rowEn's last trip to Vegas, and a preview of what's to come...

My last trip was in August, flying out there for a long weekend to see a dear friend get married at Mandalay Bay.

Our long weekend started out with a drive up to Nashville and a night at the Holiday Inn Express downtown. Another friend of mine was working there at the time so we got an excellent room rate of $39. Spent some time down on Music Row and met the drummer for Tim McGraw. Stumbled back to our room at about 1am and had a 4am wake-up call. After the short nap, we showered and drove ourselves to the Nashville airport for our SWA flight. We got a great deal ($99/person each way) so it was worth the drive and stay in Nashville. We were so early that we got A boarding passes. The flight was booked solid but we had seats together and napped off and on. Thankfully it was a direct flight. We hadn't checked any bags so we hopped on the shuttle over to Alamo to pick up the car. We liked being able to pick out what we wanted and left with a decent Grand Am.

We got to the Las Vegas Club at about noon and they were nice enough to let us check in. We'd booked our rooms online for the North Tower. When we were going to Vegas once or twice a year, we always stayed there since I had two years of free rooms from them. (Long story for another report I suppose) We walked down to the Golden Gate for a late breakfast. It was good, but not nearly as good as we remembered. The rest of Friday was spent wandering up and down Fremont street casinos, gambling a bit here and there. As much as I thought I was going to hate the TI/TO machines, they were quite nice when realizing that $57 worth of pennies would be a LOT to go cash in. We actually did quite well on the penny slots. We kept ourselves entertained and ended up a few hundred for the day.

On Saturday we got sucked into one of those time share dealies. Never. Again! We got tickets to see Gordie someone or other, and actually it was a decent show, so I shouldn't talk smack. Not quite a show for kids, but enjoyable. We drove out to GVR and checked out the casino. Perused the penny slots and again ended up doing quite well, walking out of there with a few hundred dollars extra. We ended the night at the Hard Rock. We both like the music that is played and the fact that it isn't usually crowded. We played here and there on various slots, keeping entertained (and well 'watered'!) on the same $20. Since I was driving, I would order an extra beer for the husband and a diet soda for me. He was pretty toasted when it was about time to leave. I ended up hitting on a quarter slot machine for almost $400 right before walking out...and all because I was waiting for him to finish out his last few dollars on a penny slot! Again, another great day!

Sunday was the day of the wedding. We walked around the Excalibur and Luxor for a bit before heading over to the MB. The wedding was in the chapel and yes, as a girl, I instantly teared up as the bride started down the aisle. A beautiful wedding and a reception at the Border Grill. Excellent food, plenty of drinks, and a lot of dancing. Afterwards, a few of us were invited up to the bridal suite. They had been upgraded to the penthouse suite at THEhotel. Talk about an awesome room! I think it was larger than my house! We hung out for a bit then all went downstairs to hit the machines. As much as we tried to keep the bride in her dress for the jaunt, she changed into jeans. We all figured we'd get even better drink service if we had a bride with us

Monday it was time to head home. We got up, checked out of the hotel and stopped at the Upper Deck at LVC before heading to the airport. Found the car rental return without too much trouble and headed to the terminal to check in. Although we had B boarding passes, we ended up in a row to ourselves. Made for a slightly more roomy ride home. We finally made it home to Alabama at about 10pm.

My next trip is sans husband. My girlfriends from Seattle are all flying into Vegas for a weekend with me. I cashed in a bunch of airline miles and will be flying first class to/from Vegas/Huntsville. I'm sharing a room at the Wynn for the first three night with the bride mentioned above. We have tickets to see Avenue Q, a show I thought I'd never get to see. Actually, that show is what prompted this trip! I saw the marquee when we were there in August and immediately started plotting my next trip. President's Day weekend seemed to work for most, so we're going then.

 

Sounds like a nice trip. The next one should be great, as well.

I was married at MB, too. Nice that your friend got upgraded to THEhotel. I tried really hard to get that upgrade, but they refused... only managed an executive suite in the Fuji Wing.

I hope you enjoy Avenue Q and have a fabulous time with the girls.