Viva Las Vegas (Pt. 2)

Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire

The drive to Las Vegas was about 12 hours from the ranch so we were planning on taking it easy. We drove for a while on Sunday before we got a hotel room someplace in Utah. (I think. I didn't get a shot glass from there either.) The mountains and the views were pretty amazing. Especially considering I assumed Utah was boring and plain.


Monday we packed up again and continued on our way.
We passed through Arizona a little bit which was kind of cool because I hadn't been there since I was four or five. We have some relative in Arizona and a distant cousin (?) let me ride her horse with her. I think I have a picture around here some where but, anyways, Arizona was dry and a little mountainy.


We stopped at a few points to get out and read about the mountains and take some pictures. It was pretty cool... But soon we continued on our way to Las Vegas.



Finally we could see the city on the horizon, jutting out in the middle of nowhere, in the center of a bunch of mountains and plains. We all became excited and anxious. As we neared the city we all stared, gaping out the window. Trump Tower, Circus Circus, and Ceasar's Palace were some of the first to greet us.

We pulled into the parking lot of our hotel: Mandalay Bay. My dad went inside to get the room key and stuff and he came back with a big grin on his face. He told us that we were gonna see stuff we've never seen before in there and that we should contain ourselves. We all agreed, giddy with excitement by this point.

We stepped in the lobby and you would not believe how amazing it was. There was just so much! Everything just emanated elegance. It was pretty sweet.

The light fixtures, chandeliers, everything... not to mention the thirty-something foot high cielings that made it all seem so open. There were trendy restaraunts and stores throughout the hotel. Did I mention it was amazing?
At one point I turned around and noticed fans on the cieling. They were palm-style fans that just waved back and forth slowly and I just giggled.



I found these on google earth :)
The first one is their 11 acre pool area.
Then there's Mandalay bay from above.






We went to go look for our room.
Being used to normal hotels and the whole "life's not fair" thing, I know I at least, was trying to avoid the heavenly blue light shining from the door at the very end of our hall. I would be perfectly happy with a normal room but that one was just rubbing it in.




But then we started running out of numbers and we all pretty much raced down the hall way. And alas... the room at the very end of the hall way with the double doors was ours.

Wow. Just wow.
First off, it was bigger than our entire house. Second of all, it was on the end so we had a perfect view almost 180 degrees of the airport/desert, the pool, and the strip. Did I mention the floor-to-cieling windows along the outside edge of the room? All of the curtains were controlled by little buttons on the wall. Go here to see some pics of our room.



There were two kingsized bedrooms, two giant bathrooms, five tvs, a kitchen and a living room. It was just wonderful. The beds were feathertop with down blankets and down pillows, the bathrooms were stocked with shampoos, soaps, sewing kits and whatnot :P
We never wanted to leave.

I can't even begin to describe Mandalay Bay as a whole. There was the mall, the restaurants, the casino... it was just the coolest, biggest place I have ever been in. The place was HUGE.
But it fit in with everything else on the strip. The strip was huge, everything was huge.

Then we had to make a list of everything we wanted to see and do. I wanted to do EVERYTHING. But everyone else was a bit intimidated by the immensity of the whole place.
We went to M&M world, the World of Coca-Cola, saw the Belagio Fountain Show, got lost in Paris, managed not to get separated, swam, went to the Air force Base, played games at Excalibur, gazed in awe at the Luxor, and eventually ran out of time. :( The last night/day was a rather sad one for me. There was still so much I wanted to see. And leaving meant we had to start heading back home. Considering our hotel room was bigger than our house, I would've just preferred to stay but unfortunately I couldn't. :P




statue in the luxor. that place was decked out with Egyptian stuff, pretty awesome. But we just walked through it really quick, we didnt get a really good look or anything.


Chris Angel's car roped off outside the Luxor.


fishy in the aquarium in the lobby.


awestruck by the belagio fountain show



if you ever get the chance to go to Vegas, GO SEE THE FOUNTAIN SHOW. They were once ever half hour or fifteen minutes i cant remember. but it was amazing.


when we got lost in paris and had to go through ballys.
ooo shiney.


Paris and Hollywood



Our room number. xD


an awesome light fixture somewhere...


Just when I thought our trip couldnt get any better STOMP shows up. x3
In sixth grade back when I was in school my music teacher LOVED Stomp. So we watched a ton of videos and even did our own little "stomp" thing. So it was cool to get to see them. They were practicing or making a video or something but still... it was cool.



So yeah... I loved Las Vegas. I got some souvenirs too, including a cool shotglass that has the major hotels on it, and three necklaces. A crown, an anchor and an owl. :)

I at least, was sad to leave the city behind... and the pillows... and our room...
Next stop, the Grand Canyon.


To be continued...