Viva Las Vegas

I guess it isn't too hard to see who keeps up with the blog around here since the last time it was updated was before my deployment. I got back last Wednesday, October 1st, and we are all glad that I'm back home now. This week Mel and I went down to Las Vegas since neither of us had been there before. We had a lot of fun and saw some pretty interesting stuff too. It wasn't a bad
drive down (about 6 hours) but I think we'll be flying next time since we can get plane tickets for about $100 or so from SLC to Vegas.

We stayed at the Mirage which was right on the strip across from the Venetian and the Wynn and next to Treasure Island and Ceasars Palace. It was a very nice resort; we got upgraded since they didn't have our room that we wanted to get so that all worked out pretty well for us. We spent a lot of time walking the strip and I think we walked about 20 miles in 2 days, but it was pretty fun to see all the sights. The Bellagio is where they do a water show like the one in this picture a few times each night. It was pretty neat and free, so we really liked it. I have always heard about the cheap buffet's in Vegas, but I don't know where they are because everything we had and saw was very expensive. Buffet's were about $20 per person and restaurants were even more ridiculous; $18 for a salad and $25-$30 for you main course which wasn't anything spectacular. The food was good, but I think we need to learn where to go to get the deals!

All the resorts have a different theme so we spent a lot of time just walking through them and seeing what was in each of them. The Mirage had a Tropical them like being on an island in the South Pacific, the Venetian is all Italy. You can
get gellato's and go on gondola rides or go to the Lladro store. They had one Lladro there for $40,000, we were gonna get it but figured we'd wait until the next trip. Ceaser's Palace is a huge resort that takes up a few blocks and looks like all the building's and amphitheater's from the Romans time. At the Mirage we got to go look at Siegfried and Roy's Tigers and Dolphin Habitat. It was pretty fun, they had a 1 month old dolphin and a couple 2 or 3 month old white tigers we got to see. I don't think they do the Shows with the Tiger's like they used to, at least not that we know of, but they still have them at the hotel for you to go and watch.

We also went to a Cirque Du Soleil show at Treasure Island. They have a bunch of different shows but we went and saw Mystere which was interesting. It was pretty good for the most part but there were a few times it was a little weird to say the least. It was a fun trip but would
probably be more fun with some people who know the area a little better and know where to go for the deals. We played a couple slot machines and spent about $15 dollars (we weren't allowed into the high limit rooms). One my first machine, I put in 25 cents and won $10, so I cashed out immediately. When I came back to the machine after getting my $$ the lady who had been sitting next to me took it over since she thought it was on a roll, but I don't think she got anything. I won about $20 dollars total and Mel lost about $20 so I think we ended up even. Vegas is a fun place to visit for a day or two, but definitely would never want to live there. We were driving in the dessert for hours with absolutely nothing around and then we came over a little hill and there's the city just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere. I didn't win my millions like I had planned so I may have to brush up on my Texas Hold 'Em skills and go win a big tournament in the next couple years while we still out here.