Vegas Baby

Day 164 - Las Vegas, NV to Kingman, AZ - Sunny Mid 70's:

For our last day in Vegas we decided to go check out a couple more hotels/casinos before we left town. The first stop was the Rio hotel where the world series of poker is now being held. It wasn't that exciting as we had hoped so we just walked around for a bit and headed out. Nest we made our way over to the Palms Hotel because this is where all the celebrities stay when they are in Vegas. It's home to the Fantasy Tower where you can find the Kingpin Suite (it has two bowling lanes), the Hugh Hefner Suite, the Barbie Suite, and many others. Many of these suites have pools that stick out the front of the hotel as if you are going to fall of the edge of the building. We went into Palms Place and checked out where the rich stay...they even let us up to the pool. I thought this was the best part of the hotel...it had an amazing view of the strip. Heather and I decided that if we ever come back this would be the place we would stay.

Next we stopped by the Vegas sign. When we came into town we entered the strip at the opposite end of the strip and missed it so we made sure to get it on the way out! We got our pictures both coming and going. From here we decided that we had had enough of Vegas and started our trip to Kingman. Kingman was about halfway to the Grand Canyon...our next exciting destination.

Day 163 - Las Vegas, NV - Sunny Low 70's:

Since we were up late losing our money we slept in again this morning and finally made it out of the room around noon. We made our way down to the Midway in our hotel to play our free fair game. Heather picked the Horse Race game and I kicked her butt in the end. I won a small stuffed dog but we ended up giving it to a kid because we have a limited amount of space. In the end we probably should have kept it because it was the only thing that we would win while in Vegas.

At one o'clock I decided to enter a Texas Hold 'em tournament and was doing really well for the first half hour but then I got hit with a bad beat on the river and only had four hundred chips left and was out in the next couple hands. Heather thought I was going to be there longer but unfortunately I was able to meet her for lunch. After lunch we made our way back to the Bellagio to check out the flower garden, it was pretty cool (You'll have to check out the pictures because its tough to explain.) We then headed over to the MGM Grand to meet up Heather's friend Nicolle who is in the Cirque du Soleil show KA. They had been chatting back and forth for some time about seeing each other and Nicolle was going to help us get tickets at the local price to see her show. We met up a bit before Nicolle had to be at work so we were only able to catch up for a couple minutes. We decided to buy tickets for the 9:30 show because it would allow Nicolle could give us a backstage tour after the late show.

We then made our way back to the Excalibur to get cleaned up and dressed up for dinner and the show. It was then back to the MGM Grand for dinner at Diego. This was an upscale Mexican restaurant and the food was decent but the margaritas were really good. After dinner we made our way to the KA theater and were amazed by the set that was constructed around the seats. Heather got a couple texts from Nicolle letting us know which characters she was going to be because she knows five different routines and doesn't know which ones she will be until a couple hours before the show. The show was amazing and I could not even start to explain it but the general idea was a coming of age store about two children who were separated during a tribal battle. Nicolle was amazing and we couldn't believe how much acrobatics that went into show. After the show we made our way backstage. Nicolle who was still in her makeup when she met us...she showed us the stage, the practice facility, the costume room and where they hang out when they're not on stage. The stage is really amazing there are three levels under the audience where the performers get ready and can get on to the fully mechanical part of stage. There are so many technicalities that you have no idea about when you're watching. From airbags to hand-held remotes that control the amount of spring in the wiring...it's really amazing. We didn't get any pictures of the set because it's not allowed but it was a once in a lifetime. It was getting late and we had to leave so we snapped a couple of pictures with Nicolle and said our goodbyes. We are so thankful for the time she took to show us around!!

It was then over to the Tropicana to try our luck at another set of tables and slots. Unfortunately the result was the same and we went to sleep a little poorer then the night before.

Day 162 - Las Vegas - Cloudy Low 60's:

Today we decided to sleep in a bit because there really isn't much going on in Vegas during the day, so we took it easy and Heather did some hotel work while I worked on my taxes knowing that April 15th was fast approaching. We then headed down to the strip to find a hotel for our Vegas stay. We figured we stood just as good of a chance of getting a low rate in person as we did online! After some searching we decided on the Excalibur. It was cheap, nice hotel and close to all the strip happenings!

Once we were checked in and unpacked we decided to wander down the strip for a bit and see what all the Vegas hype was about. We walked through the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace and they are both amazing hotels with lots and lots of gambling going on. They also had VERY EXPENSIVE stores which Heather drooled over as we walked by. Once we were back outside I was going to try to ride the NY NY roller coaster but it was extremely windy and it was closed. We also checked out the Paris Hotel and were thinking about going up in the Eiffel Tower ride but that was also closed due to the wind. We were bummed as a few people had recommended these places but when mother nature says no...she means it!!

It was now time for dinner and we decided to check out a German place just a couple block off of the strip. We walked down past the Hard Rock Casino and found the Haufbraus House. Matt had told us that they had a mug holding contest here and we were hoping to check it out! We made our way in and found that the dining room was set up like a beer tent at Octoberfest. We got seated at a table with a couple other people and were promptly greeted by our waitress who was dressed in the old fashioned German outfit. I quickly ordered a beer and then tried to decide on dinner. We ordered our meals and then sat back and enjoyed the German band that was playing. Overall we had a great meal and it made us think of the LaCasse family that are in Germany and hopefully we'll get to go there next summer. Unfortunately the mug holding contest is only on the weekends so we didn't get to participate!

We then headed back to the strip and made our way to the Bellagio to see the famous water show. It was awesome the way they have the water guns shoot with the beat of the music. We then hopped on the bus and headed toward Freemont street. We arrived at Freemont street and made our way into the Golden Nugget casino to get a Dunkin' Donuts coffee, it had been a while since I had seen one so it was a necessary stop. We then walked down the street and waited for the show to start. We got to see the Kiss Freemont Street Experience and it was amazing. There are over 12 million LED lights that cover the five block canopy and every hour they put on a light show. It always starts by turning off the neon lights of the casinos which is pretty neat to see at night. The show was amazing...we have some videos which should be up soon!

After the show we headed back to our hotel and decided to hit the blackjack table and slots for a bit and even though no winning happened we had fun giving them our money.