Viva Las Vegas!!

I will post a lot more pics once I sort through them, so consider this Vegas post #1!

I arrived Tuesday evening after what seemed like a short flight and headed to the hotel, Flamingo, where our conference was being held. I checked in and after a quick room change {and upgrade, ehem}, I decided to order room service for dinner, shower, and hit the hay early...ya, that didn't happen. I stayed up watching Biggest Loser until 11 :) I had three long days of training, training training. I met a lot of great people, got to chat with the need-to-knows of my profession, and even managed to learn a few things {a lot of things}.

I will tell ya, those people sure do know how to throw a training session. We went to Treasure Island to see Mystere by Cirque Du Soleil on Wednesday and then ate at a traditional Vegas buffet, compliments of Jacobs. Both were awesome. Thursday night, we went as a group to eat at Le Provencal inside the Paris hotel. That place is so cool; the Eiffel Tower bursts right through the ceiling and there are cobblestone streets and every sign is in French. It was great! We walked around Vegas that night to take in some of the sights and then call it a night.

Friday couldn't come fast enough. Troy met me at our hotel, Aria, and we hit the ground running. Let me start by saying that our hotel room was the shiz. We upgraded for a 'strip view' and it was worth it! The whole hotel is very modern {which equals very clean in my eyes} and is perfect for a young crowd, without that drunken college student feel of the Palms or something. Everything about our room rocked, especially the giant remote that controlled everything from the lights to the curtains, TV, music, alarm clock, privacy 'sign' on the door, and even check out! Needless to say, we will be staying there again.

We ate at a restaurant we saw on an episode of Top Chef, Aureole, inside Mandalay Bay. It was beautiful and the food was devine. The best part was the wine 'cellar' which towered over the restaurant. Two 'wine angels' traverse the cellar on bungee cords to get the wine bottles and it was so cool to watch. After dinner, we headed to the MGM to see Cirque du Soleil's KA. IT. WAS. AWESOME. Absolutely wonderful. We loved it! We were eight rows back and had an amazing view of the hollywood-esque stage. You seriously must see KA if you get the chance.

We walked around the Strip toward the Bellagio, taking in the sights {snapping photos - me} on our way to meet Troy's cousin Jovefor drinks. It was great to chat with her and kick back a little bit before heading back to Aria for some much needed Zzzzzz. While at the Bellagio, we checked out the wonderfully designed and sinfully aromatic botanical garden, and stood under the Chihuly glass sculpture mosaic as hotel-goers and gamblers buzzed by us.

Those who know us know that we never seem to travel in a relaxation mode. No matter where we are, with the exception of our honeymoon of course, we always seem to form a strict agenda and end up running ourselves completely out of energy by the time it is all said and done. We started at New York New York on Saturday after a yummy Spanish lunch. We rode the rollercoaster there and had some food from the famous Nathan's {as in Nathan's Famous Hotdogs}. We spent the rest of the day checking out every casino from the MGM to Paris, The Venetian, Bellagio, Mirage and everything in between.

One of the coolest things we did that day was see the *free* lion exhibit at the MGM. The lions were humongous - one male and one female! Their exhibit was awesome and they played around just like house cats, batting around balls weighing dozens of pounds and encouraging the pats of their handlers. It was so cool watching them lounge, climb the rocks in their habitat, and eat meat chunks off of the glass wall so we could see their giant teeth!

After shopping around and walking for what seemed like miles {and probably was}, we went back to Aria to wash up, take a power nap, and head down to the casino for a bit of gambling. After a very successful {in my eyes} stint at the roulette tables {I bet and landed on 00!}, we cashed out and headed toward the slots, where Troy seems to kick major butt. As we traded chips for cash, one of the pit bosses for the craps floor came over to us. "Are you guys together? What do you have going on tonight? Nothing? Well I have two floor seat tickets to the Eagles concert tonight at the MGM. My wife won't be able to make it and we don't want them to go to waste. Hurry up and finish your drinks and head to the taxi line. Tell the cabbie to rush and drop you off right out front. The concert starts in five minutes!" With much surprise, and a bit of confusion, we did as the man said and hopped in a taxi to the MGM. The pit boss came through - those seats were killer! Talk about luck! We were like 20 rows back, center stage. The music was awesome but the fans were even better. I don't think any were unde the age of 30 but they had the best energy. It was hilarious!

After over three hours at the concert, we ducked out and headed back to Aria for another run at roulette {ya, I know...we tested our luck...}. We weren't as fortunate the second go around and decided to call it a night at about 2 {our flight left at 630 the next morning!}. All in all, Vegas was great, a trip of a lifetime. I really enjoyed it, and we will definitely be going back.