On Monday, Aug. 1, the day we had planned to leave for the trip, Phil's mom sat us down and told us we might as well go since we put so much into it and to just spend money on gas and food- and be very frugal even on that. We were wary about it at first, but after a while we just threw caution in the wind. Phil already requested the week off, so what else were we going to do? We ran home, packed quickly, and just left- I don't think we've ever been so spontaneous before.
Since the original plan was to get a hotel that evening, since we didn't want to spend more money than we should, we decided to stay with Phil's sister, Stephanie, and her husband, Bryson, at the last minute- and they were great hosts! We've been wanting to visit them for a while, but never really had the chance, so we were all pretty stoked. That night we had a delicious homemade dinner and cookies- recipes I'm totally going to steal- and just spent the evening talking and watching YouTube videos. Then we crashed in their office on an air mattress we brought. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we called our hotel- Hampton Inn, right off the Strip- and said we would come a day late. The next day, we went on a tour at Anniversary Inn to see all the themed rooms while Stephanie was at work. She works there on the weekends and can get family members in for only $50. Since my birthday is coming up, we decided we should take advantage of that. :) Afterward, we went back to the apartment and played Super Smash Brothers Melee for FOUR hours with Bryson. I played Kirby the whole time and I think I only one twice. My thumbs were so sore by the time Stephanie came home. I wish I could be like her. Right when she came home, she immediately started making dinner for everyone. I think Phil would like if I was more like her too. :P We played a roleplaying game after dinner, which was actually really fun, and then headed to bed.
The next morning- Wednesday- Phil and I set out to Vegas. And this is what we met:
The lightning came so close to our car, it was so scary. But, we made it to Vegas safely, checked in then headed to the Strip. The hotel offered a complimentary shuttle, which was so nice since we did not want to drive. To save even more money, we decided to walk the Strip, which turned out to be a BAD idea. It is way longer than it looks. To get from Mandalay Bay to Treasure Island, it takes 1.5 hours. Our feet were killing us by the time we got there- it was where our first show was.
We went to see Cirque du Soleil Mystère. It was a very interesting show. The acrobatics were amazing, I've never seen it done so well before, but had weird characters and scenes...so it wasn't my favorite. The walk back was terrible and we woke up very sore- isn't that just sad? We decided we wouldn't walk again, so we bought tickets to a hop on/hop off city tour, which was way fun. We learned so much about Las Vegas and its history. For lunch we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, the third of its kind together- we've also been to New York's and San Diego's. I've also been to Orlando's. The food is amazing and the memorabilia is so cool to see.
I always get the twisted mac, chicken, and cheese- the best $20 mac and cheese in the world! Afterward, we hopped back on the tour bus and went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. We've been to one before in Los Angeles, but this one was cooler because the stars aren't behind rope, you could actually pose with them. We had a lot of fun with that. I was so silly, I actually got star struck once in a while, haha, but Phil was giving some of them attitude. :P
That night, we went to see the Blue Man Group at the Venetian. They were so crazy and hilarious and very talented with music, Phil and I both loved the show. It was really fun because there was a lot of audience participation, it made the show even better. I would definitely recommend going to the show! In the end, they threw toilet paper over the WHOLE audience and we all had a dance party in it. Of course, we ripped a nice piece off as a souvenir. :) After that we went back to the hotel. I really wanted to go on the gondala ride the Venetian offered, but there was a huge line and we were exhausted. Plus, Vegas is completely different at night. It's a lot creepier!
The next day (Friday), we took it easy because our whole bodies were sore from walking around so much, though the city tour helped a lot. We decided to hang out in Las Vegas off the strip and went on a free tour of the Ethel Mars Chocolate Factory- they make everything! M&Ms, skittles, twix, you name it. At the end, we got free samples of chocolate and it was seriously the best chocolate we have ever had. We ended up buying more chocolate. It was sooo good! There was also a botanical garden outside of the chocolate factory, so we walked around that for a while. I have never been to one before, so I thought it was really neat.
For the rest of the day, we just hung out in our hotel room (which was really nice) and watched television. We had no idea that walking around in 114 degree weather would be so exhausting! I drank so much water, it was crazy. Overall, our trip was really fun, but we're glad we're home. Though we came to this:
It's the same picture, I know, but I swear it's the exact same storm we drove through on our way to Vegas. Check out more pictures on Facebook! :)
