What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.....

**Me at FAO holding the pug stuffed dog I found, sooo super cute. That store is incredible with all the toys and old school stuff.

Unless it's caught on the camera of me! hehe. That's what I kept saying while there. Nothing escapes the Canon Rebel, my friends. Haha.

Anyway, I am going to try and remember everything about Vegas, although we did a LOT and it's been a week now.

The flight there was great. No turbulence, took off on time, landed on time, everything. We flew Spirit for the first time. The seats were MEGA uncomfortable, and I would not want to fly them on a really long flight, but the awesome flight made up for it. One weird thing, Spirit charges for everything but water on the flights. I read a book and already had a diet Coke I had bought pre-flight, but I thought this was strange. I know other airlines are charging for food, and alcohol, but this was the first time I had heard of an airline charging for a juice or Coke. Anyway. Read a book on the flight I had bought by Jackie Collins and almost got through the entire thing. Loved it.

We got there, and our luggage was some of the first off the carousel. Props to Spirit again. Went and got the rental car and discovered, in the year we had not been there, the airport totally changed around the rental car process. Before, one had to take a shuttle that was for their rental car company to a building for their rental car company. Now, ALL the rental car companies are in one building and the same shuttle takes you to all of them. Much better setup. We got there right away, did quick checkin, and picked out a fun PT Cruiser convertible. Since we had a LOT of luggage with 4 of us, we ended up having to hold some of it on the way to the condo......Uncomfortable, but again, whatever. :). Got to the condo resort, which was really super nice. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, dining room, kitchen, living room, jacuzzi tub in one bathroom......Kurt and I were zonked, but Kory and Rebecca ended up going out for a drink that night. Somehow, they got lost on the way back and ended up having to roll under some fence to get the hotel. Don't ask, I have no idea. Alcohol does weird things to them, let me tell ya.

Next morning, Kurt and I woke up early because of still being on Michigan time. We headed to Slots of Fun to play some early morning Blackjack. Got a call from Rebecca about the time we were leaving that the two of them were up. Went back and got them. Headed to the bookstore Kurt likes so he could buy some sports books, and also to a grocery store to buy water and pop for the room. After that, Rebecca and I went exploring (Ceasars and Bellagio) and the boys went to play poker. At Ceasars, Rebecca put a dollar in this fun game that played Macho Men and featured the Village People. She got this thing called "Village People Party" and her money esaclated to $54! it was awesome. People were standing around us watching, I think they thought she won a TON Of money by the way we were acting, HA. Walking thru the mall, we saw the kewl Ceasars statue show, and then saw a sign that said Pete Rose was appearing at a sports store! We went there, and got our pictures taken with him, and I had him sign a picture I bought for Kurt. It was so awesome. He is one of the people in sports I have always wanted to meet and I finally did! The boyz were so jealous. Met up with them after that and had lunch at the Rio's buffet, which was super yummy. Played poker the rest of the day, and had dinner at Garduno's in The Palms. I love that place. Such great Mexican and their salsa bar is incredible. After that, went to bed.

Next day, we got up and Rebecca and I headed out to explore again. This time we hit Luxor, Mandalay Bay and Mirage, and Planet Hollywood (which used to be the Aladdin). I may be totally screwing up the order on these.......Kory came with us that day. Kurt met us for lunch at The Mirage buffet, which is by far the best on the strip, in my opinion. The miso soup was great there, as well as everything else. Sushi bar was super yummy too. Rest of the day, played poker at Flamingo. Had dinner that night again at Garduno's, because the wait was too long at Nora's (a place Mindy had suggested we try out). After that, went to bed.......Oh yea, went and saw the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay while we were there, which was pretty kewl. I much prefer the dolphin exhibit at Mirage, and I wish Kory and Rebecca would have done that, but I think Kory's response to that was "dolphins are lame." LOL. That exhibit was awesome when I went last time, I got to be RIGHT next to the dolphins and got amazing shots.

Next day, Rebecca and I explored NY NY, MGM Grand, the M and M store. After that, walked to Planet Hollywood and had lunch at the buffet while the boyz played. After that, I was zonked, so I sat and played poker the rest of the day. Kurt got so wasted that day. From like 11 AM until dinner, he had like 30 rum and cokes. We had a blast at our table talking to people. This guy sat down at one point who was a total jerk. He apparently did not like losing, and started calling Kurt names. Kurt called the manager over and had him removed. It was pretty funny. The guy was such an ass. After that, met Kory and Rebecca at Margaritaville for dinner which was really fun. They had an awesome live band, and the food was really good there. Headed back to the room after that to sleep off the liquor of the day.....

Next day, Kurt and I were both kinda hungover, in a tired kinda way. No headaches, thankfully. Decided to hang out at the Flamingo after having lunch at Mandalay Bay. Later that night, we went and saw this show called Bite at the Stratosphere, which was better than I expected. Had dinner that night at an Italian place at the Stratosphere, which was really good. At the show, we had seats right next to the stage, and Kory was positive the dancers were looking at him personally and "wanted" him. I think the alcohol made him think this, but it was amusing.

The next day was our last. Beginning of the day, we went and drove through Red Rock Canyon. Really hot, but the drive was nice. It's so gorgeous there. Had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, which was yummy. Kurt and I played poker most of the rest of the day, and we left to go back to the airport at around 900 PM. Dropped off the rental car, and got to the airport, boarded our ontime flight and got into Detroit at like 554 AM. And had to go almost straight to work. I am still catching up on sleep. Tired right now, and it's early! Oh, almost forgot! Kurt put a $20 in a slot machine (which he rarely does) and won $1100 by getting a Royal Flush! It was kinda amusing because we never play slots, and when he did, he won.


Overall, the trip was awesome. Had fun being there with everyone. The only things I would have done differently, if Kurt and I were there ourselves is I would have gone and seen Love (the newer Cirque show), and maybe the new magic show at Planet Hollywood, but since we were there with people watching their money, I would have felt guilty doing so.....We can do it next time, so it's no big deal! :). Also, I should have tried the pool at the hotel, but it was so damn hot I wanted to be outside as little as possible. Plus, I burn so easily, I did not want to take the chance of being outside by the pool and getting burned.

We came out of the trip $350.00 ahead. Which is great! We allot ourselves a certain amount per day to lose, so when we win, it's a total bonus!