Viva Las Vegas!

Hello to the blogging world once more. I come to thee again to write a message of joy and happiness, a message of sunshine and palm trees, a message of gambling and neked ladies. Well, perhaps not the last part. (and I spelled it neked on purpose, sounds less dirty)Well, for spring break Dani and I had the joy of going to Las Vegas for a few days for a spring break-graduation-getaway-birthday-surprise kinda deal. It was fun and nice to enjoy the sunshine. But, as all good stories go, let's start from the very beginning. (I hear it is a pretty good place to start)

Dani had to take her written board exams on Tuesday so we made preparations to leave early Wednesday morning. I had to work until 10:00 PM Tuesday night and of course was excited for the trip (I love vacations, especially flying, I think that is half the fun) which made sleep a little tough and getting up at 3:00 AM a little tougher. But, we made it and were on our way to Salt Lake City International Airport. The drive was good, dark and a little snowy. It was especially dark for Dani, WHO SLEPT ALMOST THE WHOLE WAY. So much for being my wingman, Goose. That was OK though, she'd had an all day test on Tuesday. Well, we arrived and parked in the expansive economy parking which seemed to go on for eternity.
"Where, is the airport?" Dani would ask.

"See that big building waaay down there?" I would say.
"Yes."
"Well, that is the parking garage....the airport is hiding a ways behind that."
"Oh."
Luckily, they have a nice and timely bus that will pick you up and take you to the terminal. Dani got a little card which marked the spot we parked at and we boarded the bus. Keep in mind this was the ONE thing she would be in charge of for the whole trip, this will come into play later. Anyway, the bus arrived at the terminal, we picked up our one gym bag (cuts on costs, Delta charges for checked luggage, should have gone SouthWest, sorry dad.) gathered our magazines, and headed for the bag check. Everything went smooth and we were soon on the way up to security. The line was not too long and we made it through in good time. Dani was prepared and put here small lotions and creams in the zip lock baggies for individual checking. They were Hefty zip lock bags if I remember, no wonder airlines are loosing money, those are some quality bags for one time use.
"Hang on to that, its a good bag." I would say.
"Don't I know it." Dani would reply.
"That's why I love you." Was my response.

Security went well, they have some new machine that you stand on in a precise manner and then it spins around you to check for metal, drugs, pocket knives, explosives, small weapons of mass destruction, Sanjaya CDs, and pocket lint. (I was nervous about the last one, alright the last two) However, the alternative was a thorough pat down. Considering the person who would be administering said pat down, an older lady who you just know has a firm grip and cold hands, I opted for the cool Star Trek teleporter looking machine. The machine had painted shoe prints so that you would stand correctly and it could get an accurate scan. This I didn't mind, it made sense to me. The funny thing was that after you step out of the machine they have two door mats with the same shoe prints. These are just regular mats and I'm pretty sure served no purpose. However, with the stress of security and all, everyone would step out of the scanner and assume the same John Wayne position as they waited to know if it had cleared them. I found this humorous but wasn't about to break protocol and thus moseyed my way from scanner, to door mat, to door mat. Dani had the same experience but we were cleared, I had my Sanjaya CD's and all was good.

Nothing much while waiting for the plane, the usual sitting around and looking at shops. Our Boeing 757 arrived on time and we were on the way at 8:25. By this point I was giddy and excited to fly. Dani, on the other hand, was a little nervous. But, we were both excited to leave the worries of school, jobs, and cold weather behind us. We got our position on the runway, the seatbelt and no smoking signs were lit, our trays and seats were in the upright and locked position...3...2...1...Full throttle. Man what a fun time! Not too much to say about the flight, it was a short jaunt a little more than an hour. The plane pretty much has time to get to a comfortable 30,000 feet and then comes back down. Dani got a little sick on the way down, but didn't want me to say much, so I won't. It wasn't that bad, she throws up very cleanly. The way I throw up, I would have blown a hole out the bottom of those little bags. Like a fire hose.

