March Vegas Trip

I'm back to everyday life again from our latest trip to Vegas.  Our niece, Alissa, turned 21 a while back but is on Spring Break from Mizzou right now so we decided to celebrate her birthday a little late but out in Vegas.

Scott and I got there a day earlier than everyone else.  I just can't tell you the feeling I get when we land, it is literally like arriving at my 2nd home.  I'm always so giddy and happy and can't wait to see the first signs of the Strip.

Friday night we went to eat at Kerry's Gourmet Burgers and Vodka Bar (KGB).  It is a real hip and swank joint located in Harrah's (right by thte Oyster Bar).  More on KGB and what we ate in a separate post.

After dinner, we tried our luck at blackjack at O'Shea's. . . not good, not good at all.  We ended up back at Harrah's for some video poker action.

I was hoping that it was going to be a little warmer.  It wasn't cold but it definitely was not swimsuit weather, either.  Here is a pic of the snow-capped mountains behind Ceasar's.

One of our favorite traditions is to have lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.  We always go there and get chicken nachos and strawberry daquiries.  We also leave with a Jimmy Buffet's Lone Palm ale.

View from the decktop at Jimmy Buffett's. 

The chicken nachos are so huge and there is no way we could finish them all.  I felt so wasteful throwing over half of them away . . .

After lunch and while we were waiting on family to arrive, we walked down to our favorite people-watching spot.  It is this little outdoor area right underneath the Eiffel Tower at the Paris.  You can see the Bellagio fountains and watch everyone walking by.  That is Scott with his back to me.

The family arrived in the afternoon and we all hung out for a bit.  Then we headed out to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.

The Hofbrauhaus is across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe.

We discovered the Hofbrauhaus a few trips ago and now we go back everytime.  It is so much fun and very reasonably priced.  There is a band that comes over and rotates in/out from Munich.

The beers are big and cold.

Besides the band, part of the fun at the Hofbrauhaus is watching people get paddled when they do a shot.  Not sure if this is a true German thing but it sure provides a lot of entertainment.

All of the men in our party (besides Scott who already did it back in June) took the paddle.

Our nephew, Paul, got a few extra swats because "He is a Marine and can take it."  Notice the woman in the back taking a picture?  She wasn't with our party but just thought it was entertaining.

Here is the birthday girl, Alissa.

 David, Debbie, and Alissa

There was a fantastic cover band at Bally's.  You have to go there!  They sang the absolute cover of Prince's Purple Rain that I have ever heard.  Even Scott and Paul had a great time dancing.

Before we left Vegas on Sunday, we had breakfast at Hash House A Go Go at the Imperial Palace.  Don't judge it by it's location, it was awesome.  (Another post on this later, too).  Here is a pic of Scott's Tractor Trailor with scrambled eggs, bacon, and a Snickers pancake.  As you can tell, the portion sizes are so big that they can easily be shared.

So now here I am back in STL and trying to get back into the swing of things and already planning our next trip.