The Vegas Experience

The month of February brought a wonderful trip to Vegas, courtesy of Darrell's employer.  Neither one of us had ever been to Vegas and honestly had never thought of it for our vacation destination.  But, on Februrary 27th we arrived in Tinsel Town along with our good friends, Derron and Michelle Day.  The airport had slot machines in every direction, limosines were all around and a strip of casinos, one right after the other, for a ten mile radius.  The Mirage delivered everything we had imaged, from VIP service, grand casino rooms and shoppes within the huge resort.  Our hotel must have taken up a whole city block. And it was only one hotel, there were dozens more.  The Bellogio took a 15 minute hike to get from the street to the front entrance.  We watched the fountains expolde to the tip toe tune of the Pink Panther and it was incredible.  The water danced like a cat's tail swaying back and forth. 

We then entered the world of the Blue Man Group at the Venetian (reservations made by our own personal conciege at the Mirage VIP louge).   It was very entertaining.  I enjoyed revisiting this show after so many years.  Their unique interpretation of sound and movement mixed with comedy kept us wowed and in stitches.   Darrell really enjoyed it.

We ventured up in the Stratosphere, similiar to Seattle's space needle, and peeked down at the town below.  We hadn't been sitting for long before we saw something fly by the window.  A few minutes later, it happened again.  People were bungie jumping off the top of the Stratosphere! 

Darrell, of course, had classes to attend during the day and a trade show convention to see but we still were able to share time together, and that was priceless.  
Michelle was the perfect tour guide.  She took me around to all different places including two Ross stores.  We rode the roller coaster on top of New York New York and laughed the entire time. It was a great day. 

We learned on day two that walking the Strip was for the birds and bought a Day Pass for public transit.  Even so, we were still sore by the end of the day from walking across large intersections and from shop to shop. 
We ran into Corey and Tara who were also there for a convention.  Corey skated the Strip, read and relaxed while Tara attended classes.  I think she also was able to find some time to spend enjoying the scene.

On our final day, our friends had told us of their grand stories of gambling winnings from the the final night and I found myself a little green.  So I decided to try the slots at the airport while we waited for our plane to Tulsa to arrive.  Well, I saw those huge, monsterous Star Wars machines and thought of the boys.  How could I pass that up? It was a sign!  I pride myself on being one the few girls that really understands the trilogy.  Let's just say I was feeling the Force.  So I slapped ten dollars in and started punching.  Up and down, I saw my money escaping into that big cyber bank in the Vegas sky and then, a twist of fate.  Darrell suggested a higher and riskier bet.  And the rest, my friends, is history. The machine started ringing and beeping, honking and humming and before I knew it, I was playing a droid matching game that paid me $100.30.  Booyah!  It was a RUSH!   I cashed that ticket in and never looked back.  Well, maybe once or twice... but reason got the best of me, and I decided to be happy with my winnings and not risk another gamble. 

It was a very memorable trip.  Although we may never visit Vegas again, we surely will never forget the incredible time we had there.  Its one for the storybooks. 

You can view more Vegas photos on our Flickr account.  Just go to our link listed to the right of this article.