Vegas Weekend

Well, I'm back from Vegas and what a trip it was! 
The first thing I did when I got to the resort was to go cash in my tickets from betting on the Cardinals last year.  I was up $171 within the first hour!  Unfortunately, that was the only time I was up all weekend.

Friday night all 34 of us went to dinner at the Harley Davidson Cafe.  I've wanted to go there for a few years but have never made the reservation.  It is a really cute place and the beef brisket sandwich was fantastic.  I loved how they had the conveyor belt of motorcycles flying through the air.  I also loved the chains on the wall that were painted like the American flag.

Believe it or not, I usually go to bed pretty early on the first night in town.  It's always such a long day on that Friday and I know way too many people that try to "live it up" on the first night and then the next few days they are just spent and don't want to do anything.

So . . .I went to bed early on Friday and ended up waking up around 6:00am (Vegas time, 8:00 STL time).  My friend, Janice, was up too so we decided to get dressed and head down to play some craps.  Yes, we were at the craps table at 6:45 in the morning!

After about 3 hours, Scott met up with us and we headed to my favorite people-watching spot to play some LCR. 

After hanging out all day, we had to stop by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville for chicken nachos and strawberry daquiris.  It is a tradition and one I look forward to every trip.

On Saturday night we went to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. We discovered this place a couple of years ago and always try to stop in.  We've made friends with one particular waitress, Michelle, and we love sitting in her section.  One thing about the Hofbrauhaus is getting paddled.  You do a shot, they paddle you.  That's pretty much the concept.  Yes, I've been down that road and will never do it again.  Two of our friends, though, decided to take part.  I don't think they will make that mistake again.  Ha!

After the Hofbrauhaus, we walked across the street to the Hard Rock.  I've never been there before so it was kind of cool seeing all of the memorabilia.

We left the Hard Rock and headed back to the Strip.  Remember, I had been up since 6:00 in the morning so I turned in to that girl.  Yep, the girl sitting at the oxygen bar.



It was so weird sitting there with that thing blowing oxygen up my nose but, to be honest, I did feel better afterwards.  The best part was that the lady massaged my back and head.  She gave me eucalyptus to rub on my hands and put peppermint oil on the base of my neck.  Then, she attached a stem unit to my back that had 8 different massage settings.  After 15 minutes, I was ready to go again.

Sunday was our last day in Vegas.  We always try to take it easy but it turned in to Sunday Funday for Janice and me.  Before to do more gaming, we decided to walk down to the Fashion Show mall and eat at this fantastic pizza place, Grimaldi's.  (I think they have them on the East Coast but I'm not really sure.)

via Instagram

Janice and I split a white garlic cheese pizza with sundried tomatoes and basil with a caraffe of their house red wine.  It was amazing.  We will definitely be going back!

via Instagram

Before leaving to go eat on Sunday morning, Janice decided to play $100 of Keno games.  This $100 lasted for 5 hours so later on in the day when she went to check her tickets, she had won $2,300!  Are you kidding me?!  We were jumping up and down and screaming.  I'm surprised the whole Strip didn't hear us.

For Scott and me, the party was over, though.  We had to head back to the airport and back to reality.  Our other friends weren't coming back until early Monday morning but our flight was late Sunday night.  So, off to the airport for us . . .

When we got to our gate, the workers were asking if anyone would be willing to give up their seat on the flight and take a different flight on Monday morning.  Guess whose hand shot up?  THIS girl's.  In exchange for giving up my flight, I received a roundtrip ticket plus the value of my flight so I ended up getting a voucher for $483.  It worked out great because we had booked our room until Monday anyway so that we didn't have to check out at 10am AND our friends were still back at the resort.  I kissed Scott good-bye and headed back to the hotel.

I wish I had a before/after pic for you.  I went to the airport in yoga pants, a sweatshirt, hair in ponytail, and sandals on.  When I got back to Harrah's, Janice instantly became my stylist and hooked me up.  I was back in Vegas going out mode within minutes so we headed to the Bellagio. 

The night ended watching the fountains.

via Instagram

It was another fun trip to one of my favorite places in the world.  And, of course, I already can't wait to go back.