Oh man, we had so much fun! We wanted to do something big for Joe's fortieth, and his dream is to see North Carolina play at Duke. The tickets were so crazy, we put that on hold and booked Vegas instead. Bellagio, food/drinks, a Vegas show, and a whole lot of poker! Kelly and Ed signed on!
The year of the dog display in the Bellagio.
Our first dinner when we arrived! Outside, but a lot of the heaters were broken and the wind was blustery. So we got a little chilly but the food was good!
Watching the fountains.
Our room was on the 24th floor and we had a huge view of the city and the desert mountains.
The guys hit the poker room and Kelly and I explored the hotel. Everything in Vegas is done up to the nines. Everywhere you look there is beautiful designs and architecture. But we couldn't get enough of the Bellagio fountains! We'd watch one, and then head back in to say hi to the guys, or get a drink, and then we'd head back out in 15 minutes to watch another. We passed hours every night doing that...My fitbit nearly exploded with our steps :)
We really didn't venture too far from our hotel, because, for one, each hotel is like a mile long, and secondly, everything that we needed was in the hotel or just across the street. But the first morning, Kelly and I got up to do a little run down the street, and we got to see a lot of the other hotels.
This is just outside the hotel gym. Gorgeous.
We got breakfast and ate outside near the pools. The guys headed off to play poker and Kelly and I settled in for a good dose of much-needed vitamin D.
All the essentials: including wine in a plastic cup.
We didn't get in the pool, but we did admire it :)
My person. My favorite person.
The Beer Park was the first roof-top bar on the Strip and managed to be right across from our hotel. Perfect place for some wings and burgers.
Elevator mirror selfie. On our way to a Vegas show!
Ok, this O show was really incredible! The acrobats and contortionists and swimmers, all amazing! The only thing it really lacked was beauty. It was lacking that Christian element that we are so used to...and we missed it. But it was certainly something to see people do what they can do.
Took a little late-night walk through the Caesar Forum. I love the fake sky!
The next day we found real sun! Hot sun! We had some pizza and some really yummy drinks!
Haha, we had to get a shot of Kelly at Sephora with a drink in her hand, that's Vegas for ya!
Poolside :)
I actually bought that sweater in Vegas, and I got plenty of use out of it there. It was just lingering around 60 or under the whole time we were there, so warm in the sun, but cool in the shade and wind.
After another afternoon in the sun, Kelly and I headed back to the Beer Park for some happy hour nachos and some diet coke, haha :)
Beautiful.
So this was the second time I sat down in Vegas at a poker table. It is so intimidating, but this particular poker room felt relaxed and the dealers were friendly. There was no hiding that I was a rookie and they were helpful. Last time I sat, I lost my $100, and I think I'd actually been practicing a little leading up to that trip. But this time, I literally had to have Joe review the order of winning hands so I wouldn't forget, just minutes before going in. I planned to play my cards super slow and wait for the good ones. I managed to win a small hand from a crowd of maybe 4 or 5 people because they all just kept checking and I had top pair. So that was kinda fun. After about an hour of play and the blind was coming back around, so I told Joe I was going to do three more hands. The very next hand was an Ace/King. I played with one other guy that just kept checking so I'd bet at it and then he would call me. I was certain that I had the best hand so I went all-in on the turn and he called me.
The board paired up, so I had two pair and I won! I walked away shortly after that with $192 dollars to my original $100.
Let's just say....that was a good time.
We found Kelly and Ed and went looking for In-n-Out. It was on this little side street with blaring dance music...so fun!
The guys headed back to the poker table, and Kelly and I found another happy hour in the hotel bar, that had its herbs just growing right there in pots.
And then the fountains of course. They were so amazing!
I headed to bed with a book, and Joe texted me shortly after to say he was on his way. Forty-five minutes later he arrived. He'd taken an exit out of the casino that dropped him on the highway with no way back to the strip. He had to walk a couple of dark miles around Vegas on the back roads at midnight on a Saturday, till he found his way back to the hotel. Traveling with him is always an adventure, no lie :)
What a fantastic weekend!!
