Weekend Trip: Las Vegas

Where does one spend their last Monday-Tuesday weekend? Why, in Las Vegas, of course!

The last week of October, we took a short flight up to Vegas to meet up with Dad, who was attending a conference that week. We got to crash with him at The Mandalay Bay! By far the best hotel we have stayed at in Las Vegas!

The view from our room at Mandalay Bay

Luke and I got there early in the morning and grabbed breakfast at the Luxor. I never get McDonalds, except when I'm in Las Vegas. (The last time I had McDonalds was at the Excalibur in August 2008 and then at The Palms in November 2007). I don't know what it is...maybe my body is like, "Ugh, whatever...you are filling me up with nasty casino smoke anyways, so what's a slice of lard going to do at this point?" I love Micky D hotcakes!

Luke and I at Luxor

We walked around the strip, and then met up with Dad in the afternoon. We sat out by the pool for a few minutes. The Mandalay Bay has an awesome tide pool, complete with sand and everything. Luke went in the water, but it was too cold for me (high 60s-low 70s). Then we headed out to find some dinner and drinks. We ate at an Italian restaurant at Caesars and then went over to my favorite bar: Kahunaville at Treasure Island! They make fluffy fruity drinks. Luke and Dad were a tad reserved about this place, until the bartenders started doing amazing flare moves.

Some fancy moves by the bartender at Kahunaville

After a couple drinks, we headed to the Bellagio to check out the indoor garden that they had decorated for the fall season. There were glass leaves hanging from the ceiling, huge pumpkins and tons of amazing flowers. It is so peaceful in there, which is a nice change of pace from the loud noises from the casino. We watched the water show, and then it was time for bed.

Luke and Dad at the indoor garden at the Bellagio

The next morning, I wasn't feeling too well. I had caught a head cold. We went over to M&M world and some tourist shops to pick up some things for my mom and sisters. But after that, I couldn't take it. So we headed back to Mandalay, got some (expensive) Dayquil and some hot tea. That definitely did the trick because about 2 hours later I was ready to go! So we went down to the casino and tried our luck at the slots. I won about $20 at the first slot machine I went to. I was done...haha! I don't trust my luck, especially when it comes to money. Luke lost about $20 at the first machine he went to. But he wanted to keep going. I was a little apprehensive, but he was dead set on it! :) We get to another row of machines and he sits down at one. Then he was said, "ehh, I will try this one instead" and sat at the next one to the left. Puts his money in, bids one and the machine won't stop making noises! It went on for what seemed like forever. Luke had won $200!! We cashed out after that.

Luke and his 800 quarters!!

We headed back upstairs and waited for Dad to finish up at his conference. We then headed over to MGM and ate at an amazing Chinese restaurant. After dinner, we went to see the Cirque du Soeil show, "Ka." It was good, but we were all so tired (and at the back of the theater), so I don't think we got the full experience. But it was very entertaining and they did some amazing stunts.

The next morning, it was time to head back to Phoenix. It was nice to see Dad again, and he brought some of the wedding items we were not able to bring back with us earlier that month. We are hoping that Dad has another conference out West soon, so we can tag along with him again!