Our Vegas Trip

Started off kind off bad, but we ended up having a great time.

Thursday--Lori and Jimmy came to pick us up. Our fight is at 9:55 pm. We got through security and everything really fast. We ended up with almost 2 hours before our flight took off. We went to a Chili's in the airport, our waitress was terrible. She seemed to get everything wrong, and gave us a little bit of attitude when she did. And I swear whatever drink you ordered she said "Bud Lite". Of course when a Bud Lite was ordered, she might bring a regular Bud.
We get on the plane, I am in the middle seat, John is on the aisle. The lady next to me is very nice-this is her first trip to Vegas-but she is bigger. She was part way on my seat. I could not really move for the whole flight. Normally you need to at least do the butt cheek shuffle to stay somewhat comfortable. I couldn't even do that. It was THE longest flight EVER!
We land, (finally) and go to get our luggage. This is almost midnight Vegas time. Our bigger bag is trashed! It is ripped at the seams. So off to the AA office we go. They were very nice, and it was handled quickly. Luckily nothing was missing, they gave us a new hard top suitcase (most definitely worth more than the one we lost). They have baggage in the back that they ordered just for when this happens.
Next we need to get our rental car. We had reserved a Luxury (John wanted a Cadillac), they asked if we wanted a deluxe luxury, -no thanks. Then the total came up to way more than I had been quoted. When I questioned this and gave her the total I was told, she disappeared for awhile. When she finally came back she said the difference was because it was after midnight. Well, number 1 I told them when I reserved it, we would be there after midnight. Number 2-us getting there any later than intended was not our fault. So they give us our price. Finally. When we go out to pick up the car, there are no luxury left--we have to take the deluxe! So, she tried to get us to pay for the deluxe, when we didn't need to.
Then we go to the hotel, Treasure Island, and check in with no problem--thank goodness. Lori, Jimmy, Ann and Jim had taken a limo back to the hotel. They got there in about 20 minutes. We got there around 2 am Vegas time. John and I decided to walk around a bit --so we went to check out the new Palazzo across the street. Either we missed something, or there isn't alot there. I wasn't real impressed. Then it was time for a few hours sleep.

Friday--Breakfast in the hotel--not the nicest waitress--we seem to be on a streak here. Afterwards we went to the tickets 4 tonight booth to see if we could get some tickets for a burlesque type show. This booth has tickets for 30-50 % off. We got seats to Crazy Girls at the Riviera. This show has been in Vegas for 20 years. But trust me, if you haven't seen it, don't waste your money. This was not a burlesque show, it was a striptease routine--with the girls already being nearly naked. Totally not what we were looking for. It was bad. Had I known going in that this is what it would be, it might not have been so bad. I like the old time Vegas shows---sexy is good. Slutty is not. Anyway, we walked around checking out hotels after getting the tickets. I had a voice mail to call John's mom-who had the girls. It seems that Haley was sick--throwing up all night. She kept her home from school. Haley called a few times throughout the day, wanting me, wanting to go home. I can't say that I blame her. I felt so bad. That evening, Ann, Jim, John and I went to dinner in the Steak house at the Riviera, that was good!!!! Then off to the show. After the show we went back to the Mirage to walk around. I was getting a little bummed because they seem to keep changing these hotels. We were looking for a lounge act to watch (even a lousy one can be fun to watch). But with all the clubs in the resorts now, they don't seem to have the lounge acts as much. So off for a couple more hours of sleep.

Saturday--Called home and Haley answered--sounding 110% better than the day before --thank goodness! John and I headed out to the outlet mall. They have a Vans outlet there that John likes to check out. We got a few things there, then headed over to the Skechers store. I got the shoes I was looking for and a pair of sandals for the price I would have paid for just the first pair here.
Next we went up to the mountains. From the strip to the Mt. Charleston Lodge was a 28 degree difference. We had a couple of drinks up there, I bought Christmas ornaments from the Christmas store and we were off. It was way more crowded going up the mountain than it ever used to be. I was wondering why we were there, I can see cold and snow at home! On the way down we stopped at the Mt. Charleston Hotel for a drink.
Next we went to the Planet Hollywood hotel. This used to be the Aladdin. I didn't think I would like it, as I liked the Aladdin so much. But it was pretty awesome. I wouldn't mind staying there sometime. We walked around the mall area. There is a gallery there that John likes, Michael Godard--he is pretty cool. He has a Breast Cancer picture that we were looking at. Afterwards we headed to Freemont Street. Always fun and cool. There are usually street performers. This being Nascar weekend though, it was packed!! Insanely packed. We watched the BMX guys, then the motorcycle stunts. Blake Shelton was giving a free concert on the street. When we left, my feet were killing me. I made the mistake of wearing my new shoes. Comfy at first--but not broke in yet.

