WARNING: Loooooooong Post.
Well, we did it. We finally made it happen. Jon and I planned, saved, and went on a couple's vacation. Our first since our honeymoon almost six years ago. My first time away from Rowan for more than a day, and our first time leaving him without having the other babysit. (Aside from short evening dates obviously.) It was nice. Like a long never ending date. While Vegas wasn't my first choice for a vacation, it was what we could afford, and in the end, the whole point was just to get the heck out of dodge. We also went as a way to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, turning the big 3-0 this year, and to have a little babymoon. I'll be honest, spending four full days in Vegas is a lot- especially when you are working with a shoestring budget and don't drink or gamble. It's a lot when you are 6 1/2 going on 7 months pregnant.
Of course there were plenty of characters along the strip that you could get your picture taken with, but we didn't feel like tipping them. Of course the second we saw Bumblebee we broke out the cash because we knew Rowan would love a picture with daddy and Bumblebee. Rowan's new obsession: Transformers Prime. And I/we were reminded of Rowan all the time while we were there. We would always say, "Oh Rowan would like that." Yes, I missed him- a lot. But no, I would not want to take him to Vegas. Not really the family vacation destination I would choose, but we saw plenty of people there with their young kids- sometimes they were still out and about late at night. Too each his own.
Jon absolutely had to hit up a buffet while we were there. We were running low on cash- we only brought so much with us and we had promised ourselves not to bust out the plastic when we ran out of money. I had found a coupon online for a 2 for the price of 1 buffet. We hoped it would at least be as good, if not a little better, than the Golden Corral, but I can't say it was. I wasn't impressed at all. Luckily we only paid $15 for the two of us. It was even rated #1 for value, but all the food just tasted like garbage that they defrost and reheat. After dinner Jon always wanted to walk, so we headed over to Fremont street. Quite the entertaining place. That is where we saw Michael along with an array of other interesting folk, including a woman with her ginormous boobs hanging out with nipple stars. There was a dj booth, and we probably stood there for a good 15 minutes listening to the music and watching all the drunk people dance. Very amusing.
We headed back to the condo after Fremont street to relax by the pool before calling it a night. I wanted to get in so bad, but was to cheap to buy a swimsuit while there, so I just dipped my legs. I did try on a bathing suit at Target, but me in a bathing suit NOT pregnant is bad enough- pregnant and in a bathing suit- eek!
The only picture we have of the two of us together on this trip. On our way out of town we stopped by the Vegas sign.
It was hard to find shows we could go to without spending all our money, but we were given a 2-4-1 ticket to go see this guy- Mac King. We had to buy two drinks- at $10 a pop to make the coupon valid, but hey still a good price for a show. In the end we paid a bit more to upgrade our tickets, which meant better seats and a 2-4-1 ticket to the buffet in that particular casino, but it still would have cost us $25 to eat at that buffet versus the $15 crap one we ended up going to. The show was good. He's a funny guy. He signed our ticket and Jon got a picture with him.
Course we did lots and lots of walking. Jon isn't much of a sit and relax kind of guy, which is a bit of a bummer because that is basically my kind of vacation. To appease my husband and his need to be stimulated constantly we walked everywhere on the strip, and hit just about every casino. By the end of the day I was beat and had taken tons of potty breaks.
Too cheap to actually pay and go inside the wax museum, but these two were on display outside the entrance, so we took pictures.
And these guys are just inside The Venetian entrance which is where the wax museum is.
