My Fiance got a call from his brother and wife that they were going to be free tonight (they live in Las Vegas, but we don't always get to see them every trip).  I was happy for my Fiancé, but couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.  I had a great evening planned out with early reservations at Scarpetta (hoping for a fountain view).  I thought that would be the perfect ending to our trip.   I even had a list of all the popular dishes to try so have been anticipating this for months now.

​But, it was not meant to be.  So I had to cancel. 

​This was going to be the only time my Fiancé could see his brother and wife, so we were going to meet them in Downtown.  

​I was going to salvage this at least by going to Scott Conant's other restaurant-D.O.C.G.

But fate was not on my side:

Our original plan today was to stay close by the middle of the strip, anticipating crowds from the Nascar Championship Victory lap (and that they will be closing Las Vegas Boulevard in the afternoon).

​Instead, we decided to free-style today and ended up in Fashion Show Mall, then Downtown again.

​We've always walked by Fashion Show Mall, but never walked through.

​It's almost lunch time by now and I could tell my Fiancé was hungry.  "I know of a restaurant around here.  Do you want to check it out?"   I was referring to The Capital Grille.  I didn't have it on my "must-try" list of restaurants, but I remembered seeing all of the positive reviews on Trip Advisor  and Yelp.
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I awoke to this lovely sunrise at around 6:30am.

I admired it for a few seconds, snapped a few pictures...then immediately went back to sleep.

I woke up again after 10 am, then proceeded to wake up my Fiance.  We got dressed and got ready for the day.    First thing, I  opened up the Open Table  app and exclaimed-- "lets go to breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi"!   And hey, while I'm at it, I'll make a last minute reservation for 11:00am.

We got downstairs, and realized breakfast ends at 11 am.   Hmm...that's not going to work ( I can't miss breakfast--my most favorite meal of the day! ).  It's too close to the time to edit the reservation on Open Table (it won't let me).   So at around 10:3o am, we walked-in the restaurant,  and told the hostess we had a reservation for a later time.  They sat us right away so it was no problem.

​Our table was at the area before the patio outside.   I think I really love it here.  It's perfect with the morning light shining in from the glass windows, but we're not directly in the sun.
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Lotus of Siam has been on my radar for a while now.   Every trip, it's been on my short-list.  But we've never made it there until now thanks to Uber (my Fiance prefers not to drive on vacation).   
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We woke up pretty late today (after 1o am).  So the first order of business is brunch!

I had a myVEGAS 2-for-1 buffet redemption for Aria so that's where we ended up (valid only on Monday-Thursdays).  We walked to the mlife desk to have it loaded onto the card, then walked to the buffet.  We paid the nice lady (Theresa) and had a nice chat which somehow led to talking about malicious phone apps from China (the flashlight ones).    Another customer comes, so we waved goodbye and prepared to dig into the food.
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WAIT...not so fast.   ​

The plane ride from Hawaii to Las Vegas was not notable other than the take-off felt like an eternity.  I did get frisked at TSA...nothing new.   To the best of my preparation each time, it happens quite often.   I wasn't even wearing anything with metal (ok, maybe a skirt with a tiny zipper).