Three Mile Smile

 Both Jess and I were up at 9am today, but that would be 12pm Florida time. Jess hypothesized that we were just meant to be living in Nevada time. Makes a as much sense as anything I suppose! We got dressed and checked out the marketplace to see if we wanted anything for breakfast but it was like $6 for 2 Hot Pockets and we really had eaten quite well the day before so we figured we'd be fine on snacks and cookies. We spent the morning repacking our suitcases because they'd gotten totally messed up the day before and we now needed to fit the alcohol. With The Price Is Right on TV we put all the clothes in my suitcase and everything else in Jess's and everything fit perfectly! Great! We were ready to go at 11:40am and we set out for our three mile walk in the sun! Our mission for the day was to get from our first hotel, the Hilton Grand Vacations on the Strip, to our second hotel, the Hilton Double tree Tropicana, which was on the complete opposite end. Why did We have two hotels that far apart? Cause one was fancy, and one was close to the action, and we wanted to try both!

We didn't get far before we stopped into Circus Circus. We knew we wanted to stop there because we wouldn't be coming back to see it since it wasn't that big a ticket number on our visit-list. We found a large Abraham Lincoln coin right outside the entrance, which I took to be a good omen, and with it in pocket we entered our first Las Vegas casino! It was dark and bright at the same time! How fabulous! Rooms of slots all over the place, games everywhere, fantastic! We played absolutely none of them, but we sure looked at them! We passed a Krispie Kreme and debated getting donuts (as we still hasn't had anything but sugar cookies) but there was a sign directing towards a McDonald's and we figured that would be more worth our money. We knew the sign said it was upstairs somewhere, and we wanted to check out the Adventuredome Indoor Theme Park, just to see it, so we trotted up the escalator and actually made it to the Adventuredome with no issue! It was cool in there! Very old fashioned, obviously fairly dated, but the kids we saw seemed to be having a wonderful time! There was a Ferris wheel, carousel, kiddie rides, arcades, midway games, and two indoor roller coasters! Nothing really struck out for us to ride, but they sure looked like fun for the kiddies! It was cool to just wander around and see, get a little lost cause the Gruen Transfer is in full effect at any casino environment, and just witness it all happening! That's one of our favourite past times, just walking and talking!

We wandered down the shop side of the floor we were on and found this fabulous Chinese store that sold giant fans and when we found out they were $20, Jess couldn't refuse it and had to buy one! First purchase of the trip! Hurray! It really is an awesome souvenir! The woman was so nice, wishing us a happy birthday and whatnot, telling us hers was yesterday! How cool is that! Wishing her well we took our fabulous (and enormous purchase which we now had to carry the next few miles) and promptly wandered into some sort of closed area of the hotel where a maintenance worker had to help us figure out we were on the complete opposite side of where we wanted to be for the McDonald's. Turning around we walked the long walk back where we'd come from and down the escalator only for Jess to realize she didn't have her sunglasses. Least she remembered she'd taken them off in the bathroom of the Adventuredome so she watched the luggage (which, yes, we were hauling around the whole time) and I ran all the way back, found them in the stall, before running to return. Nothing like a minor panic to get a day started! But they were found and life was well again so I can't complain!

We managed to follow the signs this time to get to a staircase that led us to a midway game section where there was the McDonald's. We ordered four cheeseburgers at $1.98 each (I know, big spenders) and headed on back into the hot desert air! We entered the construction zone at this point and had to walk on a thin strip of cement on the street as there was no sidewalk, but aside from our suitcases flipping to the wrong side once in a while we didn't have any problems! We passed The Venetian on our left as we walked though FashionShow on the right. We found a nice table outside in the shade so we took a seat and happily munched on our hamburgers and polished off the last of the artisinal water we'd been provided at the Grand Vacations or being honors members. It was a very nice lunch, particularly for two girls with no stomach space or palette! We walked by the Sugar Factory and made plans to go to the Venetian tomorrow followed by the Sugar Factory for lunch and decided that was a mighty fine way to do things! 

