Less than 4 days after my Hilton job interview, December 9, I was in the airport again. This time, I was headed to see my college bestie in Vegas, excited but developing a hate for airports and airplanes. I got to the airport less than an hour before the flight was to leave but it was a small airport and I wasn't checking a bag so I felt okay. Then I got the news, plane delayed for 2 and half hours!!! One - I didn't want to sit in the airport and two - I had a surprise Christmas present for Erica in Vegas and it was time sensitive. After an excruciating wait the plane arrived, almost everyone had spent their time at the bar, I haven't seen a more rowdy crowd. Yelling and cheering as the attendant tried to give the safety instructions, but she let everyone know who was boss. Even more cheering as the plane lifted off and constant chatter the entire flight. Thankfully it was a quick flight, less than an hour. Erica had driven down from Utah and she picked me up from the airport. We headed to check in at our hotel on the Strip, Imperial Palace. It was a great location right in between Flamingo and Harrah's, across from Caesars.
After we checked in, we had to move very quickly.
MY PLAN: Wandering down the Strip, ending up at the Venetian and headed to see the canal and shops, then seeing the Blue Man Group theatre and saying, "hey Blue Man Group, wouldn't that be fun to see, Erica?" And then she'd be like, "Yeah, we should see what prices are." And then I'd hand her her Christmas card - reservation inside - with a big smile and a "Merry Christmas!" She'd open it and a smile would spread from ear to ear as she read and we'd hug and then pick up our tickets.
REALITY: I told her we had to hustle at the hotel (so she already knew I was up to something)and we ran, I was dragging her along, weaving in and out of people. We got to the outside of the Venetian and I handed her the card and hurried her along in the opening of it, barely giving her time to see it and then grabbed her arm and rushed inside. I asked a guard where the theatre was and he pointed us in the right direction. We rushed to will call and got our tickets. I finally took a breathe as we walked into the theatre.
We were dead center, five rows from the front. This area was called the "splash zone" on the tickets and so since it was a surprise and I couldn't tell her to prepare, I bought ponchos and wrapped them for her with the card. When we got there, we found they provide ponchos for everyone in that zone. So we used theirs for our bodies and used mine for our purses. We were excited! In my rush, I had forgot to bring my camera and my phone was dead. So Erica took a couple photos on her phone.
It was a great show, definitely different and not exactly what I was expecting. I'm glad I went but I don't need to go again now, I can check it off the list. Also because it was the 10pm showing and I was tired, I found a couple parts a little slow. But overall super interesting. Afterwards they came out and people took photos with them. We waited for our turn.
After our first photo, I really wanted to touch their faces. I had heard it was some type of paint but during the show I had been staring and at times it looked like cloth. So I waited again and Erica took this picture of me with this other Blue Man. It was paint and it was THICK and greasy. It was weird but cool at the same time.
After our pictures we were both tired and headed back to our room, happy to sleep. Saturday we got up and headed out to wander. We went into the Flamingo to of course see the flamingos. They had these really gorgeous waterfalls too.
Photo opportunity!
Oh there they are! Especially note the one in back at the very right - its neck is bent all the way backwards with its head touching its butt. At one time in life, I was flexible enough to do that...I miss those days.
Then we went next door to the Paris hotel for breakfast. A friend Mike had recommended the pastries there. He had been to Europe earlier this year and shared my love of European bread and pastries. I forgot to get a picture because I was so hungry and they were so delicious! I had a chocolate filled croissant and a raspberry thing, I can't remember what it's called. But they were AMAZING and they definitely reminded me of Europe.
As we ate, we walked over to the Bellagio. I love their atrium, the detail is incredible.
Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time in the city...
Click on this picture to get a better view, I absolutely LOVE these trees. Also the bears, look closely, they're carnations- hundreds of carnations! How do people think of and then create this stuff, blows my mind.
NEXT STOP......M&M World!!!
FIVE floors of ALL things m&m. Erica is obsessed with the yellow one and ONLY the yellow one.
ANY m&m, ANY color and this is only about a third of the wall. It was like 20 feet wide of m&ms!
We watched a little 3D film about m&ms that lost their M, it was totally cheesy. They also have a dance time every hour and giant m&ms and workers dance and anyone can join in, that was actually pretty entertaining to watch.
We now interrupt this great time, for a word from our sponsors.
I actually don't remember the hotel/time share name. Yep, you read right, time share. Erica and I went to Excalibur to buy tickets for Tournament of Kings. Some worker tried to help us get a deal but his friend wasn't at the ticket desk, so he did the next best thing and took us to the time share place. They didn't say it was a time share, but as the guy described it I knew that's what it was. They provided lunch and tickets to the show, what they required 3 hours of our time and a MILLION "no"s. The sandwiches were actually really good and after a very long presentation and the major pressure pitch, we finally got out of there. We got back with just a little time to hang out before our show.
We were both excited, I've always wanted to go to a show like this and Erica was SUPER excited, this was her number one priority show to see.
No pictures were allowed but I took a couple before the show started, sneakily, so they aren't the best. We had a full medieval meal, which meant no silverware. We had dragon's blood (tomato soup) to start. It was really zesty and smooth.
Two lovely dames.
Our feast! A whole cornish game hen, biscuit, broccoli, and red potatoes per person.
The meal was fantastic! The meat was juicy and tender and I stuffed myself till I was ready to explode but I couldn't finish all of the meat. In my defense I did have seconds on the soup and I did eat MOST of the chicken. Erica ate all of hers, amazing what you can do with determination. The show was quite entertaining too- dancing, singing, jousting, a dragon, and fireworks! It made it all even more entertaining that a bachelor's party was there and seated in the front row of the dragon(bad guy) section. They were hilarious!!! Standing and cheering the entire time the dragon was visible. By the end, I kind of wanted the dragon to win for them. Afterwards, Erica rolled me out of the show and out onto the Strip. We wandered down the street and caught the Bellagio fountain show.
