Our Vegas Vacation

Doug has wanted to go to Las Vegas since we were married.  We discussed it as an option for our honeymoon, but we chose New Orleans instead.  So, Doug finally got to take me to Vegas for a few days in June.  It was so nice to get away for a little while, especially without the kiddos.  I love them, but a little break was nice.  Check out some of our pictures!

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The first day we were there, we watched Mystere, a Cirque du Soleil production at Treasure Island.  We didn’t think it would be that far to walk since we could see Treasure Island from the New York New York, our hotel.  It was THREE AND A HALF MILES!!!  We were so exhausted when we got there.  Once we picked up our tickets from the will call desk, we discovered the monorail.  Monorail tickets were, by far, our best purchase of the trip.  We went back to the hotel, had dinner (at Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House – more on the food later) and then took the monorail back up to Treasure Island to see the show.  The plot was a little strange, but it was an amazing show!  Click here for a preview.  By the time we made it back to our hotel, we had logged more than five miles, I’m sure.  I should have brought a pedometer.  :)  And, since I have trouble sleeping on a plane, I had been awake for 21 hours.  I was beyond exhausted. 

 

On the second day, we slept in, had a Starbucks breakfast, and visited the Stratosphere, Paris Las Vegas and the Bellagio.  We decided, after reaching the Stratosphere, that we didn’t really want to pay that much money to see Vegas during the daytime.  Nighttime might have had another response, but it just didn’t justify the price of the elevator ride.  Neither of us had any intention of riding the rides up there.  So, we left.  We walked back to the Sahara, through the casino to the monorail station, and then rode the monorail back to the Paris Las Vegas.  We found some fun shops inside Paris.  I got some new bracelets (3 for $20!!), and then we went to the Bellagio for lunch.  The buffet is pricy, but it was outstanding.  After lunch, we played at M&M’s world, bought a bunch of stuff there and then went back to the hotel for a nap.  Wednesday night, we took a bus to Fremont street to see the light show there.  We got there too early, though, and since we still weren’t hungry, we just had some Starbucks and listened to some live music before the show started.  The light show was great!  They did “Bad to the Bone” first, and then about 20 minutes later, they did “American Pie.”  When we were done on Fremont Street, we took the bus back down to the Strip, and had a very late dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, a French restaurant in front of Paris.  We wanted to sit on the patio, but there were no tables there, so we were just slightly indoors.  We had an amazing meal and and pretty good view of the Bellagio water show.  What a fun day!  Oh, and on our way back to the monorail station, we saw this:

 

Only in Vegas!!  :)  Apparently, it’s a crane game for dinner.  For only $4 per attempt, you can try to catch your own lobster.  If you catch one, the restaurant will cook it up for free.  I wonder if the odds are better here than in the casino.  :) 

 

Thursday, after riding the roller coaster at our hotel (yes, I even rode it), we visited Caesar’s Palace.  We ate at Mesa Grill, the Las Vegas incarnation of Bobby Flay’s popular New York restaurant.  Wow the food was good!  We can’t decide between us if we preferred Emeril’s or Bobby Flay’s restaurant better, so we’re calling it a tie.  They were both amazing!  :)  We picked up a rental car in the evening, and we watched a variety show called V.  We felt a little ripped off when the show was over.  It wasn’t a horrible show, but it wasn’t worth the price.  The juggler was pretty awesome, but you can see most of his stuff on YouTube for free.  After the show, we had a fabulous fast food dinner here:

 

We checked out of the hotel early on Friday morning and drove our rental car, a red Ford Mustang, to the temple.  It was so nice to get away from all the filth on the Strip and enjoy the spirit of the temple.  We did a session and then drove around North Las Vegas for a little while.  Doug was born in Las Vegas, and he lived there until the sixth grade, so we found the houses that he lived in.  Here’s the first one, 1901 Bassler street:This neighborhood was SCARY!  And it was still not even noon.  I can’t believe that my husband walked to school in this neighborhood when he was in kindergarten!  Yikes!!

They moved to this house when Doug was in the fifth grade: It was hard to get a good picture because of all the vehicles parked in front of the house.  There were at least four cars.  Apparently, the cars make a great fence for the playground in the front yard?  I know.   I’m confused too.  I’m told that the backyard WAS just fine. 

 

We made our way back toward the airport, had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then went to return our rental car. 

 

Did I mention that Doug was so thrilled to be driving a mustang?  He was almost giddy he was so excited.  We gassed up at a 7-eleven, and then the lovely mustang would not giddy up.  It would start, then sputter and die.  So, we called the rental car people.  They called a tow truck.  We were less than a mile from the rental car return facility.  But they told us that it would be 45 minutes for the tow truck to arrive.  We had been planning on arriving to the airport early…  We were having a pleasant, leisurely kind of day.  That instantly changed.  Would we make our flight on time?  We still had to wait for the tow, return the car to the rental car people, wait for the shuttle bus to the airport, get through airport security, and find our gate.  It was looking like we wouldn’t make it.  The tow truck didn’t take 45 minutes.  It was more like 15 minutes.  So, he dropped us off at the door, we grabbed our bags, and we made our way to the counter to finalize the rental.  We had to wait until they checked out the car to make sure that it wasn’t our fault that it was broken…  Anyway, we made it to the airport with time to spare.  :)

 

And it was so good to be home!!