Vegas

Mandy and I went to Vegas for 3 days right after releasing the cartoon. One of the best parts of having a blog is being able to go back and look at what I have done over the course of the past few years, so I usually make these "travelblogues" so I can remember what all we did. The main theme of this trip was "fighting and food," two of my favorite things.

We went to Vegas during a UFC fan event for UFC 100, so I took advantage of that and did some training sessions with Wanerlei "The Axe-Murderer" Silva and Kru Mark Dellagrotte. The sessions were great, I learned a ton and got to "roll" and train with a few professional fighters and did not end up with any black-eyes or broken bones...so, bonus.

Mandy got to sit in the Wanderlei session, so I got some pics.


You should have seen Mr. Silva's arms and legs. The best way I can describe it is rebar wrapped in veins.
Mr. Silva overlooks Jesse Garcia and myself doing some ground drills...

I even got to do some drills directly with Wanderlei.

That night Wanderlei invited us to his gym.



This is my sad attempt at a staredown. I cannot hide the fear well. Better stick to the cartoons.



We ate at two Hubert Keller restaurants in Vegas, Fleur De Lys and Burger Bar. Fleur de Lys might be the best restuarant I have ever had the pleasure to visit. It ranks up there with Les Halles and Craft. I had a tasting menu, and was nearly in a food coma by the end of the night. We also ate at Shabuya, which has a great sake selection, our waiter made some really good recommendations.

We also went to a great bar in the Mandalay called Red Square, which was like if Captain Capitalism's enemies had a bar:
Outside was a headless statue of Lenin. The head was inside the "vodka vault," where patrons can take a shot off the frozen head. Unfortunately, the price was too steep, so Mandy and I just hung out at the frozen bar for bit.



Mandy's brother Sean, came into Vegas from San Francisco, on Friday evening. It was nice to see him again, it has been a while.

Another cool bar we went to was called Minus 5, in this bar, everything is made from ice...the tables, chairs, even glasses. You have to wear a parka and booties. Frozen bars are big in Vegas, I guess.

We watched the UFC event from a beach on closed circuit TV.

We had a really good time, but Vegas wears on me. The noises and smells they pump start to make me claustrophobic after a couple of days. The wife and I arent much for gambling either, though she did hit this: