Vegas Baby

Our friend James turned 40 last week and he has never been to Vegas.  So he invited a bunch of his friends and we all went down to Vegas for a few days.  We drove his Camero - yes 4 of us packed in there like a clown car!  We went during the week so the rates were ridiculously cheap to stay at a super nice hotel.  We stayed at the Hard Rock, which is a little off the strip.  That was nice because there was a lot less foot traffic and the vibe was pretty good there.

We drove down on Wednesday, got there mid afternoon.  First order of business was to hit the gym and then lay by the pool for a bit.  The pools there are amazing.  There are 4 or 5 of them and the interconnect in different ways.  There are regular pool areas, and beach areas, and shallow areas to lay down.  It was fantastic to just sit in the water and soak up the sun.  We had a little snack then headed up to get ready for a night on the town.  We met up with some other friends that had gotten there earlier in the day and hit the strip to check out a few places.  We went to Ceaser's for a quick bite then over to Harrah's to join in at the piano bar fun.  The music was pretty good, though a bit smokey and old there, still a good time.  We stayed there the rest of the evening just singing and having a good time.  James was serenaded a birthday song that made fun of his age...

Thursday morning after breakfast, Fogg and I worked out again and then met up with everyone at the pool again.  We literally spent the entire rest of the day by the pool.  We had a little mid-day snack and then back to the pool.  That evening we did James's big dinner and night out.  We ate at the fabulous Nobu at the Hard Rock then they rented a limo for everyone.  We piled in the hummer limo and off we were to party! (I'm in the blue dress).

We went to the Bellagio, Venetian, New York New York, and Luxor.  We may have gone somewhere else, but I don't remember!  Anyway, we were back at the Hard Rock around 1 and I was done!

Friday morning we hit the gym and pool one more time before we had to check out.  We left and headed to the Mob Museum in old town area.  We spent 3 hours in there, it was fascinating.  Then we headed to the next hotel, the Golden Nugget.  Talk about a different kind of place!  It was certainly, well, heritage.  We took a swing by the pool but it was super windy and we didn't really want to get in.  We got ready and headed out to meet some former coworkers of mine for drinks.  They had just moved down to Vegas and they met us at a really neat little bar.  After drinks we went to dinner with some other friends of ours from ages ago.  They have lived down there for a few years with the Air Force.  It was so great to catch up with them.  After dinner we did a quick walk of Fremont Street (which was plenty for me!) and headed to bed.  We drove home on Saturday to spend time with the kids for the evening.

It was a good time to relax and enjoy time with our friends. It'll be a little bit before we head to Vegas again, but it was one of the only enjoyable times that I've had there.  Maybe the 33 year old me is more prepared for it than the 22 year old me!  HA!

Cheers~