I picked up Ben from the airport at 8, leaving us 4 hours before check in at our hotel, the Tropicana. Normally in Vegas this wouldn't be a problem, but as I was still feeling rather ill it meant Ben got to watch me pick at a soup and salad in the cafe for 3 hours. When we finally got up to the room he ordered me mashed potatoes, because, well, there's never a time I can not eat mashed potatoes :-)
Our room was great--I had heard some bad things about the Tropicana, especially the "garden rooms," but the Island Tower rooms were great. The mirror on the ceiling was a bit of a surprise, though!! We stayed in that night, hoping to get me rested and ready for the rest of the trip. The next afternoon we explored a bit more, heading to the hotels on the south end of the strip including Mandalay Bay, the Luxor, MGM and New York, New York.
We happened upon the trainers feeding the lions at the MGM--they would toss small chunks of meat onto the glass so the lion would jump up and lick it off for everyone's enjoyment. My pictures of this sucked, though, sorry:
Later we met one of Ben's coworkers who happened to be in Vegas with her boyfriend, and they took us to see the famous Lago di Bellagio fountains, a water show set to Sinatra's "Luck Be a Lady."
Then we headed to the Fremont Street Experience. This is downtown Vegas: basically the original strip. When the new strip started being the main draw, the old one was revitalized by building a massive TV screen over it--the largest in the world--which covers a 5-block walkway and displays light and sound shows every hour. Though there are some that pay tribute to Vegas icons, race cars, aliens, water, and other cool things, we got to see the one where hot chicks dance around as firemen (which I guess made for a better picture at least!)
The next day I was feeling better finally, so we did some more exploring. Ben even got me to gamble a little... but don't worry; no one will ever need to worry about me getting addicted. There's something about losing money that I just don't find enjoyable!!
We also stumbled across a bar in the New York, New York casino named Gallagher's (Ben's last name...) so of course we had to stop for a drink or two. The lack of flash in this picture was totally accidental, but I love the result--the alcohol consumption is a blur, but the Gallagher's name is the one clear thing in the picture.
That night we explored further up the strip. We started off watching some duelling pianos at the Times Square Bar in NY, NY. When we walked out of the casino, we caught an even better show from the pedestrian bridge as we watched a cop pull over a car, and then with him hop out a cameraman and microphone man--we were watching a filming of Cops!! Even better, a drunken dumbass decides right then to jaywalk across Vegas Blvd, between the perp's car and the cop car and hop the concrete barrier to the sidewalk on the other side. The cop was understandably rattled, and yelled at the guy to stay there, but eventually let him go as he focused on the perp's car. If anyone sees this on Cops let me know what happens!!
Then we continued north along the strip through the Monte Carlo, Bellagio, and Caesar's Palace. We were limited by how far my shoes could carry me, so Ben snapped these pictures of me lounging in front of the Bellagio to give my feet a rest.
Our last night we did our best to see a show, but apparently all the fancy ones like the Cirques concentrate toward the end of the week (not Tuesday). We caught a comedy show instead, which was probably just as entertaining at a much more reasonable price! Afterward we headed back up the strip to explore some more, checking out the new Wynn Hotel (shmancy indeed... they had a high-roller slot room with $500 slots! they also had "Casino War"--yes war--apparently the new big thing among the fancy casinos) and then heading back south through the Venetian, the Mirage, and Caesar's Palace again. We then headed back to the Tropicana to play a little more blackjack and miraculously both won money... a first on the trip!
The next morning we sadly had to leave. We snuck into the pool after check out to enjoy a couple more hours and to squeeze our last few pennies out of the hotel. Then it was good-bye to Vegas and on to LA
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