I finally have a chance to sit down and write this. I’ve tried about 5 different times and had to stop to do something else. It’s been a very busy week playing catch up…always expected when you take a week vacation. Between work and all the things I had to do at home, I’ve barely had time to do anything.
We did a lot and I took a ton of pictures. I won’t go into every detail of all the stuff we did last week because this blog entry would go on forever, but here are all the main details of our awesome trip.
We arrived in Vegas Sunday night to perfect weather. It didn’t get over 85 the entire week and having no humidity was a welcomed change for us since we’re used to hot, sticky weather all the time. Our hotel was in a perfect location…dead center of the Las Vegas strip. It was clean and had an old, western feel. The beds were really comfortable, the room was super clean, and it even had a plasma TV! For the price, you couldn’t beat it. I would recommend Bill’s to anyone wanting to stay in Vegas.
Sunday night we walked around for a bit and played a few slots, but went to sleep pretty early. We were tired from the flight and jet lag. The next day we didn’t have much planned and decided to walk around the hotels. I had my first Fatburger experience…
After we ate we walked around the Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood. We got stopped by this guy saying he’d give us tickets to the Madame Tussuad’s wax museum if we spent an hour rating his TV show pilot. We had nothing to do and wanted to go to that museum sometime during the week, so we agreed.
We ate at a restaurant in The Venetian hotel and went to the wax museum after.
The next day we walked around the different hotels. In fact, the entire week we did a lot of walking…
We also ate at a lot of buffets. If it wasn’t for all the walking I did, I’m pretty sure I would’ve gained at least 10 lbs.
We went to a lot of shows. Tuesday we saw a show called Freaks, your average freak show with glass eaters, human suspensions, contortionists, and sword swallowers. It was alright until they started sticking each other with needles. For the most part, I have a strong stomach, but certain things really bother me, needles being one. I couldn’t wait for that part to be over.
Wednesday we went to play Price is Right at Bally’s. We had front row seats and had so much fun. Unfortunately, we didn’t get called to the stage. We also saw the Cirque du Soleil show Ka. It was amazing! Those people are so unbelievably talented. I’m so glad we got the opportunity to see one of these shows. There’s I think 6 that play in the various hotels in Vegas, and they all sell out almost every night. It was such an awesome show and I’m so glad we went!
After Ka, Dave wanted to try to find this bar that he went to the last time he was in Vegas. It was a punk bar called the Double Down. All he remembered was that it was somewhere near the Hard Rock Casino. We decided to walk from MGM towards Hard Rock, not realizing how FAR Hard Rock was. It felt like we were walking forever. We finally made it to the Hard Rock to take a little break. We still didn’t know where the Double Down was or if we were even close. After playing a slot machine for a like 20 minutes, we decided to head out again and try to find this place. All I kept thinking was, “This place better be worth it!”
We finally found Double Down and it was definitely worth the walk. We had a great time playing Punk Rock Bingo and hanging out with some locals. We met a girl named Jamie, who was so surprised to hear that we were from Florida and we knew about this place AND we walked all the way there from the MGM. So surprised, that she went up to the girl calling Bingo numbers and told her all about it. The bingo girl gets on the mic and shouts out to us saying how hardcore and awesome we were that we walked all the way from the strip to here.
We listened to an awesome Rockabilly band and I drank “Ass Juice” (good) and a Bacon Martini (BAD, so so bad!)
After the band finished their set we made the long walk back to our hotel, which didn’t seem nearly as long as the walk there. Maybe because I had a few shots of Ass Juice and a Bacon Martini in my system.
The next day we looked at classic cars…
Dave won $250 in a slot machine, so we used some of that money to go see Howie Mandel. The show would have been better if there wasn’t a really drunk lady in the audience shouting out random things and interrupting the show! She was so annoying and was ruining it for everyone. I wanted to punch her!
After the show we walked around New York, New York, Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay…
Our last day we spent on the other side of the strip to visit some of the older hotels…
…then went back to the center of the strip and walked around some of those hotels…
The last show we saw was Terry Fator. He was the winner of America’s Got Talent a few years ago and put on an amaing show! He was funny, super talented, and seemed like a genuinely nice person. He allowed everyone in the audience to take pictures, a first for the shows we saw, so I got to snap a few photos…
His show was my favorite. We saved the best for last!
Our trip was amazing all in all. A much needed break from our busy, everyday lives. Now it’s back to our regular, busy lives. And things have been incredibly busy…work, going to the gym, running here, running there…but I’m happy to be home and back to my daily life.
It looks like you had a lot of fun! I miss Vegas! I want to go visit again soon!