Las Vegas

Last month I took a little trip to Vegas to see my girlfriend, Celine Dion. Unfortunately, Celine was sick and had to cancel her performance. I found out about the cancellation about 10 days before my trip and had to make the decision to go or reschedule. We all know how that turned out. So...feel free to read all about my trip if you'd like...I'm really writing this blog just so I can go back and look at it later when I forget what all I did there. This is the closest thing to a scrapbook that I'll get, I'm sure.

Monday: I flew direct from Birmingham to Vegas and arrived at 7:00pm. After landing at McCarran, I had to take a shuttle to the car rental place. This was my first time renting a car and I was NERVOUS. After I paid and signed my life away, I took an escalator downstairs to a big lot of cars. A little girl working at the desk pointed me in the right direction and said "take whichever one you want". Wow. Overwhelmed! I ended up picking a black, 4-door, Ford Fussion. Now, I am an excellent and fearless traveler. I'll get on a subway and go alone to a place I've never been in a heartbeat...but don't ask me to drive! Thankfully I made it to the hotel safe and sound. of course, at one point, I blocked an intersection and everybody honked their horns and flipped me off. I just ducked my head and prayed for it to be over. Sorry, people of Vegas. (By the way, I had a GPS and couldn't figure out how to use it).

After checking in to my hotel, I changed into a schnazzy dress and took a taxi (I know...I had a car, but I couldn't deal with it that night) to the Stratosphere where I had reservations at the Top of the World restaurant. Kim and I ate here a few years ago when we were in Vegas...I highly recommend it. The food is great, but the VIEW is amazing. The restaurant is on the 106 (ish) floor and it spins around (slowly) as to give you a 360 degree view of the city. Beautiful!

Tuesday: I woke up extra early, met up with a friend, and drove to the Grand Canyon. Even with a GPS and directions we missed the first exit and had to drive 30 miles out of the way before we could turn around. It ended up taking about 3 hours to get to the West Rim, and the last 10 miles of the drive was dirt road. Once there, I took helicopter/platoon boat ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. That was definitely an experience of a lifetime. The tour lasted about 45 minutes...here are a few pictures:

We drove back to Vegas that afternoon and parked on the strip. Now, Madame Tussauds is my weakness. If there is a wax museum in a city I'm visiting, I go. Here are some pictures from our time at the wax museum in Vegas:

There were also wax figures of Shack, Snoop, J Lo, Will Smith, Cameron Diaz, Fergie, and others. After that, we walked to the Bellagio and watched the fountains dance.

After the fountains, I went back to my hotel and stayed up late gambling on the Wheel of Fortune machine. I won $136.97 :)

Wednesday: I woke up early and went back to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (as seen on TV). It was a lot smaller than it looks on tv, but they had some really neat things inside including a tribal council stick from Survivor (Clarence...Season 2 or 3, I believe). I got to see Rick and the Old Man.

Next I visited the new Mob Museum on Stewart Avenue in the old Post Office. Very cool.

Wednesday night I went to see Chris Angel at the Luxor. There were definitely some illusions he did that blew my mind, but overall it was not too impressive. Next I parked at Caesar's Palace and visited the Forum Shops. After that, I had dinner at an outside French Cafe directly across from the Bellagio fountains....the fountains played Celine's "My Heart Will Go On"....be still my heart...as well as Whitney Houston's "Star Spangled Banner". Everyone loved that.

Thursday: Bright and early I headed to the Neon Boneyard (where all of the old Vegas signs go to die). This was maybe my favorite place I visited in Vegas.

For your information, the Fremont Experience sucks...don't waste your time.

Thursday afternoon I walked the strip and basically just looked around at the different hotels/casinos. I ended up buying a ticket to see Cirque du Soleil "Love"....definitely worth the money. Even better...since I was alone and it was about an hour before the show started, the lady at the counter gave me an awesome upgrade! I got to sit in the $250.00 section for only $85 bucks! Can't beat that! I tried to sneak in a picture, but I got in trouble. Apparently they are serious about "No Photography". Psht.

After "Love", I met my friend at the Mirage and watched the volcano explode...I had never heard of this, but it's kinda like watching the Bellagio fountains. Next we walked to the Venetian and took a gondola ride together. I won $100.00 at the Roulette table in the Venetian :)

That's about it...I came home Friday morning. It was really an amazing trip even though I didn't get to see Celine. I guess there's always next time...her contract doesn't end until 2013 :)