Vegas Baby!

Ben and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary back in August and had been telling ourselves since last year that we really needed to do something to celebrate.  We really are pretty lame and un-romantic when it comes to gifts/celebrations.  We always find an excuse of why we shouldn't spend the money on a gift for each other and use it some other way instead.  Don't get me wrong, Ben knows I love a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day, and that I'd never turn down a massage on Mother's Day, but we don't go out of our way to mark any given occasion.  So...we figured the ten year anniversary was finally time to truly celebrate "us."  Our original plan was to spend a weekend down at Table Rock Lake, but that was canceled when we decided (on a bit of a whim, if you read my earlier post) to get a puppy.  He was just too little to board and too much work to hand off to someone else for a weekend, along with the kids.  We said ho-hum and decided that the puppy was going to be our gift that year and that a trip would have to wait until next year again.

Then, a few weeks later, Ben found out that he was being sent to a convention in Las Vegas for work at the end of September.  We both agreed that we should make that our anniversary getaway.  The puppy was old enough to board, and Ben would be going for free, so it would seem silly for me not to join him.  Now, to be honest, I don't know that I would pick Vegas as a romantic anniversary trip on my own.  We are not big gamblers, and don't do the night club scene at all anymore.  I just knew that it would be one place where I would not have an ounce of guilt for not bringing the kids along, and that definitely held true!  So, after figuring out the logistics of who would watch our kids, cat and dog, we packed our bags and were off!

Ben went out the night before I did, and when I got to Vegas I had a few hours to kill before his convention ended.  I immediately checked into the hotel we had reserved (The Golden Nugget, which is in downtown Vegas and not on the Strip...we are always suckers for a bargain).  I have never been to Vegas, so I really had no expectations, but I have to admit, I was way underwhelmed with the place.  I couldn't get over the smell of smoke in the room, even though we were on a "non-smoking" floor, and everything just seemed dirty.  I decided to just suck it up and try and enjoy myself and my first few hours of complete alone/relaxation time in a long time.  Ben met up with me when his conference was over and I could immediately tell that he wasn't loving the place either.  He had been to Vegas once before (stayed at the Flamingo), and then the night before was on the Strip (at the MGM Grand).  So he knew that there were some much better places out there.  The next morning we decided to ask to switch rooms b/c the smell was so bad in ours.  They let us move with no problems to a room with a better view but still non-smoking and it smelled even worse.  It was almost unbearable...then we had a bad experience at the buffet breakfast and that was it for Ben!  I told him that if this place was going to ruin the trip for him, and if he was going to be upset/disappointed the whole time then we should just move to a different hotel.  It was our first trip away from the kids ever and we had traveled all this way, so we both agreed to move. 

This was more like it....

Our Room at The Venetian

View from our window

We moved to the Venetian and LOVED it. It was beautiful, clean, and best of all, smelled fantastic.  After we finally got situated, and Ben finished his last half-day of the conference, we headed off to explore.

In the "Grand Canal" at the Venetian

We walked to Caesars Palace and did some window shopping, and explored more of the Strip since it was my first time seeing it all.  That night Ben had reservations for dinner at The Society Cafe at the Wynn, where we not only had a great meal, but also had the worlds BEST banana split for dessert.  I laugh at this picture because it was taken before we had a bite....it was completely gone when we were done and we discussed coming back the following night to have it again.

 

After devouring dessert and then talking about how good it was for a while, we went to the Wynn Theater to watch La Reve, one of the newest shows in Vegas.  

It really was amazing, and one of those things that you just have to see to appreciate.  If you are interested, read the full review here.

Saturday morning I woke to this view...

We decided to get off the Strip and, being the nerds at heart that we are, opted for a tour of the Hoover Dam.  It was the best Dam tour I've ever been on (had to throw that in there...).  

Nevada has been experiencing drought conditions for the past 12 years, and Lake Mead is well below it's usual water level.  You can see this in the picture below, where the rock from the canyon looks white where the rim of the water used to be.  Yep, we know alot about the Hoover Dam now.   It was cool to see.

We came back to the hotel for some fro-yo and then headed out for yet another fantastic meal.  I told Ben, I have never been a "foodie" and am pretty happy anywhere that has a good salad, but I feel like this was the first time I really appreciated good food from good restaurants.  We went to Mon Ami Gabi, a cute little French restaurant in the Paris hotel/casino that overlooks the fountains of the Bellagio, and all I can say is YUM.

Doesn't it look like the Eiffel Tower?

Our sunset view of the Bellagio

Seriously good view! :)

 

And then our food came...mmmmm

Steak Frites Bordelaise - Going to have to find a recipe for this.

We watched the fountains at the Bellagio for a while and then decided to walk through as many of the casinos as we could to "smell" them.   As you remember from our earlier experience at the Golden Nugget, smell had become very important to us, and we could not get over how good everything smelled at the Venetian.  As we entered different casinos during the trip we quickly realized they all had a different aroma.  It's kind of interesting actually - here is an article on the subject.  So, we became curious, had no more money left to gamble, and had already had enough to drink for the night, so we made it our mission to decide which smell we liked best.

At the Mirage...we didn't love this one.

We ran into the Joker on the way, and if you know Ben, you know we had to stop for a pic.

So I'm sure you're wondering after all of our research what the winner was.....drumroll....

I really think we were biased because we had no idea we were being "used" by our senses when we first entered here and the smell was such a relief to us, but we both agree it was the best of them all.

 After that wild and crazy (yes, sarcasm) outing we decided to call it a night.  Here is Ben being the rock star that he is with his bottled water.

This Oatmeal was really yummy for breakfast.  May have to see if I can find it online somewhere.  Also, if you like green tea, the Noa brand was the best I've ever had.

That's it!  We woke up Sunday and slowly made our way home and back to reality.  It was the perfect amount of time away...any less and I would have felt like we didn't see or do enough, any more and I would have been ready to go. 

Here's to 10 fantastic years, and many many more to come!