After the game, we hiked the steap hill back to our care (we choose to walk up the hill and farther away than pay the $20 for parking - it's good exercise anyways :) ) and jumped on the freeway as quickly as we could to avoid any jams in the road with all the cars.
We took the 15 North and, once we got into Escondido, found a Rubios to stop at for some dinner. Let me just say, I've never tried the Nachos before then, and boy were they tastey! After dinner, we got back on the freeway for the long trek up to Vegas. I tend to sleep a lot in the car and this was no exception. I snoozed for an hour or two at least and am very fortunate to have a husband who can stay awake a lot better in the car than I can.
After 5 hours, I think, we arrive at the Strip. Well, 2 or 3 miles South of "The Strip" but still the hotel claims to be on the Strip. Our first night we stayed at a place called South Point. It was a newer hotel and very nice. The customer service, on the other hand, was not so nice. It took us over an hour from the time we arrived to the time we finally stepped foot into our room.
After we settled into our room, we walked around the hotel for a bit to see what was there. Because we arrived late, and because of the delays getting into our room, much of the activities we were interested in weren't open any more. There was a full movie theatre, bowling alley, pool, spa, food, and, of course, a casino. After walking around for a bit, we decided to go back upstairs and just relax as we were pretty tired.
The next morning, we took our time and eventually made it down to the jacuzzi for a very relaxing start to our day. It wasn't too hot so we were able to spend a lot of time in it.
When we needed to get moving, we finally got out and got ready for the day, packing our things to move on to the next hotel. Before we left, we stopped by the lunch buffet and ate a ton (that was their way of making up for our room delays the night before). The food was actually really good and the desserts were amazing (yes, we ate more than one dessert!).
Once our tummies were overly full, we headed up the Strip and found our next hotel, the MGM Grand! It was a beautiful hotel and had much better customer service. After enjoying the view from our room for a bit, we headed downstairs and looked at the Lion Habitat - very fun.
Then we headed outside and, after crossing the street to the Tropicana, were quickly pulled to the side to get signed up for a Timeshare speal the next day. Now we wouldn't normally sign up, but we knew ahead of time that we were going to because you can get free show tickets out of them. So we did and were set to see Cirque Du Soleil the following evening, on my birthday.
We walked across the street to Excalibur and then walked through it and the Luxor to get to Mandalay Bay. We thought about seeing the Shark Exhibit, but it cost money so we thought against it. Then we caught the train to take us back to Excalibur - yay for not walking!
We had about 40 minutes before there was supposed to be a show at Treasure Island. We debated driving over there as it is on the other end of the Strip but thought that it didn't look that far to walk so we just walked. And walked. And walked. It really was deceiving just how far away TI was from us. Every time I looked up, I expected to be a lot closer to it than we were. We ended up running a little as the time was ticking down.
We made it just after the show started and, even thought there was a big crowd, we managed to find a place where we could see pretty well. The show was definitely not worth the hustle. It was not what Jeremiah remembered it being when he was younger and in Las Vegas for Taekwondo tournaments. They basically sex-ed up the show to appeal to an adult audience instead of kids.
After the show, we started walking back down the Strip, back towards our hotel. We made sure to stop and look at things we missed on the way up, like the Belagio Hotel's water show and its lobby, which was decked out in Fall decorations and very beautiful.
Eventually we made it back to our hotel and spent the next few hours having fun playing games. We went to bed at some point my birthday morning.
Later that morning, we woke up and quickly made it over to the Tropicana to get on the bus for the Timeshare presenation. We ended up spending over 3 hours there, I think, which was longer than we were expecting. (They sure can make it sound good and enticing, but they also have a way of avoiding your questions when they don't want to answer them.)
We then got shuttled back to our hotel and got dressed and ready for the evening. We went downstairs to have my birthday dinner at the Rain Forset Cafe and on our way were stopped by someone outside a club who asked if we wanted to be on the Guest List for that night. I thought, why not? So we got signed up (although, we never did make it to the club). (Tip: If you want to get on a club guest list, walk by the door of it a few hours before it opens and make sure you look nice, like you have money...they'll probably stop you to ask.)
Dinner was wonderful and my "cake" was Bananas Foster...yummy! We then headed to our car to drive, this time, back to Treasure Island for our show. The show was a lot of fun, and even more fun once Jeremiah switched seats with me so I could get away from the really chatty lady on my left who had to comment loudly about everything!
After the show, we walked around the lobby for a bit and found cheap Black Jack tables. We had fun playing there for the evening until we were ready to leave.
At some point we made it back to our hotel and went to bed. It was a wonderful birthday day. The next day, we packed up and headed back home. It was definitely good to be home and away from the smoked-filled Vegas. It was a fun trip and 3 days was just enough time to enjoy it, but I wouldn't want to stay any longer than that!
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