24 hours in Vegas

Several months ago Melinda and I got involved in some discussion where I admitted that I'd never spent any time in Vegas (except for the airport, which apparently doesn't count). She immediately began planning a trip for us, so she could give me a proper introduction to the city. And what an introduction it was! Here's how it all went down (in mostly incomplete sentences).

Friday, January 11

Packed.

Slept horribly because I was in a horrible mood.


Saturday, January 12

Woke up at the ass crack of dawn and drove by myself to Melinda's house. (Roy drove up by himself later, because he had a class to attend.)

Rode with Melinda and her husband Chris to Vegas, stopping at Del Taco on the way.

First stop: Excalibur, our hotel. Too early to check in, so we started walking around.

Grabbed some lunch, but I can't remember where we were exactly. I want to say we were in New York New York. Anyway, other highlights, in addition to New York New York, were MGM Grand (cool lions) and the M&M store.

Went back to the hotel and finally checked in. Roy was due to arrive any time, so we went to our separate rooms. Once he arrived, we took a nap and got all rested up for the night ahead.

Had dinner at Quark's Bar, a Star Trek themed place. Very interesting place, but most of it was lost on me, as I'm not a Star Trek fan. Gals had steak (awesome), boys had prime rib (not so good). We all shared a very large, yummy drink called a Borg Sphere. Buzzing good at this point.

The best piece of conversation at dinner:

Me: That sucks big green ones.

Chris: Hey, that was for St. Patrick's Day, and I asked her to do it.

I really don't know if anyone is going to find that funny, but I thought it was hysterical (and still do).

After dinner, drove to Fremont Street. "Sinners" running rampant here; religious people everywhere as well. Interesting juxtaposition. Also, a drunk 50-year-old lady playing air sax with her straw from her drink. Bitch was crazy.

Watched the overhead show there, which turned out to be a giant LG ad. A definite meh moment. And then we left. And then it got really good.

Caesars Palace! Paris! Bellagio! Wow, I was in heaven. Heaven that smelled like cigarettes and was way too expensive, but still - heaven. I was quite intimidated by the expensive stores in Caesars Palace and Bellagio, being as I'm just a little gal from Texas who doesn't really give a crap about name brands. I was definitely a window shopper, but I truly loved how beautifully designed the insides of these stores were. Amazing chandeliers - and I don't even like chandeliers!

And the architecture of these buildings really blew me away. I mean, seriously.

The best piece of conversation in the Caesars Palace mall:

Me: Let's go into Tiffany's! I've never been in Tiffany's!

Melinda: Haven't you ever seen Breakfast at Tiffany's?

Me: No.

Melinda: No?! Everyone with a Y chromosome should see Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Chris: I haven't seen Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Melinda: You don't have a Y chromosome, honey.

Chris: Oh.

(Funny thing, I just looked it up. And women have 2 X chromosomes, and men have an X and a Y. Whatever. You know what she meant!)

Anyway, somewhere in there, I was making fun of Melinda every chance I got for never having heard the song "Poison" by Bell Biv Devoe. Awesome song.

Unfortunately, by this time we were all getting really tired. My feet were killing me. So we headed back to Excalibur, grabbed a midnight snack at the Sherwood Forest Cafe, and went to bed. I slept like a baby who has learned to sleep through the night.


Sunday, January 13

Woke up with just enough time to check out of our hotel and eat some breakfast at Luxor. Awesome breakfast + awesome waitress = happy people ready to hit the road.

Good tunes on the way home, home early enough to still hang out and do normal weekend things. An awesome weekend - thanks, Melinda!

(Note: I have many thoughts about Vegas that I might share in another post. Or maybe I won't. We'll see!)