Last Vegas Pictures and Vacation Wrap Up

(Susan here) Well, we're back in sunny (and HOT) Orlando. As you can tell, we had a fantastic time in Vegas and can't wait to go back. We are already looking at hotel rooms and packages for our next trip.

After the Grand Canyon trip, Marshall really wanted to cruise up the strip in the convertible. It was chilly and the traffic was insane, but it was really cool to see the lights at night. We ate a phenomenal meal at Wofgang Puck's that evening, and then rested up for our last day.

We woke up early and hit up the buffet at Rio. The sheer amount of food and number of choices were overwhelming. It wasn't the most impressive meal in the world, but it was all good quality and fueled us up for the final push. And we got our Vegas buffet experience! I think we waddled out of the hotel because we were so full.

We spent the rest of the day trekking around the central strip, visiting our favorite casinos. Thankfully, the wind died down and we were able to catch the volcano at Mirage and 3 Bellagio fountain shows. We were big fans! (The midnight finale was The Star Spangled Banner - very cool.) Most of the day was spent at Harrah's and Paris, specifically at the Mississippi Stud tables. We found our game and had a whole lot of fun with it. Wayne the dealer (at Paris) was a highlight; he kept us laughing the entire night. We didn't get back to our hotel until around 5am, just in time to catch a gorgeous sunrise over the mountains.

We woke up early on our last morning, planning to have a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport. Instead, we grabbed coffee and cabbed over to Harrah's for one final bit gambling at our Mississippi Stud table. We have the bug! I ended my stint with a hundred dollar hand of blackjack, just to say I did it. Well, she dealt me a 21! What a way to end the trip. We also played some slots in airport before our flight. I love this town!

Here's the sign that blew away due to the intense wind.

In front of my favorite casino. Well, that was before I visited Paris!

We saw a bunch of celebrity impersonators on the Strip. This guy looked just like Samuel L. Jackson and was very cool to chat with.

The volcano at Mirage was more impressive than I expected. There was fire! And smoke!

The absolutely gorgeous Bellagio. We caught multiple fountain shows. Loved them.

No trip to Vegas is complete without a picture of Elvis! Notice my matching glasses. :)

5:30am Finally back at the hotel. About to watch the sunrise. Saw the volcano at the Mirage and a couple fountain shows at Bellagio. Played some more Mississippi Stud and did very well. Leaving later today.

Suz just won $2400 playing Mississippi Stud.

Just took on the buffet at The Rio. I think the buffet won.

Las Vegas Day Four With Grand Canyon Trip

Wow big day yesterday. Took a road trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. You can see the first picture where we started out with slightly cool but clear blue skies. We were shocked as the day wore on with what happened to the weather. We had planned about five hours to the south rim of the canyon. Went ahead and stopped at Hoover Dam and took one of the tours so we could see inside of the dam a little bit. We both loved it. Drove on a pretty long stretch of Route 66 through interesting weather. What was most shocking about the day was how the scenery kept changing. We went from desert to a national forest, through mountains and then back to flat desert. Very strange.

The Grand Canyon was well worth the extra effort. I've seen many pictures but it's just not the same, you have to see it. Beautiful scenery however I can't imagine the park in the summer time with so many people around. It seems too crowded now.

Back in Vegas we cleaned up, changed and went out to get some food. Played a little Three Card Poker at MGM Grand and then back to our hotel for a few hands of Blackjack.

Picture of us at Lake Mead.

So we didn't rent the Ford Escort for the day. Went with the Mustang Convertible. Can't say enough about this car, driving it was wonderful. As we will see later, didn't get as much use out of having the top down.

Suz and I down in the generator room at the dam.

Again, overlooking the dam.

After we got to Kingman, AZ we turned onto Rte. 66. Very pretty drive.

Old looking store with a bunch of cool old signs.

So we had to put the top up. There is one of our pics of us driving through the snow. Temp had dropped to about 31 degrees by this point.

Snow easing up a bit enough for us to get out and get a good pic of us at the park sign.

I took a little detour to go out and get this picture, Susan stayed back and took this cool photo.

Nice backdrop.

Hoover Dam at night. Evern better looking than daytime.

Snapped my own picture of the Las Vegas sign.

Crossing the Strip working our way back to the hotel.

This guy laying in the elevator might have had one too many.

The MGM Grand at night. I'm a big fan of this hotel but I'm not sure Susan is, we'll have to see where we end up on our next trip.

Time to get up and do it again.

Marshall (Susan still sleeping)

Currently in arizona. It's snowing. Isn't this the desert?

Made it to Kingman, AZ. Half way to the canyon.

Just stopped at Hoover Dam and took the dam tour. Back in the mustang convertable and off to the grand canyon.

