Vegas baby!

So Thursday morning we left for Vegas! Being responsible we got there 2 hours early, we knew we didn't have to but we were ready to go and didn't want to sit at home any more! We got to the airport about 11:00 am and got thru security by 11:10. Lovely! So we went to the bar to being our vacation! We met a group of 6 shriners and their wives, they had been drinking since 9 am and were going to Vegas too. They were a riot! It was a good, fun start to our trip!
Thursday night we walked to the Rio (walking was a bad idea, but it didn't look as far as it was. So half an hour later, we finally got there!), we ate dinner on the 50th floor. It was awesome to see all the lights. It was a very expensive dinner, but we had a 2 for 1 coupon! :) Yes, we are cheap!
Then we met an older couple who showed us the secret FREE shuttle to Harrah's! Steve was lucky and won $140 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine there! YES! (of course, we lost all that over the next 2 days!)
Here is the Paris hotel! I thought it was so pretty!
We walked down to the new City Center. This place is a city within a city! It is 5 huge hotels and shops. It just opened last month. Just one of the hotels has 23 restaurants in it! All the architecture in this city is unbelievable!

Steve with The King!

Elvis was NOT on our side this weekend. Elvis Enterprises had a show in Ames this weekend that we missed b/c we were in Vegas. There was a Viva Elvis Cirque Du Soliel show in Vegas and they were on vacation this weekend! (what kind of crap is that?) and our favorite cheap bar Bill's Gamblin Hall and Saloon (have you heard of it? Didn't think so!) had an Elvis thing that we missed both Thursday and Friday! We found Bill's Thursday night, they had a sign for live music so we were automatically draw in! Then we found out they had $6 pitchers of beer, most places you get a bottle of beer for $6, we felt like we hit the jackpot with this place! Comfy chairs, live music, cheap beer!

Friday we did some more site-seeing, this is us in front of Caesars Place. This pic was taken by another Iowan! It seems like there were people from Iowa all over!

Friday night we took the bus to downtown for the Fremont Street experience! This was awesome! It was one of our favorite things! The light show on the ceiling is amazing! Everything was cheaper and the talent on the streets was entertaining!

We hit up Mickie Finz for a fishbowl and some time by the fire pit.

Here are some more pictures of Paris!

Saturday Steve entered into a poker tournament, he got 5th place out of 32 which is great but they only paid the first 3 places. Oh well, I'm glad he entered and had fun plus he drank for free while he played (I told you we're cheap!) We did some more walking around and shopping and then we went back to Bills to watch the football playoffs!

That night we met up with our friend Andrea, who was down there for work! We went to New York, New York and watched football at the ESPN Zone and then did some more walking around the south end of the strip!

The picture above is New York New York and the one below is in Caesars Place. I took so many pictures! (and I just realized that I left out the inside of Paris and the fountains at Bellagio! damn, they were fantastic!)

Overall, it was a great trip! It was nice to get away with no worries! Our plane left at 7:10 on Sunday morning....and of course we were there 2 hours early at 5 am. We went to bed a midnight and were up at 4 am. Then Alligient had computer problems so our flight didn't leave until almost 8:30! It was too long to sit in an airport when we were exhausted! Our legs hurt soooo bad from walking so much! We missed Presley like crazy! I missed her more than I thought I would! (and I have training in Tempe for 2 weeks! How in the world am I going to leave her for 2 week?) Steve and I appreciate my parents watching her for us! I know she can be a handful, but Grandma Becky's house is really Presley's second home! She is so happy there and that makes us feel good! I was so happy that she was good for them....and she slept super good for them too! (lucky dogs!)

Anyway....we got home-home about 2:00, which was perfect b/c Presley needed to go down for a nap about 3 (she slept in late, so she was getting a late nap!) so we figured we'd sleep while she did. Finally about 4:15 she stopped talking and crying and fell asleep for a whole 15 minutes! Needless to say, after she went to bed at 7:30, Steve and I were asleep by 8:45.....and we all slept till about 7:30 am! ahhhhh.....

Wow, this post is really long and I still have more to say! Maybe tomorrow!