Las Vegas Road Trip...Green Valley Ranch Resort breakfasts and National Finals Rodeo

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food...and stuff.  I get to follow the soon to be infamous delightfully titled (and photographed) post by ed from Yuma.  Here is more of a "stuff" post, with some food thrown in.

Hello, again. So...last weekend, Ms. T and I drove to Las Vegas and (again) stayed at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, just Southeast of the Strip. It is my annual "Two days away from home when I get to take a bath and watch rodeo cowboy athletes"-seriously. That tub is wonderfully huge and the room is luxurious.  The bed has high thread count sheets and a down duvet
topped and bottomed with sheets, creating a wonderfully warm thermal effect...and the room is solid, safe and silent, and, this time, had a view of  not only the "beach" and pool areas, but also the sunrise against the hills to the West of town. (Click onto the smaller photo, look at top left- the edge of the pool is a gradual entrance of sand)

Since Ms. T drove the whole way there, she was very tired the first night and stayed in her room to wind down and I was on my own, so just walked over to "The District" next to the Hotel and looked at the Christmas decorations, window shopped and then went back to the casino and gambled a bit .
When I went to my room, I was hungry, having only eaten breakfast with The Mister before we left and then the snacks I had packed for the drive over...but it would be time for breakfast soon enough and Ms. T. and I had no plans to meet until 9 a.m., so I ordered Room Service to be delivered at 6 a.m.
"The European Breakfast, for one"...The top left napkin had a wonderful fresh, light, buttery, crispy croissant inside of it...There were assorted dried meats (roast beef, salami and Prosciutto) two large chunks of Brie, Greek olives, assorted fresh fruits (melon, grapefruit, blueberries, strawberries) the pot of coffee (that ended up being four cups) with real cream, fresh grapefruit juice, the butter pats in the bottom left corner and grape jam and strawberry preserves. It was wonderful and with a room service charge and non-optional 20% gratuity, set me back $33. There was a lot of food I saved for my later afternoon snack...a lot. This was a tray for one. It was way more than enough.
So, Ms. T and I went shopping at the Cowboy Christmas and then to lunch and then back to the hotel and met later to drive to the Rodeo.
The opening ceremonies, where all the participants, line up and 'salute' the audience with a tip of their hats is always a good memory.  The National Finals Rodeo is a ten day event, and the participants are the top 15 of each competition from the past year.  The competitions (Bareback riding, cattle roping, saddle broncs, team roping,  women's barrel racing and bull riding) are held between those top 15 people daily and on the tenth day, after the cumulative scores are counted, then "Best of the Best" are  awarded the National Championship (and a corresponding large belt buckle).

All in all, a very nice Day 5 of the NFR .

The next morning, we heard it was raining in San Diego and did not want to drive too early, to avoid any possible "black ice" on the road in the Cajon Pass, so we went to the Breakfast Buffet at "Feast" inside the Green Valley Ranch Resort Casino Hotel.
Ms. T. got an assortment of the exotic offerings- a breakfast burrito and quesedilla, eggs, chorizo and stew.

And I was still in that "European" mode and chose an onion bagel, cream cheese, smoked fish, smoked salmon, onions, tomatoes, some assorted cheese slices, pickles...oh, and that pear.
Then I went back for more "traditional" stuff- scrambled eggs (with my selection of toppings from the salad and salsa bar), bacon, sausage, ham, and a biscuit with sausage gravy.
Ms. T. went back and tried a blintz, a crepe and a slice of cheesecake.
All of the food here is excellent and fresh. The all you can eat breakfast is $7 and includes beverage.

Then we started our drive back to San Diego, stopping in Baker...
But, not here...
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Oh, I did eat when we were at the Rodeo, just a snack of chicken fingers(nice and crispy and slightly spicy crust not needing the dip, but the hot sauce was nice after a while) and garlic fries ($6) (Fried potato-not quite crispy enough- with a dollop of fresh garlic and parsley on top....needed to be dipped in the ranch dressing)and this horrible $6 glass of Budweiser...

Comments

[nhbilly]

Looks fun. I bet the Rodeo event food would of be a blast???

[Carol]

I caught parts of Round 5 and 9 on EPSN2. I missed Round 10 and should have just tivo'd when I thought of it. Those chicken fingers and garlic fries look good. Sounds like you had a good time.

[cathy]

Hey, Bill- Outside the arena, before the rodeo, there are various booths, but nothing exotic. Coors and Pace salsa samples...a Jack Daniels booth with a walk through of how a Distillery works, but as far as food, eh. I just got what the Thomas and Mack Arena offered.
Hi, Carol. I didn't know you were a Rodeo fan, too! The chicken fingers were quite good, actually. I see (and smell) people eating garlic fries out here, but never had them. Kind of good and I could see myself having cravings. The two days Ms. T and I spend in Las Vegas are total "me" time.

[Keoki323]

I like the buffet at Green Valley Ranch. They have a crab station that will take a plate of crab legs (that you've supplied / selected) and season it with cilantro, garlic and chili pepper and heat the whole thing up pseudo Chinese stir fry style. Very onolicious.

[Cathy]

Hi, Keoki! I did blog dinner at Green Valley Ranch when I went to the Rodeo last year (see the Dec 13 post and then click onto the underlined words in the top paragraph "here last year") but I was new at this blog back then and did not show the crab leg station. I do think the all the food in this particular casino-the Buffet as well as the 24 hour restaurant and Room Service is excellent and quite cost effective. I am happy to see someone from East County has experienced it, and liked it also. Have you gotten to Sam Woo yet?

[George]

Very nice pictures. I feel that i need to be there again.

[Job]

Whenever I go to Las Vegas, I usually take a land trip because I love seeing the beautiful sights along the way.