We had quite the time in Vegas last week! We arrived Thursday evening and it was hot! The best way to describe the Vegas heat would be similar to those big heat lamps that you find on a restaurant patio. It feels just like you are standing under one. It was so dry though that we never broke a sweat. During the day it was 107 degrees, 9 pm was still sitting at 100 degrees, and I don’t think throughout the night it dipped much below 90. I thought it felt great!
The first night we got there we went to this Mexican restaurant and they so happened to have a burrito challenge on their menu. Well of course Aaron had to prove to the guys that he could eat this massive burrito. He pulls it down in 15 minutes. It was hilarious watching him eat this burrito in record time. The wait staff was impressed; they had never seen anyone eat it as fast as he did. The reward for this challenge was a t-shirt that said something like ‘I ate the vegas burrito’ but they were all out of them so they gave him this gross dusty ball cap. Hilarious!
 |
| The massive burrito challenge! |
 |
| Aaron with his prized ball cap and Sylvia, our waitress |
Afterwards we walked thru the MGM Grand Casino as well as across the street at New York, New York. I didn’t gamble much but had fun watching them gamble. We got back to our hotel room at 4:30 am! So easy to lose hours in the casinos! So basically since we got there that day, most of us had been up for 24 hours since Iowa time it was 6:30 am.
 |
| MGM Grand Hotel and Casino |
 |
| New York New York Hotel and Casino (right across from MGM) |
Saturday we woke up with just over 4 hours of sleep. We felt pretty good. One thing I notice is that in Vegas it’s hard to get tired. I think we were all running on adrenaline the entire time. So we got ready and headed down to the pool. MGM is huge, you could stay at the hotel the entire time and never leave there is so much to do in these massive hotels. The pool was just as big, I felt as if I was entering a water park. They have this awesome lazy river that was basically just a big party, lots of people partying at the pool. The lazy river was the highlight of our entire trip. Everyone was so friendly and happy. I ended up meeting some girls from L.A. and hanging out with them quite a bit both Friday and Saturday. Really going with guys wasn’t that big of a deal because we made plenty of friends and ended up hanging out with these new friends for quite a bit on both days.
 |
| Lazy River MGM Grand Pool Complex |
 |
| Hayden, Mark, Erin and Aaron |
 |
| with our L.A. friends, Natalia and Katherine on the ends are the two I mostly hung out with |
After a full day taking jello shots at the pool, we headed up to get ready for our dinner reservations. We headed to the Venetian for dinner at TAO. Similar to a PF Changs just a bit more pricey. FYI, everything in Vegas is EXPENSIVE! If you want a margarita at the pool, expect to pay $23 per each drink. It’s ridiculous how much we ended up spending just at the pool alone!
 |
| The Venetian Hotel and Casino-- beautiful place! |
 |
| TAO Restaurant |
After dinner we walked the strip all the way back to MGM, this took hours. The strip is huge and we made stops along the way. Walking the strip was very entertaining. Bellagio Fountain show was really cool, far better than I was expecting. Lots of street performers. This one in particular we died laughing, there was a chiwawa dog sitting in a guitar case, sitting on his back upright, with his arm chillin’ on the case wearing glasses and a hat. This was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen! This dog was just chillin, so many people taking his picture and he is acting so cool like not even bothered by all the people. We stood there watching this dog and just cracking up at how funny it was!
 |
| Mark tipping the awesome dog |
 |
| What dog sits on his back, hangs his arm off the case, wears glasses, and a red hat? The coolest dog in the world does! |
 |
| I got down close to the dog and then got scared by his coolness so I was running away |
 |
| Bellagio Fountain Show |
 |
| We stuck around for 2 different shows, this is so neat in person |
The strip was fun to walk! So much to see, it’s like sensory overload there is so much to look at! Once we got back to the MGM, we gambled the night away. I was watching Hayden play Roulette; I found that game intriguing and knew I would be sitting at a roulette table before our trip was over. It was another late night, I think we got back to the room at 2:30ish.
Saturday was another fun filled day at the pool. Twice as many people, twice as crazy. It’s so much fun to be around people who are all having such a great time. It’s fun to meet people and find out where they are from. Met some Midwesterners. But mostly a lot of people I talked to were from L.A. Makes sense since L.A. is so close. We met back up with our new friends at the pool early in the day and we hung out with them for much of the day.
Saturday night we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant at New York New York. We spent so much time at the pool that we never ended up going to a show :(
After dinner Hayden won it big at a roulette table. After I saw that, I knew it was my turn. I was hooked. It was obvious I was a novice, the dealer kept correcting my gambling etiquette. After a few rounds, I got the hang of what I was supposed to do. I put down $40 and walked away with $40. Broke even! I was happy with that!
 |
| My first time gambling! |
At this point in time we decided to checkout a nightclub. We went back to the Venetian and were told basically there was no way we would get in that night, it was packed. So we walked over the Wynn hotel. 2 hour wait. None of us really wanted to go to a nightclub that bad anyways; we just wanted to check one out so we gave up on that idea pretty quickly. Honestly, I just wanted to get back in the casino. I had the itch to gamble!
We got back to MGM and I found a roulette table and played for over an hour. I put down $40 again. I never once fell below $40; the most I was up was $120. I left with $78. Not bad! The guys were making fun of me, telling me I had beginners luck and that I was already addicted. Which by the way isn’t true… well I did mention going to Prairie Meadows when we got back to Iowa… that was a semi-serious comment.
Mark and Aaron wanted to play black jack so while they played black jack, I sat at a slot machine. I thought the slots were boring but the casino was too packed that I couldn’t stand next to the guys at the table and watch them so it was really my only option. And by the way… there is no such thing as penny and quarter slot machines… they say they are a penny but you have to bet a minimum of 40 cents. Deceiving.
 |
| Chilling out at the Wynn Hotel and Casino |
 |
| You cannot cross the strip without using an overpass cross walk. Was hoping for a better view behind us but oh well... |
On Sunday it was nice because our flight didn’t leave until 2:30 so we slept in and had time to grab breakfast together and get packed/ready. Not feeling rushed was nice. It was another scorcher and we were so jealous of all the people walking by going to the pool. 3 days was just about right but I could easily spend another day at the pool.
 |
| My first time seeing a real dessert! (from the plane) |
 |
| On our flight back we flew over the Grand Canyon National Park and it was a really clear day and was able to see it from the plane! I was thankful the pilot brought it to our attention but seriously to me it just looked mostly like the rest of the dessert. |
This trip was seriously one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. We had such a fun group and yes I was the only girl but that didn’t bother me whatsoever. We actually prefer traveling with friends and Vegas is the perfect destination to do so. We agreed we are coming back, tentatively the 3rd weekend in May 2012. We told our new L.A. friends we would call/email them when we do and they were on board with meeting back up next year, fun!!!
Vegas Anyone?!?! :) :) :)
