Viva Las Vegas!

Wednesday night Brandon had a meeting after work with a marketing guy about finally doing some advertising for his practice.  It meant that I didn't get on the road for Vegas until 6:45pm.  It had snowed all day in Heber but not in Salt Lake and the forecast for Beaver in southern Utah was fair.  Brandon had taken off the snow tires on his car on Tuesday, so of course I hit a major blizzard in central Utah in mid-April.  In the dark the visibility was really bad and I was driving 40 mph a lot of the time.  When I got close to Cedar City I was somehow still alive and I called my girlfriend Sara Jane who lives there and asked if I could sleep on her couch that night.  Fortunately she was still up and even had a guest bedroom.  Thank you SJ!
Thursday morning I got up at 7:00 and was on the road.  I didn't know until then that NV is like AZ and has no daylight savings so they are an hour earlier than us.  So even after stopping at Walmart for deodorant and Payless for black flats, it was still pretty early when I got to our hotel on the strip.  Seeing Lisa for the first time in two years it was still as if no time had passed.  Our hotel, our room, and our view were fantastic.
I showered and got ready quickly and we headed out into the cool day for a stroll thru the spectacle that is Las Vegas.  We ate lunch in the Venetian listening to the singing gondoliers.  We wondered around and shopped.  We went to see the big cats and dolphins at Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage.

It was windy and chilly that evening so we ate dinner at one of our hotel's many restaurants.  Our table overlooked a main thoroughfare and there was, of course, some great people-watching.  The later it gets in Vegas, the better the outfits get.  We got gelato and went to bed at a decent hour since we are over 29.
The next morning we slept in.  I usually forgo buffets of all kinds, but "when in Rome."  Meaning we gorged ourselves for brunch at the Wynn's buffet.  We then got 75 min. massages.  Thank you, Lisa!
Vanessa arrived from L.A. just as we finished showering.  We talked and got ready and then headed out to the strip for more shopping, talking, and people-watching.  We went over to the MGM to check out Emeril's restaurant for dinner.  The place was very ghetto inside and there were just tons of trashy people doing nothing there.  I didn't like the atmosphere.  Nessa said it may have had something to do with the fact that there was going to be a fight (boxing match) there the following night.  We decided not to eat at Emeril's after seeing the menu because it was mostly fish and seafood which did not appeal to my companions.  We ended up having a fantastic meal back at Stratta at our hotel after dragging the strip.

Vanessa came to Vegas with a surprise.  She scored two ($150 each) tickets to La Reve.  So we split the cost of the third one and saw a Vegas show.  It was dancing and acrobatics and swimming and costumes and hot guys with no shirts.  Good stuff.

Vanessa and I weren't quite ready to end the night at that so we went and watched the fountain show at the Bellagio and saw a bit of the strip at night.

Saturday morning we got to check out the atrium, the world's tallest chocolate fountain, and the confections and pastries of Jean-Phillipe Patisserie.

After that we all headed out.  I stopped in St. George, UT to grab food and gas and ended up being there during the Ironman triathlon so I walked around in the crowds and watched for awhile.  St. George is pretty cool.  I invited Lisa and Vanessa to come out and visit me in January and come to the Sundance Film Festival, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.  I sure wish I could see Lisa twice a year instead of every two years!