Wow -- I can't believe it's taken me almost a month to post about our Las Vegas trip, but better late than never, right? ;)
Last month, we went to Vegas with Jason, Cheryl, and Cheryl's parents, Queenie and Chuck. Jason and Cheryl decided a couple of months ago to go for Jason's birthday, and I can't remember if they invited us to go with them, or if it was our idea first, but either way, I am so glad that we went! The rest of the group are Vegas regulars, but this was mine and Ben's first trip, so we weren't really sure what to expect {I technically went with my family when I was in middle school, but obviously, that was a very different type of trip where we stayed at the Excalibur and went to the Hoover Dam, Circus Circus, and all of the other kid-friendly places}. I knew that we would have a great time going on vacation with Jason & Cheryl {we have a blast just hanging out at each other's houses doing nothing}, but I had no idea that I would love gambling so much. Not what you were expecting, huh? Haha -- me neither. For those of you who don't know me or who don't read this blog on a regular basis, I love to use coupons and prefer to save my money over spending it, so none of us really knew what to expect when it came to me and gambling -- but I loved it. Blackjack Switch especially, but I'll get into that later.
We flew out of Austin early Thursday morning. Unfortunately, we didn't get much sleep the night before, so we slept almost the entire flight to Los Angeles, but thankfully we woke up just in time to take a couple of really pretty pictures of the mountains.
And of Los Angeles.
After a quick layover in LA, we flipped around over the Pacific Ocean and headed back towards Las Vegas.
On that short flight, Ben had me take a couple of pictures for him -- a hot mix plant. Oooohhh....aaahhhh....
And a rock quarry. Try to contain your excitement, please. ;)
After landing in Vegas, we took a quick cab ride to The Mirage and got checked in.
I asked for a room with a view, so they put us looking out towards the strip on the 19th floor. And when I asked Ben, "What room are we in?" as we got off the elevator and started walking down the hall, the little kid in him was so excited to answer "Double-0 7". ;)
Our hotel room was beautiful and very modern.
And believe it or not, Ben is actually lying on the floor behind that bed. Just don't tell his mom.
You see -- he was originally sitting in that orange chair and when I asked him to move from that spot so I could get a good picture, he chose the floor as opposed to walking to the other side of the room to stand behind me. See the leg that just so happened to fly up into the air as I snapped my picture? Haha -- he's crazy.
Our room had a pretty good view of the strip {and of the volcano at night}, too.
I felt bad for the guy washing the atrium windows though. I can't even imagine how long it would take to clean the whole thing, but he was doing a great job.
Our mini bar was stocked with all sorts of goodies, and it was only after I had picked up every item to examine it that I found out that everything is on a weighted timer. If something is gone for more than 30 seconds, you are automatically charged for it. I panicked as soon as the bell boy shared this news and began wondering what in the world I had just bought, but thankfully, nothing showed up on our bill, so apparently I must have replaced everything just in the nick of time. ;)
We had an appetizer {some yummy spinach & artichoke dip} at BB King's while waiting for Jason and Cheryl to get in, and once got settled in, we had lunch at BLT Burger and then went walking around.
No matter where we went, Ben and Jason spent most of their time at the craps table. Cheryl and I played a few games ourselves, but unfortunately, we weren't doing too well {we later decided that we just didn't stick around at one table long enough}, so we spent most of our time just walking around and taking it all in. At the Paris Hotel, we went and found ourselves a couple of Eiffel Tower drinks to keep us company. They were HUGE but so good, and they lasted us all day. We joked around that they were the size of small children, and when my straw got a crack in it, and I had to tip mine up to drink out of it like a cup, I looked pretty ridiculous. We also found a big slot machine at Paris, and of course, I had to try that one out. Unfortunately, my dollar bill didn't win me anything, but it was pretty fun pulling that huge lever.
Towards the end of the day, we walked by the Carnaval Court and went inside to listen to the music and hang out for a little bit.
