Kaleb's Birthday Weekend in Vegas, Day 2-3 - April 21-22, 2012

Saturday morning, Kaleb and I got up and headed downstairs to enjoy a buffet brunch at Verandah.  When we made our way from the elevator to the restaurant, we passed through an "Asian invasion".  It was surprising to see so many people in the public areas of the hotel in general as it's usually deserted, much less being mobbed by my own kind!  (I heard snippets of Cantonese spoken here and there)  Everyone looked beautiful, like off the pages of a fashion magazine.  We saw the bride in her gown; the wedding had just ended and guests were waiting for the ballroom to open for the reception.  Looking at details from the Four Seasons website, it seems like a great destination wedding locale; the hotel is elegant and not overrun by tons of tourists, guests can choose to stay at the Four Seasons or at the more moderately priced Mandalay Bay, and so many activities to fill the weekend.  Plus, the bachelor/ette party would be easy to plan...

We wove our way through the crowd to get to brunch...I was ready to eat!  The hostess asked for our last name, wrote it down, and then asked if we wanted to be seated inside or outside.  I requested outside, as I had read on Yelp that it was nice to sit next to the pool area.  Fortunately, a table had just freed up, so we were seated immediately.  You could order a-la-carte or go with the buffet...BUFFET of course!  The meal included coffee or tea, and juice.  Today's juice of the day was a tasty peach/guava mix.  I like that the Four Seasons' breakfast buffets offer a "juice of the day"; we had experienced that also at Lanai as well as the Big Island.

cute little servings

cheese and antipasti selections

the sign says it all

freshly made mini donuts with assorted hand-decorated toppings!

hot breakfast items such as eggs benedict, bacon, different kinds of sausage, french toast

also fresh berries, corned beef hash and mango pancakes

made-to-order fluffy omelette

The daily breakfast credit of $72 barely covered the cost of the brunch ($37 per person), but it brought the final tab down.  Then it was time for one of Kaleb's birthday surprises...indoor skydiving!  He had no idea what we were up to...all I told him was that he needed to wear sneakers and that we had to drive to it.  He even went to the restroom again "just in case", as I told him I wasn't sure if there would be a restroom...making him think perhaps it was a long hike in the desert?  I didn't want to check my iPhone for directions while driving to avoid giving the location away, so I attempted to memorize the general vicinity and headed in that direction.  Unfortunately (or fortunately!) the Mandalay Bay garage exit spit me out onto a feeder road that paralleled Las Vegas Boulevard, so even though I wasn't following my intended route, I didn't have to worry about being stuck in traffic and stoplights.  We eventually make it to Vegas Indoor Skydiving...the big letters on the building was a dead giveaway once I got close.  Kaleb was excited...he and his friend Quan were thinking about skydiving, and he had always fancied human flight, so it was a perfect choice.  I had already called in to prepay for reservations little over a week prior and used a coupon in the Las Vegas Entertainment book to save $25 per person. (I bought a discounted copy on eBay, and it already paid for itself many times by using the coupon)  The girl at the front desk forgot to ask for the physical coupon; if you don't have one, you can call them anyway and say you do, and then maybe they'll forget to collect it when you check in. (since you've already paid upfront anyway)

We were not allowed to bring in anything (even I had to take off my jewelry; there were free lockers to use) during the 1 hour instruction plus flight time, so I have no pictures or video to share of our experience (as I was too cheap to pay $25 for a 15 minute DVD of the whole group or $15 a photo), but you can look through the company's picture gallery to get an idea of what it was like.

There were 9 people in total for the 1pm flight, and our guide Jeremiah ushered us into the classroom where we watched a brief video about the experience to come, and how to read and understand hand signals to tell you what to do, like bend your legs more, or thumbs up for "okay", etc.  Indoor skydiving uses a wind tunnel installed upwards from the ground to provide the lift.  A steel fence-like floor was suspended a couple of feet from the giant fan.  It made sense not to allow people to take anything into the chamber, since the item could fall through the holes and break the fan or possibly shoot back at you as fast as a bullet! 

After the video, we signed waiver forms, then divided into two groups.  Kaleb and I were in Group 1 along with three other people.  We were led into the dressing room and Jeremiah told us to take off our shoes to suit up into billowy jumpsuits (that had seen better days).  One of the other three in our group warned that her friend should remove his shoes in another room, to spare us "the torture".  So he did, and when he came back to the dressing room, I was glad that he stepped out, as even though his shoes were back on, he had a lingering ripened cheese smell about him.  Yuck!

