Further to my post yesterday about wifi, I’m pleased to say that it looks as though everything will be okay! We have wifi. 👏🤞

So, today (Monday) is a travelling day but first of all let me tell you about last night’s dinner (Sunday) at Mon Ami Gabi.

After all we had heard about the restaurant, expectations were high. If I told you we were seated, had two courses and were on our way out within 50 minutes, well, I think that speaks volumes!

At Mon Ami Gabi

The staff were very friendly but the food in our opinion was second rate. Si had pate to start which was bland and the bread tough. He followed with pasta and shrimp. The shrimp  was lovely but the sauce was very thin and the broccoli stems were under cooked. I had baked goat’s cheese with garlic bread and that was okay but nothing special. We decided not to bother with dessert. All in all, rather disappointing.

The Pate

Pasta and Shrimp

Baked Goat’s Cheese

After breakfast at Sadelle’s this morning, Si had the biggest French toast we’d ever seen, we were so pleased to see that one of the servers, Susan, who we have known for many years, was back again! She was so delighted when she saw us, we chatted for ages and heard all about what had happened to her since we last saw her in 2019.

Si’s French Toast!

We set out from the Bellagio and went to collect our hire car. The four-hour drive turned into six due to delays and roadworks. A great portion of the drive was through a mixture of flat desert scrub outside Vegas through deep-sided canyons into flat land used for ranching.

We were a little worried at one point as we hadn’t seen a petrol station for literally ages and were concerned we wouldn’t find one in time to fill up. Luckily, we came across a small town with just two pumps so filled up there. The price was $5 a US gallon which we think is about half the price in the UK.

A lovely cloud!

As it’s Memorial Day today there were lots of flags flying.

En-route we passed by Butch Cassidy’s boyhood home. We didn’t have time to stop but will do so when we do the return trip.

Butch’s Boyhood Home

We also saw a dead cow laying on the side of the road! Not something you see everyday.

We set out this morning in a temperature of 90 degrees and by the time we arrived here it was 54. Good job we had our fleeces readily available. We also had a drop of rain and some hail.

We passed through Arizona on the way to Utah, sprang forward one hour in time and at one point the speed limit was 80 mph.

Welcome to Arizona

Welcome to Utah!

80 mph

We arrived at the Capitol Reef Resort and our cabin is lovely. Will post some pics tomorrow. We went straight to dinner when we arrived and for the first time I had catfish and chips! Si had braised short rib that he said was delicious. We started with fish tacos, another first and finished with fruit cobbler. All in all a very nice end to a tiring day.

Catfish and Chips

Si’s Ribs

We are worn out so it’s an early night for us. 😴🛌

As you know, we move on tomorrow to Capitol Reef Resort. The wifi there may not be very good or may not be available at all as we will be in the middle of nowhere. So, if there are no posts from us for a few days do not be alarmed. We will get them out to you as soon as we return to civilisation!

I thought we were supposed to be on a stress-free holiday but holiday weekends here can be very stressful!!

To make sure we didn’t have to stand in line too long for breakfast this morning we decided to book. The only time we could get was 6.30!! Then, to make sure we got beds around one of the pools we had to be in line for them opening at 9 a.m. More stress! This morning we arrived at 8.40 a.m. to find a huge queue of people who were queuing in orderly lines but of course once they opened, it was every man for himself!! The pools here used to open at 8.00 a.m. but they changed it to 9.00. Crazy!! Most people on holiday are up and ready to be round the pool from at least 8.00 a.m if not 7.00.

Memo to self – make sure to leave comments for Bellagio!!

At breakfast this morning I happened to mention to our waiter that I thought Bellagio had taken a turn for the worse as they no longer serve jams and marmalades in little tiny glass pots but now arrive in sachets that have to be torn open like a ketchup sachet! Not good enough! Something else for my comments to Bellagio!

Bless him, to make up for my complaining the waiter gave us two lovely pastries for later.

Jam sachet!

Anyway, it’s very windy here today so even those who managed to snag umbrellas were not able to have them open as the wind was too strong. We managed a couple of hours but even though it’s cooler again today, it’s still very hot.

One funny thing I must tell you all about is something that happened yesterday and will always now be known as the ‘Restaurant Incident of 2022’.

Some of our regular followers and definitely some of our friends, will remember the ‘2013 incident’ that Si always refers to as “Sand’s meltdown!”. Well, this one is up there with that!

Some weeks ago I booked four ‘posh’ restaurants here at Bellagio and put them in my phone calendar. Well, I guess as a result of my phone still being on London time instead of Vegas time, one of the restaurants showed as a day later but I didn’t notice!

Si asked me where we were dining on Saturday night and when I checked I told him we didn’t have a booking (should have realised something was amiss then!) but we had a booking for Sunday. Hence, yesterday we set about trying to find somewhere to eat. Not an easy task on a weekend. First of all we booked Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen, then we get back to our room and decided to try something in-house so that we didn’t have to walk too far. We received a confirmation for the restaurant ‘Harvest’ and confirmed we would be attending then realise we need to cancel Hell’s Kitchen but couldn’t get through to do that. In the meantime, Si gets a message from the restaurant, Spago, here in the Bellagio asking him to confirm our booking! What! According to my calendar the booking’s for Sunday,

In the end I got out the paperwork and sure enough the booking I thought was for Sunday was indeed for Saturday. So, yes, we were confused as we now had three bookings for the same evening! I blamed Si, he should have been checking the booking instead of just believing what I told him.

We managed to sort everything out eventually and went to Spago’s where we had the most fantastic time.

Lesson learned – when in doubt, always double check everything!

Tonight we dine at the Paris Hotel’s ‘Mon Ami Gabi’. This is the first time we have ever been there and it’s supposed to be very nice. Will report back tomorrow on how it went.

Today’s our last day in Vegas until we return at the end of our holiday. Tomorrow morning we collect our hire car and make our way to Capitol Reef Resort in Torrey, Utah just outside of Capitol Reef National Park. It will be a four-hour drive. We will be staying in a log cabin (upmarket one of course!) and fingers crossed, nothing like the one we stayed in during our visit to Yellowstone in 2013!! 😱 🕸🕷

This is where we’ll be staying:

The weather’s going to be a lot cooler than Vegas so note to self: make sure our thermals are packed on top!

It started out a little cooler this morning so we decided today was the day to do a walk and to look for shoes ………….. for me!

Before that we went back to Sadelle’s for breakfast and had the same as on our first day. Si the omelette and for me the yoghurt parfait and bagel with cream cheese.

I mentioned that it’s Memorial Day weekend and on each table this morning there was a pot plant to remember those who had died in active military service.

We were sat next to a lovely American couple visiting from Florida and during our conversation he told us how he visits the UK and is very good friends with Colonel John Nicholas Blashford-Snell CBE, the British Army officer, explorer and author. who founded Operation Raleigh and the Scientific Exploration Society. The man was telling us about his exploring adventures with Colonel John. He had been all over the world with him and still visits him in the UK. 

After breakfast we set out on foot to buy a few things including an electric toothbrush. I just cannot manage with a manual one. It turns out you can buy battery-operated ones especially for travel. We did not know that!

We then made our way to the Venetian Hotel where they have a wonderful array of shops, especially shoe shops. I didn’t need to look too far as I found two pairs in Skechers. One pair of trainers in black and gold together with a pair of black slip-ons. When I went to pay the young lady said she would give me 20% discount! So kind!

Both pairs are very light so won’t add too much weight to the suitcases!!

While we were at The Venetian we stopped off at the Jimmy Choo shop. This is the shop where over the years I’ve purchased many pairs of rather lovely shoes. It’s still managed by the same man but sadly, he wasn’t there for us to say “hello” to. I did see a couple of pairs that I may take another look at when we return to Vegas in a couple of weeks.

It’s now a few hours later and I must apologise in advance for any typos but we dined tonight at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant in the Bellagio. We had the most wonderful evening while watching the Bellagio fountains. The food and drink was just about the best we’ve had. We did rather over indulge and now I’m more than a little bleary eyed and rather worse for wear! 😔

Our starter was a rather large smoked salmon pizza with dill cream, red onion and salmon pearls. Si followed that with wild Alaskan halibut, lotus root, chilli soy glaze with Jasmin rice and I had the baby beet salad with goat’s cheese and wild huckleberries (I first discovered huckleberries back in 2019 and love them). For dessert we had a dark chocolate soufflé with ice cream, fresh cream and chocolate sauce. As Michael Winner would say, “it was heroic!”.

Smoked Salmon Pizza

Si’s Halibut

Sand’s Salad

Dark chocolate souffle

Sand’s French 75

Sand and Si at Spago

We really do need to get out of Vegas as soon as possible to start doing some serious hiking and exercising or we’ll be needing two seats each on the plane home! 😱 😂

Once again, it’s been very hot here. So hot in fact, that I left my pool shoes out in the sun all morning and by the time we left the sun had melted the glue holding the sole on to one shoe and as I walked back to our room it fell off so I had to wear Si’s pool shoes instead! I take a size 4, he’s an 8, you can imagine what I looked like wearing those. 😂

Just a little update about the helicopter yesterday. Thanks goes to Julie and Nat for letting us know that it was a pre-planned Police training exercise. So pleased to say no-one was in need of the emergency services.

