A little of this, a little of that....

Vegas, baby! Day #4

We had to check out of the hotel today (Friday). We requested a late check-out and stayed in the room until noon. Our flight didn't leave until 11:15pm, so once we checked out of our room, we didn't have anywhere to go if we got tired, so we purposely started our day late. 

We walked around the Palazzo and Venetian one last time and then had lunch at SushiSamba.

Las Vegas is becoming New York City Jr. All of the famous restaurants in NYC are now also in Las Vegas (SushiSamba, Serendipity, Tao, etc., etc!). Remember the Sex & The City episode when Samantha threw the drink in Richard's face? They were at SushiSamba. I asked Jim if I could throw a drink in his face during our lunch, but he didn't go for it.

The photo above is supposed to be funny. In all of the hotels/casinos with shopping, there's the SAME set of stores. There's always a Gucci. Always a Prada. Always a Fendi. There's probably a dozen Fendis within a one mile radius. 

There's also gondola rides inside the Venetian in the canal.

Walking back through the Mirage...

Walking down to Treasure Island, Fashion Show Mall and Wynn/Encore...

We walked through the Wynn (I love this place!)...

I love the mosaic floors!

Then we went to another one of my most favorite places in Las Vegas... Parasol Up and Parasol Down at the Wynn.

I took a few dozen pictures here. I've been here a few times and I always take a ton of pictures. I just love all of the colors and the light coming in. Love it.

We went out on the terrace of Parasol Down, relaxed, and had a drink.

And enjoyed the view...

We then went to the Ferrari Museum (at the Wynn). Jim went up in the Eiffel Tower for me; I went to the Ferrari Museum for him. 

We walked around the Encore for a little bit (the new tower of the Wynn).

Love the carpet!

Then it was time to see the last show of our vacation- Le Reve!

I'd seen Le Reve (Le Reve means 'the dream') once before. I couldn't remember details, but I remembered I had been amazed. I was excited to see it again and also to have Jim see it!

I was able to get a photo of the final scene as we were leaving the theater.

The show isn't technically a Cirque du Soleil show, but the guy (Dragone) that created it used to be a Cirque creator. It's a water show, with different parts come up through the water at different times, so sometimes they're dancing 'on top' of the water, and then sometimes they'll dive off of pedestals into the water. It's my favorite show in Las Vegas. Of the three shows we saw, Jim liked this one the best.

After the show, we went back to the Palazzo to get our bags and a taxi. We headed to the airport for our 11:15pm flight. We got into Detroit around 6:30am and then had a four hour layover. (Yuck) We then got on our flight to Columbus and got in around 11:30am. We got our bags, our car and then rushed home to see Finley!

It was a great trip. It started off a little shaky (both of us being sick), but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun. I don't know how soon I'll be able to get back to Vegas, but I at least got my fix for a few years!

Special thanks to Mom for staying with Finley and taking great care of her and the cats! 

Vegas, baby! Day #3

We slept in a little later on Thursday, but we were still up and out the door pretty early. 

We headed over to the Venezia, the third tower on the Venetian property.

The lobby...

We had breakfast at Thomas Keller's Bouchon. 

It was one of the best breakfasts ever. We both had the Gratin du Jour. It was fantastic.

We then headed out for a morning of sightseeing!

We walked through the Forum Shops at Ceasars...

I still love the circular escalators.

To my disappointment, the FAO Schwartz is gone.  :( They replaced it with a three-level H&M. Boo.

We walked through Ceasars and then down to Bally's and Paris.

As I was showing Jim the gift shop where Mom and I saw David Hasselhoff, he said "Isn't that a Housewife?".

It was Vicki from my Real Housewives of Orange County show (on Bravo)! The Housewives shows are a big guilty pleasure, but I love those shows!

She was so nice and very patient as Jim tried to wrestle the camera out of the backpack.

We walked back over to the Bellagio so we could see the atrium during the day. 

As always, their seasonal displays were amazing!

Walking back down to the Palazzo.

We headed back to the room to relax and to take our daily nap.

We got up and got all fancied up and took a taxi down to MGM. We went to dinner at Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak.

It was by far one of the best dinners ever. It was soooo good! 

After dinner, we walked all the way back down to the Mirage.

