We’re Baaaack!! and, NO we did not come home Millionaire's! To sum up our trip could be explained in just this simple sentence.. “Vegas is not a fat girls friend.” ha! :) The walking, oh the walking!!! In all seriousness, it wasn’t that bad..that is after spending $100 in taxicabs!! :)
SATURDAY
Matt and I headed over to Cody and Mel’s bright Saturday morning, to head to Dallas to catch our 12 o’ clock flight. Cody decided to work in Sherman the day after we got back, so Matt and him drove his car, and Mel and I rode together in the expedition. The morning drive was dark and overcast, but it didn’t begin to rain until we got to Terrell. Then came the flood. Then came, broken windshield wipers! Ahhhh, pouring down rain, traffic, malfunctioning windshield wipers, and 2 girls don’t go so well together. I was driving, so I made my way over to the shoulder for Mel to fix the wipers..luckily they came unhinged, and the drivers side still trucked on, until we met up with Cody and Matt to switch cars..WHAT an experience.. craziness. After finally getting to the airport, we checked our bags, went through security, and we’re off to our gate with ease.
Waiting on the plane.. Cody’s reading material..Golf & Maxim..nice.
On the plane, flying over the Grand Canyon..
WooHoo we made it!! Have I mentioned before, how much I HATE flying??!! HATE. IT. It was so crazy seeing the strip when we were flying in..just the tall buildings in the middle of absolutely NO where! Desert and skyscrapers.. craziest thing I’ve ever seen!
A few pics, while driving to our hotel..
Our home away from home for the next four days..
We were able to check in a little early, which was nice. We all decided to “upgrade” once we got there..Cody and Mel to a “Spa Suite”, and us to a “Strip View”..ha! I think Matt and I paid to “downgrade”.. with double beds!! Here’s our room on the 32 floor.
Our “Strip View”..
Cody & Mel’s Spa Suite..
Their “view”..
After getting all settled in, we decided to go exploring a little. We managed to get in our hotel, New York-New York, The MGM (where we saw the Sports betting {awesome} the insane poker room, the tiger exhibit, and I won $50!!), and the Monte Carlo, before heading back to get ready for dinner.
That night for dinner, we had already arranged to meet up with some of Mel’s friends, and celebrate their 5th year wedding anniversary. It was Kalen & Toby’s. Kalen & Toby own a very popular local restaurant here in town, {I’ll omit the name for blog purposes} and they had 12 in their group. We went to The Golden Steer, Las Vegas’s oldest steak house.
Dinner was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! Kalen & Toby took care of everything! We started out with appetizers of lobster, crab legs, jumbo shrimp, oysters, calamari, stuffed mushrooms, then moved on to steaks and potatoes, and topped it off with cake for dessert.. YUMMY! I’m not much of a seafood eater, but I enjoyed my steak..I thought Matt was going to literally fall over when they brought out the appetizers, he was in heaven!
After dinner, we all loaded up in our chauffeured escalades and headed to the Encore, where the group was staying in one of their suites! Unfortunately they didn’t have THE penthouse, because BEYONCE was staying in it that weekend.. They all had seen her the day before at the pool, with her bodyguards and umbrellas..how nice. Kalen & Toby’s “suite” was out of this world, like you see in the movies.. and all the while, Kalen kept reminding us, “now remember, we don’t usually stay in the suites, we usually have the penthouse, sorry it’s so small..but you know Beyonce’s in town..she’s ruined our week!” Matt offered Kalen our room!! ;)
Mel & Kalen Cody, Mel & Karla Mel & Karla (Kalen’s twin)
After viewing their room, we all headed downstairs to XS, the Encore’s club that connects it and the Wynn. The Encore was beauuuutiful!!
check out those chandeliers!! Mom, I took these just for you!! :)
Walking down to the club, was exactly what I pictured Vegas to be.. HUGE black bodyguards with teeny tiny blonds and brunettes in short dresses and high heels! There were some fabulous looking people in Vegas.. The VIP line was long, and we waited for a while, until one of the club promoters saw Matt’s shoes, and informed him that he couldn’t go in with those shoes on. They were open toed leather sandals.. UGH- That meant my husband no getty into the club, me no getty into the club!! :( I was so so saddened, but it was already almost 1, so Matt-Cody-and I headed back to our hotel. Mel stayed and had a fabulous time..they ended up not being able to get a table at XS because the last tables were being held for Usher, and who else..Beyonce! So they ended up going to another club at the Wynn. Mel said it was crazy nice, and they had full bottle service at their VIP table..she stayed out until 5:30 that morning!!
SUNDAY
The next morning, Matt and Cody went to play golf, and Mel called and told me to get a cab and head to the Encore pronto for a day at the pool. Of course I obliged, and was quickly on my way. Here’s a couple of pics of the encore during the day..
Toby & Kalen had what else, but a private cabana, where we swam, ate and had a few pina colada’s during the day!! :) There were no camears allowed, because it doubled as a topless pool too, but of course I was able to sneak a few.. ;)
We had such a fun day at the pool, and I can’t thank Kalen & Toby enough, for all they did for us those two days, what a way to really see and enjoy Vegas!! .. REALITY quickly set in when we had to part ways! ;)
After showers and a quick change, the four of us headed out for our show for the night. When we booked online, we received four free Cirque de Soleil tickets. That night we saw..
It was a really cool show, based on the songs of The Beatles. Lots of great costumes and tricks.. lights and stage equipment.. after the show we went out to see the Volcano..
Then we headed over to The Palazzo and The Venetian..
before going to Vegas, I was most excited about seeing The Venetian and The Bellagio.. here’s pics of The Venetian..