From there we stopped in Treasure Island to jump into their CVS for some sunscreen. I knew before we left the first hotel that we needed some but we were bound to run into one of the many convenience stores on the Strip and we did! CVS had a whole sunscreen section at the front but Jess was wise and knew they'd only put name brand up there so we wandered to the back (followed by like every worker in the place because we both had suitcases with us and that's obviously suspect). We found a 5.5 ounce 70 SPF CVS brand spray-on sunscreen for $9.59, significantly less than the $13-15 mini bottles they were selling and the front and bought that. We explored Treasure Island a little and figured we'd exit through the parking garage, cause that made sense to us. However it was a maze in there of places pedestrians could and couldn't go and when we tried to take the stairs I spied some homeless guy sleeping on one of the levels so we just went back into the casino and went out the front. This was also confusing but we got back on track and were passing the Paris hotel/casino in no time. That's also on our to-do list though we haven't worked out exactly what day we're doing that one. Maybe tomorrow when we do the Venetian we'll have time! Who knows!

It wasn't that exciting from there in out. We were sunscreened up and ready for anything as we literally rolled on down the strip. We passed basically everything, from Caesars Palace, to Casino Royale, passing dozens of food places, and I estimate 4 more CVS's until we spied the MGM and New York, New York in the distance! We recalled that both were right next to the Tropicana when we drove in the day before and while we really weren't too tired or hot by any extent, it's always exciting to know you're close! And lo and behold, there is was in the distance: The Tropicana! We just had to cross two more skywalk bridges to get there. I will say, the skywalks are awesome, but one we went to didn't have an operational elevator and while we were only using it because we had luggage with us and we didn't wanna carry it up the stairs, that'll be totally rough for a genuinely handicapped person, like how would the cross the street? Still, generally awesome way to avoid crossing traffic!

Up on the second-to-last one we saw these two girls dressed like showgirls asking people to stop for photos. Now, Jess and I are no fools, we know they do it for tips, but we were curious. We know the hustle, but they looked pretty to take pictures and we just wanted to see what happened. We're awful and tacky, we know. They were friendly as pie but only as I took pictures after Jess did they mention they work for tips. Good strategy, I thought, don't tell people til it's done. We were prepared though. As Jess chatted about the camera we brought with us (a mini knock-off GoPro) I pulled out an envelope gifted to us by our mother before we left filled with 'tip money'. This money was in fact a stack of $2 bills which my mother loves to leave as tips, and which we enjoy also. The girls seemed confused. "Usually $40 is customary" they said. I was surprised by their gumption, I'll tell you that. Jess and I both agreed they probably aimed high to try and get $10's at least. Makes sense. But we're no fools. Told an "This is all we have for cash." They told us they take card. They're good. We're better. "We only have our debits and we just transferred money to them, those funds won't be available yet." These girls seemed lost for words. How do they proceed? Girls like these make money by convincing people they have accidentally bought an unreturnable product (the picture) and in return must be paid a certain amount (in those cases $40). We're not dumb and we know that's not true. Someone says they work off 'tips', then you owe nothing. Not even the $4 I was offering. I'm not saying these girls are doing anything heinous, if anything I respect the hustle. People are dumb enough to be convinced they must pay for a lot of things they don't have to, they're afraid of imaginary punishments and are often to shy or embarrassed to say no. Oh, but not us, you can't make us part with a dime without it being absolutely vital, so these unstoppable girls had meet two immovable idiots and it was absolutely tantalizing! They accepted the $4 dollars, because they had no other choice, and Jess and I merrily went on our way towards our final destination. Why'd we do that? I have no idea! We don't gamble so I guess we just needed a thrill!

With that ridiculousness over with, we crossed the second bridge and went right into the hotel lobby. The lobby is right next to the casino but its kinda fun to see people playing as you check in. Gets the anticipation flowing! We got checked in and temperature checked for the first time since starting this trip. We were normal so we got our keys and headed up! We got upgraded to a high level double queen, which is fabulous, and we finally got to drop our suitcases. It was 3:15pm-ish at that point putting the journey at just over 3 hours, pretty solid walk if you ask me! After a quick rest and attempt to connect to the Wi-Fi by Jessica (it still wasn't working, seems her computer is the problem) we got into our bathing suits and shorts to explore the hotel. We figured if we got to the pool and wanted to swim, we'd already be ready!  We explored as much of the hotel as we could, getting lost (of course) at least twice, but we did find the pool! It's large and has an operational bar that we want to check out, but we didn't end up staying. We kept exploring, locating the spa and all the food establishments that are still open. Most are shut so we wanted to see what our options are. We got $13 each everyday towards food at the hotel (a Gold member perk) so we wanted to know what we could get. The Red Lotus looks like the best option, with chow mien and pot stickers! That perk wouldn't start until the next day though, so we had to figure out food for the evening. I decided we should get changed and go to the Rainforest Cafe we'd seen on our way over. We knew we liked it, as we'd been a few times before elsewhere, so we wouldn't be risking money on food we might not like, and it was right next to a Taco Bell, so I figured we could get a handful of burritos to save in our hotel room for breakfast each day so we would only have to think about what to have for dinner! I just like there to be food in my living space at all times and Taco Bell burritos are way cheaper than some $5 microwave meal. Jess agreed it was an inspired plan so she made us a 5:45pm reservation and we got all gussied up. Well, as much as one can for a 20 minute walk in 95° heat to a Rainforest Cafe. 

