Viva Las Vegas!

This weekend, four of us girls took a trip to Las Vegas.  We had a fantastic time eating scrumptious meals, losing our tail in blackjack, and watching The Lion King show!  I have to say that our dining choices were superb this entire trip!  We spend most of our gambling time at the blackjack tables with the exception of one very quick and unsuccessful rapid roulette round (a game I will never in my life play again).  We found that our best luck for blackjack was at Bill's Gamblin' Hall on the $5 tables where we were able to make our money last longer.  None of us left Vegas huge winners this trip, but I LOVE playing blackjack so it's entertainment to me either way.  Don't get me wrong though... it's definitely much more fun to win!  Being July, I knew it would be hot, but I actually thought it was better than I expected.  Instead of walking most places we took a cab, which worked perfectly because this way we were able to experience more of Vegas in the two days we were there without spending too much time walking the strip.  The hotel we stayed at, Treasure Island, left us with many funny stories to look back on.... I'll just leave it at that.  The trip was a success, and my favorite part was simply laughing and swapping stories with my fabulous girlfriends!

I am looking forward to our next girls trip (we're thinking LA maybe).  But in the meantime, it's back to reality - cooking, laundry, picking up toys and all of the other Mommy duties.

**WARNING** - Reading further may make you hungry.

Day 1 (Saturday):  Our flight left 9:55 Dallas time, arriving in Vegas around 11:00.  During my flights, I read The Princess.  I'm having trouble putting this one down... It's a great book!  We met Stephanie at the airport and taxied to our hotel, Treasure Island.  After checking in, we walked across the street to the mall area to check on discount tickets and grab lunch.  This meal was the only one we didn't have a planned reservation for, and we made a great choice.  We ate at Botero in the Wynn.  My turkey club panini, fries and grape crush cocktail were all fabulous!  Our table was on the patio overlooking the pool, which was a fun atmosphere for our first meal in Vegas.

After lunch, we walked stopped in the casino at the Wynn to lose our money very quickly in rapid roulette.  I was not happy about playing this silly game, but I learned a lesson ($20 later') not to waste my time on this game ever again.  Then we walked back over to Treasure Island to play some blackjack before getting dressed for dinner.  That night we ate at Social House.  This cute sushi restaurant exceeded my expectations.  I'm not a fan of sushi, so I ordered the dish recommended by the waiter- Mini Kobe Burgers with Sapporo Onion Rings.  I actually not a huge fan of burgers either, but since the waiter highly recommended this dish I thought I'd give it a try.  These were incredible!  They didn't even taste like burgers.  I also enjoyed a fruity mango mojito with my meal. 

After dinner, we walked around the Aria where Stephanie grabbed a cupcake at The Cupcakery.

We then walked down the strip to the Bellagio to watch the fountains and grab a cab back to our hotel.  We were all pretty tired that evening and went to bed around 11:30 (1:30 Dallas time).

Day 2 (Sunday):  The next morning we ate brunch and drank mimosas on the patio of Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris hotel. We had a view of the Bellagio fountains. I loved this because those fountains are one of my favorite parts of Vegas. Although I plan to return to every one of the restaurants from this trip, this one is a MUST! It was my favorite with the view, the food and the atmosphere. Courtney and I shared a ham and cheese omlete and strawberry waffles. Everything was awesome including Jennifer's blueberry french toast that Stephanie and I helped her finish. 

After brunch, we headed over to Bill's Gambin' Hall where the discount ticket booth was.  After ordering tickets for our show that night, The Lion King, we walked around the casino finding a nice $5 blackjack table.  This was probably the best table we had all weekend.  We were all winning pretty good hands.

In line at the ticket booth

Winning Big

We then took the tram from Bally's over to MGM to walk over to Mandalay Bay where we needed to pick up our tickets for that evening.

And then a taxi back to Treasure Island where Courtney and I played some more blackjack and Stephanie and Jennifer played slots before changing clothes for dinner. 

Dinner that evening was at La Cave at the Wynn.  It was superb!  Everything on the tapas menu looked amazing, so we chose 6:  jumbo lump crab lettuce wraps; stuffed chicken with prosciutto and lemon caper sauce; prosciutto, carmelized onions and arugula flatbread; gargonzola salad; marinated shrimp with tomato and chili oil; beef filet with crostini and blue cheese.  For dessert we enjoyed a chocolate, carmel and peanuts lollipop style.  We shared two of these; one that we later figured out was peanut butter and not carmel.  My pisco punch cocktail was incredible as well. We sat on the patio overlooking the resort pool.

Cheers!

Walking through the Wynn after dinner

We then ventured over to Mandalay Bay for our show, The Lion King.  I have been wanting to see this, and we were told that this show was ending in December, so this was a perfect choice.  We had front row seats that turned out ok.  There were just a couple scenes that were difficult to see but all in all it was great.  I love the music in The Lion King, so I new this show would be as good as it was.

After the show, we took a cab back to Bill's casino to lose some more of our money in blackjack before turning in at Treasure Island around 1:30 (3:30 Dallas time). 

Day 3 (Monday):  We woke up to head to the airport around 7:30, so needless to say, I was exhausted this night when I got home.  I enjoyed reading my book on the plane ride home as well.  I never get opportunities to read at home, so this was a real treat!