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| Bellagio: Entrance into the Conservatory |
Our first day we walked the strip and saw the night time shows outside the casinos. I think our favorite one was Belagio's fountains playing to Christmas music. We found out that Belagio had an indoor conservatory that was decorated for the season with polar bears, penguins, and a giant Christmas tree. Rob had a lot more fun than I thought he would posing for the pictures. The goof :)
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| Robert posing at Bellagio Conservatory. The polar bear is made entirely with poinsettias. |
One of our fondest memories of that first day was eating at Serendipity's. It was very cold, and my feet needed a rest so Rob suggested we get a pretzel. While standing in line, a worker ran up to us with a sign. He handed the sign to Rob and said "it's your lucky day!" It read, the early bird catches the worm, but the last in line gets a free frozen hot chocolate. I guess Serendipity's found out that in order to close their shop they needed to designate who the last customer was. What good timing!! As we collected our pretzel, cheese, and frozen hot chocolate (a $20 purchased that we got for $9!), the cashier told us, "try gambling, it must be your lucky day." Though it was could and wet, we happily ate our frozen prize under a heater of a neighboring restaruant. We didn't try our luck with gambling that day (thought maybe gambling on a Sunday wasn't a good idea). Instead we hoped it would hold out for another day.
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| Taken outside Ceasar's Palace. A Buddhist alter made of glass. We saw many people kneeling and praying in front of it. |
Monday was a very fun day. We toured New York, New York, and Robert bought me Mandalay Bay playing cards because he insisted I learn to play Black Jack. We walked down the strip again, this time in pouring rain. Thankfully a nice woman sold us an umbrella which was probably our best investment on this trip. While trying to find cover from the rain, we got lost in the new Cosmopolitan hotel. Boy, is that hotel ritzy!! We spent over an hour trying to find an exit!
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| Statue of Liberty made of Jelly Belly's. NY,NY |
We loved M&M World and the Coke Factory!!! We had so much fun there. At M&M World we took pictures of all the M&Ms and bought a 2 lb bag of assorted M&Ms (almond, peanut, and peanut butter). We weren't planning on buying so much, but we got carried away at the huge dispensers that dispensed the candy in any color you wanted. The best $20 we spent the entire trip.
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| Rob posing with his favorite M&M |
The Coke Factory was our favorite of the two. We bought Coke from Around the World, which was a variety of the most popular coke products sold in different countries. We got a small sample of sixteen different coke products for only $8. Our favorites were a toss up between Monsona Son from Mexico, Blackberry something from an African country, and Lemon Zest from Great Brittain. The worst was a beverage called Beverly from Italy. It tasted like a carbonated weed. Oh the look on Rob's face when he took a sip of that one was priceless.
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| Coke Factory (that white/clear liquid in the middle is the dreaded Beverly) |
In the conjoined basement of the two buildings there was a huge kid arcade. We spent 2 hours playing air hockey, basketball, and chance games while waiting for the Tournament of Kings to start. It was so much fun!
Oh and the Tournament of Kings! Ok, so it was a little kids play, but it was still amazing. We some how lucked out with front row seats. This was controversial as to whether they were good seats or not. On one hand you had an amazing view and the actors actually socialized with those in the audience. On the other hand, the dust kicked up by the horses and sword fighting was not so pleasant. Anyway along with the joisting and sword fighting we were served a wonderful dinner. We were served an entire hen each, biscuit, vegetables, and a delicious soup you were encouraged to slurp (no silverware provided!!!). Pepsi was included =). It was a very memorable night.
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| Rob holding his $40 ticket |
Before entering the Tournament of Kings, we wandered through Excaliber trying to blow some time. I decided to visit the ladies room. While waiting for me, Rob decided to do a little gambling. He sat down at the slot machine right outside the ladies restroom (only in Vegas), put in one dollar and......ding ding ding ding ding Rob won $40. I come out to Rob grinning ear to ear next to the slot machine, ticket in hand. Who knew Rob was a gambler. Thank goodness he had to sense to stop while he was ahead.
The next day we took a trip to the Hoover Dam. Rob loved the tour of the electrical aspects of the dam as well as the visitors center. I had to drag him out. I had no idea how much he loved history and engineering.
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| Pawn Stars!!! |
On our way back to Las Vegas, we got lost yet again. We got off the freeway in Henderson to find a restaurant because we were starving. It was almost impossible to find a restaurant! When we finally did, we were halfway across town with very few ideas on how to get back to Las Vegas. Luckily our waitress, who was also perplexed on how we had gotten so far off the beaten path, directed us to a highway that would get us back to the city.
Once we safely found our way back to Las Vegas, we visited the Gold and Silver Paw Shop. Yes, the location of the famous series Pawn Stars. We did not see any of the famous characters, except the huge guard you see in the series who guards the front door. The shop was so tiny!!! There was a line out the door, and you had to shuffel through the store in a single file line. In the middle of the shop was basically a gift store full of memorabilia (mostly of Chum). We had to buy T-shirts and a little Chum bracelet for Logan.
We ended our trip with a visit to the Las Vegas Temple. What a beautiful temple! And what a perfect ending to a wonderful honeymoon. Thank you, Robby!!!
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| Las Vegas Temple |
