Sunday evening Daniel and I traveled to Durham to visit his Grandma and stay at her place since it is only about 2 miles from the airport. When we arrived, there was dinner waiting for us. All of my fav's.. green beans, chicken, mashed potatos, etc. We spent some time chatting and then called it an early night because we knew that the following morning was going to be very very early.
So I ended up waking up before the alarm clock on Monday.. which was before 430am! We were set to leave at 5am to get on the plane by 630. When we were driving to the airport, Daniel got a call from a funny number. He wasnt able to check it til later after we went through security, etc only to find out our plane was delayed til 715. Anyways..... that gave us a little extra time to charge Daniel's phone and for me to read magazines.
The flight to Vegas was great. Daniel and I were not able to sit next to each other but that was fine. The week previous I bought a travel pillow. I knew I did not want to be embarrassed like last plane trip. (slept on a strangers shoulder on accident!)
We got great snacks on the plane and the seats were super comfy. There was plenty of leg room too. I ended up sleeping for about 2.5 hours and then the remainder I stared out the window at the mountains/desert. It was so different from anything I had ever seen.
We made it off the plane at 9am and this was 12 our time. I was in desperate need of coffee asap. I had given up caffeine for a little while but I totally splurged on the trip with coffee, sweet treats, etc. It was a shame Starbucks was so expensive but I needed it. After a quick coffee stop, we were off to find the bus to take us to our hotel. On our way, we dropped off other people at various hotels.
When I mentioned to people that I was going to Vegas, they kept saying... its like nothing you have ever seen. Its so big, so so big. Well.... disappointment alert. I really was not that blown away by the vastness of it. I was in my head comparing it to Chicago (downtown) before I even got there and when I learned the strip was 4.1 miles long, thats a cake walk for me! Yes the buildings were large but nothing that really blew me away. It was fantastic to look at though.
Anyways... we made our way to the hotel (Flamingo) and did the whole early check in thing where we could drop off our bags until 3-4ish. Finished doing that and went out to explore. We went across the street to Ceasar's and walked around there for most of the day. I really did not realize how much we had walked inside the hotel until we got out of it. It was very pretty inside. I did fail to take pictures in there because I figured we would be back.... Wrong!! We got lunch at the bbq place there and then walked more and finally made it back to the hotel at 3. Daniel was exhausted by then and I went out to go to the pharmacy and drug store. I of course walked to the store since we did not bring a car. Upon returning it was about 530 (830 our time) and we were both hungry. I was not overly hungry but needed something. Daniel found Casino Royal earlier that day had 1.50 hotdogs and decided thats what he wanted. I just walked to mc donalds and grabbed a side salad and parfait. I knew I was going back to take a nap and didn't want to stuff my face before doing that. Daniel was off to watch Monday night football.
He returned at about 10ish and we watched the fountains light up a few times before heading to bed.
Grand plans for exercise..... It all started Tuesday morning. I decided that I was going to run 4 miles (at least) and go explore a side of Vegas we had not walked the day before. I went down to Mandalay Bay and back. I passed our hotel and then looked at the sky.... dark rain clouds.
Last I checked, Vegas gets about 2 inches of rain a year.... well.. they got 1 inch while we were there! It decided to start raining on my run so I went back to the hotel. Boo. I took the extra time to do work (yes I still work even on vaca) I then got Daniel up and we went out to go explore some more. This time we went the same way I ran. We walked down to NY NY, and MGM. We caught lunch at Ny NY. Daniel got a Ruben and I got some pasta. My pasta was not that awesome.. his sandwich... awesome! Daniel then decided he wanted to ride the roller coaster so he did. I did not. He told me if I closed my eyes it was a waste of $ and I agreed because I knew that is what I would do. I found him after his ride and we went over to MGM. That was a pretty cool place. I liked seeing the lions even though they did sleep for the most part. We grabbed something to drink at MGM and were walking out and low and behold we saw a bunch of people gathering. There also was a ring set up at the entrance. We found out that all the fighters who
were going to fight later in the week were going to be there. So of course we stopped and waited... for an hour and half. We saw Ortiz, Mayweather, and another fighter. AND Daniel got a pic with Mayweather and shook his hand!
