Aaron and I planned our FIRST EVER trip to Vegas back in Sept and really had no idea what to expect. We spent time talking with friends & family about our upcoming trip, because apparently EVERYONE and their MOM has been to Vegas at least one time in their life. Well everyone expect for Freid. Can you guys believe that, FREID hasn't yet been to Vegas...
We packed up our bags the week of with a ton of Vegas info, tips and tricks rolled up into our sleeves! We had an early morning wake up on Thursday the 6th, BRIGHT AND EARLY! All three of us loaded into the ol' durango and headed to Mom's. We were dropping Avrie off for her extended sleepover with Grandma Ertle and Paul dropped us off at the airport on his way to work. As always it's hard saying bye bye to my little baby girl but taking a picture with her somehow makes it a little bit easier. After a quick pic, a few hugs & kisses we were out the door. Avrie had no problem saying bye to mommy and daddy as we were "going on an airplane"...
[top right: 5:00am is way too early for us night owls!]During our direct 2.5 hour flight- I kept busy reading my Britney issue of In Style magazine and my nook (currently reading The Glass Castle) and Aaron had his ipad. It was fun flying into/over Vegas and after a safe and smooth landing we stepped out of the airport with tense 'brace yourself for the cold shoulders' and then realized that- OH it's kind of nice out! We tend to forget that isn't not cold EVERYWHERE this time of year. It wasn't "cabo hot & sunny" by any means and it was a bit overcast, probably somewhere in the mid 50s, but still refreshing- none the less. We found our way to a cab and headed for the strip! Our cab driver shared some fun inside info for the weekend and also disclosed some of the crazy stuff that he had already experienced that morning... oy!
[we loved flamingo's location, right smack dab in the middle of the strip!]We arrived at the Flamingo sometime around the 10am hour. There was a line to check in- as there always seemed to be. We quickly realized that the doors of Vegas are always revolving. They didn't have a room ready for us quite yet but we checked our bags and proceeded to walk around aimlessly for the next couple of hours.
Before I go any further into the details of our trip I have to remind you that Aaron and I are all about walking anywhere and everywhere to check everything out. At this moment we decided to make it our first mission to find some good food...
[#mouthwatering!]We bounced around from place to place like pinballs learning that the strip was still asleep... and nothing was due to wake up until about 11am. So we decided to just walk until we found anything- at this point we were ABSOLUTELY starving! We ended up at Caesar's Palace's Serendipity 3. This spot was so cute- known for their dessert, but it was breakfast time and the food smelled great! We went with "The Hangover Omelet" served w/ seasoned fried breakfast potatoes. SO GOOD.... so good. I can still taste the pico garnish on the fluffy eggy goodness! yummmmmmmm We paired this delicious breakfast with a Bloody Mary for Aaron and a Mimosa for me- again, so good!
[vegas view: day 1]Eventually we made it back to Flamingo for check in to room 22081. We got our room with a great view. We didn't have a view of the actual Strip but we had a great view of other Vegas scenery- one highlight being The LINQ's 'observation wheel' aka The High Roller. Though it's not yet open, it was fun seeing it lit up at night and thinking about how HUGE this thing is!After moving into our home for the next three days we changed and decided to just keep walking the strip to see what else this big, bright, NOW alive & buzzin' Vegas strip has to offer!
[i loved walking from one world and into the next- just like that!] Imagine us zig zagging in and out of the hotel's and casinos down toward the Venetian. We decided to see a late afternoon magic/comic show at Harrah's. It was pretty fun and worth the free tickets (just needed to buy a drink each). After the show we continued on going only as far as Treasure Island. By this time it was getting a little chilly because it had since rained so we decided to trek back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and our evening on Fremont Street in old downtown Vegas.
[do we look 'fappy' here b/c we TOTALLY were!][["fappy" is a term coined by none other than channing tatum while on ellen... fat & happy = fappy!]]We took a cab to old downtown and again we were STARVING... so nothing sounded good and it was near impossible to focus on finding food. There was SO much going on- lights above our heads, people (weird people) everywhere and lots of music (fun... but not until I was fed!!) hahaha I'm so crabby when I'm hungry. ;) We wondered into The Golden Nugget and were pleased with the ambiance- I think we were both expecting it to be dumpy... it was anything but! It was pretty nice and we stumbled upon an all seafood restaurant the Chart House. All seating surrounds a huge 75,000 gallon fish tank! It was really pretty- so we decided to make this our place to dine. Our server, Paul, was great- the food was excellent! I had a really great glass of red wine (NEW FOR ME) and I loved it! After dinner we found the Shark Tank and the world's Largest Golden Nugget- the two highlights in this hotel. hehe
[fremont street experience]Back outside under the lights we walked to take in the scene all around us. By this time it was seeming pretty late, the plain simple truth was that we were fat and tired, just exhausted! Speaking of which- I would LOVE to cram more of our fun trip into this post but I have to end it here... for now... because... you see.... the next day... is BRITNEY DAY!!! This calls for a little bit of beauty rest and this day also deserves it's very own post which i will dedicate to a Friday day and night spent in Vegas.
[good night vegas, see you in the morning!]
