It was a beautiful morning as we walked from our hotel to Tivoli Village to have brunch at Echo & Rig.  We always get there early, so that we can hopefully be the first ones to be seated, so that we can be comfortable, as we decided to eat indoors, but looking out onto the plaza, as the temperature had already climbed from the time we started out.  One of the joys of being in a desert. 

While we were waiting for the restaurant to open, we discussed the fine experience we had two days earlier, when we discovered that the bar was open, while the butcher shop had hours.  We also were happy that neither of us had a problem with the house-made hot dogs that we tried at the bar, as we had strayed into their Happy Hour period, before the restaurant opened at night, I guess you understand that we were enjoying ourselves at the bar.  We will repeat this date again, but my Bride did not like the Happy Hour Negroni, compared to her first one; a great lesson to remember. 

This entire trip on several levels was unique, as we didn’t try a single new restaurant, but went with tried-and-true locations.  We did order different though, my Bride had the Smoked Salmon Benedict with Crème Fraiche, Red Onions, Sautéed Greens, two Poached Eggs and Hollandaise on Crispy Potato Pancakes.  I went with the Filet Tenderloin Benedict, with Roasted Tomato, Asparagus, two Poached Eggs and Béarnaise on a Toasted English Muffin.  We also went with the Bottomless Mimosas, that we had initially discovered here; and I have finally decided that Orange Juice is dearer, compared to Charmat Method William Wycliff Winery “Brut” “American Champagne” NV, which is now part of Gallo (and they probably bought the winery for the designation).  A wine that was grandfathered in, so that it can claim the “American Champagne” designation and is I believe still made with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier.  Though we both decided that this current bottle of Brut was more Sec and sweeter compared to what we have at home, it was still fine.  Some aficionados of Mimosas claim that one only needs to waft the smell of the orange juice across the wine glass, but I still prefer my method of a tincture of orange juice is adequate.

 Afterwards, we celebrated Mother’s Day with as much of the family as possible.  So, in preparation we decided to go to Downtown Summerlin and spend the day shopping.  It was amazing that neither one of us bought anything, though we did get a lot of steps (walking) in the desert sun, though we were in and out shopping at boutiques and department stores.  We could have our unique morning, as everyone else was on Vegas time, and we still had to work on saving a table for eight, but we prevailed and onto the next story.