Police Training Exercise

Flying back to land

After a good-old US of A breakfast we spent the morning round the pool. We met a young couple from near York who were on their very delayed honeymoon. They had re-arranged their wedding four times due to Covid and like so many, eventually decided to have a simple pub wedding with a Las Vegas honeymoon as soon as Covid allowed.

For breakfast today we both decided to push the boat out and Si had his French toast and I had blueberry pancakes with white chocolate! 😱 Not my usual breakfast but I decided one naughty meal wouldn’t hurt but of course, I couldn’t eat it all.

Si’s favourite, French toast

My blueberry pancakes with white chocolate!

These are the flowers on our breakfast table. They are so lovely I decided they needed to be shared.

Today is the day I’ve been waiting three years for! At 2.00 p.m. (8.00 p.m. UK time) I shall be partaking of the Bellagio cheese plate at the Petrossian Bar. Hip, hip, hooray! 👏👏👏 To quote Morgan Freeman’s character, Red from Shawshank Redemption: “I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head”. By the time you get to read this post my long wait will be over and my wish fulfilled.

I am pleased to report that the cheese plate was as fabulous as always but alas, there’s a new Chef who wanted to change things up a little and the whole platter is now only half the size it used to be. That just about sums up most things at the moment.There are now only three cheeses instead of seven, served with garlic bread instead of a selection of crackers and bread sticks and only half the fruit and honey. Hey ho, I guess it couldn’t stay the same forever and it was still worth waiting for.

Sand with her cheese plate

S&S at the Petrossian Bar

The Petrossian Bar is described as an upscale lounge featuring champagne, caviar, English tea service and piano music at the Bellagio. There were some of the same staff and even the two pianists were the same. They were all looking that little bit older, but then, aren’t we all!!?

It’s going to be very busy here for the next few days as it’s Memorial Day weekend.

I’m very pleased to report that our winning streak continues ………….. for now at least!

Some things never cease to amaze me! We decided to order ourselves a little something from In-Room Dining, one of which was coffee for Si. This is what was sent up for him to put in his coffee ……………. 13 little pots of cream! 🤷‍♀️Rather generous don’t you think!

Enough cream for 13 cups of coffee!

Wow it’s been hot today! As we haven’t been here for three years it came as rather a shock when we first walked outside this morning. 🌞

Before I talk about today there’s one thing I forgot to mention about our plane trip and that was the fact that our seatbelts had an airbag attached to them! That’s a first for us. I guess that’s because in the case of an emergency we would not have anywhere to lean our heads as there are no seats in front.

Anyway, we decided to have our breakfast at Sadelle’s here in the Bellagio which meant we had to pass through the famous Atrium and what a treat that was. The new summer display opened a couple of days ago and is based on an African theme. We’ve never seen one like it before. We’ll post a video of that later.

In the Bellagio Atrium

Breakfast was delicious and it was lovely to see some of the same staff back after the Covid break. As it was the first full day of our holiday it seemed rude not to accept the waiter’s recommendation of Mimosas. As our regular followers will know, Si usually starts the holiday with something outrageous so I was surprised when he ordered an omelette! 🤷‍♀️I had my favourite, yogurt parfait followed by bagel and cream cheese. Neither of us were disappointed.

It was our intention to visit Walgreens next to buy a few things but on the way we stopped off for our first little (look away now if you don’t approved of gambling!) 😂 gamble and we were pleased that we did. We won $482.06!

I can’t believe what I’m going to write next but we also stopped off at Footlocker on the way and Si actually bought himself some new trainers! Si buying shoes before me …… the world’s gone crazy. He bagged himself a bargain too because when he went to pay, he was told they were half price in the sale! That made him doubly happy. Bless!

We had some real excitement when we returned to our room. Out of the window we saw a Police helicopter hovering near the Vegas version of the London Eye. We have yet to find out what happened but they appeared to be rescuing people. We saw them hoist up three people. Further investigation needed! Si has better pics on his camera so will add some later but for now here’s one.

This evening we had the first of our ‘posh’ meals here at the Bellagio. Tonight we dined at the Mayfair Supper Club. This was our first visit as it has opened since Covid hit. It is inspired by top supper clubs around the world and is intended as a return to the glamorous eras of Las Vegas and old New York set against the Fountains of Bellagio.

S&S at the Mayfair Supper Club

May’s a singer!

When we first arrived we felt we were too near the centre stage and the piano was rather loud so we asked to be moved to a booth. Good choice on our part. They presented me with a red rose for our anniversary and at the end of the meal they gave us their Black Forest Cake with gold leaf and a little ‘Happy Anniversary’ card attached. Very kind.

For the meal, Si had huge coconut prawns served in half a coconut shell followed by garlic crusted Prime Rib and I, of course, had the Fillet Mignon with black truffle sauce and we shared pureed potato and creamed spinach. The bread rolls reminded us of the ones we have at the Texas Roadhouse. Dot and Nat, you know what we mean. They are sweet and have butter poured over the top. Goodness me, they were good and very moreish. I had them as my starter.

