Viva Las Vegas!

Oh my goodness! I am tired, but I had SO much fun!! I know you are dying to hear all about it, so sit back and get comfy this is going to be a long one!

We got to Vegas Thursday night and we had tickets to Mystere at Treasure Island. We were staying at the Tropicana, and checked in and I had mapquested the distance from the Tropicana to TI and it was under a mile that it came back at. Guess what, they were WRONG! 2.5 miles is more like it. So we booked it down the strip and got to TI with time to spare. We were on the third row in the theatre for Mystere. It was wonderful! I had no idea what to expect, and I am not sure I could even describe it. But I think Randy did it best as 'visually assaulting'. I think that nails it. It was great, and I want to see another show next time we go! After that we were off to explore and make our way back to our hotel.

The Tropicana is an older hotel, it had something in our room that I didn't know even existed in hotels. Do you see it? The ceiling had a mirror on it. And the wall behind the bed, and the wall next to it. I was SHOCKED! Seriously. I had no idea that they even put those in hotels. Classy eh?

Friday we had to go to a timeshare thingy, we got our classy hotel for free just for going to the two hour presentation. It was alright.. We went we said NO, they kicked us out and we were on our merry way.

We met some of my friends for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Had a great visit with them and then we were off to see more. We went and checked out the Excalibur, and then to Mandalay Bay. We went through the shark reef there. We saw lots of cool fish, sharks, sea life of all sorts and the cool crocodile, (I think.)
We got done with that and walked some more. Seriously we walked so much, my feet are tired! We ate dinner with some friends of ours, actually they came and picked us up and took us to their house. So we got to see out in Henderson area, it was nice to see other areas of Vegas besides the Strip. It was great to catch up and see the kids and see some great friends we have really missed! We are hoping to get back their and visit them again within the next year. Maybe even take the kids and stay with them for a week! That would be fun!

Then back to the Strip, we went to Paris, and went up the Eiffel Tower, it was really high up, but gorgeous! I am afraid of heights, so it was a little freaky, and then there was the distant lightning that was up there, but it was so awesome. I loved seeing all of the lights at night. It was amazing to see the view, so worth the anxiety over being up there so high. We were able to see the fountains at Bellagio and get some awesome pictures from up so high.

We watched the Sirens of Treasure Island.. It was interesting. We went through some more hotels and casinos and made it back to our hotel around 1:30 AM. It was quite the sight. So much to take in, and I was just so amazed to see all of the gambling. My very first time ever seeing a slot machines in real life. Not on TV or anything. Just totally interesting to me. Also people smoking and drinking everywhere, I am naive I have never seen it like that. I was shocked to see people lighting up in the malls and stuff. WOW!

Saturday we slept in. It was desperately needed, we were so tired!! Our feet we tired and sore so we thought we needed to do something relaxing. And have I mentioned I have THE BEST HUSBAND ever? We went and got wonderful pedicures together. Ahhh.. They were blissful! And my feet felt so much better after we were done. Then we went to a Magic Show.. Entertaining, but we saw the Tiger that had magically disappeared at the end. Good job Dirk! After that we went to check out more of the Excalibur and then we decided we had had enough of the heat and would chill by the pool for a while. It was very refreshing. After that we got ready for dinner. We went back to the Excalibur and saw the Tournament of Kings. Great dinner show, we were thoroughly entertained. It was so fun to watch and we felt so involved, I highly recommend going there! We explored a little more of the Excalibur, and my sweet honey got me a nice pair of pearl earrings! Thanks babe, you spoil me!

Then off to New York, New York. We went on the rollercoaster there. Let me tell you, it was so very very fun! We had heard mixed reviews on it, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be that high up, going that fast. Okay I did, but I knew I was going to be scared. I for some strange reason enjoy being scared beyond all reason, it is fun for me. We went on it twice, I loved it!

Finally we made it to the Venetian, GORGEOUS! I also got to get my picture taken with one of my all time favorite athletes, Michael Jordan. Basketball star of the world, right up there with my brother. Yes, I am ranking him with my brother. Pretty cool huh? I was one of the biggest Jordan/Bulls fans there was back in the day, I still like the Chicago Bulls!! Basketball.. One of my loves. Seriously I am so excited to have my picture with Jordan, even if it wax, it looks pretty darn cool!

Anyway, the Venetian was just awesome. I loved all of it. Gorgeous. Then off to see the Mirage and then Caesar's Palace. So much to see and to explore. I loved Caesar's Palace.. Well I really loved the mall there. It is open until midnight, how cool is that? I mean I wish my mall was open that late instead of a measly 9:00PM, I could go shopping so easily after the kids were in bed if that were the case. We enjoyed browsing, and finally getting through all of Caesar's Palace. It took a while. Seriously how big do these buildings need to be? You can just walk yourself to death.

We made our way back to the hotel, slowly. Dinking around and seeing all sorts of great stuff and taking it all in. And then after a good nights rest it was time to go home. We had a great time! We saw a did a lot, but feel like we only touched the top of the ice berg! Hopefully we will get to go back within the next year! It was so fun!

Blogger is having issues so I am going to have to post the rest of the pictures separately. Sorry.