I had a Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity.

We finally made it to the Mirage! 

We went to see the Cirque du Soleil Beatles LOVE show.

I went back on Friday to take more pictures of the lobby...

After the Beatles LOVE show, we went back over to Paris so Jim could do another Vegas rite-of-passage... the Eiffel Tower!

Going up in the Eiffel Tower for Jim was HUGE. He's afraid of heights (really afraid). He's OK if he's contained, like in an airplane or a helicopter, but the elevator ride up and the view from the top were a lot for him to deal with.

But he did it! He didn't conquer his fear of heights, but he faced it for approximately 32 minutes.

At the top...

He stayed glued to the interior of the viewing deck. I was zipping around all sides taking in the views....

Ahhh! I love it!

We went up in the Eiffel Tower around 11:30pm and the last show for the Fountains at the Bellagio was at 11:45pm. To my sheer delight, it was my most favorite song for the Fountains (Time to Say Goodbye). I could even hear the music all the way at the top of the Eiffel Tower! It was AWESOME.

It was a great way to end a great day in Vegas! (But man, did my feet hurt!)

Vegas, baby! Day #2

We started Day #2 by waking up (on our own) around 5:00am. I guess the one good thing about being on East Coast time is we're ready to wake up bright and early to get our day started! The bad thing is that we're ready for bed around 9pm (and going to bed at 9pm when you're in Vegas is pretty lame!).

I called Mom to check in. She said things were going good and Finley was being a good girl. Someone asked me how many times I called home and honestly, I only called once a day in the mornings. I thought that was pretty good for being so far away from her!

We got ready, had breakfast at Grand Lux Cafe and then headed out.

As we were walking through the casino, we were laughing at all of the 'themed' slot machines there were...

Jim's acting like he was playing, but he wasn't. We DID gamble later on. We gambled five whole dollars. And we lost it all in about 32 seconds. And pretty much the only reason we did gamble is because we were tired and wanted to sit down.

Amazing Race slot machines. Really?

The good thing about heading out so early (I think it was around 7am when we walked outside) is that you don't have to worry about a lot of people being in your pictures!

So, we started our day of sightseeing along with other Eastcoasters and joggers.

In front of the Forum Shops at Ceasars Palace.

The last time I was in Vegas was 3 1/2 years ago, and the Cosmopolitan wasn't even built (the large hotel on the left in the photo below).

The Bellagio...

Planet Hollywood...

We walked into the new Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino. It was pretty swanky to say the least.

I was enamored with their two-story bar- The Chandelier. It was so sparkly!

Also inside the Cosmopolitan...(a vintage game lobby)...

A letter from the hotel (I thought it was clever)...

We then walked inside Crystals. It's right next to the Cosmopolitan and is full of shopping, dining and nightlife. We were intrigued by this...

Gotta love Vegas, right? Everything is over. the. top.

We kept on a walkin'.

The Monte Carlo...

New York New York (yep, that's a roller coaster on top of the hotel)...

Excalibur... 

Inside the Luxor (the pyramid)...

We took the tram from Excalibur down to Mandalay Bay and Luxor. It was a short ride, but it saved us some walking!

Mandalay Bay is at the end, so we turned around and headed back.

We went inside MGM. They have a Lion Habitat, but it was too early for the lions. However, to my sheer delight, they brought out two baby lion cubs. Soooo cute!

We had lunch at MGM at 'wichcraft. It's Tom Collichio's sandwich shop. It was good, but not life changing.

We then hopped on the Monorail at MGM to get as close back to the Palazzo as possible (still not that close in all actuality).  Among the things that have changed in Vegas (not for the better), the Monorail prices have really gone up. I think it used to be $3 one trip/$5 all day/$10 for 3 days. Now it's $5 one trip/$14 all day/$30 for 3 days. 

We headed back to the hotel, took a nap and recharged for the evening. We were exhausted from all of our walking. Plus, it was hot. HOT. HOT. HOT. Three of the days we were there it was a high of 99 and the "coolest" day we were there it was 97. We drank so much water. And our Visa bill will show that we drank so much water. A bottle of Fiji water was $5 at our hotel. It was ridiculous! Of course, there's not a drinking fountain in sight, either! We did end up going to a Walgreens and stocking up on water there. At Walgreens, we only paid $2.99 for a 1.5 liter bottle of Fiji water! Bargain! 

