"VEGAS, Baybeee!" a Las Vegas Travel Page by soccergrrl

My trips to Las Vegas have both been wonderful little unexpected bonuses. My husband's company sent him there for a conference, and he said "Why don't you come along?" Let's see . . .
For the first trip (2003) a room at the Luxor: FREE! Nearly all meals: FREE! 5-day vacation in one of America's most famous playgrounds: PRICELESS!
For the second trip (2004), it was more of the same, except we stayed at the Venetian instead!

I find it helpful, when I look at pages, to know how long a person was in a location and what they saw during that time. How did they fit it all in? If you don't care about that, skip this chapter. ;-) (Oh, and we *didn't* fit it all in . . .)

My husband and I took different flights, so he picked me up at the airport when I arrived at midnight (an hour late) on Sunday night. The general plan was that I would entertain myself during the days while he attended his conference, and we would explore together at night.

On Monday, I spent the morning exploring the area around our hotel, the Luxor. It is situated at the south end of "The Strip" -- Vegas' main drag. I was able to check out Excalibur and the MGM Grand and get some great photos. My bonus was seeing the lions at MGM--I didn't know they had live lions in the casino! I met up with my husband and some software guy bought us, and some of my husband's coworkers, lunch. I spent the afternoon by the Luxor's pool (hey, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it). Monday night yet another software dude bought dinner for a bunch of us. Then we strolled the Strip so my husband could get a feel for the city. We saw the dancing fountains at Bellagio and rode the roller coaster at New York New York.

Tuesday I hopped in the company-paid rental car and headed for the desert west of Vegas. I spent the day in Red Rock Canyon--a spectacular area only about 40 minutes, but a world away, from the Strip. That night, our wedding anniversary, we were treated to dinner at a fantastic Chinese place at Mandalay Bay. That was followed by a beach party at Mandalay Bay that was thrown by one of the conference sponsors. Free drinks, and a free concert by SmashMouth. Very cool. We capped the evening with champagne at the top of the Stratosphere.

On Wednesday, it was back into the car and into the desert for me. I drove an hour or so northwest of town and explored Valley of Fire State Park--easily one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. From the sand and desolation of Nevada wilderness, I returned to an afternoon at the Oasis Spa at the Luxor. This time, instead of walking on rocks I was being rubbed with them. *aaaaaahhhhhhh* I was in the right frame of mind to head out to the Venetian, where we bought our own dinner (oh, the horror!), and then to see Penn & Teller at Rio. There was even time for some blackjack at New York New York and my husband finished the night ahead.

Thursday, my husband played hooky. It was the last morning of the conference and he decided it could wrap up without him. So we drove to Hoover Dam and then I took him to Valley of Fire; my pictures from the day before simply could not do justice to the place. There must be something about those rocks, because when we got back to the city my husband disappeared for a spa afternoon! For our final night, we headed over to "Glitter Gulch"--the "old" part of Vegas--and Fremont Street. Other than the spectacle of light and sound that is the "Fremont Street Experience," and a good restaurant at the Golden Nugget, it was a mostly cheap and tawdry, multiple-city-block tourist trap of the first order. In other words, a fairly fitting way to bid farewell to Sin City. (The final fitting goodbye was my husband losing money at blackjack in the Luxor . . .)

This time we flew out together, from Dulles, and arrived at about 10:30am Monday morning. We were able to check into our hotel, which was nice -- considering it was so early in the day. Then we ventured out to get the lay of the land. We checked out the Venetian's pool and picked up a spa brochure, then went out into the intense heat that had seized the city. We walked for awhile, figuring we'd have lunch at Bellagio. Bellagio was way too crowded, so we ended up eating at the wonderful Mon Ami Gabi in Paris. Thus exercised and fed, we went back to our room and promptly fell asleep. We were awakened at 5:15pm by Mario, knocking on our door to deliver a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne sent by someone from the conference.

We overfilled the champagne bucket with ice and went out to find dinner. But first we visited the Guggenheim exhibit at the Venetian (a two-for-one offer came through on our fax machine, which was pretty cool), then watched the free "pirate" show at Treasure Island -- it was fun Vegas and incredibly cheesy. We ate dinner at Bertolini's at Caesar's Palace and watched another cheesy free show inside their shopping area. Then we headed for our favorite free Vegas attraction, the dancing fountains at Bellagio -- and were rewarded with a number set to a Sinatra tune. Finally, we took in the volcano eruption outside the Mirage before heading back to our room and the bottle of champagne.

Tuesday I got my first fresh Krispy Kremes for breakfast, walked around a little to scout places for dinner, and then spent several hours with a book and some tunes by the pool. Nice! That night we were taken out to dinner at the Wolfgang Puck place, Postrio, at the Venetian. In a word, delicious.

Wednesday I was rudely awakened by a call from my office back in DC, and had to spend a souple of hours doing some work. With hot coffee and a couple of Krispy Kremes, I struggled through it. Then I went to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden at the Mirage. If you like dolphins and cats, you'll like this place. At this point the temperature was topping 100F, so it was necessary to head back to the pool for refreshment. Wednesday night we ate dinner at Onda in the Mirage (a bit out-of-the-way, given some construction going on at the time, but really delicious), and then Dylan played blackjack.

Thursday, our four-year wedding anniversary, we got an early start with a rental car and headed out to Mt. Charleston -- about an hour or so outside the city. We did some hiking, although the trail we chose ended up disappearing into some snow, had lunch, did some more scenic driving, then returned to the city. Our anniversary treat started with a couples riverstone massage at the Venetian's Canyon Ranch Spa. Then it was dinner at Aqua at Bellagio (easily one of the best meals ever) and the 10:30 performance of "O" (which was amazing).

I was on a plane home by 6am Friday morning (in spite of getting to sleep at about 1:30)!