Life is random and unexpected and that's what makes it an adventure. I have been in California now all week for business and I stayed over this weekend for more west coast meetings on Monday.
Special K emailed me on Friday with the simple two-word question "Vegas tomorrow?" and less than 24 hours later, we were settled in on Jet Blue for the short 47-minute flight.
Special K's company is hosting an event in Vegas in early November, so we went primarily to scope out the venue, but we didn't let the opportunity pass to have one of those great Las Vegas dinners. We dined at Rao's in Ceasar's Palace and it was a pretty incredible display of Italian fare. The original Rao's is in East Harlem and has only 10 tables and apparently, customers actually "own" the tables (much like one owns a condominium) and so unless you know someone from whom you can "borrow" a table, your chances of dining at the original Rao's are not much better than a snowball's chance in you-know-where.
Vegas to the rescue. While the Sin City version of Rao's features decor much like the original, it's much bigger and turns the tables many times per night. (East Harlem Rao's only offers one seating per evening.)
We arrived early and had a drink at the bar and I noticed that there were Christmas decorations up already (it's not even the end of September, for pete's sake!). We asked the bartender and she said it's a tradition from the NY-based Rao's and described an historical decision made by one of the owners years ago when it came time to take down the seasonal decorations and pack them away.... "Ah, just leave 'em up .... fuggedabouddit." And voila -- now it is Christmas all year long in Rao's.
After dinner, we went back to the Voo Doo Lounge at the Rio (where Special K's event will be) to see what it looked like on a rockin' Saturday night.... we listened to the band for a while and then made our way back to our hotel where we dropped a tiny bit of cash at the blackjack tables and then dropped into bed for about two hours of sleep before heading back to the airport for the first flight out.
I think we were in Vegas for about 15 hours altogether.
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