A while back, I discovered that the Killers were going to be playing a show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I've seen them a bunch of times, but they are definitely my favorite live act to see right now, so I booked the tickets. It was only after-the-fact that I realized that the show was being held on the same weekend as the Super Bowl. I had been to Vegas for the Super Bowl before, so I knew how much fun that would be. I booked us a room at the MGM Grand to make life easier, and Justine and I planned a fun weekend in the sun.
A tasty snack to start the weekend.
I flew straight in from San Diego at the end of our Sales Conference, and arrived Friday afternoon around 2:30. Justine came in from rainy Vancouver, and got there about 4:30. We met at the sports bar at the MGM and had a drink and a snack before getting settled into our room.
Our room at the MGM Grand - nothing special.
After getting settled in, we headed out into the sunshine and wandered the Strip for a bit. We didn't really have a plan, and had a bit of time to kill before our dinner at 8:00 at Tao. Eventually we made it up there, and had another fabulous dinner. As Justine's says, we're such creatures of habit...
After dinner, we wandered back down the Strip, making a couple of stops along the way. We went up onto the patio at the Beer Hall, a newish place under the fake Eiffel Tower at Paris. It has good views up and down the Strip, as well as great views of the fountain show at the Bellagio. We had a couple of drinks and watched the night go by.
We were both pretty wiped by the time midnight came, and so we called it a night.
Saturday was the day of the concert, and was pretty relaxed. We slept in quite late (by my standards anyway), then headed down to the pool and relaxed in the sunshine for a few hours. The weather was perfect, and the pool wasn't overly busy.
After we headed out to find a late lunch/early dinner. We wandered across the Strip to the new area near the T-Mobile Arena, and hung out at the Beerhaus for a while, before grabbing dinner at Shake Shack. The it was back to the hotel to get ready for the concert and the evening ahead.
The concert was... amazing! What a show. Being from Las Vegas, they certainly play to the hometown status. They ripped through all the hits, plus lots off the new album. Brandon Flowers, the lead singer, is a consummate showman and certainly knows how to put on a show!
After the show Justine headed to bed, and I went and played poker for a while. It was a bit of a slow night, but I ended up a little bit. We again slept in late the next day, not heading out of the room until close to noon.
Sunday was the Super Bowl, and while neither New England or Philadelphia are my teams, I was pulling for the Patriots. Justine and I stopped at the sportsbook and put a small amount of money on the game to keep it interesting.
We had booked a seat at Hofbrauhaus, a German beer garden for the big game. It looked like a fun sport to watch, and was one of the few places where you didn't have to book some ridiculous all you could eat/drink package.
Hofbrauhaus, our home for the big game.
Beer and bets on the game - none of which worked out...
The sad side effect of drinking beer all afternoon and evening was that our night ended quite early. Still, it was a fun day. We had a little more than half a day on Monday before we had to fly home, and head back to reality.
We had a slow start to the morning again, had some breakfast and got organized and checked out. We hung out most of the day at Top Golf, this fun driving range with interactive targets that is fun, regardless of how good your golf game is.
The interactive range is a lot of fun.
Justine in action! Look at that ball headed right up the middle!
Eventually, it was time to wrap things up. We had lunch at the Mirage, then headed back down to pick up our bags and head to the airport. It was a really fun weekend, and a nice break from the rain and cold of Vancouver winter.