Las Vegas – The Wynn

To make sure we fulfill the mileage requirements needed to preserve our platinum frequent flyer status, Clyde and I take a quick overnight trip to Las Vegas. Clyde, the Master of Discount Internet Travel, snags us an inexpensive package that includes round trip airfare and a night at the hottest new hotel on the Strip, the Wynn.

The Fabulous Wynn Resort Hotel Casino

Though our arrival was a little complicated (you cannot, as the young woman at the Payless Auto Rental desk told us, “just drive up to the entrance around back” — otherwise known as the freight entrance!), we loved the place once we got inside. Every inch of the place is designed to drop your jaw, and the crystal skylights, sweeping ceilings, floral and flower arrangements three stories tall, lobby walls upholstered in ostrich skin, and bright red and yellow tile mosaics on the floor are just the beginning.

Registration can take a little time; the staff is slow to open new check-in stations, and long lines are the rule. After finally getting our room key, we undertook the loooong walk to the guest elevators (before you and your wallet can reach the safety of a hotel room, you’re forced to stroll past miles of slot machines and blackjack tables).

The room? Simply amazing. The entry way was perhaps ten feet wide, with a gracious marble and brass bath on the right. Frosted glass double doors led to the walk-in closet (large enough for Clyde to hide in and jump out at me, actually, but that’s another story).

The room itself was huge, with one full wall of floor to ceiling windows perfectly angled to frame the lights of the Strip and the barren mountains beyond. When we arrived, the Gateway plasma screen television on the far wall was displaying a slideshow of bright blooms: tulips, lavender, sunflowers. In addition to the king size bed (great sheets, by the way), we had a breakfast table, two chairs, a computer desk, and a comfy couch. Sweet!

Spacious rooms, great colors in the Wynn room

After settling in, we had lunch at The Buffet, where a dozen different live cooking stations competed for my attention at once. This is not your ordinary buffet, with huge troughs of mediocre food drying under heat lamps. No, at the Wynn the entrees are served in small batches, with chefs on hand to refill any empty tray with fresh, hot delights.

I started with the peeled and cooked shrimp, then moved on to a slab of teriyaki beef, a slice of pretty good pizza, a tender fried breast of chicken, a selection of fresh cheeses, Singapore noodles with hot sauce, and kobe beef meatballs in spicy marinara sauce. Now, don’t get me wrong — I didn’t eat a plateful of each delicacy. After all, I had to save room for the made-on-site desserts!

I confess going a little crazy here, but who could blame me? They were putting out rich chocolate brownies, chocolate mousse dusted with tiny chips of walnut biscotti, chocolate chip cookies, six kinds of pie, and a dozen different varieties of gelatto. (I went with the coffee gelatto, mixed with chunks of dark chocolate.)

Stunned that I could still walk, we headed out to shop, hitting Sam’s (yes, we went to the Sam’s Club in Las Vegas … they usually have better stuff than our Sam’s here in Jackson), the Fry’s Electronics, the Psychic Eye Bookshop (not recommended — the merchandise is getting dusty, their Tarot books are few and far between, and even their Tarot deck selection was very limited), and, of course, the Apple Store in the Fashion Show mall across the street from the Wynn (how convenient).

We pretty much skipped dinner (okay, we had pressed Cuban sandwiches at the cafe in the Wynn), then went on to take in a performance of Avenue Q, a wise and genuinely funny “Sesame Street” spoof that’s definitely not for the kiddies. (Let’s just say “Ernie” and “Bert” — though their names have been changed — are more than just roommates … and that the other puppet characters apparently have no qualms about inter-species sex.)

What a perfect day! We slept like logs, got up in time to down the breakfast buffet (bacon … freshly sliced from an applewood smoked slab of pork!), answer email, and head out to the airport. A quick trip … but a perfect trip, all the same.