..and The Palazzo..
this was the only pic I got of The Palazzo..by this time, we had been walking for over an hour trying to come up with something to eat.. in heels..I admit, I am picky, but my brother is THE pickiest eater I’ve ever seen in my life! He doesn’t like Italian, he doesn’t like Seafood, he doesn’t like food to touch, he doesn’t like fancy, he doesn’t like Mexican unless it’s plain jane..if the menu read tacos al carbon, which are TACOS, he doesn’t like it, b/c it doesn’t say TACOS!!! FINALLY we all decided the next place we saw, we were eating whether he found something of not! Which brought us to..
In it was Del Torro’s..an Italian restaurant. I LOVE these next pics, b/c you really get a sense of the mood we were all in.. ha! :) Mel and I tried to put on “happy faces”..
The restaurant was right across the street from Treasure Island, and we were able to catch the pirate show, while we were eating..
After dinner, we began our walk back to our hotel..
On our trek back, we saw The Bellagio water show for the first time..
We continued our walk, and I CRASHED when we arrived back at our hotel! Matt snuck off during the night at some point, and won $250 playing black jack..but of course, that didn’t come home with us either.. ;)
MONDAY
We all slept in a bit, after our long night. The boys were supposed to play golf again, but Cody backed out. After Matt dried up his tears, we all met downstairs for another full day of sightseeing. We wanted to see another show, since we had all enjoyed the one the night before, but not much was playing on a Monday. Luckily, Mystere was..but Cody and Melanie had seen it before. They promised it was good enough to see again, so our first stop was back to Treasure Island to buy tickets.
$220 later, we had seats for the 9:30 showing. We were all a little hungry and Cody agreed on the restaurant next to the ticket office ;) so we had a little lunch, before heading to Cesar’s Palace. Cesar’s had a little something of everything..
a video-ized black jack game..we should have played it!
Matt and I left Cesar’s a little early, while Cody and Mel stayed to do a little shopping. I had to get back for my Spa day!! Since Matt got to play golf, I wanted a massage! So at 4:30 I got an hour long full body Swedish massage..ahhhh! :) Cody also got one at 5:30, which really didn’t fit into Matt and I’s deal..I mean come on’ Cody, you played golf too! I guess that’s what you can do when you’re rich!! ;) After our spa, Cody and I quickly had to get back and get ready, shower, and change for our last night in Vegas! We made Cody pick ahead of time what he wanted for dinner, and he chose Diablo’s, a Mexican restaurant connected to Monte Carlo. Inside the restaurant..
ha! This sign made me laugh in the restaurant, I just had to take a picture of it!! ;) After dinner, we headed to our show..
Mystere was full out Cirque Du Soleil! It was FANTASTIC!! Awesome, Wonderful, Incredible..crazy strength, tricks, acrobats, comedy, drama, GREAT! I wish we could have gotten to see all the shows, I highly highly recommend them!! After the show, we set out for more casinos.. I finally got to go in The Bellagio!!
When we left out, we were able to catch another water show, only this time, it wasn’t as crowded and we had GREAT views..
We made our way over to..
the view looking back over at The Bellagio..
After another long walk back, I realized I didn’t have any pictures really of our hotel, so I walked SOME MORE, once Matt-Cody-and Mel called it a night..man, the things I’ll do for pictures!! ;)
While I was out, I was able to capture Excalibur and Luxor..they were on the other side of the strip, and we didn’t go to either of them..
..and one last shot of the strip before going back into our hotel..
TUESDAY
We awoke, packed our stuff up, and headed for the airport. Our flight out was at 11:40, and we got there with plenty of time to check our bags, get through security, grab a quick snack, and board the plane. 2 1/2 hours later and we were back in Texas, ready to come home!
You love my luggage??!! :)
After a quick dinner at Mi Cocina with Cody and Mel’s friends, Larry & Mechele, our goodbye’s to Cody, and Mel-Matt-and I were headed home! We got home pretty late, so I thought it best to take the next day off to recuperate!! ;) Thursday I was swamped at work, which leads me to why I am just now blogging on a Saturday!!
All in all, Vegas was hot, expensive, a lot of walking, but we had a wonderful time, and are so glad we went! :) Thank you Cody & Mel for the invite, and for showing us around!Everyone needs to experience it at least once..it’s just one of those places you have to go. Hope you enjoyed my complete Vegas wrap-up! Where to next??
Until Next Time!! :)
4 comments:
Candy, glad you guys had such a great trip. You did a great job taking pictures...love em' all, and you look beautiful as always!
FANTASTIC!!!!
your Vegas Wrap-Up is Beautiful!
Thank You so much for the shots of the RED CHANDALIERS!!! They are Incredible!!! and the Picture of the Trojan Horse inside
Ceasors Palace!!! That is a great shot, Love it! So GLAD you did the last walk to see and and picture my Favorite thing; the Light from the Luxor!!! "I want it Blown Up to Enormous Size, to frame" I love it, have since the first time I saw it... the hotel was brand new then and I was mesmorized with it...(your Dad just laughed at me, like you would have too...)
"Glad yall had such a good time!!!"
Sorry about the walking penalty, but there's something about Vegas...(sightseeing and pictures, walking is the key) Love you!!!
You have become a pro at this blogging thing. I LOOOVED reading and seeing everything...I feel like I don't even need to go now :) You took some amazing pictures...I'm thinking that by the time I get married, you could be my photographer...what do you think? :)
GREAT pictures and so glad y'all had such a good time! Too bad nobody came back big winners, but it looks like it was a blast anyway!
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