Lost Wages, Nevada

The pictures from this trip may someday surface.  But for now, you'll have to use your imagination.  We went to Las Vegas last week.  Ryan had a two-day conference to attend to and one of those days happened to be my birthday.  Two birds, one stone.  Why not?  Although I'd technically been to Las Vegas before, it was only to the airport (it's pink, I might add) and it was years ago.  I'd never been for fun and I was excited for the trip.  

Our plane ride over there was packed.  I was the last person to walk on to the plane, and although our seats were separated initially, an elderly gentleman, after hearing us lament that we couldn't sit next to each other, generously gave up his seat so that we could sit together and watch a movie.  It was a quick trip there and I was excited to see our hotel.  I'd told Ryan that I'd never stayed at a nice hotel in the states.  The nicest one I'd ever been to was in Taiwan after my mission.  It was really nice, but I think I had compared it to the crappy apartments I'd lived in while I was there.  So The Venetian totally kicked butt.  It was amazing.  There were 2 flat screen TVs in our room as well as a TV in the bathroom.  We had 2 queen beds and I could have stayed in my bed all day.  In fact, on my birthday I did do just that.  I wasn't in bed ALL day, but I did let myself veg for a couple hours.  We took advantage of the buffet at Harrah's that night - even got a two-for-one special.  

The next day Ryan had his conference and it started fairly early in the morning.  After I took my time getting ready, I headed out to face the sinful city of Las Vegas.  I was so naive about Las Vegas that I thought "the strip" was actually going to be labeled as "The Strip."  No.  It's Las Vegas Blvd.  What a trip.  That place sure is interesting.  Tourists were everywhere.  I went in stores, I looked around, I gawked, I shopped - I just enjoyed the day.  The weather was beautiful and I fielded a couple "Happy Birthday" phone calls.  I treated myself to the most expensive and the coolest skirt I've ever bought.  It can be worn over 100 ways!  We went out to dinner that night and walked down the strip a little bit.  We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed a spectacular view of the fountains at The Bellagio.

The following day while Ryan was at day 2 of his conference (he did a fabulous job there and passed the test at the end - way to go babe), I was able to meet up with an old friend of mine.  I hadn't seen her since 2001 when I lived in Hawaii.  We'd kept in touch over the years and she was always trying to get me to come out to Las Vegas.  It finally worked.  It was great to talk to her and catch up and to see her cute kid!  That night we walked the strip in the daylight and took in more of the sights.  Lots of good people watching going on.  We left Las Vegas that night and the trip home was fairly uneventful.

Ryan moved out here to CA the weekend after St. Patrick's Day.  He now lives about 5 minutes down the road from me and it's great having him so near.  The ride out here in the U-haul was fun and we took our time and split the trip up over a couple days.  Made it enjoyable and very doable.

I love Ryan.