Las Vegas Day Three

(Susan posting today) Well, I learned something new about the desert. Not only is the wind pretty intense, but it actually gets cold here. Holy moly, was it windy last night! We walked through what we thought was a bit of a sandstorm last night, though I'm sure the locals would scoff at us.

Yesterday was a lot of fun, though quite tiring. A few nights of little sleep really starting catching up with us (Marshall here: I'm fine). However, we're up early again today; we can sleep when we get home! We got a monorail pass and explored more casinos, sat in as a focus group for a terrible CBS preview show (please don't air it!), and eventually got lost in one of the casinos. We actually had to ask a waitress where we were - apparently the Venetian and Palazzo are linked - who knew? Also, we've discovered the trick with the monorail. They're located so you have to go through the casino and get sidetracked along the way. We keep doing this and ending up at a table or slot. Smart Vegas designers. We've been really enjoying the gambling and sites, meeting new people while playing Keno or Blackjack and just chatting up the dealers. They're a lot friendlier than I expected. Overall, I love this town and am already planning a trip back!!!

Starting an absolutely gorgeous day! And I did finally succumb to a Starbucks. They're in every single hotel.

The Lions at MGM Grand are pretty impressive and you get up so close. There are about 40 at a ranch outside of town; they only bring a couple over for a few hours every day. Beautiful animals.

Oh, and they chew on bones like they're candy.

We've been too busy to even notice missing lunch. Sometime a Ghiardelli sundae in the middle of the afternoon is the perfect meal.

It was so windy last night, the side of that sign blew off. Crazy!

Happy as a clam and about to hit up the Venetian. fyi, the Venetian stinks quite strongly of perfume. It was so bad that we couldn't even play in the casino.

This was the incredible view from the top of the Stratosphere. We hit up the Sahara for a bit and braved a little sandstorm to get to in the restaurant. My filet was outstanding! We're soooo glad we didn't stay here (location was farther than we would have enjoyed), but the view was worth the trip up. And we saw a pretty interesting wedding party up top (read: quite the rednecks, but they were having a good time) and then narrowly missed being pulled into a crazy fight at the exit. Ah, Vegas.

Luxor at night. You can see the light so well due to the sand particles in the air.

Walked through a sandstorm to get to the Stratosphere. Having dinner at the Top of the World restuarant.

Where are we? Which way is out. Questions we keep wondering. Just managed to go from one casino to another and didn't realize we changed places.

Ghiradelli hot brownie sundae. Yes please!

Here's a tip. Don't sign up to watch a TV show for 44 minutes that you know nothing about. By the way CBS is working on a new cheesy court room drama.

We're about to screen a new show for CBS. We get to watch a brand new show and tell them about it.

Las Vegas Day Two

So the big news from yesterday was The Price is Right Live. This isn't the TV show, but it's just like it. All the same games Plinko, The Big Wheel, etc. They take your picture against a green screen before the show and give you the souvenir photo. Anyway, we were about part way through the show and they call Susan's name to win 1000 players points at Bally's. We were happy enough about that, but it comes time to call the two players to go play the showcase showdown and they call her name again. They take her and the other girl backstage for a bit and when the curtains open again they are up there at the little showcase showdown podiums. The showcase was a blender, a snow blower (I was thinking what would we do with that in Orlando), a cruise to Mexico and, "A New Car!!"  They each bid on the same showcase (different from the real show) and you actually only win one of the prizes in the showcase. Unless you come within $100 of the actual price then you win it all. Anyway the other girl over bid and Susan won. At the time though I hadn't been listening to the rules and though she won the whole thing including the car. As I said already, traded the cruise in for $300 because we would have had to fly to LA to get on the cruise.

Susan also wanted her picture taken with the girls above. They were called the "Rink Rats" a girls hockey team from Canada, in town for a tournament or something. They were really funny. One of the girls got called for a game and she was so excited she couldn't speak.

Big day of walking around, on our way up the strip from Luxor to Bally's for Price is Right, we say a sign at the Monte Carlo to take the tram to the Bellagio. Needless to say the walk through the casino took us past enough tables to finally stop and play. About 1 1/2 hr later we were finally waiting to get on the tram.

After making it to the Bellagio, we passed a chocolate store with the world's largest chocolate fountain. The hotel is beautiful and everything looks wonderful there.

They have a conservatory in the hotel. All the plants in the photo are real of course, the room smells wonderful. Played a few games at the Bellagio and then moved on to the game show.

After the game show, we crossed the street to Caesar's Palace and did some damage there. Susan did damage to Caesar's and they got me. I did get to play in my first Vegas poker tournament though, had a great hand pocket Kings, and practically doubled my money on that hand. The very next hand, I get pocket kings again except this time the guy to my right has pocket Ace's. That was pretty much it for me, a few hands later I was out.

