What Happens in Vegas Doesn't HAVE to Stay in Vegas...

So for the last couple of months me, Alli, Melissa, and and Jenn had all planned on coming to Alli's over President's Day weekend because she lives right outside Vegas and we thought that would be fun. Well, unfortunately Jenn, Miranda, and Leah all weren't able to make it so it ended up just being me Alli and Melissa. We left after classes on Friday and had a 6 hour drive ahead of us. I needed to write a 4 page paper for my Writing 150 class, which I actually finished in the first 2 hours. That made the rest of the drive a little boring. There wasn't really anything to look at. We stopped at Ihop for dinner, and even though it took forever for us to get our food, which even then they screwed up our orders, the food was good and we got into Henderson around 11 or so. I met Alli's family, and they're really great. I feel right at home! Before going to bed Melissa and I came up with a day plan for Vegas for Saturday - which turned out to be awesome.

After a couple hours of sleep Alli, Melissa, and I woke up and ate a delicious apple crisp muffin - you know, the kind from Costco. The delicious kind. Anyway, we reviewed our itinerary for the day and decided to get going around 10:30 or so. We went to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory/Botanical Cactus Garden which is right by her house. That went by really quick but I imagine it's more fun when there's actually workers there that you can see making the chocolate. I got a free sample of the peanut brittle and it was fantastic. I just wasn't willing to drop $40 on a set of 8 pieces. The cactus garden was pretty cool, I'll have pictures loaded up eventually.

Next we went to a mall in Henderson. Not especially exciting, but a part of the adventure none the less.

We were pretty close to this restaurant Alli had raved about called the Elephant Bar, which was in the District. It had an Asian feel to it, and I ended up getting Teriyaki Chicken, but I'm still not sure if it was an Asian restaurant or not. The food was really good though, and so was dessert - apple and blueberry cobbler. A healthy, $22 meal after a $5 tip.

The real beginning of the day began after we left the District and entered the Strip, parking in the MGM parking garage. We walked into the hotel from the garage, and I was immediately blown away. The lights were so bright and EVERYwhere, just in the first couple of steps of the hotel. In the daytime. We made our way for the lion exhibit, but there were only two adult females, annnd they were both sleeping. Didn't even see a yawn. I've never been so close to a lion though, so that was still pretty cool.

The M&M's World was next on the list, but we decided we would just come back to it on our way to Paris from the Silverton Aquarium. We started walking to south towards the much-anticipated mermaid show, meanwhile checking out the Luxor, Excalibur, Four Seasons, and New York New York hotels. After a while of walking we realized that the Silverton was literally another mile away. We turned around. To M&M World!

Literally everything in that store is M&M-related. And super expensive, like the smallest coin purse for $10. Needless to say we didn't buy anything. We did, however, go to the little 3D movie they show upstairs, which was cheesy but still kindof fun. It would've been more enjoyable if the 3D worked for me. Mostly it just hurt my eyes. P.S. there were annoying volleyball girls there. Yikes.

After leaving M&M World we walked up the Strip until we hit Paris and the little Eiffel Tower! Which was actually surprisingly big. I was trying to compare it to the real thing, but it's been a while...all I know is that it was a lot smaller. Still pretty though.

We crossed the street and went inside the Bellagio and walked around a little while, mainly just enjoying the sweet aroma of slot machines and people smoking at blackjack tables until we turned around and headed for Caesar's Palace. We walked through the Forum Shoppes where everything is expensive and stood front row to watch the little fountain/statue show they put on. It was awesome, I got a video of it! I walked to the Nike store to see if - yeah, everything was still expensive. Wasn't ready to drop $120 on a new pair of awesome Nikes. Yet.

After the statues we walked down to the Mirage and Treasure Island to check out the erupting volcano. We thought it would be better to see it across the street, that way we wouldn't have to watch the new stripper show they do during the explosion. It was intense even from across the street, but I would've liked to have been up close just because it was cold outside and even a little heat would have been great.

We started jogging to catch the fountain show in front of the Bellagio. We finally got there, just in time for them to start. It was very, very cool. I wish we would've been right up front, listening to "Remember the Lilies" but it was still a sight. Then a van stopped in front of us and all these relatively attractive girls were staring at us because they were right where the water show was - it was just poor (or not so poor, depending on how you look at it) timing. Except then they started laughing about it and kept looking over and so I had to wave. They tried mouthing something to me but I couldn't understand so I had them fog up the window and write it down. They wrote it really small and backwards, so I couldn't read it. So then they were trying to yell it out the window, but just then the light turned green before I could get it and they drove away and out of my life...I will forever be curious what they were trying to say.

That was the last thing we wanted to do on the strip, so we walked back to the car and drove over to Fremont to check out the light show. We walked underneath the cover where are the lights are and there was some rock band, "Dirty Pair A Dice" I think? playing cover songs, and they weren't half bad. We had about 45 minutes to kill so we kept walking. There was a guy jamming on a tenor, then alto, then soprano saxes. He was legit. P.S. there were people on zip-lines going from the start to end of Fremont street the whole time. It looked exhilarating. With 20 minutes till the show we were walking back towards the sax guy when we saw a crowd around this artist doing spray paint art. He was super talented and pumped out several of these paintings an hour. After he finished the one we saw him start, the light show came on. It was a tribute to the Doors and it was really well done! They played a couple songs and had these very Doors-appropriate lights playing across the cover of the whole street. We started walking back after the lights were done and watched a guy drumming on buckets and pans for a little while before going to the car. Alli and Melissa didn't want tacos from the taco truck by the car, so we left. Even though they were cheap. And probably very tasty. And authentic. Out of a truck.

We stopped at Jack in the Box on the way home and got all filled up on fatty American food before calling it a night. Melissa and I watched Toy Story 3 with Alli's brothers and sister before finally going to bed. Which leaves me in the present.

I loved Vegas. I loved the lights, I loved the sounds of the casinos, I loved the architecture of the hotels and stores. I wasn't a big fan of the million people handing out porn cards, or seeing it on the ground, in shop windows, in newspaper boxes, and on billboards. But, regardless of all that, I still loved it there. People were having a great time. I was having a great time. Most people there were pretty trashy, but we're supposed to love everyone, n'est-ce pas?

Tomorrow we have church, then we might check out the Hoover Dam. I'm pumped. GET IT?! Sorry. It's 3:10 my time and I've been walking around all day. Probably won't get much sleep...not sure what else we'll do tomorrow. Monday we'll leave early afternoon. I have another 3-5 page French paper to write. It's one where you just pick a topic and go to town explaining everything about it. I have NO idea what to write about, which makes things a little difficult. Especially because on Tuesday we have Monday classes. So I'll be in class until 7, then I have to write a draft for the next day. I just pray I'll have a topic in mind by then...I just had an idea to do a mini-biography on Michael Jordan. Thoughts? I suck at picking my own topics.

Well that was my day. I haven't written any songs, surprisingly, but maybe after this weekend I'll have something in mind ;)

Ramblin' Man will be back here some day.