Vegas - Part 4

When I think of Vegas, a few things come to mind instantaneously:  gambling, casinos, shows, alcohol, and parties.  I don't think that I'm the only one who conjures up a list like this, either.  And when in Vegas, we might as well partake in the "fun".  

(okay, prostitution and strippers come to mind as well....but rest assured, we did NOT take part in ANY of that aspect.  in fact, I'm very proud of my husband who made sure to look away when confronted.  I have a good, no- great, man!)

Neither one of us are gamblers.  We don't really see the point, or fun, in losing our money.  But, we wanted to do a little while there.  I mean, strangely it doesn't seem right not to.  So we gave ourselves a grand total of $10 ($5 each) to gamble with as we chose.

And, since we only had $5 each, that pretty much meant that we could do only one gambling activity: slot machines. I know Blair would have preferred to test his hand (pun intended) at the poker table.  But, they pretty much started with a $100 buy-in.  No thank you.  So, slot machines called our names.

The sad part about slot machines is that it's really hard to find one these days that actually has the pull handle.  It's all digitized, and you just press a little button.  I understand the psychology of it - people will spend a LOT more money because it takes a lot less thought to press a button than to pull a handle.  But it was still lame and a big letdown. 

We won a whopping $3.45.  Which really means we were down $6.55 overall.  And it took us all of about 5-10 minutes to go through our $10.  *sigh*  The lady at the payout counter just laughed at us as we cashed out our "winnings".  :)

With our money gone, we decided to walk around and explore some of the casinos....which really ended up in us getting lost.  Literally.  In one of the casinos, we had to ask a security guard how to get out.  Again, another ploy to keep you gambling longer - you can never get out, even if you try!!

But we did find this gigantic slot machine!  And it had a pull handle!  Couldn't resist.

Treasure Island has a crazy fire show nightly.

I don't remember which casino this was in, but we stumbled upon this random sculpture in front of a restaurant.  It had a perfect little curl on the bottom that seemed to be designed for a cozy seat.  So I obliged.  I didn't want it to feel like it's purpose was all for show and no function.  I did get a lot of weird looks, but whatever.  :)

Caesar's Palace. 

 

Paris.

Like I said before, alcohol is one of the "musts" for Vegas.  We went to dinner at B.B. King's Blues Club in the Mirage.  Great music and food, by the way.  Blair ordered a beer with his meal, and at the end the waitress told us it was a buy-1-get-1-free deal.  So we took it...to-go.  Apparently, it's totally legal to have open alcohol in public and on the streets.  Weird.  So I drank it while we walked around and continued to explore.  :)

I don't remember which casino this was in either, I just remember wishing that we hadn't just had a HUGE meal so we could enjoy these yummy treats.  Yes, that's chocolate in a syringe.  Love it!

Look at these fancy gelato creations!  I was very impressed!

And partying...yes we did that too. :)  In fact, one of the companies that was represented at the conference that Blair went to invited them to a FREE private party that they were hosting.  Open bar.  Free finger food.  Dancing.  How could we resist?? 

At the end of the night, on our way back to our hotel room, I saw this guy.  He cracked me up and I couldn't resist taking his picture.  He was sound asleep in the lobby, and his shirt read "I'm a Senior".   teehee :)

Vegas - Part 3

After I had a fun day at the Bellagio outing with the other spouses, Blair got jealous by my stories and begged me to give him a personal re-enactment of the day.  So, to the Bellagio we went.

I REALLY liked the Paris hotel!

And, again, we just happened to be there at the exact moment the fountain show started!

I liked being able to photograph it from both vantage points.

Especially because this side had the Paris Eiffel Tower in the background.  :)

Pretty cityscape.

Blair at the Bellagio.

Close-up of the World's Largest Chocolate Fountain. 

And the amazingly tempting display of decadent treats....