After this huge excitement, we called the hotel to see if the pool was open. They said yes so we headed back. When we got there... it was not open. Ugg. So we got ready to go to dinner sooner and then our show. We were both very excited about the night that we were going to have. We both had never been to a show and we were told about this steakhouse that was good.
So we arrived at the steakhouse and sure did feel important. We had someone come talk to us, escort us to our table, place the napkins on our laps, treat us very very well. I would go back there again for sure. We got french onion soup (the best ever!), tomatoes and mozzarella, and each got some steak. Everything was great about this place.
After dinner we made our way to pick up the tickets and found out the show had been canned. Apparently someone got hurt and they canned both shows Tuesday and both Wednesday. We were both caught so off guard that we didnt know what to do. We were offered other shows for the same night but there was limited availability. Daniel wouldnt have minded seeing some shows but I was not impressed with them and really did not want to fork out 100 bucks for the both of us to see something I wasn't interested in. So we moped and then decided to head to Paris and walk around. That ended up being a great idea because we got a free $5 from Paris to play the slots. Daniel did not have the best luck but I won $5!!! I was so excited about that!
Daniel suggested going to try to win more but I just kept what I had. While in Paris we also went to a little shop and had deserts and coffee. I had some chocolate raspberry thing and Daniel had key lime pastry. Both were sooooo good. We also went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower that they have there. I am not sure how tall the real thing is but this one was at least 30+ stories tall. I was a bit scared of being so far up. While up there we got some great pictures of the strip and saw the fountains a few times. We called it a night after Paris.
On Wednesday morning.... I woke up only to find it was flat out pouring rain outside. AGAIN!! I walked downstairs to see if it would clear up and it wouldn't. So.... I went back upstairs and found my $5 winnings and hit the indoor gym. While I was at the gym I got a text from Alex saying she was going back to the hospital. So I texted Val just in case Alex would need her. Luckily, she was released that same day.
When I finally got back upstairs, I told Daniel about the weather and how we were not going to be going to the pool again today. He suggested getting a moneral pass and going up to the stratosphere and then the outlet mall up north as well. So that is what we did.... but first we went and had breakfast at a buffet...mmmm. The buffet had the best strawberries and cream ever!
So off to the north we went. Once we got off the train, we started walking to the outlets. We ended up walking through the slums of Vegas. I would have never done that if Daniel wasn't there. When we got to the outlets, they were overall disappointing. Daniel did score 2 shirts for 97 cents each but besides that...ehhh. I think we are spoiled by the Myrtle Beach outlets. So we found a cab to take us to the stratosphere and decided to go to the top. When we went to pay, they said we would not be able to view because of lightning! Our luck. So we ended up walking back to the train and headed back to mgm, then to excaliber, luxor, and Mandalay bay. We had intentions of going to the shark exhibit there but there was not enough time so we headed back to get ready for dinner and our show. Dinner took forever to be seated. 1.5 hours. But we had time since our show didnt start til 930. We went to see Circ De Sole (Im sure I totally didnt spell that correct) Mystique was the show title. When we went to purchase the tickets we got seats for the balcony. When we got to the theater, we were asked if we wanted better seats. Of course we did! So we were sent to the 4th row!!! That was pretty exciting. During the show we had some of the people come around our chairs. You could see the details of their makeup but what I didn't like was that they were having the audience participate in the show. The audience members were literally a few chairs away! I was nervous that they put us in those seats so have us participate. Thankfully we were not in the show!
After the show Daniel wanted to spend some time down at the casino but my eyes were bothering me super bad. I had to go take out my contacts and then joined him. I ended up wining another .50 that night playing blackjack. Daniel taught me how to play earlier in the week.
The following day (Thursday), it was sunny!!!!!!!!! I was so excited. I went for a run outside and then got ready to pack up and go to the pool. We wanted to be checked out by 850 so we could be at the pool by 9 when it opened. Daniel found us some amazing seats and we laid around for hours and ate pool pizza. Unfortunately our trip in Vegas had to end so we packed up by 1pm and went to grab our bags and get a taxi to the rental car service. So long Vegas....
TBC
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