$12 For a Hamburger... You Must Be Crazy...

Gone are the days of the five dollar buffet in Las Vegas. At the strip casinos it's pretty much impossible to find any sort of lunch entree for under $10, and it's even more than that for dinner. Many of the casinos are trying to upscale everything and the proliferation of $12 hamburgers is both impressive and amusing, since exactly the same thing at a regular restaurant will cost you $5 less.

Fortunately there are a couple of pockets of cheap eats on the strip. Casino Royale has a Denny's and Subway inside it, and the little food court between there and Harrah's contains a McDonald's, a Chipotle and a little pizza place with prices like those back home. There's also a McDonald's between the MGM and Planet Hollywood in one of the less-developed parts of the strip. The Fashion Show Mall (yes, that's the real name) across from the Wynn has a food court with various cheap eats as well.

If you enjoy spending $3.75 for a bottle of Mountain Dew, by all means buy one from a kiosk in the Paris. However if you would rather spend your money on video poker and strippers, visit the Walgreen's or CVS between Planet Hollywood and the MGM (they're on opposite sides of the street, so you're set either way) or head down to the ABC Store in the Fashion Show Mall. All three have reasonable souvenirs as well, although the shirts at the ABC store seemed nicer to me.

I'm sure there are other low-priced options that I forgot about. If you know of others, post a comment so others can have a good time without spending an arm and a leg!

Planet Hollywood Casino

One of the highlights of our Vegas stay was the new Planet Hollywood Casino. Located on the former site of the Aladdin next to the Paris on the strip, the casino has been completely re-done and the Beautiful and Talented Wife and I really enjoyed it. The video poker machines had good pay tables (even some of the penny and nickel machines.) The ventilation was great so you didn't reek of smoke. The new decor was nice, and the cocktail waitresses were snappy with drinks while you were gambling.

Their fun book was very good as well. Fifteen dollars in slot match play (which could also be used on the video poker machines) numerous food and drink deals, and other goodies as well. Joining also gave you the opportunity to take a crack at their gigantic slot machine once each day to win prizes. I happened to win a pair of free tickets to Stomp Out Loud, which was their featured show. I expected to get the Uecker seats, but to my surprise I was about 10 rows from the stage on the aisle.

It also didn't hurt that the cocktail waitresses had some of the best outfits on the strip - boots, fishnets, black shorts or a miniskirt and a red shirt showing as much cleavage as the individual dared... which was quite a bit in some cases.

Image: zuirdj

Oooh That Smell...

Hello again. I just got back from Las Vegas, so I'll be posting a bunch of non-soccer stuff over the next couple of days. One of the oddest experiences I had in Vegas was the horrible odor that assaulted my nose as the Beautiful and Talented Wife and I walked into the Venetian Hotel and Casino.

Immediately upon entering, both of us looked at each other and said "Do you smell that?" After a few steps I realized what it reminded me of. The entire casino smelled like a urinal cake... an overwhelming horrifying urinal cake. It was so bad that we left almost immediately... never to return. We walked past the Venetian another day, and the funk was so bad we could smell it on the sidewalk -- which is roughly 50 yards from the entrance -- over the buses and billions of taxis on Las Vegas Boulevard.

As we continued our tour of casinos on the strip, the Palazzo and the Monte Carlo also smelled like this. I'm not sure if they're all using the same odd-smelling carpet cleaner, but I'm sure these high-end places aren't hoping "men's room" is the lasting impression you have of their property. Ick.