Left Columbus Tuesday morning on USAir. The excuse for this trip was the National Association of Realtors convention. I was traveling with 3 others, Gloria, Mindy, and Gretchen; two other Realtors and a lender. I booked us in 21 A,C,D,F hoping the center seats would remain open. I asked when I checked in and was told they were both filled. Amazingly, no one showed up for either center seat so we were all comfortable. Left on time, bumpy flight, arrived early.

I bounced back and forth between Alamo and National for a Cadillac. Ended up with National; $280 for the week including all taxes and fees. I went to the Emerald Club, luxury section and found 2 SRX Crossovers (1 was 4 wheel drive) and 1 DTS. I took the DTS and found it wasn

That sounds like a party. Were the girls Vegas newbies or had they been there a few times before?
I've had 3 different nav systems in my cars and none of them were good for backroads scenic routes. However, Pioneer has one that remembers the roads and routes you travel frequently and will offer to use them in calculating other routes.
I think that HoJos with the Cuban food is where O.J. stayed during his hearings. I know he ate there and raved about the food.
I guess you never made it to the Kopper Keg?
I'm glad the Redwood is still cranking out good meals. Have you been there before and has the Porterhouse special changed? Do you know if the girl that liked her prime rib was comparing it to steakhouses she has tried across the country or if her praise was relative to Las Vegas prime ribs? (kinda going back to whether they were newbies or not)

All three had ben to Vegas before but very few times and just staying on the strip.

I've used TeleNav on my Blackberry for a couple years now. I guess this is the first time I've ever tried to use Nav for 'back roads'. I had bought a map but didn't look at it well ahead of time and it didn't even show the roads I was taking. My atlas at home has them. I was going from Palm Springs to Twentynine Palms, Amboy, Kelso and Cima. I turned left at Amboy instead of right and as taken to I-40 then back to Barstow.
The girls went to the Kopper Keg along with some other Columbus Realtors and said they had a blast.
I've eaten at Redwood Grill several times but not for at least 4-6 years. Their advertised 16 oz porterhouse special used to be more in the 18-20oz range. These looked like 16 oz steaks. The prime rib praise would be relative to other areas. She ordered it medium and later tols me that she doesn't like is real pink but it's so often dried out if not. She said this one was done the way she wanted and also extremely moist and tender. It actually looked more MW to me.

Jeff - you certainly packed a lot into this trip. A 6 hour Pai Gow session followed by a meal at HHAGG and then a trip to the Valley of Fire?? I got exhausted just reading about that! Also, I didn't realize you were actually AT the very Zumanity show where the accident happened. It sounded pretty bad.

So what did you think of "O?" Had you seen it already before?

Mike,

I had not seen O before and to be fair, I should admit that I'd done a LOT of drinking that day watching the football game then visiting with friends. Lee & Sharon can confirm this! Anyway, we had great seats on the rail on the right side. I had trouble staying awake. After Zumanity, this show was boooring.

Has anyone here ever tipped a flight attendant? The gal sitting next to me on my flight home did. From what I could see, it was just a few dollars. It almost seemed a bit demeaning to me.

We were in 1st class and the flight attendant did do an excellent job. I wrote a letter to the airline commending her.

I'm sorry I missed you on this trip; I would have been ROTFL if I caught up with you after the Ohio game.

I'm impressed with your road trip, especially the day after flying out! It sounds like Senator Tours and Daisy Tours have something in common - they don't exactly take the shortest route between any two points<g>.

How about more details on the "good" food at Postrio? I eat vicariously through trip reports<g>.

Senator....
It was nice seeing you on Saturday....do you remember? I know you where having a good time! LOL So sorry we couldn't join you for shots, but we don't do them for breakfast. Come to think...we didn't do any shots the whole trip. But then, no one in our party got sick either, so it was a good trade off, if you know what I mean.
Your friend or should I say friends where very nice. I was more then a little worried about you when you where talking about driving, but he kept you on the straight and narrow....or he did, at least untill his wife called him off the playground! LOL
I would say them (V) only having one bottle of scotch was a blessing.....LOL All the servi-bar items where comp'd, but you didn't want our Jonhny Walker!
As for your trip report, I heard most of it 3 or 4 times when you visited. LOL So there wasn't much of a suprise reading it. I still can't imagine being at Zumanity, and seeing what you all did. I was planning on going untill I heard about your experiance....it sort of turned me off to it for this trip. I must ask, would you recomend this show? And would you go see it again???
Do they have these conventions for realators, in Vegas every year??? Or does this one move around the country?
You and OJ like the Florida Cafe at the Ho-Jo. I like cuban food, and have thought of giving it a try , but it being where it is, I was always reluctant to follow through. The excellent Mojito might do the trick to motivate Sharon to give it a try as well.
Thanks for taking time out of your whirl-wind trip to Vegas, to visit with us.
Great trip report...but I didn't notice much gambling....did you even play poker????
Lee-PA

Daisy,

I know you sure tried to meet up with me.

I'm not sure I needed anyone else I know seeing me after the OSU game.

I had the Grilled Whole Daurade which they filleted table-side. It was excellent!

Lee,

I remember being in your room, not too sure how I got there.

The birthday boy and his mother are the only ones I know of who got sick.

I did have enough sense to have one of the boys drive to dinner that night.

Why don't you read the report 2 or 3 more times then you'll be sure to have it all.

Next years NAR convention is in Orlando.

I would absolutely recommend Zumanity, especially to you. And yes, I'd go again if for no other reason than to see the rest of the show.

You're right about the gambling, there wasn't a whole lot. And what there was wasn't pretty. I guess I had one break-even session of 3-card poker and a slight win on my marathon Pai Gow session. Played some VP and always lost whatever I bought in for.

I was very pleasantly suprised at the whole HoJo property as well as the restaurant.