Ever since moving out to California Derek and I have been talking about taking a trip to Vegas. I had never been before and Derek had only gone for a work convention. We found out it is about a five hour drive from Carlsbad so why not go when it is so close?
We took off after work on Thursday night and drove the five hours. Derek had gotten a nasty cold and wasn't much good for driving. I am notorious for falling asleep in the car so at the end of the work day I drank some coffee and then had a soda with dinner. I managed to stay wide awake and drive to Vegas, but then couldn't get to sleep. I expected late nights, but not by tossing and turning desperate to sleep. (Oh in case anyone is wondering we didn't do a fancy Vegas hotel, we stayed in the Holiday Inn, across the highway from Mandalay Bay.)
The next day we went to tour the strip in the daylight. We looked through many of the casinos and just took in the architecture and crazy people. I loved the giant lions outside of the MGM Grand.
Then there were the real lions inside. Pretty sure this guy just likes showing off that he gets to hang out with lions all day. He didn't really interact with them, just sat there letting everyone know his job is cooler than ours. 
This picture is for my Aunt Jackie. It is the prettiest chocolate fountain I have ever seen. 
The fountain and this tree were located inside the Bellagio. The tree was funny because they had him talking and at one point he stops and says, "Would you like a picture? I will smile for you." Then he stopped talking and smiled.
The second night we were there we got tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show "O." Before the show we decided to play Black Jack. I have only played slots and video poker in a casino before. I was nervous not wanting to upset the other players, but we found a really good table with a dealer who helped me with the odds. I made about $45, but Derek lost most of his money. It was fun, but I am no gambler. Too big a wuss to bet anything. We saw one of the Cirque travelling shows in Baltimore and were really excited to see another. "O" was absolutely amazing. I can't get over the power Cirque performers have. I would recommend anyone going to Vegas to see this show.
The next day we drove around and sat by the pool. I figured out really quick there isn't much to do in Vegas during the day. There were plenty of day excursions like the Hoover Dam, but since we were only there for the weekend I wanted to make sure we weren't tired for the night life. Oh, and by this point Derek had given me his cold.
Saturday night we started at Fremont Street (where the Golden Nugget and older casinos are.) There is an LED display connecting the casinos in this part of town. Every so often they play a song have animation that goes along. Since it was so close to Halloween they played the Time Warp.
It was pretty funny. There is a strip club in this part of town that has big screen advertisements for the passers-by. They cover up anything they aren't allowed to show with funny adjectives. We had to take a picture. 
We didn't last too long in this part of town. I will simply say there were more unsavoury people in this part of town than the strip. After Freemont we arrived back at the Bellagio just in time for the fountain. It was so cool to see the show since it is in so many movies. 
We then went to the Rio to watch Penn & Teller. They put on a great show and even stood for pictures and autographs outside of the theatre when it was over. We got Penn to sign my ticket stub but Teller was mobbed so we didn't really bother fighting the crowd to get to him. After the show we went over to the Palms. Derek had gotten us some passes that got us entrance into the four clubs they have. Two of them are roof deck bars and were really pretty, but not very exciting. One of them was they Playboy club which is pretty much more about saying you went there than you had a good time there. They had high end poker tables and that was clearly the activity you were supposed to partake in.
The best club was Rainn. This was the actual dance club. They had a pretty well known DJ spinning and lots of performers. They had fabric hanging from the lighting fixtures and many people doing all kinds of tricks. Of course, we dressed up so I didn't want my big old purse and therefore had no camera. I am a little disappointed over not having pictures, but we had tons of fun so in the end that is all that matters.
Last observation: I was surprised to find the Welcome to Vegas sign is in the middle of the freeway. There is a small parking lot to get out and take photos, but we decided I would just try and get it while driving by. Hence the bad photo...
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