Vegas Baby!

Vegas was fun. It was a much needed break from my real life. You would think that I had my kids and had to drive everywhere because of my itinerary and soberness, but I still had a great time. So here's the highlights, pictures included, watch out it may get a little lengthy!

I started Sat by stopping at the Starbucks, in the casino of our hotel, and catching the 107 bus to The Strip. My goal was to start at the far end of the Strip and go back up hitting as many stops as I could. So I jumped on "The Deuce," the double decker city bus that travels the Strip, and traveled down to Mandalay Bay, then I promptly got lost. I had a short panic, but found my way back out and was good to go. There is a shark tank and aquarium exhibit you can go to, but I opted to move on, I wish I would have gone because the pictures looked really neat. As my first stop, the massiveness and elaborate nature of these structures really hit me. It's hard to explain unless you've been there.

I walked pass the Luxor, but didn't go in. It was really cool to see the building and sculptures outside. I also found out later, on our way out of town, that the elevator in the pyramid follows the outside of the building, so instead of going straight up it moves up at an angle. It would have been a trip to ride, next time for sure!

Next down the Strip was the Excalibur. They supposedly do a free show out in the moat, but it wasn't on when I was walking by, so I didn't hang out for long.

New York, New York was my next destination. It was fun to just stand across the street and stare for a while. The roller coaster kept going around, they skyline is awesome and it was a good time to take a breather. I walked through the hotel and shops as well. They have a lot of the New York highlights, hot dogs, Coyote Ugly, noise, and such.

From there it was time for some smaller attractions. The Coca-Cola store, M&M world, and the Harley Davidson Cafe. There is also a lot of new construction through out the Strip, so that's interesting. They demolish an old casino and build a new super resort. Along this section I also saw two Elvis impersonators, taking pictures, in front of the Harley Cafe. Everything sparkles in Vegas, even the McDonald's signs, that was funny to me. Also saw a lot full of exotic and high end cars for rent, and later saw the sports car cruising the Strip. The random big reptile being pimped out for pictures. As well as the guys dressed up like 80's rockers, either there on a bet or just crazy locals.

Next I was off to Paris. The buildings surrounding and the outside of the hotel were wonderful.

The Bellagio was my next destination, the beautiful Bellagio. Most everything inside and out is breath taking. The fountain show outside all but brought tears to my eyes, I can only imagine seeing it at night. As you walk in the glass sculpture on the ceiling was amazing and the garden was gorgeous.

Caesars Palace was a site to see. The ancient style fountains were cool and the place was frickin huge! The Caesar also holds the Forum shops, very ritzy and over my budget by miles. It also holds the FAO Schwartz, which was very cool, the Trojan horse was the entry way and you could go inside of it. Three stories of fun! Then there was the robot guy outside, you know typical crazy Vegas stuff.

The Mirage is the animal kingdom of Vegas. In the lobby there is a giant fish tank, behind the check in desk, the dolphin habitat and the big cats. Then it was past the Treasure Island, no longer doing the outside fight show, past the Venetian, Palazzo and Wynn to the bus stop. My time on the Strip was over, I was exhausted and sad at the same time.

Damn, are you still with me? Bless ya if you are!

Sat night was the CIFCA banquet. It was a good time, a little long, but nice to see people. It's weird because I know a lot of the names, but not enough to match them to faces. They are a great group though.

After the banquet we went down to the casino for the party, lots of booze was passed around, the bands were playing and it was fun. I didn't drink a drop, not sure why I couldn't let my gaurd down, but I felt good on Sun! I still had a great time, it's fun be the sober one in a group of drunks.

So there it is, Vegas in a day! Next time I would like to go with my girlfriends, for a few days, and see more!

So this post was a bitch to edit, took 2 hours and #2 has woken up 3 time, it' gonna be a fun night!