For cocktails, Si had a Lucky Lady and enjoyed that so much he ordered a second and I had the Cloud 9, described as the champagne cocktail of your dreams and is a split of Champagne, Angostura Bitters with the glass wrapped in candy floss. What more can I say? Apparently, the Mayfair does the best cocktails in Vegas.

If you visit after 11 p.m. the show is of a completely different nature and is rather more risqué! It would be lovely if we could stay awake until 11 p.m. to experience it for ourselves!! 😂

Just to finish off for today, here is a photo of the Bellagio Reception, as always looking very beautiful.

Hello from Las Vegas!

We arrived okay and apart from two incidents of turbulence, the journey was very smooth. The food was excellent and the Virgin crew took very good care of us.

Our ‘suites’ as they like to call them, were very comfortable indeed and had all kinds of bells and whistles. We didn’t bother to make ours into beds but will do that on the night flight home.

I was amazed at how many people did and went to sleep at 6.30pm! We flew on a Dreamliner and as the flight progresses the cabin lights change colour to reflect what’s happening and they gradually darken and it’s like nighttime.

We started with champagne and nibbles and then on to the main event of dinner served on lovely china with real knives and forks. They even let us keep the little salt and pepper shakers!

Food and drink was in abundance. Once dinner had gone down we had a toasted cheese sandwich as a little snack, then later on, they wanted to serve us little plates of food including pulled pork on a brioche bun, crab cakes (Si had those and said they were fabulous), or two kinds of salads and even afternoon tea!

Sadly, my watch was telling me it was now midnight and although I so wanted to indulge in the afternoon tea, I just couldn’t eat any more! 🤷‍♀️

There were all kinds of teas and coffees, even hot chocolate. Si was happy as they had decaf tea and coffee for him too. For the food lovers, here are a couple of photos of some of the food.

Si’s Ginger Prawns

Sand’s Goat’s Cheese Tart

Upper Class was full and indeed the whole flight was very busy but then again, the Vegas flights usually are.

Sand’s Passionfruit Chocolate Bomb

After we disembarked and headed for Border Control, to our delight, we found we were the only flight there so were straight through. We didn’t even have to have our finger prints taken this time, collected our bags, met our chauffeur, Mohsin, and arrived at the hotel within 30 minutes!

Reminder to self: always catch an afternoon flight to Vegas! That’s the quickest we’ve ever experienced. Mohsin was surprised too, he said he’s usually waiting a couple of hours.

I remember that once, on a visit to Boston, we stood in Border Control for three hours! Not ideal after a long flight.

As we drive a Tesla ourselves, it seemed appropriate that we should have a Tesla to collect us so had booked the Model X with the gull wing doors. It did not disappoint!

Again, when we arrived at the Bellagio there were only a handful of people checking in so  that was speedy as well.

We were given a very large corner room overlooking the famous Bellagio fountains but alas, all was not well! 😒 There was a problem with the air conditioning inasmuch as it sounded like a freight train but as quick as a flash we were moved to another corner room. What’s so lovely about this are the windows on two sides of the room with great views and we even have a window in the bathroom with an electric blind.

This is the view from one of our windows:

Great view over the Strip and Bellagio Fountains

Well, it’s now 3.30 am and of course, we are wide awake! Better try and get a few more 😴.

More later!

Well, today’s the day! ✈️

We had our Covid PCR tests yesterday and they were negative so that means, after four attempts and for the first time since 2019, we are off to the USA for our delayed Golden Wedding Anniversary trip.

Excited, you bet we are! 👏

Thanks to a very special offer I found on-line earlier this year, we are very fortunate to be flying Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class for this trip and if everything that we have read is true, then we are in for a real treat. 🥂 🍴

We will be starting our trip experiencing the delights of Virgin’s Upper Class Lounge at Heathrow. Apparently, there are Peloton bikes for those who feel the ‘need for speed’ before jetting off. Even though I love Spinning I think I’ll be able to give those a miss!

We’ll be sharing all these wonders with you …………. so stay tuned!

So, we arrived and within ten minutes were through check-in, security and via Duty Free we were in the lounge.

Why is it that when you find a perfume you love, in my case Dune by Dior, that it disappears? Apparently, there’s currently a problem with deliveries! 🤷‍♀️ So, I’m trying a new one, Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet. It had better be ‘blooming’ okay!

Breakfast was delicious.  Si of course had the full English while I had Eggs Benedict. Only mishap so far was knocking over my glass of champagne. Lucky for me there was a hostess on hand to immediately replenish my glass. I think we could get used to this!

As is tradition ……………. here’s a video of Si eating his breakfast! 😂