My favorite part of the trip was going to the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor. It is the one and only thing I really requested we do on this trip. We were expecting pay $60 for our tickets, but we were able to get them at a discounted price from the condo we stayed at, so we only had to pay like $26. Sweet. I thought it was a really cool exhibit and I liked how they did it. It was really cool- a little surreal- to see artifacts from the ship and it's passengers. Of course we also go to see "the big piece" (yes, that is really what it is called) which was at the very end of the exhibit. Almost hard to believe that you could reach out and touch an actual side of the Titanic- well, if touching were allowed. We also got to see some jewelry that was recovered, which I have to say, were pretty amazing and beautiful pieces. A man's pair of shoes, pants, and socks. Perfume vials- some of which still had perfume in them that you could smell. A bottle of wine- still corked- and full of wine. Lots of dishes from the various 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class kitchens. It was just neat to see actual things from the famous Titanic that we've all heard so much about for so long. I could have spent a long time in there, but it wasn't really Jon's cup of tea. He didn't rush me or anything, but I tried to take my time without being too slow. Oh, and they also had a big ice block that you could touch, and next to it was a sign that told you about how most of the people died from hypothermia not drowning, and that the water was colder than the ice block- and it was extremely cold. They also gave you a passenger ticket at the beginning with a real Titanic passenger's name and a little bit about them. Like the Holocaust museum, you could see if they survived or die. My lady had survived, Jon's had not.
About the closest I will get to New York and Lady Liberty in my lifetime. Nothing like a an upshot to make a pregnant girl feel real huge!
Since we wanted to see shows and had little money to work with we decided to sit through a timeshare sales pitch so we could get up to 90% off tickets of our choosing. Luckily the pitch was only 90 minutes long and the guy taking us on the tour was hungover and wanted to get out of there just as bad as us. Apparently they don't work the regular 9-5 hours, and as soon as he was done with us he got to go home. He asked us from the get go if we were really considering purchasing a timeshare or if we were strictly in it for the gift. We were honest and told him there was no way we could financially afford it at this time. We got a free breakfast out of the thing to. Course the sale guys sits there with you and goes over the numbers while you eat, but whatever. In the end we chose some Cirque Du Soleil tickets. We probably would have preferred seeing "Love," but those still would have cost us $80 after the discount, so we chose to see "Mystere" which was $50 for the two of us. It was a good show. Entertaining enough. We both agreed that some parts dragged a bit and could have been shortened. We thought $50 was a fair price for that particular show, but we're glad we didn't pay anymore than that. Before we went to the show on Wednesday night we decided to use one of our Groupon coupons to an Indian restaurant. OH.MY.WORD. Unfortunately Jon read reviews on this place AFTER he purchased the coupon. We attempted to get our money back and get out of it, but it was too late, so we sucked it up and hoped our experience wouldn't be as bad as other peoples had been. Sadly, the reviews were spot on and we didn't get lucky the night we went. To start off, the place is a hole. We stood at the hostesses counter for a good five minutes before we ever saw an employee. Eventually a lady comes out and motions for us to sit at this table. The chairs are filthy and stained. Everything takes forever- getting menus, getting drinks, having our order taken, and getting the heck out of there as the this girls seems to be doing it all. She is the only host, cashier, and server. Who knows, maybe she was back there cooking too. We pick out what we want fast, but don't get our order taken for probably 10 minutes. Now, all of this might have been kind of funny given how accurate all the reviews were, but not on this night. We got away from the condo later than we wanted and were in a rush to make our 9:30 show. We got to the restaurant around 8, and needed to leave by 9 so we could get back to the strip, find parking, and get to the theater before the show began. It was 9:17 by the time we were sitting down and had menus. We could tell things weren't going to improve and we knew we would be shoveling in our food when and if it ever came. As for the food. We've had better. We ate it as fast as we could and while Jon tried to get our bill paid I went pee cause I knew there wouldn't be time once we got to the casino. And here is where the story gets even better. See the pictures below? When I first read the sign upon entering the bathroom my mind just automatically thought it said "paper towels." Cause I can understand them not wanting paper towels thrown in the toilet. Then I re read the sign. WHAT?! Not that this was a problem as they were completely out of toilet paper anyways. I proceeded to pee and wipe with paper towels and added them to the overflowing garbage can. Then I debated whether or not to even flush the toilet. It was just pee, but given the sign and condition of the overall restaurant I was worried about what might happen if I dare flush. Jon was still waiting at the front while the lady added up our bill on her hand calculator. And it we got one more nice surprise. She added gratuity to the bill. Not just 10% or15%, but the whole 18% gratuity you expect to see on tables of EIGHT or more. Yeah. Maybe we would have discussed this with her had we more time, but we didn't. We paid the bill and got out of there. Luckily we found the parking garage for Treasure Island quick and the casino escalator shot us out right by the theater. Needless to say, we can't wait to add our review about Saffron.