At one point, the bartender had created a pyramid of empty glasses and then got the entire bar's attention by blowing a whistle while pouring the drinks into them out of a bunch of stacked shakers.
Pretty impressive if you ask me...
Back at The Mirage, we sat out on their patio and relaxed.
And I continued to look like a fool as I drank my pina colada out of the "bottle" -- haha. Eventually, all of that relaxing got to us, so we decided to take a quick nap before dinner. Unfortunately though, we didn't wake up to our alarm, and when Jason called us to see if we still wanted to go to dinner, we decided to just call it an early night and get a good night's rest.
That next morning, we slept in and then went over to Caesar's palace with Jason, Cheryl, Queenie, and Chuck.
We hadn't even been there 24 hours yet, and Ben and Jason were already sick of my pictures.
The inside of Caesar's Palace was beautiful.
And the ceiling was amazing.
We had lunch at Mesa Grill, which is Bobby Flay's restaurant. I'm not gonna lie -- if it weren't for Jason and Cheryl, I'm pretty sure we would have no clue who Bobby Flay is, but nonetheless, the atmosphere was pretty cool, and the food was really good. We had the shrimp and corn tamale appetizer was amazing, and the swordfish club that I had for lunch was pretty good, too. Cheryl said that she's going to see if she can find a recipe for the tamales online, and I'm really hoping that she's able to.
After lunch, we went gambling. Earlier that day, Cheryl and I had seen a poster that said "Blackjack Switch: It's okay to switch 'em." It had peaked out interest, so when we saw a couple of open seats at the Blackjack Switch table at Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon, we went ahead and sat down. Thankfully, the other three people sitting at the table were very friendly and helpful, so along with the help of the dealer, they taught us how to play. We instantly loved it.
We spent most of the afternoon gambling and walking around, and later that evening, we went back to our hotel.
After resting up a little, we got dressed up and met everybody else downstairs for dinner.
We ended up eating at a restaurant in The Mirage called Stack.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but the architecture was really cool. The walls are made of wood, and it almost has a cave-like feel with it being so dark and all.
The food was really good, too. I got the hibachi skewers...
...and Cheryl shared some of her {tiny} king crab tacos. My mouth is watering just thinking about those.
After dinner, we took a walk down the strip.
Vegas and all of its lights are so beautiful at night.
After walking around for a little bit, we ended up going to Bally's to gamble. Ben and Jason went straight to the craps tables, and Cheryl and I walked around looking for a Blackjack Switch table. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one, but we did find a regular blackjack table with a couple of open seats. We ending up sitting at that table for quite some time and had a lot of fun. From what I remember, we both did pretty well, too, and at one point, I was even up 100 bucks!
The next morning, we had brunch at Cravings, which is the buffet at The Mirage. The food was amazing, and I, of course, ate way too much -- a omelet, pancakes, AND snow crab legs -- yikes! That afternoon, Jason and Cheryl went to the pool, and Ben and I decided to take a tour of the entire strip, which started out in front of the waterfall at The Mirage.
Past Caesar's Palace.
Caesar's Palace is HUGE.
The Bellagio is just as beautiful on the outside...
...as it is on the inside.
And after seeing just a few of the flowers, I knew it was going to be my favorite hotel.
I mean, seriously -- have ever seen such a beautiful floral arrangement?!
And here's something that I vividly remember from my trip in middle school.
Where else can you find a glass flower ceiling?
The Spring Celebration exhibit in the conservatory was beautiful, too.
I mean, just look at all of those flowers. I was in heaven!
Even the huge bees were cute.
And a swan in a pond.
I loved all of it.
Why don't flowers grow like that in Texas?
And a carousel completes the look.
Tulips are my favorite flower, and I was just admiring how many of them there were when Ben clued me in on how they plant them that close together.
They don't! They leave them in their pots and just group them together. Pretty sneaky!