If you didn't have socks on, Jeremiah would give you socks to wear, not sure for what purpose...maybe they didn't want people to sweat into the stirrups that you slid your feet into before putting it into the shoe.  I had brought sneakers but didn't wear socks; he gave me a brand new pair!  If you forgot your sneakers, they did have ones you could borrow, like how a bowling alley has shoes to rent.  I'd suggest you bring your own.

We were given earplugs to protect our hearing in the wind tunnel.  I was able to get the plug into my right ear, but was having a hard time inserting it into my left, so Jeremiah offered to help and told me to say "ahhh" to open the canal up.  I must have said it too loudly as he remarked that I had a good singing voice. *blush*  I have to watch the volume of my voice when my ears are plugged; it's caused embarrassing moments in the past. (which is in a Time Machine entry that still has not been published yet...)

Jeremiah had each one of us lay prone on a bench to practice our skydiving form.  We then walked into an adjacent room where we were outfitted with a set of lightweight goggles and a helmet.  My goggles were so tight, Kaleb said I looked even more Chinese with my eyes being pulled back so hard.  The helmet was also very tight on my head as I had to twist all of my hair inside it.  I noticed that previously used helmets were sprayed with disinfectant, but that doesn't get rid of old sweat. :(  If I do this again, I'd probably bring my own head sock!

Group 1 got to go first, while Group 2 watched, so hooray for being in Group 1!  Jeremiah guided us into the padded chamber, and there was a second employee controlling the fan speed.  During our first attempt, the fan strength was lowered, and one by one, we took turns laying on the mesh floor as the fan was turned up, and we were flying!  Jeremiah took care to keep the flyer centered in front of the fan, and if s/he were about to lose lift, he'd help steer the person to the padded areas to fall (tucking and rolling).  To jump back into the air flow, it was like diving into a pool.  We had two other opportunities to fly...I watched Kaleb soar so high that he was out of Jeremiah's grasp, but once he looked down to see what was going on, he lost lift, and Jeremiah had to help him fall out.  I had some good flying time though I did not soar as high as Kaleb.  One of the times I fell into the padding, I forgot to tuck, thus jarring my neck pretty good.  But it was a really fun experience and everyone should try this at least once.

We headed back to the hotel for Kaleb's 2nd surprise...a couple's massage!  I had to take advantage of the $100 spa credit, right?  (okay, these surprises also include "moi" in them...I asked Kaleb about it, and he said he wouldn't have wanted to do the flight without me, so awwwww. :)  Maybe he just said that to be nice...:P )  I was glad I was also getting a massage, as I wanted my neck pain to go away.

When we checked in to the hotel last night, we were given a couple of coupons along with our room keys, and one of the coupons was to save 20% off a 50, 80, or 100 minute spa treatment...how timely!  I gave the coupon to the spa receptionist, and she applied it to our service.  That covers tip!  We had 20 minutes before our treatment time, so we were segregated into our own men's and women's locker room and wet areas.  There was only one lady in the locker area, and I had the steam room all to myself.  There wasn't much to eat in there except apples, hot tea, iced lemon or cucumber water.  Once 4pm arrived, I was picked up by my therapist from the ladies' lounge area and led into a common hallway where I saw Kaleb on the other end being led by his therapist.  We were directed into a room with two massage tables and the therapists explained the different varieties of massage oils we could select and letting us sniff each one.  We then had 50 minutes of bliss...I had my neck worked on!  At the end of the massage, we relaxed in a co-ed lounge area all to ourselves.  There were the same apples, tea, and water offerings, but with the addition of mixed nuts.

Probably no cameras allowed in the spa, but I used my iPhone for this shot

After a short while, we returned to the locker rooms to change and came out to settle the bill.  There were a couple of people checking into the spa, dressed in hotel robes and slippers!  As we departed, the receptionist asked if they wanted to change into spa robes, "as I see you are already wearing robes"...haha!  Definitely go for spa robes...they were so much more cozy.  We returned to the room and got ready for dinner.  It was back to the MGM Grand (via Excalibur express tram and walkway).  There were a couple of young people on the tram, and when they got off, they were expecting to arrive at the Luxor.  "I think if we take this tram back, it'll stop there."  Uhh, nope.  Must get on the other tram that's not express!

