Big Vegas sort-of weekend.

Las Vegas is a hit or miss type of place. I either have a great time, or the trip is a total train wreck that's mercifully funny as soon as I'm back in LA - but completely miserable at the time.

This trip, I had a great time. Girlfriend and I arrived Sunday night about 6 pm, had dinner and then got on the list to the hotel's nightclub (that's one of the fun things about being female in Vegas - I've never had to pay to get into a club), where we danced until about 2:30 am. Some jeweler from Atlanta fell in love with girlfriend, who, of course, was completely uninterested in him. Poor guy. He was a great dancer, though.

The second day (Monday), we woke up, had breakfast and hit the pool, then had lunch. Girlfriend then hit the casino, where she won enough to cover her half of the trip and got us comped at the buffet. I spent the afternoon playing a blackjack video machine (I love blackjack, but I lose at it, and the cheapest table was a $15 minimum), and sucking down free drinks.

We just hung out in one of the bars Monday night, watching the crowd (CES geeks, AVN pornstars, eurotrash and hookers), and the giant animatronic frog (no, really) that would pop up from behind a waterfall every so often and dance to War's "Lowrider". If anyone can recommend a good free video hosting service, I'll upload the video.

My camera died while I was taking the video, so this is the best I could do with my cell phone. Yes, the frog's eyes are really glowing. This was happening right outside the "Parasol Down" bar.

Tuesday, we hung out in the spa, ate our free buffet and then headed home. Great trip.

Impressions of the Wynn Las Vegas:

The rooms are gorgeous, and the view from ours (on the 53rd floor) was breathtaking.



The hotel itself is kind of weird - it just doesn't seem to go together; sort of like they took everything that's classy, supersized it and put it all in one building - Girlfriend says she thinks they're just trying to hard.

Everything is hideously expensive - the restaurants, internet, the room service, spa access - and they charge you for everything (you pay a lower rate for internet if you bring your own laptop, but you have to buy a special network cable, as CAT5 won't work). The agent who checked us in warned us not to even touch the minibar or snack tray, as it's on a sensor and will charge you if you even lift the package.

The hotel staff were all amazing, but the service in the restaurants and bars was abysmal.

I fell in love with the pool. It's really two oval pools connected by a lap pool, and it's glorious. I don't know what kind of filters they're using, but the water was crystal clear, warm (85 degrees F), and had no chlorine taste or smell at all. Pure heaven.

If I can get another discounted room, I'll definitely go back.