Year 3 - Day 98 - April 7

This is a terrible angle, but there's a lit up baseball stadium out there. Day 2, win 2! Woohoo!

We are home now. We didn't lose any money in Vegas. I played slots and video poker with a $10 and only lost $1.50. However, Mike was playing at the same time and won $30 so we came out ahead, especially with my TV watching money.

Would I go to Vegas again? Maybe. If I did, I'd pack fancier clothes and lay around or explore during the day and use my fancy clothes to get me into the fancier restaurants at night. We ate at good places, but there were places we were dress-coded out of even thinking about. Also, if I went, it would NOT be with children. I was shocked at how many children are around. The gambling is one thing. I mean, to a little kid, slots look the same whether they're at an arcade for tokens or in a casino for money. But the blatent sex that is everywhere is a little much for kids. At least if it's an infant they are oblivious. I can't imagine that 8 year olds don't notice. I'd probably also talk Mike into seeing a couple shows. They're just so expensive and there was nothing we were dying to see. I'd like to see "O" but it was dark while we were there. Plus, I want to see 5 minutes of "O," not a couple hours.  If we go back, we'd use it as a home base, rent a car, and see some stuff further out as well.

But there are other places to see before we go back.

Year 3 - Day 97 - April 6

Another great day. We started our day by walking north to the Venetian/Palazzo complex to hunt down the Emeril sports bar. We found it and watched Orioles Opening Day from these couches:

The whole restaurant/bar is made of couches and coffee tables. Well, the main area. There are also tables, cubbies, and private areas that you can grab. Lots of TVs and lots of sports. Of course since it's an Emeril restaurant, it's New Orleans themed bar food. We had a giant pretzel that was pretty good.

After the Orioles won, we headed ALL THE WAY down the street to Mandalay Bay. We were assisted by the Belliago -> Monte Carlo and Excalibur -> Mandalay Bay trams and took a break at the pub in Monte Carlo. Every resort is pretty cool, but there are definite class differences. We felt really poor at some of the places. :) 

I talked Mike into one last happy hour at Sugar Factory. This time I had another smores and he tried a Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 

They actually put cinnamon toast crunch IN the drink just floating there. Then you can eat it just like you would in a bowl of cereal. Hilarious. Only in Vegas!

Another thing that can only be found in Vegas is an old school video game place. We found a place to use our quarters. (Because none of the slot machines take them!!) Mike played Dig Dug for awhile:

While he did that, I lost money playing Centipede. Then, he beat me in Tetris. Talk about embarrassing. That's one of the only games I'm any good at! It was a lot harder to play with a joystick. That's my excuse. ;)

Year 3 - Day 96 - April 5

Today was awesome. So many fun things happened! First, we decided that we were going to explore things going south today. We wound up at MGM watching sports in their sports book. (Yay! It's baseball season!) While walking through MGM, we got offered the chance to watch a CBS TV pilot and give feedback. Mike wasn't thrilled with the idea, but I was excited. The show was ok, but not fantastic. (My review. Mike hit the 'change the channel' button soon after it started.) My ratings on the computer qualified me to participate in a focus group in the afternoon. We sat around and talked about the show and then they paid me $50 cash! That's way better than gambling. :) In addition to the cash, we both got a folder of coupons just for watching the show. We used our $5 each at Starbucks for a drink, and then I used my CBS store coupon to buy a new shirt:

It made me laugh, and will continue to do so even if people don't get it. :)

After hanging out with my parents for happy hour at a Mexican place, we went out to dinner with one of my oldest friends who just recently moved to Vegas. This is two vacations in a row he's happened to live in the city we've visited. We had Thai and chinese food somewhere in the Aria area which was super pretty and swanky. I like days when I'm never bored!

Year 3 - Day 94 - April 3

Greetings from sunny Las Vegas! Back around Thanksgiving when I realized I had a real spring break this year, we took advantage of a Southwest Airlines sale and got cheap (for these days) tickets to Vegas. We're staying at Paris. The property itself is nicer than where we usually stay on vacation, but the rooms are starting to show their age. However, the price is great so we're happy. When we got here today, we headed up to the Carnagie Deli in the Mirage to eat lunch with my parents. (They're here now too.) We spent some time exploring and I finally got to see a Bellagio water fountain show. (Somehow, I missed it completely last time.)

(It's hard to see, but the fountains are spraying in this picture.) There's our hotel! You can't see our room, because our room looks at the loading dock. I'm guessing you have to pay more than rock bottom prices to get a good view. Tis ok, we're not there much anyway.

We did lots of exploring, including Coca Cola World. They had a great "Soda Around The World" sampler set.

We did not finish them all. The best part was that 14 of the 16 sodas were Jenny friendly! (No caffeine, not diet.) Some were gross, some were ok, and some were fantastic.

After exploring for the afternoon, we went to Sugar Factory (my new favorite restaurant) for dinner. Dinner was fine, but dessert. Wow.

That would be chocolate peanut butter pizza. Holy cow. It was supposed to have strawberry whipped cream on top too, but that sounded suspicious so we went without. It was great. The brownie one looked good too. I'll have to come back someday. :)

Yes, I know I had soda AND dessert today. I love vacation!