From Caesar's we took a cab ride up to Fremont St. the old Vegas section. The overhead light show was really cool, all these moving lights and designs set to music. The casino's there really feel like it's the old west or something. Some kind of cross between quaint, old and trashy. Cheep though, Susan played some 50 cent roulette, learned how to throw the dice at the craps table up there. Had a midnight meal to fill us up again.

Susan's mom wanted us to go play some slots at the Golden Goose. Sorry, if you look closely the Golden Goose is now a strip club. 

Susan posing with the worlds largest Golden Nugget. We missed our chance at Binion's to take our picture with a million dollars. Maybe we'll get back up that way again.

Susan is about out of the shower. Time to get rolling again, the general plan today is MGM Grand maybe the Venetian hopefully the fountain show at the Bellagio if the wind is better today and maybe tonight the Stratosphere. Thanks for reading along.

Marshall and Susan

Midnight in Vegas. Took a cab to Fremont St. At Binions Casino. Missed our chance to take our picture with a million dollars. They just closed.

Playing in my first Vegas poker tournament. Susan is probably raking in the dough somewhere. She's in love with Las Vegas.

Cruise left from LA. Didn't include airfare. She took $ 300 cash instead.

She just won a cruise to Mexico!!

She just won! Don't know the prize yet.

Susan is in the Showcase Showdown!

Walked through Excaliber, Monte Carlo, Bellagio now playing some live Keno at Bally's. Waiting to go in to the Price Is Right show.

Las Vegas Day One

Awoke this morning to this view from our hotel room. Not too bad.

Still recovering from the late night last night. Susan won $100 at the Blackjack table, I lost $100 at Three Card Poker. Had lots of fun at the Roulette Wheel but didn't win much there. The cocktail service here is plentiful, especially for late on a Monday night. We're off to find some breakfast now, so many places to choose from. Susan keeps using some word called nap...but I'm not sure what that means. We're going to the live Price Is Right show at Bally's wish us luck, we're ready to "Come On Down!!".

Susan's last minute money grab.

My view from my airplane window. Thanks American Airlines.

Arriving at the airport.

Off too breakfast now, will post some more later.

Susan and Marshall

Got a nice room on the 27th floor overlooking the airport and the strip. Won $100 while waiting for the room to be clean. Susan is going to change and then we're off to Mandalay Bay.

Viva Las Vegas!

Off to Vegas. Wait till you see my view on the plane. A closeup of the engine.

On the ground in Dallas. Off to find the airport bar.

On the plane. Off to Dallas.

Had to start asking for the manager but we got our boarding passes. Not having warm fuzzy feelings toward American Airlines right now.

Made it through security. Waiting for a seat assignment on our overbooked flight.

On our way to the airport.

T-24hrs and Counting

Less than 24 hours to go now. Made our last run to Walgreen's and doing our packing now. Drop the kitty off at the kitty hotel tomorrow and then we're off. Stay tuned for the live updates as we go.

The $20 Trick??

In the course of our pre trip research we have stumbled upon something called the $20 trick. Have you heard of this, we haven't (Susan says I'm supposed to use the word hadn't here something about grammar).

Allegedly, if we tuck a 20 between the driver's license and the credit card when we check in and ask about the possibility of an upgrade you often receive a large free upgrade in your hotel room.
If nothing else maybe we'll get a great view of the strip or something higher up in the Pyramid. We are hoping for the Spa Suite in the pyramid though. Wish us luck.

Travel Advisor has some posts about this: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g45963-i10-k161662-20_dollar_trick_an_urban_myth-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html

Also read a great story online tonight about some lady who refused to have her seat kicked by an unruly child all the way to Las Vegas: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/04/07/20100407southwest-woman-grabs-child-abrk0407.html

A couple of pre-trip purchases as well, a memory card reader so I can download pictures to my computer at the end of the day and one of the tripods with the bendable legs so we can take self portraits.

Changed Our Hotel Already

So after talking to a couple of people and reading some reviews, we decided that staying at the Stratosphere was too far away from the action. Also we kept reading about the throngs of "package" deal tourists at the Stratosphere. I guess we are included in that list of package tourists too. So for only $50 more we called Expedia and changed our hotel to the Luxor. Egypt here we come! A little bit closer to the strip and it looks like the Luxor is connected by a tram to some of the other hotels.

FYI Expedia is experiencing heavy delays due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Is that secret code for we don't have enough telephone operators?

Vacation Planning

We just locked our first plans in place. Going to drive to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon on my birthday which is April 29th. We are going to rent this to get there.

Vacation Planning

So Susan and I are taking our first big vacation together. And we are heading out to Las Vegas, NV.

Departing on April 26th at 5:20pm and returning on May 2nd at 6:18am. We are in the planning stages right now and would appreciate any input you veterans might have.

Also, I'm planning on trying to blog a little bit about our trip with pictures and such...why you might ask, just for fun.

Keep watching.