...of which we couldn't resist.  :)

This is the Paris casino.  I really liked the sky-scape ceiling.  Plus, they pump in fresh air!  So it wasn't QUITE as smoky as all the others.  It still was very smoky, mind you.  But it was a little better.  And a little less stale.  (I was not a fan of the casinos, if you couldn't tell.)

On the way back to our room, we stumbled upon one of our favourite parts of our Vegas trip: the dueling pianos.  It was SO much fun.  They were hilarious!  The guy was amazingly talented.  The lady was good at piano, but needed some singing classes.  But it was still awesome!!  Absolutely a blast to watch them entertain. 

It was a great way to end the evening. :)

Vegas - Part 2

The conference that Blair went to seemed to be really well organized.  While he was working, manning a booth, networking, and going to classes, they had daily activities for the spouses.  You could go to 2 activities per day, if you wanted.  There were a few I signed up for, and the first was the Bellagio Day Trip.  The Bellagio was hosting a special exhibit of Dale Chihuly glass, so we went to explore.  I had already seen a few Chihuly glass exhibits and love his work.  So I knew this was an activity I didn't want to miss.  

This stunning piece is actually a chandelier, called Fiori di Como, by Chihuly....and consisted of 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms!!  Gorgeous.

Here's the small gallery.  We got a personal "tour"...which was really just a lady giving us a 10 minute talk about Chihuly's biography and his special pieces.

The exhibit was smaller than I expected, but still just as beautiful as always.

 I love the unique shapes and the vibrant colours he uses!

Aren't they fancy?!

I also found out the the Bellagio decorates their Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for the season.  We visited in late October, so it was decorated for Fall.

Yes, that sign says it's an 835 pound pumpkin!!!  And then there was a scarecrow display, which reminded me of the Wizard of Oz.

And a talking tree??  With eyes that move around and watch people??  Creepy.

But this beautiful rose apple made up for the creepy tree.  Almost.

And one of the best parts of the day.....World's Largest Chocolate Fountain.  Guinness Book of World Records certified.  Cool!

Worst part of the day:  YOU CAN'T EAT FROM IT!  What a mean tease!  What's the point of a large chocolate fountain if you can't enjoy the chocolate???  I mean, it's pretty and all. (and yes, it is pretty).  But still.  Kind of lame.

But...the spouse group tour guide made up for it by buying us each a scoop of gelato.  Yum!  I ate it too quickly and forgot to take a picture.  However, here's a picture of the delectable treats that enticed me into bringing Blair back later that trip.  :)

And the view on our walk back to the hotel....from the other side of the Bellagio fountains:  Ballys and Paris hotel/casinos.  Simply beautiful.

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.....

Unless, of course, you are a blogger.  In which case, "what happens in Vegas is forever captured on the blogosphere."  :)

Because of our Hoover Dam detour, we arrived in Vegas after sundown.  So our first shots of it were blurry out-the-car-window-as-we-are-driving-in shots.  It was so bright and colourful!  My goodness there are a LOT of flashing lights everywhere!

 This was the first sighting of our hotel.

 Once we checked into our room and walked for miles from our parking spot in their garage to our room (literally took us 20 minutes), we decided to venture out to the strip and walk around.

 A neighboring hotel/casino.  Donny and Marie were performing there.  For some reason, I've always had a very strange fascination...and Blair had never heard of them.  Goes to show you that, sometimes, even a 3.5 year age difference between us can feel like a generation gap.

 Across the street was the Bellagio.  And we just HAPPENED to arrive just as the fountain show was starting.  It was amazing!

Blair kept talking about the crazy engineering that had to go into creating it.  He was fascinated.

 The Bellagio.

 Us in front of the Bellagio, right after the fountain show.

View of our hotel and the Paris hotel.  I think, out of all the ones we visited, Paris was my favourite. 

The night view from our hotel room was gorgeous!

Here's what our room looked like:
This was our closet and hallway.

 Part of the bathroom.

 King-sized bed.

 The TV and desk.

 Our reading nook.

 The view from our room in the day-time.