However, somehow, I was able to fit in a little trip to Las Vegas with Brian last weekend. (Thank God for Grandparents who are willing to babysit all weekend!)
When people ask me how our trip was, I usually say, "It was awesome, but definitely not your typical 'Vegas' vacation."
We didn't gamble.
We didn't see any shows. (Well, at least none that you have to pay for.)
Instead, it was just a weekend to unplug, relax, and enjoy total and utter freedom from schedules, work and kiddos.
I arrived late Thursday evening to our resort, the "Tuscany Suites & Casino." I barely changed my clothes and we were back out the door to have dinner with Brian's conference peeps. After dinner, it was midnight Florida time, so I went straight to bed (exciting first night in Vegas, eh??).
Here's a couple pics of our huge room:
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| The king-sized bed had 6 luxurious pillows on it. It was so comfortable! |
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| This was opposite the bed. The flat screen TV was on the dresser to the left and the kitchette was on the right along with a spacious bathroom. |
Fortunately, Maria enjoys shopping just like me, so we spent the day wandering the outlet mall popping in and out of interesting stores. I got some really great deals and was very pleased with my day's loot. Then we visited a local farmer's market and ate from a food truck. It was one of the best salads I've ever had.
After all that walking, we headed back to the resort and out to the pool for some R&R.
That evening, we went out for a friend's birthday party at a popular resort called the "Stratosphere." The bar is inside the resort's "Space Needle" which is 117 stories up and overlooks all of Las Vegas. It was one of my favorite places we visited. You can also base jump off the space needle in case you were wondering. YIKES!
(Photo courtesy: Hotels.com)
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| Inside the bar, overlooking Vegas. |
After the birthday party that was filled with little appetizers and fancy drinks, this girl was ready for a big ol Vegas dinner! We headed to the Mirage and went to their famous burger restaurants, BLT Burgers.
Dad...aren't you proud of your little girl?? She found an awesome burger joint in the heart of the Vegas strip!
After that humungous meal (there may have been fries and onion rings involved) we headed back to our resort for a long night's sleep.
Since the conference was now over, Saturday was the first day I actually got to spend some daytime hours with Brian. We decided to start at the Venetian and work our way down the strip popping in and out of some of the most popular resorts.
The Venetian was by far our favorite!
The lobby itself was breathtaking with the ceilings painted like the Sistine Chapel.
And then in a little further past the casino and up an escalator, we arrived on St. Mark's Square. It didn't quite compare to the real thing, but it was quite stunning!
The entire ceiling is painted to look like the sky, so whether you're there day or night, rain or shine, the ceiling always looks the same. There are shops and lovely restaurants all along the sides and then on the other end is the canal, where you can take gondola rides.
Little Vegas tip for ya...we got there early - around 10 a.m. - and it was very quiet, so we were able to get a private gondola ride ($20 per person) instead of the paying for the price of a private ride ($75 per person!!!). I guess Vegas doesn't really get hoppin' until after noon time.
Some pics from our ride:
Not the best "selfie" but I wanted to get our sweet Gondalier in the photo. She was from a small village in North Italy and had the most amazing operatic voice, which she used to serenade us in the coves of the canal. Very romantic!
After our boat ride, we took full advantage of not having small children with us and went to eat a leisurely lunch at the most fantastic restaurant in the heart of "St. Mark's Square" called "Postrio." It is owned by Wolfgang Puck and the food was out of this world!
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| Caramelized onions, olives, fresh sage, goat and mozzarella cheese. I'm drooling just thinking about it! |
After lunch, we enjoyed the free "street shows" that occur on the Square. It's always nice to find free entertainment in Vegas. Because it seems everyone is both beautiful and amazingly talented!
From the Venetian we went down to New York, New York. Personally, I thought the outside architecture was more interesting than the inside, but again, we weren't gambling, so who am I to say? And then we stopped at Paris for a quick peek of the Eiffel tower.
After our looooooooong day of walking, we headed back to the resort to soak our tired muscles poolside for a few hours. Then it was off for our final night in Vegas!
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| This is the fountain in the front of the Tuscany where we stayed. |
We took a cab to the Bellagio and walked in to the massive lobby where there are multiple escalators taking you up and down to different levels (a bit overwhelming to me). We decided to eat at Todd English's restaurant, Olives.
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| Photo courtesy: Trip Advisor |
Since there were over 600 reservations for just that night, we decided to sit at the bar, which offered the full menu and lots of entertainment. I highly recommend the beef carpacio - AH-mazing!
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| The olives and olive tapenade were so good with the flatbread crisps. |
And of course, since we were at the Bellagio, we had to stay for a few rounds of their amazing water display. I've wanted to see this ever since the movie Oceans 11 came out. It was even better than I expected!
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| Pictures just don't do it justice. |
We retired fairly early (in Vegas terms at least) again Saturday night since we had a very early flight the next morning.
I don't know if I'm a real "Vegas kinda gal" but I sure did enjoy a couple days of sleeping in, lounging by the pool and eating incredible food. It was a great vacation for this mama!
Thanks to my sweet hubby for arranging the entire trip (including scheduling his parents to babysit) and allowing us to have such a special getaway together. I love you babe!
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