What We Did in Vegas

Here's what we did and what I thought of it:

Las Vegas LDS Temple: large and pretty, this temple has a little interior courtyard and a huge spacious front lobby. We did sealings (Seth's idea) to celebrate our 10 years of marriage. It was great!

Hoover Dam: You can pay a ton to go on all kinds of tours, but we paid zero and went on zero tours. We drove on the dam and to the back side, took pictures, and sort of drove away. I had to go to the bathroom REALLY BAD, or else we would have walked down onto the dam for a look around. We stopped at the Lake Mead Visitor's Center and read the little souvenir books about building the dam, plus we got our nerdy souvenir: the panoramic puzzle!! Ooooh! So this is a pretty cool engineering marvel, with a fascinating history. Worth going to and being at but I'm glad we didn't pay 31 bucks apiece for the tour, if only because I'm so pregnant and crippled right now and the walking would have about killed me.

Hush Puppy Outlet Store: Seth is loyal to Hush Puppy shoes. Everything else in dress shoes is horrible for him and uncomfortable. I have been scouring department stores and malls all over Denver for anyplace that sells 'Pups and have come up with NOTHING. We drove out of the airport 20 minutes after landing in Nevada and boomp! here's a whole dang outlet store of Hush Puppies, a gift from on high. So we went back after the Hoover Dam and got Seth Birthday and Christmas shoes for work, all for WAY cheaper than I've been able to find anywhere, including online.

Planet Hollywood Restaurant in the Forum Shops (Caesar's Palace): This place seemed like it might be cool but ended up with a "lame" rating from Seth and Wib. The service was incredibly slow, and they brought Seth the wrong dinner, and then made him wait incredibly long AGAIN for the right thing. I was LONG SINCE done by the time his real dinner arrived. And they charged us full price for it! If we were bolder we would have asked to speak to...somebody about it, but eh. Who cares? The decor was ok, including props and costumes from movies, and the entertainment video would have been ok had we not had to sit through it twice and a half. So, in all, this was not a place we would return to. We had 40 bucks to spend on our dinner there, from the timeshare people, and when they gave us another 40 we both agreed that even free, we didn't want another dinner in there.

Dunkin' Donuts: I LOVE Dunkin' Donuts and I am Loyal. On one of our trips to Las Vegas 10 years ago, there was a rumor of a Dunkin' somewhere on the strip. We finally found a busted down old donut cart, not selling any donuts, in one of the crappy off the strip casinos. So, pretty disappointing. This time, there were three or four to choose from in the phone book. We went for breakfast on our way to our TimeShare presentation. We looked for the address, but the stores just skipped right over the Donut address and then we spotted it: the Outlet Mall. Duh! So we walked right in and (this was a gift from heaven) there it was right there: a kiosk, pretty-fully-stocked Dunkin' Donuts. Seth was a little taken aback that I wanted to get the dozen but really, there's not point in doin' it unless you're going to do it RIGHT!!!

Time Share Presentation with Wyndham: We like their product and would love to stay at their resorts. We love the idea of paying once and using it for the rest of ever. What we don't like is how they won't just tell you everything upfront and then all the pressure to buy right then. "This is our offer for TODAY ONLY and after this, you won't be able to become an owner." and this one, we really loved,"This many points is more than you need, and we don't sell any package smaller than that. BUT I had a family come in last week who only needed so many points and so JUST FOR YOU I have THIS MANY left over and as a special deal, we'll LET you buy these leftover points, right now only! I'm not supposed to be doing this!!" So if they hadn't given us 50 bucks in cash and 75 bucks on debit cards, plus lunch, this would not have been worth it.

Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum: LOVED THIS!! We went in expecting it to be a little snooty and cold, but then it turned out to be a big old picture-taking fun-fest. We took SO MANY PICTURES, by the time we got to the last room, we had to go back on the didge and delete some dupes from the first room. This was expensive, but I think, worth it.

Gondola Ride at the Venetian: This seemed like it would be so cool. It was expensive, though, 16 bucks a person. A PERSON. So, ok, we paid that and got in line and got into our boat with a pleasant older couple and a friendly gondolieri. And then we went maybe 50 yards, turned around, and came back. And that was it. The canal was not very long. This ride would have been way better if the canal went WAY further, and if it were $16 per couple. I really enjoyed the ride, such as it was, but would like to see this improved for next time. Listening, Venetian Hotel and Casino??

Dinner at the Flamingo (Hilton) buffet: This was so expensive. Everybody goes to Las Vegas expecting great buffets. We got the tip from the timeshare lady on which ones were terrible and which were fabulous. This one was right down from the Venetian, so we walked. It looks a lot closer on the map, and it probably is less of a stressful hike if you're not cripple like me. I hadn't been drinking enough that afternoon with all our activities, so I was hatin' it. Seth was probably hatin' it too, with all my "oooh, contraction, waaahh, this is so fast" whining. Anyway, we got there and waited in line and were seated in some fabulous seats right at this big old wall of windows, looking out onto the bird sanctuary place. We had a super waiter who really kept us hydrated. Rather than try to break a 10 or leave a tiny tip we later left him 10 bucks!! Felt like high rollers! Anyway, the food was pretty good, especially the crepes for dessert, made to order right in front of you, even though I was so thoroughly tuckered out that I could barely make it worth our buckage. The thing that made this so great was this big Black Swan that kept swimming by outside the window. He would go back and forth, back and forth, playing in the waterfall. He also had a very long neck and curly butt-feathers that were so endearing. This is a good buffet, if you can handle the 22 dollar tab per person, and the bird place is pretty cool.

Fountains at Bellagio: I LOVED THIS ATTRACTION!! We went to the 7:30 show and it was so cool that we waited until the 8:00 show. I was sorely tempted to stay for the 8:15 show but it was a long walk back to our parking garage. The lights, the music, the fountains shooting 50 or 60 feet in the air. It was really AWESOME!!! It's outside and totally free. GO SEE IT!!

Denny's WAY off the strip: We had these skillet breakfasts. Mine was sausages, bacon, hashbrowns, and scrambled eggs and then you're supposed to wrap it up in these tortilla pancakes. Cover the whole thing with syrup and it was SO DELICIOUS... Plus Seth ordered the whole carafe of orange juice, so we were really living large.

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay: We chose to do this over the Car Museum and the Liberace Museum, and Circus Circus, and every other attraction. It was really cool! We saw all kinds of neat fish and water creatures, including our favorite little fellow, the Water Monitor lizard. He was just swimming and bonking around in his pool, then bumbling out onto the land. The other thing we really liked about this was the sawfish. They're so crazy! Look at that crazy saw nose! We touched the rays and took pictures with the lionfish and saw an octopus stuffed into the corner between the rocks and the glass. They give you these little cordless-phone-remote-control-type thingies and you dial up the number for what you're looking at and they tell you about it.

Planet Hollywood Gift Shop: Mostly overpriced t-shirts. We had 40 bucks to spend there, complements of the timeshare people, so we got a t-shirt for each kid. Eh. Nothing to write home about.

Security-check at McCarran airport. We waited in line for like an hour in Denver. We were rushed in line in Las Vegas, practically running to the next thing, the line was moving so fast. We barely had time to get out our IDs and get our shoes off and put the toothpaste in the baggie. We were expecting a wait and grumpiness. Instead we had nearly 2 hours at our gate to spend trying to find a reasonable late-lunch option in the overpriced airport fast-food places. Great security-check!

And that's what we did in Vegas. I guess it stayed in Vegas, though, so all for naught.