions on the Strip, too, near Cosmo + the Shops at Crystals, as an influencer visit (i.e., comped) and that was also a ton of fun; check out my Instagram reel for more info on that.
6. Watching movies. You may be surprised at this one, but I watched a lot of plane movies. On Sunday, I saw Past Lives, which was a really beautiful film; I'd give it 4/5 or maybe 4.5. I also watched Mafia Mamma, with Toni Collette, which was over the top and ridiculous, but I'd give it 3.5/5 stars. Yesterday on the plane ride home, I watched Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, which is also streaming on Hulu right now, and that was a lot of fun too—I'd give it 4/5 stars. I also watched the new Pete Davidson comedy special on Netflix and laughed more than I thought I would. 

Museum of Illusions, Vegas!