Las Vegas 24′ – Day 6

Waking up to face wind and drizzle in Vegas this morning. Ms Lumsden grabbed coffees ☕️ at the Starbucks and we settled into the overlook of this side of the city. We very much enjoyed the Elara… it’s somehow on the Strip, but not. Lots of folks, but not busy. Close to the casinos, but without one on the resort. Janie asked our agent on the phone when booking, “Where would you recommend if you were making a reservation for your Mom?” 😂 They recommended the Elara!

Checkout for 10 AM, so we gathered up all that could fit in two bags (😂) to store those at front desk for the day. With a late flight out of LAS, dropping those bags frees us up for another day on the move. We had a couple of things in mind, but were also focused on the details of making our way homeward. Once again, we explored a few more Casino / Resorts, including the Aria and the Park MGM. Of note… the Park MGM is a non-smoking resort, perhaps the first and only! Grabbed a couple of nice coffees here, at Eataly, and it turned out to be one of our favorite stopping places. The vibe was perfect for us.

At around noon we settled into McMullan’s Irish Pub. The purpose was three fold! Firstly, to see a little off strip Vegas. We both felt like digging into the city a bit, and getting a feel for life away from the Strip/Downtown. Secondly, looking for an Irish pub breakfast… we’ve done that most March Breaks (as St Paddy’s Day usually falls while we’re on break). And lastly, we wanted to watch the Europa League match between LFC and Sparta. McMullan’s was billed online as the perfect spot to achieve all of this.

And…. McMullan’s didn’t disappoint. Firstly, we tried the food (as well as service). We quickly found our Foodie Highlight of Day 6. Since we hadn’t featured a breakfast, it seemed fitting that we present to you the brunch omelettes we enjoyed at McMullan’s. Janie’s was named Bligh’s Irish Scramble loaded with peppers 🌶️ and cheese, while mine, the Irish Irish, was a corned beef experiment. Sourdough & potato sides were spot on. Well done!

As for the game… the pub owner invited us up to join the Vegas LFC Official Club Room, where we celebrated the drumming of Sparta. The initial onslaught was too much for the visiting club. So much fun to share the match with folks from the Vegas area. They have a great tradition they adhere to… with the crowd (those who can) depositing a modest contribution $$$ to a local youth organization at every goal. The 6-1 LFC win gave our tip fund a beating 😂. Glad we got off the strip to see some giving back! Had a great tour of the establishment with the owner who treated us like gold!

And… we have another Bonus Foodie Highlight for Day 6 candidate (as we sensed there would be no highlight on Day 7 except airplane peanuts 😉). A last minute look at the menu at McMullan’s revealed a scotch egg offering that I had to try. Both Ms Lumsden and I gave this item a huge the thumbs up 👍! Next plan is to find a way to create this little delicacy at home… time to Google. The food at this pub was no nonsense, first rate and really a step up from normal pub fare. Our visit was well worth the fare and, as the owner dreaded the upcoming St Paddy’s Day onslaught, we knew this space must be one of the city’s most popular Irish haunts.

After tumbling back to the Strip to do a luggage pickup, we chilled at the Elara, making sure all was sorted for travel. Janie hailed an Uber and we made our way back to Harry Reid International ahead of schedule for our red eye back to Canada! I think we both had the sense that a 4hr overnight flight, combined with a 3 hr time change, was going to be a slog but were doing our best to control what we could. Security, thankfully, was uneventful and we nestled in for boarding. It was time to relinquish and let the travel gods do what they may!

… Las Vegas 24′ – Day 7