OVERVIEW OF VEGAS

We went right from beautifully freezing Cali to the heat of Vegas. The temperature was around 50-something with wind chill in San Francisco. When we landed in Vegas, it was 100 degrees. Welcome to the desert!

We almost didn't make our flight because it took 45 minutes for them to find our eticket. Some sort of a system problem. We RAN to our gate. When we got there, everyone had already boarded. We literally scanned our ticket and ran up to the plane. In my years of travelling, I've learned that if you HAVE to catch a plane somewhere, things will never go smoothly with the airlines!!

We ran into some of Greg's coworkers on the plane. We're all headed to Vegas for a wedding!! They weren't in Cali for a visit though, they just couldn't get a direct flight to Vegas. What a coincidence! We decided to split a taxi cab to our hotel. Later we discovered the taxi cab overcharged us. FYI, they take advantage of tourists! Our taxi driver definitely took a long way!

HOTEL - CAESAR'S PALACE

All I have to say is WOW! What a beautiful... palace? We stayed at Caesar's since that's where the wedding was. You could literally check-in, and never leave the hotel. Its huge!! Think a million amazing restaurants, tons of dance clubs and bars, tons of gambling/poker, tons of places for a reception, shopping... its endless. Its easy to get lost at first, but eventually it (sortof) starts to make sense.

The room had a beautiful view of the strip. Pretty much one entire wall was all windows. Thank goodness for the thick curtains, because Vegas lights never go out at night!

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL at MGM

After some sort of divine intervention, we made our flight to Vegas and we made it in time to see our show. We went to see Cirque Du Soleil show KA at MGM. A friend recommended we see one of the shows, and it was a great recommendation!! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Its like the circus meets acting... meets art... meets dancing.. meets gymnastics.... and maybe meets Hollywood movie stunts.

Its completely unlike anything we've ever seen. The actors/actresses don't speak, but they dance and act and do all kinds of crazy scenes where they act out events. There's a lot of people swinging from across the room and deathly high heights, acting and running around on tilted platforms that are like 10 stories high (no room for error!) and even a bit of the circus where they had a guys running around in a spinning ride circle thing, then the stood on top and ran on the outside of the circle thing while trying to jump rope. If it sounds confusing, just know that its insane. Whatever they pay those people, its not enough!

Oh, and NO photography. They are not picture friendly! The shows are expensive and its definitely worth the price. I would highly recommend checking out a show when you're in town. Its a must for your bucket list!

SUSHI ROKU

Sushi Roku is in Caesar's Palace. Don't ask me where, because I have no idea how I got there, or how I made it back for that matter! We met up with the bride and a bunch of people attending the wedding. This is the first time I've had a bunch of different types of Sushi, and liked ALL of them. Everything was super impressively made. You know this place has to be good because its SO far away from the casinos. Its a destination spot, and people definitely take the (long) trip to get there!

PURE NIGHT CLUB

The girls broke off and headed off to the clubs! The lines to get in were huge!!! Thank goodness the wedding had VIP passes. We got to walk past the huge lines and get right in. SO fun!

They play a lot of dance music, but it seems really techno-ish. I didn't know a lot of the songs, so that had to be what it was (I'm a huge dance music fan). We had our own table, our hands stamped, and we did some dancing. At like 2am Vegas time.. (ie like an hour before I normally get up for work!) I had to call it a night. I tossed the heals and walked barefoot from the club to the hotel room! What a night!

Greg played poker and got back later than me.. and $500 dollars richer! Woohoo!

PALM RESTAURANT

We woke up too late for breakfast. We almost woke up too late for lunch too! Lunch food at the Palm was really good. I got lobster bisque and a lobster roll. Greg got part of my bisque and his (its really filling!), and crab cakes. Everything was really good and well made. I should just give up on the lobster roll, because no one does the lobster roll like Maine does!

BRAD & AYESHA'S WEDDING

Ayesha's dress was really beautiful. She's from Sri Lanka and found out that's where her dress was made too! The ceremony was beautiful! They don't allow photography, I think its because they want you to use their photographers. I still snapped a few pictures though, I just turned off the flash (shhh!:).

The wedding was held outside not too far away from the pool (which is like the size of a big lake. Its huge.). It was a hot sunny day (only in the 80's though, so not as bad as day#1!) and the reception was completed shaded by trees and the building. It was really beautiful!

I met so many nice new people, Greg has a great bunch of people that work with him! Everyone was a lot of fun to hang out with, and dance with and drink with (Greg did all the drinking, I'm sticking with fruit drinks!). The dancing was fun, although my feet still hurt from the night before... so my dancing mostly lasted less than a song!

After the wedding we headed over to get some pizza!

ROMAINE COURSE

We got a white pizza and an entire cheese pizza! REALLY good pizza and they are open after midnight! We were going to bring some to the newlyweds but they ended up across the street by the time we finished! We decided to call it a night.. or should we say morning?

RAOS

Sitting at the bar eating dinner! We played some poker, which was fun but I didn't win anything! Neither did Greg this time either.. and he's the poker guru! Raos is Italian food. I've been missing east coast pasta! YUM on the mushroom risotto.. Greg got penne vodka :) This was not too far of a walk from the poker room either. You never need to leave the hotel!

FOUNTAINS OF BELLAGIO

We walked over to the Bellagio to see the fountains. We heard a rumor that Doyle Brunson was playing there, and it was true! We walked right into the poker room and took a picture!!! We hurried right back out just incase security decided to toss us! After this we headed outside to see the Fountains of Bellagio. Remember in Oceans 11 when all the guys were standing in front of the big water fountains after robbing the mean guy? That's the Fountains of Bellagio. Its a must see!

The water goes 480 feet in the air and moves to the sound of music. We heard them play "Proud to be an American... because at least I know I'm free..." I'm usually not the emotional type (Ok just kidding), but its impossible not to get completely captured in the moment here. The lights, the water and the music is so captivating. Its really amazingly beautiful.

Its a must see at night, that way you can see the lights in the water and the strip in the background. It huge, and its tough to find a spot to stand. You might have to wait through a song or so to get a good view! This is definitely a must for your bucket list! I would love to go back and see the lights again!

WALKING THE STRIP (not ALL of it!)

Its all lights and night life here! There are bars on every corner (and strip clubs too I think... not that I would know!)

There are SO many people all dressed totally different. I will say Vegas is sortof like Halloween... its a free pass to dress however the heck you want (or with however little you want) and no one will judge you! Literally, anything goes!

We didn't walk all of the strip (its like 4 miles, not happening in these shoes!). We saw a lot of it though. After awhile, it all looks the same, bright lights, tons of people and an insane amount of choices on what to do!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I had a really good time in Vegas! I think 3 days is definitely enough. We got there on Thursday and left on Sunday. There's only so many clubs, gambling and shows you can see before you've had enough. Its a great getaway, and a fab idea for a wedding! I can definitely understand what happened to Britney Spears now!

For anyone that has kids.. leave them AT HOME! Vegas is NOT kid friendly, I don't care what anyone tells you! There is a reason they call Vegas "Sin City!"

If you're looking for a super fun get away with friends, Vegas is your town. The food (and everything!) is super expensive, so don't come expecting not to spend money! Come to party and have a lot of fun, but don't stay more than a few days. Vegas was fun and I would definitely go back eventually!