Las Vegas - February 2011

I almost thought George Strait was going to skip his Super Bowl weekend show in Vegas this year.  They didn’t announce the ticket sales until later than usual.  I guess he had too much fun touring with Reba McIntyre and LeAnn Womack that he decided to keep touring with them.  This year we would have slightly better seats and would get there in time to see LeAnn.  There was a miscommunication on the start time of the concert last year that we missed most of LeAnn’s performance.

Mammoth and Bluesapalooza - August 2010

Mammoth is a cool destination for skiing in California, but we usually ski once a year and go to either Colorado or Lake Tahoe.  I’d always heard stories of the traffic being a nightmare trying to go to ski resorts in CA.  Mike is a member of the website Meet Up and joined a group that likes to camp and hike.  A member made up an event to attend Mammoth’s Bluesapalooza.  Mike forwarded me the info and I said sure, let’s go.  If nothing else, it would be a good excuse to finally get up to Mammoth to check it out. 

Vegas Wknd, George Strait - February 2008

I am a HUGE George Strait fan. So serious that I 


am a member of his fan club, I have every CD ever 


recorded (which is over 30 if anyone was 


wondering) and I go to see him in concert once 


(sometimes twice) a year. Being a member of the 


fan club allows me to get tickets a day before the 


public. So, we usually are within the first few rows 


off the floor.

George Strait started playing in Las Vegas on Super Bowl weekend a few years ago.  We try to go every year, but in 2007 we skipped Vegas and decided to see George at Stagecoach in Indio, Ca.  I decided I really look forward to the tradition of going to Vegas on Super Bowl weekend for the concert.

This year, his newcomer opener was Sarah Johns.  We had never heard of her before, but she did a good job.  The second opener was Josh Turner.  I really like his voice!  We had great seats, I’m a member of George Strait’s fan club, so I get first pick at seats.  Our seats were close to where the performers walk in to get to the stage.

We have been to Vegas several times and Superbowl weekend 


tends to be busier and more expensive.  We usually decide to 


stay one night because of these reasons.

Every year, we try to stay and eat somewhere different.  This 


year, we decided to stay at The Venetian and eat at Emerils 


inside MGM Grand.  This trip to Vegas was one of the best I've 


had in a while.

LODGING:

The Venetian (TA Review)- We had reserved an off-strip hotel to save some money, but then I got a great rate at The Venetian 2 days before our trip. 

This is one of my favorite hotels that we've stayed in in Vegas.  The rooms are nice and the service throughout the hotel rocks!

RESTAURANT:

Emerils’ New Orleans Fish House - We usually eat in the MGM Grand before the concert, because that's where the concert is held.  We were a little late (15 minutes) for our 5:30 reservation, but we still had a table when we arrived. The wait for those without reservations was an hour and a half!

We sat and were immediately greeted by a server who took our drink order. Our actual server came by and explained a few options on the menu to us. He said that although he doesn't like salmon, the BBQ salmon was really good. Mike ended up ordering the salmon and I went for the Ahi Tuna. We also ordered BBQ shrimp for an appetizer.

The food was delicious. I don't like salmon either, but after sampling Mike's dish, I wished I had ordered it. We agreed it was the best salmon we'd ever tasted.

Stagecoach, Indio, CA - May 2007

Over a weekend in May, we drove out to Indio (about 2 and 1/2 hours from San Diego) to go to a country music festival, Stagecoach . It was the first year for the festival. As you'll soon discover, I'm a HUGE George Strait fan. We usually go see him every year in Las Vegas, but when I heard about Stagecoach and the opportunity to see him and other favorites, we sold our Vegas tickets and bought tickets to Stagecoach.  We even splurged for VIP tickets and had access to a VIP section.

We decided to camp out there instead of getting a room, so that we could be right there and not have to worry about traffic everyday. We were able to go in and out, which helped on Saturday, so we could change in the afternoon. The desert is hot during the day, but once the sun goes down, it can get a little cold.

Well, it wasn't really camping; it was just pitching your tent amongst hundreds of other people. You couldn't even have a campfire! I had my fill of porta-potties for a while!!

There were 4 stages at the festival. One of the stages was under a large covered area and had bluegrass bands. We spent a lot of time in that tent hiding from the sun listening to some cool bands. 2 of my favorites were Abigail Washburn and The Grascals. If you like bluegrass, check out their websites for samples.

The Grascals have a more traditional sound. Abigail is very unique, she has an awesome voice. She lived in China for a while, so she has incorporated her knowledge of the language into some bluegrass music (Listen to "Song of the Traveling Daughter") and it sounds really cool!

Bela Fleck (from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones) was also with Abigail playing in her quartet. I first heard of Bela Fleck from him traveling with the Dave Matthews Band, who I used to see in concert a lot.

Saturday, we saw Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, and the one and only George Strait. The were all fabulous! For George's oncore, we moved up front to watch him closer. A lot of people had left for some reason.

We don't know if we'll go back to Stagecoach in the future, it might be back to Vegas, but we had tons of fun.