Tonight's dinner was at Nobhill Tavern, by Michael Mina.  It was highly rated on Yelp and people raved about the lobster pot pie, so it became a must-try.  I had requested a booth in my reservation per Yelp recommendations, but the hostess said there would be a 20 minute wait, so we took a regular table instead.  The booths are nice if you want a bit of privacy and quiet, as the main dining room was quite noisy.  The food was really good, and the panna cotta dessert was tastier than the one we got at Distrito. (it also had huckleberries)  I'd go back for that pork belly again!

handsome birthday boy

dangerously yummy breads

"ginger side car" (their "cable car" cocktail is famous but I wanted to be off the beaten path)

oh so icy cold and good

housemade pate with tasty mustard, cornichons and brioche

lobster pot pie has arrived!  plated tableside

lobster, pieced back together

succulent pork belly, deeeeeeelish!!!  I didn't mind pork and apples done this way

we ordered this panna cotta, but the kitchen added a birthday touch

Despite the dining room being very loud, Kaleb had no problem picking up a neighboring table's conversation between a guy and two women.  I couldn't hear anything, but Kaleb was looking rather amused so he whispered to me the gist of the conversation.  Apparently, the guy and the women just met, and he was wining and dining them to try to get the two to go to bed with him!  Thus, I was not surprised that all three of them ordered the lobster pot pie and lots of drinks.  At one point in time, he mentioned his girlfriend...that's a real smart way to pick up women!  The guy wasn't the finest specimen of a man, but I guess having money can help hide the flaws.  They were still there when we left, so the ending remains unknown...was he successful in his quest to have something "happen in Vegas"?  I speculate that he might have gotten a little "appetizer", if not the "full meal".

We headed back to the hotel...our last night in Vegas!  The night before, we had found the access door to the Four Seasons' dedicated elevators, opened using a hotel keycard.  This was a more convenient way of getting to the guest rooms versus walking all the way around the Mandalay Bay lobby to the separate entrance, down the stairs, to the end of the common hallway.  This door is located right between the Mandalay Bay VIP lounge and the main Mandalay elevators.

access to the Four Seasons' elevators

The next morning, we had brunch again at the Verandah restaurant.  Originally we were going to order a-la-carte as the buffet items didn't change, but the server was so slow in coming to our table, we decided to do the buffet since it was getting close to check-out time.  It was uncharacteristic to have such service, though the restaurant was busier than yesterday morning.  So since the food was the same, no new pictures to share.  The juice of the day was a melon berry blend, very refreshing.

While I was in line to check out, Kaleb took our bags to the car for storage.  I applied the gift cards that I redeemed from American Express Membership Rewards, so it brought down the hotel bill way down. It almost felt like the $175 weekend in Vegas all over again. :)

We spent the remaining time gambling in Mandalay Bay for a few hours, playing 25 cent video poker and slots.  I was able to hit 4 deuces on Deuces Wild and a triple 7-7-7 with a double multiplier, but I ended up with a $300 loss overall, since I didn't spend enough time gambling. (I usually need to play for at least 5-6 hours straight to get a lucky streak)  For an early supper, we stopped by Border Grill and had some drinks and appetizers.  The place was packed with Oracle convention-goers...it was easy to spot the engineers (besides them wearing badges on a lanyard all over the hotel):  loose polo shirt, ill-fitting slacks, a laptop messenger bag.

don't touch my mojito

freshly made tortilla chips accompanied by three different salsas

another queso fundido, but this one was less rich than at Distrito, yum!

two kinds of ceviche...the Peruvian sat on a fried plantain, and the Baja sat on a tortilla chip...so fitting!

Then it was off to the airport, ending a great weekend to celebrate another year in the life of Kaleb.  The flights were uneventful, though I got a great shot out the window of a thin crescent moon against the twilight.

the iPhone camera did not do this view justice

What's next on the agenda?  In less than two weeks, my girlfriends and I are going on a cruise to celebrate my (early) 40th birthday!  Everyone is so pumped and super excited...we even selected a karaoke song to perform on the cruise.  Then two weeks later, Kaleb and I are heading up to Colorado to visit Rocky Mountain National Park and friends who live in the area.  Then three weeks after that, Kaleb and I are headed to the Galapagos to celebrate my actual birthday...a trip of a lifetime.  Can't wait to experience it all, and I also can't wait to share it with you on my blog.  Stay tuned!