Ruby's Musings on Tour ...Las Vegas~ Part 2

I wish we could have stayed at the Flamingo...just for the
retroness of it , but loved the Mandalay Bay...especially the pillows and
the pillow topped mattress!!

So last I left you all, in part one  , my hubby and I were in Las Vegas upon the "High Roller"  over 500 feet up in the air, well after a very short taxi ride back to where our car was parked ( due to blisters) and a car ride to our hotel, not to mention the blissful night of sleep on the best hotel mattress and pillows I have ever had the pleasure of sleeping upon, it was time for day two!  We had, as part of our business trip package a spa treatment each. We started the day off in the nice restaurant there at the Mandalay Bay, Raffles, myself dining on vanilla bean Greek yogurt with berries , a selection of mini pastries and a strawberry mimosa, and hubby with the classic eggs and sausage and he of course also had the strawberry mimosa...all were graciously served and was very tasty. Then it was off to the spa. My hubby went his way, for a massage with hot stones and I opted for a hot stone pedicure...which was pure Heaven on my achy feet! 

Super comfy bed and pillows followed by a great breakfast and a glorious spa experience was a
wonderful start to day two of our trip to Las Vegas.

Once we went back to our room to dress for the day, hubby and myself headed off to experience the antique district of Vegas, Main Street. I had scoped it out when researching where and what I wanted to do while visiting and it also just so happens that one of the lovely ladies, Amy, owner of Rockin Bettie , a friend on Instagram has her shop located on Main Street, and her darling shop was my first stop! We were greeted by a warm smile and a big hug to her small shop on South Main Street filled to the brim with pretties in every nook and cranny, and in the back, the place where photography magic happens thanks to Jess W Photography ( you can find her on Instagram as Jess W (photography), also under punkrawkmom44...also on FB and Twitter) ... I asked Amy to give me a brief bio/ background of her shop, which I am sharing below....

Amy, tell my readers a bit about yourself... 

Amy Ortiz:

   "I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have 5 beautiful kids ranging from ages 6-20 years old. I personally wore vintage inspired clothing for quite some time and there was nothing in Las Vegas that carried the items I love, so I decided to open a store that caters to this lifestyle and clothing."

Gosh I wish I was as brave as you, as there is nothing in Sacramento...tell my readers a bit more about your lovely shop here on South Main Street...

   "Rockin' Bettie is a retro style clothing boutique selling Pin up, Rockabilly and Vintage styles with a modern edge. We offer a variety of clothing and styles from XS - XXXXL in Men and Women. We offer a variety of retro clothing, gifts, housewares for women, men and kids and our selection is unlike any other boutique in Las Vegas, Nevada.

   I personally hand pick every item I sell based on quality, style company reputation and personal evaluation. And I do not carry a huge amount of each item which means you get individuality and quality.

You get only the best!

   Having the store I understand the necessity for excellent customer service and  I know you have a choice which is why I will strive to give you the best shopping experience ever!"  

I can attest to the above statement, I personally purchased quite a few lovely items while my short visit. OH! you don't have to live in Vegas, Rockin Bettie is on the web as well as Instagram and other social median platforms.

Upon leaving Amy at Rockin Bettie, we headed across the street to a shop I could not resist...Retro Vegas, besides the name, the sign had a pink flamingo on the sign and I heard rumors of a pink kitchen ...this I had to see!! 

I did not buy anything past a very pretty pink scarf, but it was a fun shop to explore!

Had to sit on what could be my dream couch! 

I created this fun magazine cover with the photos from the pink kitchen...below I was saying
" I LOVE this fridge..." 

