Lucky Las Vegas

As we walked away from the car and our crying child, I had to take big gulps of smoggy airport air to sustain the dam I had carefully constructed to hold back my emotions. We sat down at the terminal, and as Jonathan skipped to the bathroom, I pulled out my phone to call my mom. It rang twice before I quickly hung up, knowing if she answered I would burst into tears rather than find the comfort I was seeking. I found myself oddly envious of my fellow passengers accompanied by their young children, while I rested confident many of them were envious of me without mine. I settled down in my seat, unsure of what life even looks like without the constant entertainment a toddler provides. I read my book then tried to get comfortable with a neck pillow, silently reassuring myself that this was, indeed, a fantastic opportunity.

Once we touched down in Las Vegas my doubtful thoughts were alleviated by the mission that lay ahead...Jonathan and I decided we would walk from the airport to the hotel (about 2 miles) in order to save ourselves the $15 taxi ride.

This was us as we began the 2 mile journey.

We had quite the adventure walking that distance. In fact, we might be the first people in history to have been willing to make that same trek through the desert, luggage in hand and no water to quench the growing stickiness in our mouths. When we finally got to the hotel an hour later we looked at each other to assess whether it was worth it. We both said "absolutely;" however, on our return voyage we coughed up the cash for the convenience of the car ride.

We settled into our room at the Luxor and donned our bathing suits so we could check out the pool. We sat by the pool for an hour or so, taking in the sounds of chatter and kids splashing. It was quite nice to be able to lay down on a chair and stay in the same place. After that we headed back to our room to get ready for the show we were going to see, Love by Cirque del Soleil--a tribute to the Beatles.

Us in front of the entrance to the Luxor.

The show was at the Mirage, so we caught a cab and picked up our tickets before choosing somewhere to eat dinner. We ate and wandered back through the Mirage until the start of the show. The show was absolutely fabulous. There are no words to explain it. We were awe struck by the way the stage moved and morphed into different shapes, with large parts of the set appearing as if they grew out of the ground and disappearing into the depths just as quickly. Two big thumbs up for Love.

In front of the Mirage and Love Theatre entrance.

We meandered the Las Vegas strip after the show. Jonathan and I have what we refer to as the "Asian tourist" pose. Cut me some slack here. We just HAPPENED to have initiated this pose after our last trip to Vegas when we observed quite a few Asian tourists use the peace sign in their photos. It is very possible you have seen pictures of Jonathan holding the pose before. Do not fear, my incredible husband would not let the pose be laid to rest.

Jonathan in front of the Las Vegas Strip

This pose didn't become a problem until we were in front of the huge lion outside of the MGM Grand and I suggested we take a picture. Unfortunately for me, Jonathan took the camera and insist that I give "the pose." I am not a big fan of the pose, but I especially wasn't a big fan when I realized we were standing in front of a large group of...you guessed it...Asian tourists. I looked at him with the stressed eyebrow arch that any husband can read. It didn't phase him at all. He wouldn't let up until I gave the deuces. I very begrudgingly did...

As if that wasn't bad enough, he then asked someone to take our picture together. Who do you think he asked? Of COURSE my husband asked the Asian tourist. And of COURSE we had to make the same pose.

I felt mortified and they probably thought we were cool. haha.

The next morning we slept in, though it took me a lot of effort to get past 9am. It has literally been 2 years since we got to sleep in together! Oh the little joys in life. When we got up we made the journey to In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Jonathan is an In-N-Out fanatic, and since they are only located on the west coast, he scheduled it into our trip. In fact, the hotel we were staying at was strategically (and by no coincidence) located in very close proximity to the In-N-Out.

After our yummy lunch we headed back to the hotel pool for a while before getting ready to go out on the town for the evening. We started our night by heading all the way up the strip to Circus Circus. We intended to watch their free "largest permanent circus in the world" show. We took the monorail via MGM, and as we walked through the MGM lions were resting on the glass walkway.

That's Jonathan standing under the lioness.

We arrived at Circus Circus, and while the circus itself was nothing to write home about, we throughly enjoyed their carnival games. This type of "gambling" was far more fun than what we found everywhere else. We played all the games we always wanted to as a kid--throwing darts at balloons, shooting clowns with balls, ring tossing around the bottle neck, throwing ping pong balls into floating cups. It was a blast and thanks to Jonathan's skills we won quite a few stuffed animals...

Jonathan with the infamous Zoltar

Jonathan playing his favorite arcade game of all time

In front of Circus Circus

We left Circus Circus and headed for the Stratosphere so we could ride all of the rides on top. The Stratosphere has 3 amusement rides on top of its 112 stories, and of course we rode all of them. The first one basically shoots you off the edge of the building, the second spins you like a swing as you dangle off of the edge, and the third shoots you straight up the spike and drops you in free fall. It was a lot of fun!

on top of the world

Jonathan tried his hand at the oversized slot machine...

better luck next time!

From the Stratosphere we headed downtown to see all of the older, classic casinos.

We had our picture taken with a million bucks and had a great time. We returned to our room exhausted from all of our adventures but convinced we found the truly fun side of Vegas.

On our final day in Vegas we ate the buffet (a must do while in that city) and went to see O, another Cirque del Soleil production. It was located at the Bellagio. Once again, we were blown away by the show. The whole set was one big pool, and there was a stage that moved up and down within the water, so one minute the performers would be walking on top and the next they were high diving into it. It was truly incredible. Neither one of us could decide which show was better. Three days into it, I found myself quite surprised by how healthy I felt about the distance between us and our sweet boy. Though I called home every day, he never wanted to actually talk to me (he isn't much into the telephone when someone is on the other end). That was actually comforting. I didn't want him to be clamoring to pull me out of the speaker. He was having a great time with Noni and Paw Paw, and we were re-discovering the pleasure of marriage before children. We felt as if we went home after those three days it would have been a fabulous getaway, but we were just getting started. We were going to California to spend time with my best friend and her husband. And YES, we left Las Vegas in the green, which is more than a lot can say, I guess.

Early Thursday morning we flew into San Francisco. More to come on that later!