Sunday-Race Day-John and the gang left at around 8 am. My original idea for the day was to go to the spa for a massage. I decided there was too much I wanted to do though, so I passed on the massage. I went to the lobby to see everyone off. Then back up to the room. I called home, and hooked up to the internet so I could email the girls some pics. I had to wait until the Tickets for less booth opened. I went over to the Mirage again to look around. It didn't bother me that it had changed this time. I was taking lots of pics to show the girls. (John had gotten my camera working again--and so far so good.) I went to the Cirque Du Soleil Love store. This is the store for their show using Beatles music. They had some neat stuff in the store. I bought the cd--which is what I went there for. Back to the hotel to drop it off....then on to get my tickets. I wanted to see the Titanic exhibit and the Bodies exhibit at the Tropicana. I wanted to see the wax museum at the Venetian also, but didn't know if I would have time. I'm glad I didn't get those tickets, I would not have had time. It took me two hours to go through the Titanic exhibit. I wish I could have taken pictures, it was pretty awesome. They had a few sets where you felt like you were on the ship too, really cool. I was thinking of Ann (R) and how much she would probably enjoy this also. I then headed over to the Bodies exhibit. This one I had mixed emotions on. These are real bodies they have preserved. If I thought of that, it was gross. But being able to see the organs and such was interesting. I did not read every single card in here as I did in the Titanic, I really didn't feel I needed to know all that stuff. They did have fetuses in there and it is amazing to see just how formed they are at such an early stage. By 8 weeks the bones are forming and they have facial features. The other interesting thing was how they showed blood veins/vessels. I didn't realize we had quite so many. The process they use is amazing. All you see is the blood vessels. They take away the skin, muscle and fat. You see blood shaped like a hand. A lot of it was fuzzy looking. I should have bought the book just to show the girls. I spent an hour in there. Next I went over to the Luxor to look at the Criss Angel store. The production office there said that taping for the season was done, I was sorry to see that. I would have liked to have seen him perform live, and get pictures for the girls. As I was walking back to the hotel (still taking pics for the girls) I bought a CSI sweatshirt. It was only $10, I couldn't pass it up. Then it was back to the hotel to relax before they got back from the race. I transferred the new Beatles cd to my mp3 player to listen to on the plane ride home. I also called the girls to see how they were doing. Jenna and I were looking at the Criss Angel merchandise online. Once John got back we headed down to the Luxor to get the girls some magnets and then to dinner. After--John was tired so we headed back to the hotel. I was tempted to stay downstairs, it was our last night there after all. I decided to go up. I figured if I couldn't sleep I would come back down. Of course I never did.

Monday--Last day--really our time is up. Our flight is at 11:20 am which means we need to be there by 9:30. The Vegas airport is always terrible for getting through security. And we have to drop off the rental car and catch the shuttle. So breakfast downstairs and back up to finish packing. As we are heading to the airport, we have to put gas in the car. We pulled over and spent probably 10 minutes trying to figure out how to open the gas cover. Pretty funny actually. Everyone else took a cab to the airport, we ended up getting there about the same time as them. The flight back was uneventful. One nice thing, on our side of the plane, there were only two seats, so John took the aisle and I got the window. It was much more comfortable this time. We landed on time, and were home by 7:30. We let the girls stay up a little later. We hadn't seen them all weekend, I didn't want to rush them off to bed the moment we got home. I actually was kind of wound up that night and couldn't sleep.

We had a good time. Weather wise--it was warmer than here, but far from swimming weather. Friday and Saturday were real nice, Sunday was cooler, and that wind really kicked up (unusual for Vegas). Monday morning it was actually a little warmer at home than there. Of course by the time we got home, it was 28 here and the high there for the day was 63. Hopefully those temps aren't too far off for us either.