Just had to take a photo in front of the super sized flamingo

My skirt is custom made of vintage fabric by Retro Hunny Clothing
you can find them on Instagram and Facebook

it was at this point that the tummy growls started and I knew exactly where I wanted to eat...Vickie's Diner, on S. Las Vegas Blvd. aside the White Cross Market building, a tiny hole in the wall, so tiny we drove right by it at first with a counter to eat at, a few booths and tables, and loads of pink ( turns out that Food Network had just redone the upholstery and menu boards for a future diner re do show)that serves good old diner food...I was jonesing for a grilled cheese and a chocolate malted!! Plus what better for a retro trip to Vegas than to a good old fashioned retro diner? 

Some of the best fries and a mighty good malted cab be had at Vickies, not to
mention really great customer service! The prices are pretty good too, it is
truly a hidden gem on Vegas.

Flash forward after a great lunch, which left us very satisfied, we drove to Henderson and to go to another store on my list Tatyana Boutique   , I wanted and it was confirmed that going to the Henderson location was the place to go for some great deals vs. their Planet Hollywood location, the one prerequisite was you had to call to get into the shop, I did just that and I called and Crystal (@subculture_vulture on Instagram), a divine creature, gladly opened the door and the experience ended up being a personal shopping experience that I shall never forget, not only did I manage to get three of my "unicorns", a Tatyana "coffin" purse, Bate shoes and my first bullet bra, but I also had a brief encounter with a beautiful pinup who I follow on Instagram, pin up model and blogger @vintagevandal  / @vintagevandalizm , and she complimented me on my currently purple hair and helped me decide on a top. I shall never forget the experience!

Isn't Crystal lovely?

Shopping all done, for the day it was time to head off to our dinner reservations at Sinatra's in the Encore Hotel. Not normally a restaurant in our budget, but hubby had won some money the night before during the dinner event that was part of the prize package from work that he won and we wanted to treat ourselves.

A few highlights from the Encore Hotel decor

It was exciting to see Sinatra's  Academy award , and the restaurant is lovely ...and all set to the music of Sinatra and even his movies playing over the bar. 

Honest review, here, the environment was lovely, that is until a very loud man was set right next to us, and a large ( taking over most of the dining room) party was seated and suddenly you could not hear yourself think or the person across the table. The menu, well it is supposedly based on Frank's favorites, and was the reason we choose to eat there on our retro trip, although not old school/ retro Vegas, it was was Frank, so ...but I could not attest to if the menu was or was not. I honestly did not see anything I truly wanted to order, so went for the Panzenella salad ( a bread and tomato salad) of which what I ate of it, having lost my appetite due to feeling very claustrophobic and getting a headache from the noise level, was good, but not the level that $$$$ warrants. My husband had the lamb dish and his opinion is that he too has had better here locally ...all in all I feel we could have gone back to Vickies or found a another hole in the wall and have better food for less. Such a shame. Once we closed out our bill, we went to our next destination, the Peppermill Fireside Bar.

Not the best photo, but you can see the fire pit that has a
water mote around it in the distance. 

  Why a bar right after supper? Well in a very exciting ( to me) addition to my Ruby's Musings on Tour agenda,I was to meet Dorrie, and her daughter Jodi from Senior Style Bible! I started following Dorrie when she first appeared on the blogger/social media world and she happens to be a fan  of me as well and as it turns out so is her daughter/manager/photographer. When I told Jodi we wanted to do old school Vegas, she said Peppermill was the place to go. We were there for just a short period of time before our party arrived, and drinks were ordered...I had a Side Car...one of my new favorites, and very retro as it was dated back to the 1920's and very popular in the 1950's...though I think next time I will have a Pink Squirrel. we chatted about blogs, social media, expectations of our fans and how far we both have come in each of our blogs and where we see it going and how to get there.

We of course had to buy the "free" photo....left to right...Jodi's friend, Erin, Jodi, Dorrie ( the Senior Style Bible) myself and "Mr. Musings"

That brings us to the close of day two..hubby left me in our hotel room and the super comfy bed and pillows and headed to the casino to play a bit of black jack, it was a very busy, but satisfying day....one more full day to go! 

Pre-bedtime selfie 

Come back for the wrap up on Friday!