Back in Vegas

Ryan and I made a quick getaway to Las Vegas in the early days of Spring Break. Macauley stayed behind with Ryan's parents and with Ryan's brother and his wife. This was my fifth trip and Ryan's third, so we did some of the tried and true (shopping, walking and eating) and also saw some new things. Our hotel wass in the new (not entirely finished) City Center, which is between the Bellagio and the Monte Carlo and across the street from Planet Hollywood. Vdara is a very mod hotel, accessed primarily via a walkway off the back of Bellagio.

Our suite was nice and we had a great view at night. The hotel also had a great pool, where we spent the first part of our first full day, and a luxuious spa, where I got a pedicure and spent a little time being lazy while Ryan rested at the pool.

We had to walk through the Bellagio most any time we went anywhere, so we passed the Conservatory several times each day. It was all planted out for spring and smelled wonderful.

We arrived mid-afternoon on Sunday and immediately headed out for dinner and a little shopping. Our first stop was the Anthroplogie in the Forum Shops. We decided to try the colorful Serendipity 3 outside Caesar's Palace for dinner to enjoy the nice weather and the views of the Strip. I'm not sure what possessed me to order this enormously meaty hot dog...it came back to haunt me later and I have sworn off hot dogs indefinitely.

We, of course, walked a lot, and saw lots of the same things. I had never seen the volcano erupt at the Mirage, though, so we made an effort to do that. I taped it on my camera to show Macauley.

Poor Ryan was pretty sick our entire trip with flu-like symptoms, but he was a trooper and totally rallied on our last day. We started both days with breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi under the Eiffel Tower at the Paris. On Tuesday, we took off in a different direction than we normally do and explored the area between the Monte Carlo and MGM.

We walked through the still underway Crystals shopping area at City Center, which has upscale stores and some cool architectural features.

We hadn't been to the M & M store before, and I spent the whole time wishing Macauley was with us because it was his type of thing. We went through all four floors and got him a few gifts, including a red M & M old-fashioned alarm clock that he was thrilled to get.

We also went next door to the Coca-Cola store, another first, and did the tasting menu of favorite Coke flavors from around the world. Ryan enjoyed several of them, but we were both completely gagged out by Italy's fave, a licorice-type drink called Beverly. Beware the Beverly if you ever do this yourself.

I mostly stuck with my plain old Coca-Cola with a shot of vanilla.

But in case there is any doubt where my true allegiance lies...

I'm a Pepsi girl through and through.

We went through MGM, and although I had been there once with Molly on my first visit to Vegas to see KA, I don't remember seeing the Lion Habitat before. I would definitely like to take Macauley to see the lions (rotated out a few hours a day from their ranch outside of town) and to the Rainforest Cafe nearby.

All the walking we do in Vegas makes us feel better about all the eating we also do while there, but we wanted to try the Monorail to see how it works in case we take Macauley in the future and he putzes out on hoofing it. It was pretty convenient. We only went from MGM back up to Harrah's, but I think it would be worth buying the three-day pass next time.

Our last night in town, we dressed up and took a cab to Firefly for tapas, which was good but defintely better when you're with a big group and everyone can share the variety of food. We were up at 5 am the next morning to head home and Ryan and I were both glad to see our bubby and our Booker Bear, and to still have a few days off at home left on our break.