We got ready and went to First Food & Bar at the Palazzo. 

This place was just OK. Their saving grace were the Lollipop Buffalo Wings. They were sooooo good. I'm thinking about them right now and wishing I could get an order!

Then we headed to see the Blue Man Group! This was my 4th time seeing the Blue Man Group and Jim's 1st time. I knew he would love it. And he did!

After the show, we went on a Gondola ride outside the Venetian (cheesy, yes, but everyone has to take a gondola ride when they're in Vegas, right?).

Our second day was a long and tiring one, but it was a good one!

Day #3 coming soon!

Vegas, baby! Day #1 continued...

Continued from previous post....

After our lunch at Grand Lux Cafe (in the Palazzo), we walked around for a bit, but then ended up heading back to our room for the afternoon. We unpacked and then took a nap. 

We woke up, got ready and had a little dinner at I Love Burgers in the Palazzo. Jim got a BBQ burger and I got a turkey burger and they were fantastic!

We walked over to the Venetian, which is adjoining to the Palazzo.

The ceiling near the lobby at the Venetian...

In the St. Marks square area at the Venetian (this area is INSIDE the Venetian)...

Heading outside..

We walked to the Bellagio.

The ceiling in the lobby at the Bellagio (I never get tired of seeing this)...

Then we walked out in front of the Bellagio to see my most favorite thing in Vegas.

The Bellagio fountains!

Jim was impressed with the fountains! I was glad he finally got to see what I had been raving about! For those of you who haven't been to Vegas, the Bellagio fountains are 'choreographed' to music and it's awesome. It's like the water dances right in front of you. The music is piped out of speakers, so you're hearing the music, seeing the water, and feeling the mist. They give me goosebumps every. single. time.

We headed back and turned in early. We were super tired from traveling, plus we were both trying to get over having sore throats (we both started getting sick the day before we left for Vegas).

Stay tuned for our second day! 

Vegas, baby! Day #1

We're back from our Vegas vacation and I am proud to say we managed to have a great time, although we were really missing Finley! I honestly don't know if we could go on another vacation being that far away from her again. Maybe a weekend trip here or there would be fine, but it was tough to know that if we needed to get to her, we had to take an airplane to get home.

Last Monday evening was tough, because once we put Finley to bed, we knew we wouldn't see her again until Saturday afternoon. 

Our flight left at 7:15am Tuesday morning. We flew to Atlanta and then on to Vegas. We got to Vegas at 11:30am. We got our bags, got a taxi and headed to our hotel.

We stayed at the Palazzo, which another part of the Venetian. I've stayed at the Venetian before, but not the Palazzo. 

This was my 10th time in Vegas and Jim's very first time in Vegas!

The Palazzo is next to the Wynn and Encore hotels.

The Palazzo lobby...

The Palazzo atriums... (decorated for Fall)...

We lucked out, we were able to get into our room a few hours before the official check-in time.  Maybe we should've waited though- our room was on the 7th floor and on the back of the hotel. I was hoping for a room on at least the 20th floor and facing the strip, but oh well.

Our view was somewhat decent. We did have a great view of the Wynn.

Our room...

Yep, there's a TV in the bathroom. There were three TV's in our room. Why did we need three TV's!? Oh, and we had a phone on the wall by the toilet. Who were we supposed to be calling in there!?

Our bed was super comfy and the bathroom was nice and big. But overall, the room was just OK. The Palazzo is only a few years old, but some of the fixtures and finishes looked liked they belonged in a room that was 20 years old.

Once we got to our room, we freshened up and then headed out for some lunch and sightseeing!

To be continued... :)

Leavin' for Vegas...

I leave tomorrow morning for Las Vegas for the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) show.  There's about ten of us from work going and I'm going to help scope out new frames and albums for the stores.  We're there two nights and come back around midnight on Saturday.  We'll only have one evening to ourselves, so Stephanne and I are going to take in some sights as much as we can in a few hours!

Because I love Sin City so darn much, here's some photos of the last time I've been to Vegas...

Viva Las Vegas, baby!