OK, so we had more than just one not so great dining experience, but breakfast at Hash House A Go Go, was AWESOME. The portions were huge and the food delicious. I wanted something sweet, but I also wanted something hearty. We decided to share and it worked out great. We got the waffles and then this chicken dish that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It was really good. Jon loved it. Such a cool mixture of flavors and textures. Plus, the view was nice. It was in the M resort and casino which is on the south south end of the strip. It was even further out than our condo- which was very south. We ate outside on the balcony and it was lovely. The kind of dining experience you would want on a vacation.
Just some random photos. The first night we went to Metro pizza which was a popular pizza place in Vegas. At first Jon ordered us a large, and we immediately questioned that decision. After he saw the size of a large he decided a small would suffice. A small was perfect. Good pizza, but I think Jon thought The Pie still had them beat. And of course it's difficult for Jon to pay more than $5 for any pizza- thank you Little Ceasars for forever making me hear, "We could have gotten ______ pizzas for what we just paid." I told Jon when we left that he would be finding and buying a new pair of shoes while we were in Vegas. His shoes are old and needed to be replaced a long time ago, but he is very picky when it comes to shoes. I have tried numerous times before this to get him into new shoes. Nothing was ever to his satisfaction though. Luckily the outlet mall we went to had a huge Sketchers store- his preferred brand- and he walked away with not one but two pairs of shoes. (Thanks to the B1G1 half off sale) Now I can finally toss his old battered shoes which have been driving me crazy.
Something I did want to try, which I never got to, was a dessert crepe at the Paris casino. It was $10 and Jon just cringed at that. Course it was a good size and we could have shared, but I am married to a man who likes ice-cream, so we had plenty of that while in Vegas. I did convince him once to let me get a $5 gelato while we were out and about, but the rest of the time it was DQ (Groupon) or store bought stuff we took back to the condo.
The weather was pretty great the whole time. It never got too hot. A couple days it was even quite windy which made it pretty perfect. Unfortunately we sat by the pool for maybe an hour one morning and my lower legs got fried. That made for an interesting couple of days of sleeping and walking. I caked on the aloe and tried to not to complain too much. It was nice to get away, but I was ready to come home. Had we been on a cruise or at some exotic beach location I might have been a little more bummed, but on our way out Sunday Jon asked me if I wanted to stop at another outlet mall. I was like, "No! I want to get home!" I was tired of walking. I missed Rowan. And we were out of cash. I can't say window shopping is my thing either. How is that any fun? The whole week I had been telling Jon I wanted to bring a gift home to Rowan, so we stopped in St George for lunch and while were there I ran into Target and grabbed a transformer for him. Optimus Prime is now part of his growing collection, and he's been packing it around for the last 24 hours. Glad he likes it. Now I think we both have our Vegas fix for another 15 years. Well, a quick trip would be OK. I could handle it again for like two days if went strictly for shows and food. I can't say walking around for hours and hours while pregnant is super fun. I thought I would come home all revived, but no. I was exhausted today. Course it didn't help that Rowan woke up about 4 times last night, and aside from that I was already have a restless night. I was awake by 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Rowan was up by 7 am anyways. By 10 am I was a zombie. Thankfully Rowan napped form about 12-4! Hallelujah. I needed it. Anyways, back to reality. Three more months until the baby arrives- I hope we're ready! We both agreed on the vacation that it still seems like a dream. Neither of us can really believe that we're soon going to have two kids. Alright, that's all. If you read all of that, I am impressed.
SOUNDS LIKE A FUN TIME!! I THINK ANY VACATION IN VEGAS REQUIRES A LOT OF WALKING. DID YOU GO TO THE PIRATES SHOW OR CAESARS PALACE? I'LL BET ROWAN WAS GLAD TO HAVE YA BACK . GLAD HE LIKES OPTIMUS!!
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