Cross Another off the List

Well, we can cross another hotel off the list of those I've never visited. This one would be Palace Station.

My friend Mike was in town for a small conference at the original Station casino, Palace Station, and I met up with him last night on the strip. Our first order of business was to get him downtown, since he'd just been roaming the strip and doing other touristy stuff (like the Hoover Dam) since he'd arrived in town. Oh, did I mention it was his first trip to Sin City!!

As usual, I parked in the Main Street Station parking lot across the street, headed in to get validated, and on to the 777 Brew Pub for some damn good beer. The brewmaster's special right now at the 777 is a pumpkin spice beer, that has a very tasty, yet extremely subtle, pumpkin aftertaste. Afterwards, we spent the next couple hours or so just hopping in and out of the Fremont Street casinos, taking in the sights and allowing Mike to see the "other" side of Vegas as opposed to all of the fountains and volcanoes he'd been getting used to. I also insisted that we grab a beer at the Elco, even though Mike was not a gamblin' man. I've probably said this a little too much, but I am definitely impressed with the El Cortez and the way it has cleaned itself up. It still has the occasional freaks and riff raff I've come to expect and enjoy, but that acrid smoky smell is now being masked by some scent coming out of the air handling system (similar, but not exactly like some nicer places on the strip like Monte Carlo). The new carpet still looks to be in good shape, and there is no longer a 1/3 inch layer of tar on the ceiling!

Unfortunately, a long few days for Mike were catching up, and the fact that he had to be up at 6am for his flight didn't help matters. So the rest of the night was pretty subdued. Back to Palace Station we went, where we picked up a 12 pack of Miller Lite at the corner 7-11, put it on ice in his room's sink, and just relaxed with some cold brews for the rest of the night. There was a scenario outside our window which defied the sense my brain was trying to make out of it. It was just a random sight that caused Mike to exclaim, "hey, security is out on the,.....WTF!!". I'm sure it's a "had to be there moment", but there were 3 security guards in a golf cart on top of the deserted parking garage gawking at 2 mini-coopers that just happened to be parked there. No rhyme, no reason.

By the way, Mike does keep up on this blog and posts comments as "MB". It wasn't the most insane night in Sin City, but I thought I better blog it anyway since "MB" makes up approximately 50% of my commenting readers, he he! :-)

It was good to see Mike, and I'm glad he had an extra bed for me to crash in. But it was up at 5:30am, and back to the apartment where I crashed 'till well after noon.

Here's just a few pictures of the night.

http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff24/recsports_rob/Mike/