Vegas

We were lucky enough this past weekend to find a few families to watch our kids so we could have a weekend trip to Vegas. Madison and Blake stayed with Tiffany, Ben at the Kenney's, and Megan and Brownie with the Craig's. The kids were all great while we were gone, in fact I think they were a little sad when we came home. I guess once they caught a glimpse how great life is on the 'outside' it was hard to return to normal. Just kidding, I am pretty sure that they think they have a pretty great life here at home.

Friday- we left our house around 430pm, which was a little later then we wanted to- but not everyone was ready at the pre-planned time. Dale suggested we drive to Blythe, CA and then up to Vegas, so that is what we did. We stopped in Blythe for a quick dinner at Burger King and then headed up to Vegas arriving around 10pm local time. It is very interesting that you can see the lights of Vegas 100 miles away. That is also a little disheartening that when you think you are close enough to see the lights, that you still have forever to drive. While the road up to Blythe might have had less traffic, it was also a one-lane road. So we got stuck behind every truck, and I had to stop watching the road because each car seemed like it was coming straight at us. I offered the front passenger seat to Dale, so for the drive Emily and I sat in the back. Emily was very prepared for the drive. She even brought a reading light and a huge book to read. I, on the other hand, was less prepared and very bored.

I think along with seeing the lights of Vegas 100 miles away, you can almost smell the smoke of Vegas that far away. The smell is terrible, and what is worse is that you get used to the smell. I could just feel my lungs aging with each breath. At check in we found out that our cheaper rooms were no longer available and that they were up-grading our rooms to the ones with the really nice 42inch TV's. That also gave us a switch from a king sized bed, to two queens. That meant that Scott and I each had our own bed. Kind of weird, and also nice if you understand my hotel fears and resulting accommodations. We got up to the room around midnight and headed to bed.

Saturday- I was up at 5am ( I am not the best sleeper on vacations), finally got out of bed at 7am to begin the day. We ate breakfast at McDonalds (don't like it, but nothing else there and cheap). We headed out to the Venetian to buy our Blue Man tickets and then we went to the taping of 'Let's Make a Deal'. We arrived at 11am, and then waited in various lines until the taping started at 130pm. We sat in the very back row- because we were one of the last people to get to the show, but we had a great view. It was a lot of fun to see how game shows are taped. What you see on TV is only what they want you to see. And, all the clapping is scripted. When they wanted us to clap a guy, named Rocko, would pretend to clap. When they wanted us to laugh, he would pretend to laugh. We didn't get picked to be on the show, but we all had a great time watching.

The taping ended around 330pm so we headed to an outdoor mall for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen- great food. After dinner we saw 'Leap Year' a predictable movie but it has a great ending so I loved it. After the movie we went to another mall (ironically the VF) and then back to the hotel.

The Third Day- We had a later start this morning, I think everyone was pretty tired after walking around so much Saturday. While we waited for Emily to finish getting ready Scott, Dale, and I went down to the carnival games to cash in on our free game credits. We played a water shooting game first and Scott won a little dog. We then joined in a ball rolling game with 9 other people playing and I WON!!! I don't think I have ever won a game with that many people (12 total) before, so that was great. I won a big dog. Then we played the water shooting game again, and I won!! My lucky day. After the games we walked around the Luxor, MGM, and a few other hotels. We then walked the strip and experienced the fun of avoiding the people handing out the nudie picture advertisements. I can't believe how many people stand on the sidewalks doing this. Pure filth. We had fun going in the M&M store, and in trying coke floats in 8 different flavors. We had a few hours to kill after the coke store so we continued our walk up the strip and then turned around at the Venetian and walked back to the hotel.

After our very long walk we got ready for dinner and our Blue Man Group show. We choose to have dinner at a mexican restaurant. The tickets to the show included dinner which was nice, but we didn't have access to the full menu- just a very small partial. The food was very pretty, just like you would see on a television program. I had a vinegar salad (eh), flat steak (ok), and pumpkin crepes (good). Overall it was not a bad experience. Especially since I didn't love the food, I didn't leave feeling stuffed (or even full).

After our dinner we went to the show. We had great seats- row 16 I think. I was expecting more music, and while the first few minutes of the show was music the rest was predictable comedy. Scott really wanted to see the show, and he had a great time and that is what matters.

Also included in our Blue Man was tickets to a Dueling Piano show. I have to say I was really looking forward to this. In my opinion I was expecting two pianos to 'duel'. Expecting two pianos to compete with each other with music. I was slightly devestated that Dueling Pianos was just two pianos playing the same song. I really think that the ticket should say piano duet instead of duel.

After the duel we walked over to the Belliagio to watch their water fountain show. That was pretty cool. We also saw another hotels volcano show- impressive before the Belliagio fountains, not so much after. When the shows were over we heading back to the hotel after midnight and went to bed. Awoke early Monday and drove home. Again, I was not well prepared for the drive. I am thinking next time Scott will bring a few books for me to read and entertain myself with. Glad to be back home with the kids. Even better to be back home in my smoke free home. I can breath again.