I could have spent all afternoon in the conservatory, but Ben was ready to get on with the rest of the walk, so off we went.
As soon as we walked out of the Bellagio and down the moving sidewalk, the fountain show started.
Perfect timing.
We couldn't hear the music, but we had great seats. ;)
The Cosmopolitan was a pretty cool hotel, too.
It was very modern and decorated with so many strands of clear jewels that were lit up with lights.
It was even prettier in person {and somewhat reminded me of a cruise ship}, but Ben and I both agreed that none of the decor in Vegas ages well as I'm pretty sure this look will appear tacky and old one day, too.
We also went into Aria...
...but it was a little too plain and mall-like for my taste.
Monte Carlo was pretty on the outside, but there wasn't anything spectacular on the inside.
I was really excited about going to New York-New York since we saw the real thing last year.
The Brooklyn Bridge.
The walkways were done up just like the streets of New York, and Ben said that it reminded him a lot of New York -- lots of crowds and lots of chaos.
We walked around for a little while looking for the Central Park section that I vaguely remembered from my previous trip and finally ended up asking an employee to point us in that direction.
Unfortunately, she told us that they had remodeled that portion of the hotel and that the Central Park section no longer existed. I was a little bummed considering Central Park was my favorite part of New York, so on we went with our walking tour.
It was getting pretty hot outside at that point, but that didn't stop us. We were almost to the south end, so we kept on.
The view of New York-New York was really pretty looking back at it.
Ben said this was his favorite view of New York City, too -- from a distance and away from all of the people. Needless to say, New York is not his favorite city, and this was not his favorite hotel -- haha.
We headed to the Excalibur next.
The Excalibur is where we stayed when I went to Vegas with my family. The huge castle still looks great on the outside, but unfortunately, it wasn't as amazing on the inside as I had remembered.
Apparently, the hotel got rid of most of their medieval themed statues and scenery as part of a renovation, so now it's kind of half-medieval and half-not, so now it's just kind of boring.
We went to the Luxor next...
...and did a quick tour of the inside to see the peaked ceiling and then went on our way.
Next stop was MGM.
The centerpiece of the lobby was really pretty, but their casino seemed even smokier than all of the others for some reason. After walking around inside for a little bit, we decided to grab a drink at the bar for our trip back up the strip. Because the drinks are free in Vegas when you're gambling, this was the first time that I had paid for one, so when the bartender said, "that'll be $8", I was shocked. For a glass of water and ONE beer? Surely not. I said, "excuse me", so he repeated himself. Yep -- $8. Crazy!
Me and my water in front of New York-New York.
Why ask someone else to take your picture when you can take such flattering self-portraits yourself? ;)
On the way back up the strip, we were a lot more tired {and hot!}, so we decided to only go into the hotels/casinos that we had not already been to. I also took fewer pictures on the way back, but I did happen to snap one of the outside of the Harley-Davidson Cafe while walking by.
We also walked by Planet Hollywood but didn't bother going in since we had already been there.
The lights were so pretty, and they're even cooler at night.
Next stop was Paris.
The replica of the Eiffel Tower and the hotel itself are beautiful...
...but again, we decided to not go in since we had already been there.
Although the Pink Flamingo is not one of the most beautiful hotels in Vegas, I did snap a picture of it while walking by. I personally think it's still a pretty fun {and cheap!} place to gamble though.
Bally's was also a fun place to gamble and is even prettier at night.
There were temporary construction walkways set up all around Imperial Palace, and we had heard that they were planning to implode it, but I looked it up after we got home, and apparently they imploded O'Sheas' parking garage at the end of April to make way for new development.
Harrah's was another one of my favorite places to gamble although it's nothing fancy.
The only hotel that we hadn't already been in on our way back was The Venetian.
The ceiling and the attention to detail were amazing.
The inside of it looked like the streets of Venice...
...and there were even gondola rides.
