"The One With...What Happens in Vegas..."

Hello all! Sorry it has taken me so long to write an update. Since we have been back from vacation I have had stuff going on each evening so I've been working on an update each day here at work.

To all those who have been asking - YES, vacation was awesome and a good time was had by all! We returned Monday night from 6 fun-filled days/nights from the city that never sleeps - VEGAS! Our next door neighbors joined us on Friday and flew back with us on Monday. We had so much fun with them on this trip that we vowed to make it an annual event every September just as they do!

Here is a summary of our vacation for your reading enjoyment:

WEDNESDAY:

We arrived into Vegas around 8am, got our rental car and away we went. We drove out of the airport and cruised the strip in search of our hotel - Treasure Island. We arrived around 9:30am and were told check-in was at 11am so we decided to head to IHOP for breakfast then later to Hoover Dam and then come back to check in.

Hoover Dam was amazing! I found it fascinating that this incredible monument was man-made! When you stand next to it, the size is unimaginable. Here are some facts I learned about the dam during our tour: it is over 70-stories tall, the top of the dam is more than 1,200 feet long, at the base, it is 660 feet thick and at the top it is 45 feet thick. The water on the Lake Mead side is more than 500 feet deep, and the lake holds a total of 10 trillion gallons of water. Also, the dam provides electricty (via hydropower) to Arizona (19%), Nevada (24%), and Southern California (56%). Surprisingly, Las Vegas, which has an obvious need for alot of electricity, only gets about 4% of its power from the Hoover Dam.

After our tour of the dam, we figured we would drive to the Grand Canyon and check out the West Rim since it was only 90 miles away. Little did we know it would end up being the roadtrip from hell!

The picture to the left is the view of the entire trip - nothing but cactus trees, desert and Indian territory. Thank goodness we had a full tank of gas and a bathroom break before we took off - not a building in site for miles! It took FOREVER to get to the turn off for the West Rim. It appeared to be a nicely grated gravel scenic road but 2 miles into it turned out to be a different story. 23 miles of winding, rough, rocky terrain later, we finally hit another paved road. Only 5 more miles to the West Rim. We pulled up to the parking attendant and were asked to pay $20 to park - nothing to see, just to park - then we were told that in order to see the Grand Canyon we would have to take a 20 minute bus ride that would cost us each $25 and if we wanted to walk out onto the lookout at the West Rim it would cost another $30. That is a total of $75/person which we were told nothing about before we went on this roadtrip from hell. Now I'm pissed and Shane is beyond livid because we just drove all this way on their hellacious roads because they are too much of a cheap ass to pave them and now they want to charge us $150 to see something that was put there by God?!? He literally told them what they could do with their tour and with that said we made our way back to Vegas. This is considered a "good" section of the road we drove on for 45 miles (roundtrip) at 15 miles/hr:

THURSDAY: Our first official day on the strip. We made sure to put on our walking shoes before we ventured out and by the end of the day we were glad to have had them. We were in and out of several different hotels taking it all in and ended up eating dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse which was awesome. The servers went around the room with 14 different skewers of grilled meat and 5 different kinds of seafood which we thoroughly enjoyed. After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed to the Luxor to see the Carrot-Top comedy show. This ended up being an excellent show! We have never laughed as hard as we did that night. That guy is hilarious with all his props and stories - a definite must-see!

FRIDAY: By now, we are finding out that our nights seem to get later and later and our mornings we are sleeping in much longer! We ended up sleeping right through breakfast and managed to get up and ready by lunch time. We made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, toured all the rock-n-roll memorabilia and headed back to the strip for some more sight-seeing.

Today was the first day we saw the Bellagio fountains. I was quite fascinated by them and could have stood there all day watching. We took several pictures along with video and Shane had to literally drag me away. I made sure we came back at night so we could see them once more...and again for the next 2 days :)

Later that night we attended our first real show at the Bellagio: Cirque de Soleil "O". Words can't describe how awesome this show was. We were mesmorized throughout the entire performance and was sad that it had to end. Once you experience it, you will spend the rest of your night wondering "just how did they do that???" It was quite pricey of a show but worth every penny!

SATURDAY: Again, we found ourselves sleeping in late :) We got up in time to meet our neighbors' Brian and Julie along with their 2 friends at Margaritaville for lunch and enjoyed the atmosphere of the Jimmy Buffet bar & grill. Our afternoon consisted of more sight-seeing and I even managed to get Shane to do some clothes shopping at the Forum Shops at Caesers Palace - which ended up being a GREAT place for shopping and people watching.

That evening, we joined our neighbors for a show called Legends in Concert. It wasn't the best show we saw in Vegas but was quite entertaining. We watched performances by incredible look-a-like and sound-a-like superstars such as Jay Leno, Elvis Presley, Donna Summer, Tom Jones and The Blues Brothers. Afterwards, we headed to old downtown Vegas on Fremont Street to take part in the "Downtown Experience" which was really neat. We enjoyed cheap food and cheap entertainment on the four-block long 90-foot canopy above us which features state-of-the-art LED technology where 12.5 million bulbs deliver picture quality and clarity videos above you. It was definitely worth the drive to see it...I highly recommend it!

SUNDAY: This was the morning that I treated myself while Shane slept in. Me & the girls all met at 9am & spent the morning at the Qua Spa in Caeser's Palace. We started our morning off with a massage and then 2 hours in the spa itself which consisted of 2 different saunas, 3 Roman baths with different temperatures, an Arctic Ice room, marble chaise lounge chairs that heated as you laid in them, a warming closet to hang your robe in while in the jacuzzi's and overhead rain showers. It was the most relaxing 3 hours ever and I didn't want to leave! I walked out of there feeling like a new woman! I will definitely be coming back to this place next year. Maybe I can even get Shane to join me?!? :)

After I returned from the spa, Shane & I headed to the Stratosphere to check out the sites of the city from the top. Shane wasn't very excited to be up there and I soon discovered my husband has a fear of heights. As I'm walking along the edge of the observation deck taking pictures & enjoying the view, I notice Shane keeping very close to the inside wall. He did enjoy watching the people experience the rides on the top of the Stratosphere and we both agreed that there was NO way we were making an attempt to ride any of them.

Later that night, we met our neighbors and friends at the Rio for one of the best buffets ever. Afterwards, we watched the local attraction there called Masquerade Show in the Sky which consists of performers, dancers, five floats that move along a track hanging from the sky, elaborate costumes and booty-shaking music. Beads are thrown to the crowd Mardi Gras style - without having to lift your shirt :) It was SO much fun to watch and participate in! Here is video to give you an idea:

After the Masquerade Show, Shane and I had tickets to see the magicians Penn & Teller. It was a GREAT show and we sat there in amazement as we watched them. Afterwards, they both hung out in the lobby meeting guests, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. After the show, we headed back to our hotel, stopped for ice cream and made our way to the front of Treasure Island to watch the "Sirens of TI" pirate show. We were sad it was our last night of vacation but were both ready to get back home to the dogs and our own bed.

MONDAY: Shane and I enjoyed the breakfast buffet at TI before leaving for the airport. We managed to get the rental car dropped off and boarded our flight without any trouble at all. It was a smooth ride up until we crossed the mountains over Colorado. You know it's bad when the pilot asks the flight attendents to discontinue the beverage service and take their seats. After about 30 long, tense, bumpy minutes, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way into Kansas City. When we got home we were greeted with butt wiggles, slobbery kisses and tons of love which was the best!

And that my friends, are details of our wonderful trip. We had such a good time and we are looking forward to going again next September. Sorry it ended up being such a lengthy post!