I was almost embarrassed to tell anyone that I was going to Las Vegas. Anything I've heard about the city wasn't anything I ever thought I'd be interested in experiencing. Yet when I first found out my sister's and my roommate from college was getting married there, I was excited to go. I left Halloween night to stay at my sister's and be closer to the airport for our morning flight and this is what followed:
We stayed at the Vdara at the City Center. It's a hotel & spa without a casino, so it was nice not having all the people that the casino draws and just a fairly calm place to stay. This picture is from in front of the Vdara.
My sister and I were both quite impressed with out room. This is our kitchenette. It even had a sink and a stove top, besides the fridge and microwave :-)
This is the bedroom/living room area. There was a TV on either side of the wall. (We only have 1 TV in our house, so to have 2 in the hotel was kinda neat-lol!) We also had a queen size sofa bed.
The bathroom had a shower and a tub...also more than what I have in my own house! LOL!
This was the view from our room on the 23rd floor.
I had to take this picture for Rich. The fire station was kinda under and to the side of our hotel.
My sister, Katie, and I spent most of the first day exploring the strip before heading to the Las Vegas Hotel, via the monorail. We had never seen what we were calling a 'wine vending machine' before. We made sure to enjoy a few drinks from it though! :-)
The whole reason for going to the Las Vegas Hotel was for the show we got tickets for "Nunsense". Very funny and very cute show. I loved the atmosphere of the place, being that it was kinda small and the actors interacted with the audience. There was actually only 17 people in the audience and we all sat in chairs with a little table and our drinks that we got at the bar in the back :-)
In all our sightseeing, I was able to see a couple things that I may never see the real ones of, so I was sure to get pictures!
The Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel and casino.
The Statue of Liberty at New York New York.
This is the one place I planned to see while we were out there and the place we got most of our souvenirs! :-)
Katie and I stopped for a drink in the Monte Carlo at The Pub. I never drink beer and have never had more than a sip before that day. With 122 beers on tap there, they had one I liked!
This has to be the most delicious beer in the world! It's a Belgian beer called Framboise Lambic Ale, which is a Raspberry Beer...and tastes like drinking raspberry juice!! YUM! It was so 'heavy' that I wasn't able to finish it there, so Katie and I got our beers in plastic cups to go. We're not used to being able to do that, but there must be no such thing as 'open intoxicants' in Vegas.
Of all the hotels and casinos that we saw, the Bellagio had to be my favorite! The fountain out front is beyond awesome! We happened to drive by after the wedding while the fountains were going off to the song "God Bless America" and it actually brought tears to my eyes. AMAZING!
Another reason that the Bellagio is so cool! The talking tree! :-)
And the Bellagio's BEAUTIFUL lobby!!
My second favorite of the casinos we saw was the Cosmopolitan. Katie and I walked through it quite a bit since it was one of the ways to the strip from our hotel.
I took this picture for Blake, since he likes Ghostbusters, before realizing that you're not suppose to take pictures in the casinos...oops! This was in the Cosmopolitan.
I took this for Morgan. It was the 2 story Chandelier Lounge in the Cosmopolitan.
A place where Katie and I ate, also in the Cosmopolitan...we of course had to eat where the pink cow was! :-)
Another neat place was the pool at Caesar's Palace.
The waterfalls in front of The Mirage were pretty awesome too! :-)
Treasure Island had a couple neat things. One was this sculpted tusk! AMAZING!
Another was the pirate ships. I actually had the chance to see the show with the pirate ships, since we ate at Gilly's after the wedding, a restaurant in Treasure Island. The effects of the show were the neatest part...the show itself was kinda goofy ;-)
My sister and I before the wedding.
The bride and groom waiting for the sign to be fixed with Kelley's correct spelling of her name, so the photographer could get their picture. :-)
Las Vegas was quite an experience! I'm going to make it a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm not sure I'd go back and if I did, I definitely want to go with Rich! I didn't care for the creepy guys making comments to my sister and I...or the foreign guy who stroked the back of my arm and then laughed...not cool! All in all we did enjoy ourselves, though. We loved seeing all the themed casinos, Nunsense, and enjoyed the night out before the wedding just having a couple drinks, dancing and seeing the strip lit up at night. I'm definitely glad to be home with my husband and kids though too! ;-)
