The first 2econd Friday destination obviously had no destination to follow; it was the first. I therefore decided to choose a destination which I saw as “a first”. The Mirage fits this bill perfectly.
The Mirage was the first of what I’ll call The Definitive Dozen. Opening in 1989, it was the first of a decade-long construction boom, creating the vast majority of what the world now sees as Las Vegas Strip.
The Definitive Dozen, in the order of their opening, is: The Mirage, Excalibur, Luxor, Treasure Island, MGM Grand, Stratosphere, Monte Carlo, New York New York, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Paris. And who was the gent behind The Mirage? Yes, of course, Steve Wynn. Has Steve Wynn done more for Las Vegas than anyone else? Maybe. Did Steve Wynn get inspiration from Jay Sarno? Quite possibly.
A few days after I booked our room at The Mirage, the cunning computers at MGM Resorts International sent me an email explaining I was entitled to a room upgrade, for a mere $300. Husband Downie was sucked into the room-upgrade machine, and a Volcano View Room had become a One-Bedroom Penthouse Suite.
The inaugural 2econd Friday began with a drive up The Strip, yeeha. We hung a left into The Mirage, and headed for Self Parking. We missed. We drove back out onto The Strip, headed north again, and hung the left into The Mirage, and headed for Self Parking. And missed again. Cripes. Third time unlucky, and we just dropped it off at Valet. Zoe very much liked the fact that the parking ticket from Valet had “Stang” written on it.
The person at Check-In was very nice. Our room was very nice indeed.
We went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. I chose there because I know Zoe loves the Butter Cake they have as a dessert.
After dinner, we went out to The Strip, for the 2FA (I’ve just made that up, and it’s short for 2econd Friday Activity). Said activity was watching the volcano of The Mirage. It was the first time we’d seen it since 2002 (the year we first came to Las Vegas). 2002 was a long time ago (15 years). We very much enjoyed the volcano. Zoe was less enamoured with the family right behind us. “It was because there was heavy hinting that the child should be at the front. If they’d simply got there ten minutes earlier, the child could’ve been at the front, but no, they just expect to “rock up” when they like, and feel entitled…” I’ll stop typing what Zoe’s saying.
Anyway, back inside The Mirage, and we had a quick play on some slots. We played a Playboy Pitbull game, which has two cabs right next to each other, and when one person goes into the feature, there’s an “audio takeover”, and the other player hears the same freegames tune.
Zoe commented that was a lot of brown at The Mirage. She said it helped her decide to avoid any brown in our condo.
On the Saturday morning, I got up and did something that is perhaps my favourite activity in life. I went for a run on Las Vegas Strip. I love running past all the nonsense architecture. I love getting lucky and hearing a great tune out the front of Bellagio, or Planet Hollywood, or Diablo’s Cantina (at New York New York). In fact, that morning, I was treated to “Just Can’t Get Enough” by Depeche Mode, outside Diablo’s. And I love the heckles, with “Run, Forest, run” being the most common, but sometimes a bit more creativity can be heard. I do my morning runs on The Strip at about 6am. At that time of the day, The Strip is ruled by runners, people who have yet to make it home, and less-fortunate people who won’t be going home.
After my wonderful run, I returned to the room, and had a shower. After my shower, I happened upon a delightful object, down the back of a laundry basket. Hooray, and so was born an occasional feature, Odd Item Found In Room.
To finish, let me suggest I include, as part of the conclusionary summary, a tune you might want to listen to from the year of the destination’s opening. The Mirage opened in 1989. Hooray, let’s have a listen to the band who named themselves after a Roland drum-machine. And wowser, bowser, it was released the day before the opening.
Opening Date: November 22nd, 1989
Tune: “Pacific State” by 808 State
Dress Code: Resort Casual