Late Monday morning, it was time to say goodbye to DTLV. We hauled our bags across the Plaza, loaded them into the car, and drove down to the far end of the strip to park at The Tropicana. It was too early to check in, so we left our stuff in the trunk and went to wander around.

It had been a very long time since we’d visited the south end of the Strip, so we headed into MGM to look around. After walking a million miles to get to the restaurants in the back of the building, we determined they didn’t open til dinner time. We walked all the way back up to the main lobby area and went to the sports bar there for brunch. They ended up having good food and beer despite the look of the place, and there were sports going on on a million TVs. (Mostly reruns, but you’re never sad to stare at sports in Las Vegas.)

Post-lunch, we walked across the street to New York New York to gamble. It’d been a long time since we’d been in there, too! We found a spot at a pai gow table, and ended up playing (mostly successfully) for a long time. By the time we wandered out again it was midafternoon, so we walked over to the Cosmopolitan, wandered around some stores, stopped at the Chandelier bar and got a drink from the same bartender again, and then went into China Poblano to order carryout. We had the same server there, too, so it was basically a Vegas victory lap. I got a mushroom taco, and it was delivered to me in a tiny box to take with me.

We crossed the Strip to Planet Hollywood and grabbed a couch at the sports book to eat our late lunch and do some more sports-gambling. My four-team NFL parlay bet had fallen apart, so I wasn’t that enthused about it at that point, but my taco was delicious.

After hanging out there for a while, we went to check into our room at the Tropicana. It was a really nice newly-remodeled room (even if, in typical Vegas fashion, we had to walk a billion miles to get to it). Our bathroom had a huge Jacuzzi tub, which was awesome. We changed into fancy clothes and headed back out.

The whole hotel seemed to be suspiciously empty, and we saw so few people in the hotel area that we decided we had it to ourselves. (It was Monday of Thanksgiving week, so that probably had something to do with it.) We headed back to the car and drove over to a strip mall in Chinatown, on the west side of the highway toward the very north end of the Strip. There was a wait at Raku, so we put our names on the list and they said they’d text us when it was time. We decided to head to an awesomely divey-looking bar on the other side of the strip mall instead, called Kilroys. It did not disappoint.

Dinner time rolled around, and we walked back over to Raku and got our table. Since we both wanted something less potent to drink, we decided to get a pitcher of Asahi. They neglected to tell us it’d be the largest pitcher of Asahi in the universe:

Our meal there was incredible. They make their own tofu, and it’s hard to describe how amazing tofu can be. Trust me, it was. (Even Matt agreed.) But the far-and-away highlight was the cold green tea soba. Just seeing this picture makes me hungry.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. It was late and I was sleepy (and full), so we decided to get a drink at the bar in the VERY EMPTY casino and head up to the room. I filled the bath, and we hung out in the hot tub for a long time before bed.