The Pack vs. The Boys

Green Bay Packers vs. Dallas Cowboys

Not much to say – it was a good game, but the Packers lost in the end. I’m glad it wasn’t a blowout either way. Dallas and I managed to watch the game together and not get into a fight or break up, as predicted. Up to the game we’d decided that I’d watch it upstairs and he’d watch it downstairs and we joked that if the Packers won then I’d have to pack an overnight back and stay upstairs. Realizing that was dumb, we decided to watch together. We had Killian over, which probably kept some things in check. We also agreed ahead of time to not be nasty. I screwed up once early on, but otherwise it went well. Favre is hurt but looks like he’ll be playing in the next game. When Aaron Rodgers came in I thought it was all over, but he actually did pretty well. Maybe we won’t be so bad off when Favre finally decides to retire.

Dinner at Makino & Cirque du Soleil

Makino
Makino, Las Vegas

On Friday afternoon when George, Kathy, Dallas and Jordan were done golfing, Caroline and I picked them up in the car. We all stopped off in Mesquite, Nevada for gas and a quick lunch at Jack in the Box, which was kind of a treat, since Dallas and I very rarely ever eat fast food and never Jack in the Box unless we’re in Hawaii or on the West Coast. After that we hit the road and drove to Las Vegas.

In Vegas we checked into our hotel, the Four Queens. And then we met up at Makino with all of Dallas’ other family that was vacationing in Vegas. There were just over 30 family members, many were from Hawaii, but really, there were people from all over the country. Makino is away from the strip and downtown and is actually by the premium outlet mall. It’s an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet with everything you can imagine: dozens of different kinds of nigiri, hand rolls, and maki, inari, the best tempura of every kind, udon, miso soup, noodles, teriyaki meats, mounds of crab legs, both raw and cooked oysters, salads, poke, and lots of desserts. Wow, we stuffed ourselves. Everything was sooo good, though. Best of all, earlier in the day Mark, who I think is Dallas’ dad’s cousin (?) won a ton of money, $50k, so no one felt bad when we stuck him with the bill.

Ka Theater

After dinner, Miko, Gail, Laura, Kathy, Caroline and I had tickets to see Ka by Cirque du Soleil. We headed over to the MGM Grand and since we had some time before the show started, we watched some of the University of Hawaii game at the MGM’s crazy sports arena. Seriously, it’s like a sports-lovers dream come true with enough seating for 100+ npeople, and thirty-six 60-inch plasma televisions, eight 42-inch plasmas, six electronic display boards and 17 separate race and sports betting counters. There were a lot of Hawaii fans there and Dallas’ mom was cheering so excitedly that when we left for the show some people were like “awww, where you going?” We were having fun, but we had to get to the theater. We found out later on that Hawaii won, so all was good.

So.. Ka. It was really a great show. I had never seen a Cirque show so I didn’t know what to expect, besides some crazy acrobatics. Turns out that the stage was totally not traditional and moved and turned and went vertical, there was an actual story and plot about some twins being seperated, the music was really great and we had seats with speakers in the head rest, and some parts of the show happened around and above you. The tickets can be expensive, but I think it was really worth the money. Awesome show. See a trailer for Ka. Also, if you’re thinking of going, I bought the tickets without fees right from the MGM site, instead of getting raped by TicketMaster.

A Couple Days in Mesquite, Nevada

Mesquite, Nevada
View From Our Room at the Casablanca, Mesquite, NV

Mesquite, Nevada
Mesquite, NV

Mesquite, Nevada Golf
George, Kathy, Dallas & Jordan, Mesquite, NV

After flying into Las Vegas and eating dinner we drove to Mesquite, Nevada, located near the Nevada/Arizona/Utah border. Mesquite is a really small desert town that has doubled in size in the last 5 years due to two casino resorts and a bunch of golfing in the area. The mountains and desert are beautiful, but other than golfing and gambling, there’s not much else to do.

Dallas and his parents and his brother Jordan golfed on Thursday and Friday. Dallas’ sister Caroline and I stayed back and just hung out. We stayed at the Casablanca and I tried to learn to play video keno and poker, watched a lot of football, played some slots and tried to enjoy the mild weather. I’m really not a big gambler. I could practically last all day on $20, just sitting at a machine, watching TV and getting free drinks. Really, there wasn’t much to do, though. A few ideas I did have (go to the movies, go to the salon) were shot down because they were closed for the holiday.

I watched Dallas play craps a lot. I got some of the lingo down (“six the hard way!” “horn high yo!”) and after a while got to figuring out what was going on. I’d never read about or watched craps before this trip and it can be confusing, but I think I want to read up on it now to understand what all was going on.

On Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Casablanca casino buffet. Very nontraditional, but every Thanksgiving dish we could wish for was there in any quantity we wanted!

Diamond China, Las Vegas

Diamond China, Las Vegas
Diamond China, Las Vegas

We arrived in Las Vegas on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving last week. Dallas’ family met us at the airport and from there we went to his parent’s favorite Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas, Diamond China. It actually reminded me a lot of the Chinese restaurant that they took us to in Lihue, Kaua’i. Not fancy, not touristy, reasonably priced and really tasty. We had Hawaiian chicken salad, crispy pork that tasted like bacon, ginger chicken, honey walnut prawns, a giant platter of noodles and seafood, peking duck, and Chinese broccoli. I liked the honey walnut prawns the best.