Hey friends, boy did I have a good time in Las Vegas this past weekend. It was F-U-N! It started off kind of rocky, but everything worked out fine and I had a blast.
Here's the rundown of the trip:
Thursday
My American Airlines flight leaving LaGuardia was almost 2 hours late because of poor ground traffic control (according to the pilot) so I missed my connection in Chicago, which would have gotten me in to Las Vegas around 4:30pm, by about 20 minutes. American Airlines couldn't get me on another direct flight from Chicago to Las Vegas so they put me on a 5:00pm flight to Dallas to make a 10:30pm connection which would get me in to Vegas around 11:15pm (thanks a lot.) American Airlines also forget to tell me that there was a possible connection at 8:00pm in Dallas that I could have made, but since they didn't put me on that flight or on the standby list, I stood at that gate and watched the agent hand out seats to the first 8 standby passengers - I was #9 - before heading to another terminal to wait for the 10:30 flight (thanks even more.) Needless to say, despite several meals at McDonalds throughout the day I was cranky. Oh, and the funniest part was that when I arrived in Las Vegas, I was steps away from leaving the airport when alarms started going off and I was forced to stand behind security doors with dozens of other passengers while security officers investigated a supposed "breach." Finally, I got out of the airport, into a cab, and arrived at Bally's! Hooray! And, what was really exciting was that Tom ended up with a suite because the hotel didn't have a non-smoking room to give him. It was tacky but awesome. It had a bar, several seating areas, an awesome view, a jacuzzi bathtub in the middle of the bedroom and a steam-room / walk-in-shower with two entrances. Ooh la la!
Friday
Tom & I had breakfast at the Le Village buffet in the Paris. It was great. We then took the monorail down to Harrah's and did our own little Casino tour. We walked down the strip to the Wynn, stopping in the Venetian along the way. We then crossed the street and made our way back through Treasure Island, the Mirage and Caesar's Palace. Oh, did I mention that it was 104-105 degrees? It was hot! We went back to Bally's and rested for a bit before Tom had to head off to work (he was attending a convention.) I made my way through the Paris and over to Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin) where I got some lunch at their buffet. YUM! After eating I rested some more before taking a walk to the Flamingo and then to O'Sheas where I learned to play Pai Gow poker. I definitely had beginner's luck and, because of it, a lot of fun. By that point it was time to meet up with Tom. We had a quick drink before going to see Ms. Toni Braxton's show at the Flamingo. I thought it was a lot of fun - she looked and sounded great. Back at Bally's we met up with one of Tom's co-workers and had drinks before turning in for the night.
Saturday
Neither Tom nor I could imagine doing another buffet for breakfast (it's true!) so we had a quick bite to eat before starting our daily adventures. We decided to head down to the LV Hilton to do the Star Trek Experience. As luck would have it (and I'm not being sarcastic,) this was the weekend of the big Star Trek convention at the hotel - so we knew that we'd be seeing some major trekkies/trekkers. We weren't disappointed. We saw some great costumes & the "Experience" really was a ton of fun. We followed that excitement with a buffet lunch at the Wynn (which was another great experience!) After lunch, we went to see the old-school-stylings of the Sahara and rode their roller-coaster, "Speed." It was really exciting. From there we headed back towards the central strip area and visited the Imperial Palace. Regardless of its drab exterior, it turned out to be the most fun casino we visited. There was one area where the dealers were all celebrity impersonators and took turns performing up on a little stage. Tom & I played Pai Gow Poker while watching Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin & Wayne Newton sing - whee! Eventually we headed back to Bally's for a little rest and then went to see the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere. It was the first time I'd ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show and it was amazing! Finally, it was back to the hotel for good - we were wiped out.
Sunday
In almost complete opposition to my trip to Las Vegas, my trip from Las Vegas couldn't have been nicer or easier. Thanks to Tom, we both got First Class upgrades the whole way and made it back to NYC right on schedule. The dogs were thrilled to see us & we spent a mellow night at home watching a bunch of shows that had been recorded while we were gone.
I didn't take a lot of pictures on the trip - but I'll get some fun shots up later this evening!
