Ben's Big 5-0 in Las Vegas

Well the time had finally come to welcome Ben into the next decade! Ben decided he wanted to spend his 50th birthday in Las Vegas and invited some friends to join us.

Vegas here we come!

I always enjoy the short flight to Vegas.

We're here!

We all stayed at the Luxor.  Ben and I got an offer for a free comped room--I have no idea why but we'll take it!

I did not take this picture.

Since Ben was the Birthday Boy, he got to choose what we did first and he chose Secret Pizza and drinks at the Cosmopolitan, which sounded good to me!

After pizza, we headed over to a bar called the Ski Lodge which we visited on our last trip.  When we got there, there was a pretty long line but luckily we were able to get a table after a short wait.

Perusing the menu.

The Birthday Boy.

All the drinks!

We decided to have one more drink at the Cosmo so we headed to Chandelier Bar.

Scenes from the drive back to the Luxor.

Pic taken by Kate.

Great pic taken by Kate!

Dinner that night was at the Mandalay Bay at a restaurant called Libertine Social we have enjoyed in the past.  Ben and I split a burger and it was ok, not as good as previous visits.

Kate captured this action shot of Jon on his knee scooter.

After dinner, we went our separate ways and Ben and I went to get checked in and unpack.  We decided to hit up the high limit room at the Luxor for a little video poker action before bed!  We won $60 and called it a night.  (Spoiler alert:  this would be our biggest win of the trip!)

My hair was done for the night.

The next morning was Ben's big 5-0!  I had a great day planned for him.  After a long travel day, everyone was pretty pooped so we all took our time getting ready for the day.  Ben and I met Jon for a forgettable breakfast at the Pyramid Cafe at Luxor.

Ben's one must-do for the trip was a tour of the Punk Rock Museum which showcases the history and culture of punk rock music.  There are tons of cool artifacts in the museum as well as guitars and memorabilia owned by famous musicians.  

The Ramones are credited as the band that started the punk rock movement in the U.S. This was a cool old cut out of the band that someone pulled out of a dumpster and had the band autograph.

We had Tony Reflex, the lead singer of the California '80's punk rock band, the Adolescents, as our tour guide.  He had so many cool stories and knew the history of almost every piece of memorabilia in the museum.

Jackets worn by various musicians.

Famous shot of Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols.

Ben recreating a pose on the couch owned by Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

Ben got to try out a famous guitar and he picked a black Gibson Les Paul owned by Zach Blair from the band Rise Against.

It was so interesting and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  However, it went way longer than we planned so we went straight back to the hotel to get ready for Ben's birthday dinner at the Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay.  We started with a pre-dinner cocktail at Verandah at the Four Seasons.

Happy Birthday to Ben!

Then it was over to the Foundation Room which is a restaurant and lounge located on the 63rd floor of Mandalay Bay with a great view of the strip.

The restaurant was beautiful too and we had a nice table.

I got the scallops for my appetizer, delicious.

And the filet, also yummy.

This tasted way better than it looks.

Ben started with a smoked beef tartare that was literally smoking!

He had the NY Strip.

We went back out to the patio before dessert for more pictures.

Cheers to 50 years of Ben!

After dinner, we went over to the lounge for a drink.

Guess which drink is mine.

It was a great night and a good time was had by all!

The next morning, we woke up not feeling the freshest.  We just can't Vegas like we used to! We had a peek of sunrise outside the window.

I needed coffee stat so Ben and I took a walk over to the Four Seasons and sipped our coffee outside on the patio.  

There were fancy Christmas decorations around the hotel.

We had breakfast at the Peppermill, a famous diner that has been a Vegas institution for over 40 years.

There was a wait for breakfast so we sat in the Fireside Lounge adjacent to the restaurant.

In the lounge, I found my favorite slot machine, Kitty Glitter!

Everyone enjoyed their breakfast.

Ben with his loco moco.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Arts District.  We spent the day bar hopping around the Arts District, gambling downtown and ended the night at our favorite tiki bar, the Golden Tiki.  We headed first to Rebar, one of the boys' favorite bars in the Arts District.

From there it was a short walk over the Stray Pirate, a new tiki bar in Vegas that none of us had been to.

The bar had a cool tiki vibe.

Our first round!

Stray Pirate Selfie!

Round two!

Then it was over to the D in downtown Las Vegas for a quick gambling session.  I played my favorite game, Sigma Derby, an old horse racing game that uses quarters. I hit it "big" on a 93-1 bet!

Getting into the action.

Jon tried his luck on a Lucky Lobster slot machine and was the biggest winner of the trip!

Then it was over to the Golden Tiki for happy hour bites and more tiki drinks!

No, those aren't all for Nick!

Mmmmmm...

Cheers to Ben!

Back at the Luxor, we gambled (a/k/a lost) a little before bed.  The next day was our last full day in Vegas so I asked Ben what he wanted to do.  He wanted to go back downtown and I suggested we could try one of the remaining new tiki bars on our list.  I didn't originally include Fremont Street on the itinerary since our friend Jon was on a knee scooter but Jon didn't let that stop him--he was a real trouper the entire trip!

Our favorite downtown breakfast place was closed so we went to Hash Hash a Go Go known for gigantic portions.

Jon offered to share his chicken and waffle with me.  I told him I only wanted one bite but three guesses how that went!

We walked off our breakfast down Fremont Street.

I love this picture Kate took with the Plaza in the background!

We played some more video poker at the D and then headed over to Atomic Liquor, a bar that Ben likes and the boys had a beer on the patio.

I had read about this new bar downtown called Jive Turkey and mentioned it to Jon who said he had heard of it too.  So we went over to check it out.

The bar had a lounge area that was the perfect spot for our group.

Eventually, food was consumed.

We finished the night at the downtown tiki bar, Glitter Gulch.

Kate ordered a flaming cocktail!

It was a fun place to end our trip!

Back at the Luxor, we played some video poker and then said our goodbyes with plans to meet the next morning to head to the airport.  

Goodbye Vegas, we had a great time as always!

We had a great time celebrating Ben's milestone birthday with our closest friends.  A special thanks to Kate for some awesome photos and to Jon for being such a great sport throughout the trip and never complaining no matter how far we walked! 

Thank you all for coming and making Ben's 50th birthday one to remember!