While walking along the streets of Venice, I happened to notice a pile of money next to one of statues. My initial thought was that it must have been some kind of good luck charm {similar to how Aggies place pennies at the foot of the Sul Ross statue before taking an exam}, but then I noticed how real the statue's eyes looked. Turns out -- it's a real person! Crazy.
After leaving the Venetian, we thought about walking down to Treasure Island before heading back to The Mirage, but we were pooped, so we opted to take a picture at a distance instead {and ended up going over there to check it out the next day}.
Home sweet home.
After resting for a little bit back at the hotel, we got dressed up and went out. We grabbed a quick dinner at a Mexican food restaurant of all places in Planet Hollywood before heading next door to watch Marc Savard perform a comedy hypnosis show.
I really wasn't sure what to expect before the show, but I loved it and totally believed every minute of it. About 30 people volunteered to be hypnotized, and he chose about 10 of those to keep up on stage after doing a little test to determine which ones he would be able to hypnotize.
After hypnotizing the group of 10, he had them do all sorts of funny stuff.
He hypnotized one guy into thinking that
he was carrying around an imaginary purse at all times, another guy into thinking that his
name was E-I-E-I-O, another guy to start doing the River Dance as
soon as a certain song came on, and all sorts of other hilarious things. He also asked all of them to
smile for a
photo, but when they tried to, they had "wrong face disease" and made the ugliest face they could instead.
After the show, we decided to do a little bit of gambling. Cheryl and I went back to Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon to play Blackjack Switch, and Ben and Jason played craps next door at The Flamingo. On the way back to the hotel that night, we tried to get a good picture of us with on the strip...
...but this was the best that we could do.
A quick picture in the casino at The Mirage before calling it a night.
That next morning, we packed up all of our stuff and took a few pictures around the hotel.
The beautiful atrium...
...and such gorgeous flowers in the hotel lobby.
There was also an aquarium behind the front desk that Miles would have LOVED.
After a quick trip over to see Treasure Island, Ben and I took a cab ride downtown to Fremont Street to check out "Old Vegas". We had originally planned to get down there one of the nights that we were there to see the light show, but unfortunately, we just ran out of time {I guess that just means that we'll just have to go back!}.
Fremont Casino.
Binion's.
4 Queens.
Golden Nugget.
A Vegas icon -- "Vegas Vic".
I asked another tourist to take our picture with him, but apparently, he didn't quite understand what I was wanting.
Of course, we stopped in Binion's to see Pawpaw Jack's picture that is hanging in the Poker Hall of Fame.
For those of you who don't know, he won the World Series of Poker in 1982.
His picture is also hanging in the poker room...
...with Mr. Binion himself standing in the background.
After walking around Fremont Street a little bit, we took a cab back to The Mirage and then walked over to Casear's Palace to eat lunch.
We ended up eating Italian food at Spago, and it was SO good.
The atmosphere was really cool, too. It felt as if we were sitting on the outdoor patio, but really, it was all inside.
After eating, we headed back to The Mirage to check out the pool before catching a cab to the airport. Hanging out by the pool was another thing that we ran out of time to do while we were there {gotta go back!}, but I at least had to see the pool before we left.
Right before we left, Ben convinced me to put $100 on black at the roulette table as one last hurrah, and we won!!! It was a great way to end the vacation, although personally, I wasn't really ready for it to be over quite yet. I'm pretty sure that I was the only one though. Both Jason and Cheryl were missing Miles, and as Ben puts it, "he likes his 'real' life just as much as vacation". I'm telling you -- my husband is crazy. ;)
The good news is that we came back "winners" {Ben won somewhere between
$400 and $500, and
including the $100 that I won at the end, I won about $150}, but the bad
news is that it wasn't enough to retire and travel the world quite
yet -- haha. One day. Thanks again to G and my mom for watching Annie and Amos while we were gone and to the Sotos for letting us join you on such a fun vacation. We are DEFINITELY going to have to do this again sometime. Just tell us when and where, and we'll be there!
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