Las Vegas, Day 1

Well, our mini-vacation got off to a rather eventful start, didn't it!

The drive to Vegas wasn't bad at all. Hit a bit of traffic in/around LA, but it wasn't too bad, and we arrived in time for dinner. We checked into the Imperial Palace, right smack dab in the middle of the Strip. This was the first time I'd ever stayed ON the Strip-- all my previous trips involved staying either off-Strip or in downtown Vegas, as those were the most cost-effective. I managed to find great prices on rooms at the IP, which is without question the least glitzy of all the hotels on the Strip. Little did I realize just HOW convenient staying on the Strip would turn out to be! We booked a room with a hot tub (complete with mirrors on the ceiling), and wound up on the 15th floor. Our view consisted mostly of the inner courtyard of the hotel, but at least it didn't face outward toward any other hotels, as I'd read that those rooms were the noisiest (because of the nightclub noises from neighboring properties). We also got a coupon book full of goodies such as free admissions to various attractions, discounts on buffets, and 2-for-1 show deals... not just at our hotel, but all of its sister Harrah's properties.

When we checked in, we wound up riding the elevator with a couple of other guys who had also checked in around the same time. When we went back downstairs to retrieve our stuff from the car, we ran into them again in the elevator going down. And after we'd washed up and unpacked and headed downstairs and through the casino to go next door for dinner, who do you suppose we passed by at the bar? Our elevator friends!

We started out with dinner at Toby Keith's Bar and Grill (mostly just to see what it was like and say that I'd been there), where I discovered the most scrumptious thing I'd ever eaten: honey butter! Drinks came in Mason jars, and after the football game was over, we got treated to live country music. Yee-haw! :-D We browsed a few of the shops at Caesar's Forums across the street before retiring for the night, dead tired from being up so early this morning. Sleep was elusive, since this was the first time in... a couple of years? that Allan and I slept the same bed, and quite frankly, we just weren't used to sharing the actual bed with another person-- every little movement from him woke me up, and vice versa.

Next morning (Monday), we got up for our first crack at the hotel's buffet, and bought an all-day-long pass-- visit as often as you like, for only $25. Our first attraction, since we had free tickets, was the Auto Collections, right in the same hotel-- a museum full of a couple hundred classic and vintage cars. Allan loved it in there! I spied a military Jeep from 1941-- obviously, little has changed in the design over the years since then ;-)



Guess who we ran into twice this morning, once in the elevator and once in the street outside our hotel? Yup-- our elevator friends. 5 times in the span of 14 hours, how about that!

We ventured across the street to Caesar's Palace to catch the Atlantis show and have fun with the stuffed animals at FAO Schwarz. This picture was taken for Joe as proof that there ARE penguins much cuter than Tux out there:



After lunch, a nap, and a post-nap snack, we headed south toward Paris, free tickets to the Eiffel Tower experience in hand. Unfortunately, we were immediately turned off by the long line, and decided to just wander around and see some other hotels. We went through the Flamingo, where the overpowering scent of coconut was enough to make me decide that you couldn't PAY me enough to stay at the Flamingo-- I'll take the smokey smell alone, thank you. The Bellagio's conservatory was nicely decked out with a Christmas theme, and when we watched the fountain show, it was done to the tune of one of our favorite Christmas tunes-- Johnny Mathis's "We Need a Little Christmas". Vegas during Christmastime is really nice :-)

After a delicious dinner at our buffet again, we went next door to Harrah's to catch a show: Legends in Concert. We enjoyed watching tributes to Jerry Lee Lewis (the guy didn't look or sound that much like Jerry Lee, but his piano playing was AMAZING), Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Bette Midler, Tina Turner and Elvis Presley. Equally amazing were the two main backup singers-- they had truly gorgeous voices and the mix was beautiful. Each performer did 3-4 songs the original performer was famous for, including a Christmas song. See, Vegas in Christmastime is so neat! And I was thrilled that, at long last, I'd finally gotten to take in a show at Vegas-- for half the price! :-) Great way to end the day!