We landed and it was a nice sunshiny morning, plus we had lost almost no time on the flight because of the time change. We decided to stop and get something to eat since it had been 5 hours since our previous meal. Gotta love overpriced food in the airport! After taking out a second mortgage on our home we found ourselves eating a personal pan pizza and 3 bread sticks. (Just kidding, we have no home, but it was pricey) We then proceeded to get our one gym bag stuffed to the brim and head out to catch a bus to the Luxor.
With the package deal we got, it included bus transfer to and from the hotel and the airport. This went well, driving in Vegas can be a little crazy, but we made it to the hotel in one piece. Check in wasn't until 3:00 and it was only about 9:30, I believe, so we stopped at the bellhop and checked in our gym bag. We were then free to roam about the strip.

We first walked around our hotel and were immediately hounded by people offering free tickets and food vouchers. Of course to get these you must attend a two hour meeting where they try to sign you up for a condo or something. Dani and I soon found a good way to avoid these people though, don't hold hands. Yes, it may seem a steep price to pay in order to avoid some hassling salesman, but it is only for a short while and we found they completely avoided you if they thought you were single. This paid off greatly as we ran into these people in every hotel and on every corner.We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the casino and slot machines and went over to Mandalay Bay. I love that hotel, everywhere you go smells like a pina colada. That and they have the shark reef which is awesome. We walked the strip and did the usual stuff, I have posted some pictures below...

This was in the Bellagio Conservatory, they had a Japanese spring garden theme. Smelled good, looked good, was good.

This is another one from the conservatory (Clue keeps coming to mind each time I write that). It is a snail made out of roses.

This is another from Bellagio, this is the fountain lake, they were doing maintenance on it that day. It is here I discovered my life's purpose. To become a scuba diver that does maintenance on the lake and fountains. They had this cool make shift looking ship of scrap metal that was only missing a pirates flag. They would turn certain pumps on, then jump overboard and check for problems. It seemed they had a good time. These ducks seemed to be enjoying the lake on a hot day as well. Quack! Quack!

And here is one of the maintenance people chasing the ducks. (Paddle little guys! Paddle Fast!)

We got done with the sight seeing and it was time to check in. We went to the bellhop and he retrieved our bags I tipped him a big Mr. Washington (because I'm such a high roller) and we proceeded to check in and go to our room. The room was nice and comfortable, it felt good to put our feet up and relax. That evening we met my sister and her husband at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was fun and tasty, we sang happy birthday to many strangers and even danced to the YMCA. A picture follows...

Gotta Love the Neon Lights!

The rest of the trip was fun, we lounged by the pool and did some more sightseeing. Thursday evening we went to The Phantom of the Opera. (Dun dun, Dun duuun, Dun duun, Dun dun, Dun duuun) It was fun and a really good show. The music is still stuck in my head 2 weeks later and won't leave, nor do I want it to. Again, more pictures...

This is the sign leading to the theater.

This is the chandelier in the theater that Dani wasn't supposed to take pictures in and was reprimanded, though very politely, for it.

Here are a couple of lazy lions at the MGM Grand we saw while doing our walking.

Here is the volcano/waterfall in front of the Mirage. It was too windy to do a show. Otherwise, my next picture would be of it exploding and the caption would read "and here is said volcano/waterfall ON FIRE!!" Would have been super cool.

Instead, here is said waterfall/volcano with Beauty and the Beast in front of it. (I'll let you decide who is who, but if you say my wife is a beast I will hurt you. Unless it is a sexy beast, in that case, who can argue)


Overall the trip was fun and well worth it. When it was time to leave we boarded our shuttle bus from the hotel back to the airport, except they had overbooked and we had to cram on the bus. It was a cozy experience. Things went well at the airport, plane was delayed a little but no worries. Dani didn't get sick at all on the way back and I was still a giddy little boy on the flight. We got to Salt Lake City about 10:00 PM and caught another shuttle to our car, or so we thought. Remember Dani was in charge of one thing, I handled the plane tickets, the show tickets, the bus passes, the monorail passes, the room keys, etc. and what did she have? The car location. Well I trusted her and we got off at the first stop. To our dismay this was not where the car was, we were at stop #1 in the first zone, we wanted stop #4 in the first zone if I recall. But that is OK we had a brisk jog to renew our tired bodies and eventually found the car. Of course on the way home I missed our exit and ended up in some random part of town trying to figure out how to go the opposite direction. But, we made it through that as well. The trip was fun and relaxing but it is always nice to come home, especially to this....

OK, maybe not after you have been lounging by a pool and enjoying the sun. I should have taken the picture a little later, it got much worse. Ahh...Idaho. Gotta love it!