The Animals Know Things.: March 2011

In Caesars Palace by the fountain

I love vacation! This one was no exception! I have been to Vegas twice previously and each experience has been different from the time before. Th first time I was about 10 or 11. Mom worked for the airline and Vegas was trying the "family friendly" vibe. The family traveled with Chuck, Judy and Claire (Fay wasn't alive yet) and made a long weekend out of it riding the rides at the MGM theme park (which no longer exists.)

My next trip to Vegas was in 2006 with my wild and crazy (and wonderful) girlfriends. We were

The night time view from the top of the Stratosphere

all of legal age for drinking and ready to party. So we did. Hard. I remember walking out of the after hours club as the sun was rising out last day there. I have fond memories of that trip. We most definitely lived it up!

I already knew this time was going to be different. For starters the company was different. Adam and I went with my future father-in-law, future brothers-in-law and their girlfriends. Another difference is I'm older. It's amazing how much life can change between the ages of 21 and

After lunch at The Top of the World Cafe

27! I'll just say I can't stay up as late, I can't drink as much and crowds give me anxiety. Like I said before though I love vacation, and this one was no exception.

We flew out of Colorado Springs on Monday evening. After we made it to our hotel (Stratosphere) and got a little settled in we ate at Roxy's Diner at the Stratosphere. The other kids decided to go out exploring. Adam and I went to bed.

Tuesday Adam, Pops (his dad) and I went to the hotel buffet then to Caesars Palace and did some

Daytime view

walking, shopping and window shopping. They have such fancy stores there! I was joking that I didn't know how to act because the fanciest places I'm used to are Dillards and Macy's. Haha! The only place we made purchases was H & M. How I adore H & M! We met up with the others and did some more walking on the strip. We ended up at Denny's that night for Dinner.

On Wednesday Adam, his brother Scot, girlfriend Jamie and I went to The Top of The World Cafe for lunch (which doubled as breakfast.) We got to see the neat view of Vegas from up there as the restaurant slowly rotated to show the 360 degree

view! Next we headed downtown to Freemont St. It was fun seeing all the old places and old signs. Adam and his dad are experienced Vegas go-er's and they have their favorite hot spots to go on Freemont. We headed back to the hotel to get fancied up for Rob's birthday dinner at the Rio's Seafood Buffet. It was sooooo delicious! We had a great time together talking and eating way too much. I think there was an unspoken competition between Adam and Scot on who could fill their baskets with crab, lobster and shrimp shells the highest. I think Scot won. We stayed out for a bit that night and did some more exploring. We walked the strip and went into several different places. While we were in Bally's we crossed paths with Jeffery Graber, a friend from Bethel! I had seen on facebook that he said he was coming and made a comment, jokingly, about us maybe crossing paths. That's exactly what happened.

Thursday was our last full day there. We started the day

Live statue

hanging out at the pool. We played a bean bag version of washers and sat in the hot tub. It was the coolest of all the days we were there, but we HAD to go to the pool. Adam and I stayed in the hot tub while the other crazies played a rousing game of volleyball in the pool. I refused to play and Adam was pretty pleased with that refusal because it was a good excuse for him not to play.
After our time and the pool we headed to Excalibur decked out in St. Patty's green where we purchased tickets for The Tournament of Kings, a dinner show. We hung out around Excalibur until the time of the show. We were again presented with way too much delicious

Toasting at the California

food! The show is set in Medieval times. We were each served soup in a bowl with a handle, no spoon. A Cornish hen, potatoes and broccoli with no fork. We enjoyed the show and cheered for Spain since that was our section. We gave it our all, but it just wasn't enough. We didn't win. Adam and I spent the rest of the night walking around mostly with Pops and visiting casinos. We played some slots and enjoyed the night.

On Friday after sleeping in, it didn't leave us time for much more before we caught the shuttle to the airport. Brother Rob, girlfriend Naomi, Adam and I made one last trip up to the

top of the Stratosphere. The plan was to ride the rides, but we didn't have enough time. We caught the shuttle and headed back to the airport. Our travels home were uneventful and safe.

I was completely exhausted that night and on Saturday. I made myself get out of bed about 11:30 a.m. If I didn't keep moving I was pretty sure I would go back to bed, so I took Adam lunch. Yes, the poor guy had to work the day after we got back. I was so glad I had the weekend to recover! I got all of the laundry done on Sunday and felt like the home was ready for the start of the new week even if my mind and body weren't.

I think I'm finally getting back to my sleep schedule. Now I have to start thinking of all those things I kept putting off until "after Vegas." It's after Vegas now. Time to get busy!