The walk was great, especially since we knew where everything was now, and we just had a purse instead of two suitcases. We wandered around the MGM hotel/casino for a few minutes to see it but also because we thought it would help us skip some sidewalk if we just cut through it. We were wrong cause we got lost and exited the opposite end! We're total fools, but we were having fun and were in no hurry, so there's no harm getting lost! We crossed a skywalk right into the second-floor we needed to get to the restaurant and were able to go right in! You enter through the gift shop then go up a staircase to the restaurant. There we waited for just a few moments, where we confirmed it was just 5:45pm, before the very friendly host took us to our seats. We got taken to the secondary room where we were seated in a booth under a panther and next to the monkeys. To seat us the host literally pulled the whole table out to give us room which cracked us up! We got comfy and soon enough our server, Armando, was over. We ordered two ice waters, one Rasta Pasta to split, and one Volcano Brownie Cake. I know, big spenders again. But portion sizes at American restaurants are always double and rather than order two and have to take leftovers we might not eat, we save some money getting one to split which is enough to fill both of us anyway! Armando had no problem with that and brought us extra plates just in case. We didn't need it, but the thought was nice. We'd mentioned we were here for our birthday so of course the Volcano came with a candle and singing and it was very sweet of them! We ate every last bite because ice cream doesn't keep and we needed to be comfortably full for the evening.

We paid the $43 bill (you can see why we split meals) and weren't sure whether $5 or $10 was an appropriate too because we can't do math but we remembered the 'move the decimal and double it' trick just as we found a tip calculator on our Tracphone to confirm that was correct! We had brought two $5's with us so we have him that in person, because we know sometimes guests and other wait staff sometimes take tips left on tables, and he hung around the table for a bit afterwards to chat with us. We wondered if maybe he felt like he'd neglected us and wanted to make sure we felt he'd earned the tip? Maybe he didn't want us to think he'd assumed we'd be lousy tippers cause we ordered water and shared everything. We didn't care either way, we always tip 20%, and we had a wonderful conversation about things to do in the area and his upcoming trip to California for some surfing, we just passively wondered why he lingered. Regardless, he was a wonderful waiter and we had a wonderful meal! We love the aesthetic of Rainforest Cafe and we never go so this was a lovely treat!

It was dark when we left at 7:05pm so after we bought our 8 $1.39 burritos we got to have a pleasant stroll down the lit-up and glorious strip! It's so bright they don't need street lights, the flow of all the signs and ads and boards making more light than lamps ever would! It was fabulous to walk down and early enough in the evening that a majority of the boozing hadn't hit it's peak so we could enjoy without any sloshed yokels puttering about! We took some nice photos in front of New York, New York and Excalibur as we made our way back to the Tropicana.

Back in our hotel room we got into our comfy pajamas and settled in for the evening. It was, after all, 8pm, so the day was obviously over for us. We put some golf on in the background while Jess journaled and I wrote this here post. I also tried to finagle Jess's computer to get my photos off the camera and into my blog, but it seems it's still not to be. I got the photos to her computer, but it won't recognize my Kindle so I can't transfer the pictures. Everyday is a struggle. Jess had similar struggles as she climbed behind our TV to try and fix it but she did better than I and the TV stopped glitching at last, so progress! Jess eventually managed to get her computer to connect to the Wi-Fi! Problem was we'd already connected three devices thinking Jess's wouldn't connect. But she just called the front desk and explained and they said they'd waive the extra fee for four devices so, success! With that we were settled in for the evening, watching random nonsense TV while we dozed off.