Pretty, pretty girl.
I love the water behind me, what awesome timing.
For the third time in a row, the Treasure Island outside show was NOT running! I've always wanted to see it but it's been under construction all three times I've been there. This time, I was less upset, I've gotten used to it. So then we made our way through TI's casino to ...
I have always wanted to see a Cirque show, and was the most excited for this one. So we went up to the ticket desk and I asked the guy what kind of deals he could give me. I was excited to see the show but not to pay full price. We weren't from the hotel or a related one, we didn't have AAA, BUT I did have a student ID. We got 35% off any section. YES! We bought in the third best section and then because it wasn't sold out we were just going to ask an usher if he would move us closer. But once we got inside I realized how GINORMOUS the stage was and any seat feels close, so I decided to just take our seats, but an usher came up to us and asked if we wanted to be closer, so we ended up about six rows back. It was perfect, any closer and we would have missed stuff.
Definitely my favorite show of the weekend! I was blown away by things I saw, the flexibility and strength of these two body builder guys was INSANE and I had a hard time believing it as I watched. I kept looking for strings or ropes but none to be found. Then we went to the gift shop and played dress up.
Because I didn't have my camera the night before at the Blue Man Group, I wanted to go back and see if they were still there and get pictures. We headed back to the Venetian but then we stopped to get some food for Sunday and I wanted to get a picture of this GIANT tree of glass balls in front of the Venetian, it was probably 30 feet high. So we didn't end up making it but we were having a good time.
Another pretty shot of the "tree" from the Venetian balcony.
We had been tired Friday night, but we were EXHAUSTED Saturday night. I was still tired and jet lagging from my other trips, in addition to fighting a cold. We slept till about 9am the next morning and then headed to see the LDS temple. I had been there exactly one year to the date to see a friend/roommate's wedding but Erica had never been before.
After we checked in, we had to move very quickly.
MY PLAN: Wandering down the Strip, ending up at the Venetian and headed to see the canal and shops, then seeing the Blue Man Group theatre and saying, "hey Blue Man Group, wouldn't that be fun to see, Erica?" And then she'd be like, "Yeah, we should see what prices are." And then I'd hand her her Christmas card - reservation inside - with a big smile and a "Merry Christmas!" She'd open it and a smile would spread from ear to ear as she read and we'd hug and then pick up our tickets.
REALITY: I told her we had to hustle at the hotel (so she already knew I was up to something)and we ran, I was dragging her along, weaving in and out of people. We got to the outside of the Venetian and I handed her the card and hurried her along in the opening of it, barely giving her time to see it and then grabbed her arm and rushed inside. I asked a guard where the theatre was and he pointed us in the right direction. We rushed to will call and got our tickets. I finally took a breathe as we walked into the theatre.
We were dead center, five rows from the front. This area was called the "splash zone" on the tickets and so since it was a surprise and I couldn't tell her to prepare, I bought ponchos and wrapped them for her with the card. When we got there, we found they provide ponchos for everyone in that zone. So we used theirs for our bodies and used mine for our purses. We were excited! In my rush, I had forgot to bring my camera and my phone was dead. So Erica took a couple photos on her phone.
It was a great show, definitely different and not exactly what I was expecting. I'm glad I went but I don't need to go again now, I can check it off the list. Also because it was the 10pm showing and I was tired, I found a couple parts a little slow. But overall super interesting. Afterwards they came out and people took photos with them. We waited for our turn.
After our first photo, I really wanted to touch their faces. I had heard it was some type of paint but during the show I had been staring and at times it looked like cloth. So I waited again and Erica took this picture of me with this other Blue Man. It was paint and it was THICK and greasy. It was weird but cool at the same time.
After our pictures we were both tired and headed back to our room, happy to sleep. Saturday we got up and headed out to wander. We went into the Flamingo to of course see the flamingos. They had these really gorgeous waterfalls too.
As we ate, we walked over to the Bellagio. I love their atrium, the detail is incredible.
FIVE floors of ALL things m&m. Erica is obsessed with the yellow one and ONLY the yellow one.
We now interrupt this great time, for a word from our sponsors.
I actually don't remember the hotel/time share name. Yep, you read right, time share. Erica and I went to Excalibur to buy tickets for Tournament of Kings. Some worker tried to help us get a deal but his friend wasn't at the ticket desk, so he did the next best thing and took us to the time share place. They didn't say it was a time share, but as the guy described it I knew that's what it was. They provided lunch and tickets to the show, what they required 3 hours of our time and a MILLION "no"s. The sandwiches were actually really good and after a very long presentation and the major pressure pitch, we finally got out of there. We got back with just a little time to hang out before our show.
No pictures were allowed but I took a couple before the show started, sneakily, so they aren't the best. We had a full medieval meal, which meant no silverware. We had dragon's blood (tomato soup) to start. It was really zesty and smooth.
Pretty, pretty girl.
It was cute, as I was lining up the shot, a person in a passing car rolled down their window and asked if we'd like her to take a picture of both of us. It was so sweet, but since I had pictures a plenty from the previous time, I was good. We wandered all over the grounds and then went looking for a church. It ended up that a single's ward was meeting at a church right next door to the temple, so we went there. Afterwards, Erica took me to the airport and she headed back to Utah. Thankfully, my flight was on time and much quieter leaving Vegas. A great girl's trip, we need to make this an annual thing. Maybe Hawaii next time, or how about a Caribbean cruise, Erica?
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