Las Vegas Trip

Adam and I recently got the opportunity of a lifetime. A free trip to Las Vegas without our children. It was a contest through Adam's work and he was able to work really hard and hit his goals, which meant a free trip for both of us! Yea, I was a little bit excited.

My sweet sister brought 3 of her kids and stayed at our house to watch Ryan and Lucas for the weekend. I don't think Ryan even realized we were gone that weekend because he was having so much fun with his cousins. Lucas definitely missed me but overall he did better than I was expecting.

We left on a Friday morning and checked in to our hotel, the Golden Nugget, before taking a taxi over to the Las Vegas Strip. We were starving and when I heard Bobby Flay's restaurant was located at Caesars Palace, we headed straight there.

Mesa Grill was really good. I had incredibly high expectations, so I was a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn't the best food I had ever eaten. But still really good. I had a pork tenderloin sandwich and Adam had a burger. (I was obviously so hungry I had to take a couple bites before snapping my photo). We both agreed the southwestern fries were the best part.

After our late lunch we toured a few of the hotels on the strip. First up was the Bellagio, one of my favorites. My shirt even matched the ceiling inside the hotel!

They had a butterfly exhibit inside the garden area of the hotel. Pretty, but I have a secret fear of butterflies. I'm glad that glass was separating us.

We walked around and snapped a picture of Woody and some random guy floating in the air.

Did I mention that it was Adam's birthday? That made our trip even more special. I let him choose what we would do that evening, and he chose Cirque du Soleil! After finding out that O wasn't playing that week, we decided to see Zarcana at the Aria Resort. We were still kind of full from lunch so we just grabbed a quick slice of pizza before seeing the show. When we purchased our tickets we chose the cheapest ones available. But for some reason the woman offered us upgraded seats worth double the price, for no additional charge! We enjoyed the show from the 5th row. We both loved it....lots of acrobatics and many parts where I wanted to cover my eyes because I was so afraid someone was going to get hurt.

It was only 8:30 when the show ended so we decided to stay out and explore the new LINQ shopping area. We were both pretty exhausted at this point but wanted to experience Las Vegas at night. We saw the new huge ferris wheel and Adam got a Ghiradelli milkshake. I think you can tell by this picture just how tired we were.

Saturday morning started with a quick breakfast at Starbucks before heading back to the strip to see more hotels. We walked and walked and walked. In fact, our legs were sore from all the walking we had done the previous day! I guess we're out of shape. We saw Paris and the Grand Canal Shops.





 I love the Venetian hotel. They offer Gondola rides inside the hotel near the shops. I tried to talk Adam into going for a ride with me but the best I could get him to agree to was another picture.

We walked so much that I had to buy a new pair of shoes. I am notorious for wearing really flimsy sandals on trips that make my feet hurt. Lesson learned. Again.

We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant inside New York New York.

The salad portion of my steak salad was nothing special. However, the steak was amazing. Possibly some of the best I have ever eaten.

We toured more hotels and did a little bit of gambling. A dollar here, a dollar there. We're high rollers. The weather was hot and partly cloudy. At times we both noticed our fingers and hands swelling from the heat. We are used to cool Bay Area weather!

We headed back to our hotel late in the afternoon to get dressed for dinner. We had a company dinner to attend at the Golden Nugget.

The food was decent, although we both agreed we do not like Crème Brulee. After mingling with his co-workers and talking about our Las Vegas experiences so far, we headed outside to Fremont Street to enjoy the music. Bon Jovi was playing on the ceiling and there were a few live bands playing as we walked along.

Sunday morning was our last day of the trip. We decided it didn't make sense to pay for another taxi ride to the strip when we only had a few hours until our flight home. So we stayed at our hotel's restaurant for breakfast.

Afterwards we walked around the outside portion of our hotel. It had a water slide that went through a giant shark tank. Eeek!

 We had time to waste so we gambled a little more on the penny slots.

We headed out to Fremont Street for one last treat before heading to the airport. Deep fried oreos! Adam wanted to try them and I was convinced they would be absolutely disgusting. But I tried one and they actually weren't bad! Obviously not healthy, but we were in Vegas. Deep fried oreos belong in Vegas.

One last picture before we flew home. We were so grateful to go on this trip together and just relax and have fun. But by Sunday we were both ready to be at home with our boys.