My Mini Mainly Pictoral Vegas TR - COMPLETE 6/21 About This Page:

[amandal]

So here it goes . . . I have never went anywhere on vacation during my reign here as a PPer so this will be my first "General" TR. I hope ya'll enjoy it. I didn't take detailed written notes like I do in WDW - so it will mainly be chronological pictures with a story to tell about them. . . . Get it??

I will do some introductions since some of the pictures may have our travelling partners in them!!

Me and DH - I'm pretty sure you know us, but if you don't we are Amanda and Danny and we're at the bottom of this post in the siggie pic.

Adrienne and Javier - My Dsis and her DBF (it was his 30th birthday on Sunday 6/15)2008_0615Image0002.jpg


Kerry and Chris - Adrienne's BFF and her DH (they're newlyweds !!)
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of them together - but they will make an appearance later


Pete - Our Dad (me and Adrienne) He lives in CA, but he joined us from Wed-Sat then flew back to Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.
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How this trip came to be:

When DH and I were about to leave for WDW in December 2007, Dsil broke the news that she was trying to get pregnant, so DH and I ruled out the WDW trip for this year (2008) that we were supposed to be taking with them (Dsil, Dbil, and Dne).

Since Adrienne and Jav were going to Vegas they asked us to come too and have that be our vacation for 2008. We happily agreed since we haven't been to Vegas since 2004 and it was only for 2 days as a side trip from our main trip to Los Angeles to visit my dad. So we booked in January and got a pretty decent deal through Continental Vacations. We stayed from 6/11 - 6/15 at the Luxor. This is where we stayed in '04 (albeit for 1 night) and really enjoyed it there.
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Our Room
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The Lobby

Adrienne and Kerry have a childhood friend who moved to Vegas a couple of years ago and she got married on 6/13, so that is how their trip came to be. It worked out perfectly that Javier's 30th birthday fell on 6/15, the last day of our trip!!

Did ya get all that??? I like to give pretty detailed descriptions of stuff so you fully understand what's going on especially if it's just going to be pictures . . . ..

[amandal]

I'm going to try my best to upload as many pictures as possible, but if I have some trouble, I am going to have to enlist Rob's help. So, if there is a break, don't think I'm leaving you hanging!! It's because I'm trying to figure it out LOL

We left on Wednesday 6/11 super early in the morning. We were in a car by 5:15 am. My Dad (Pete) came to NJ on 6/4 and stayed for a week and traveled with us to LV today since he'd practically be going home Our flight was at 7:30 and we actually left on time (pretty miraculous for Newark airport). We arrived in Vegas at around 10:45 am west coast time. Pete rented a car so we picked that up and drove everyone to their respective resorts. Pete stayed at Tropicana and Adrienne and Jav stayed at MGM. This was based on the fact that everyone booked at different times and we all just took the best deal for us at the time.

We just hung around during the day and had lunch at the food court in the Luxor. After that we walked around a bit to the closer resorts (Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, and New York New York) just to browse . . . Tonights plan was to go to Fremont Street and eat dinner at the Rio at their seafood buffet.
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They had a really delicious all you can eat seafood buffet here and if you don't mind going a little bit off the strip to the Rio it is well worth it. Here is me and Dh inside the buffet
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After this we went down to Fremont Street. It is really cool with the "old school" feel. The live band that was performing tonight was really good. They were younger but sang and played mostly 80's and 90's songs. Very entertaining. I didn't take any pictures of the band, but they were good. Here are some pictures of the "lights on the ceiling". I don't really know how else to describe it.
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It actually looks like a billboard or something, but it's pictures made of lights on the "roof" outside. Sounds confusing, but if you are familiar with it, you understand

After this we were beat from travelling and gaining 3 hours time, so we all went back towards the strip. DH and I browsed in the casino a bit, then headed up to bed.

Up Next - The Hoover Dam

ETA: I know the pictures are small, but if you click on them, you can see them a bit bigger. . . . .

[WDWfan]

Amanda - You're getting me in the mood for my upcoming trip! I leave for Las Vegas on July 5th. I agree with you about the Seafood Buffet at the Rio. It is definitely worth the trip! I haven't been downtown on my last 2 trips, but I really want to go this trip. I the light canopy. Can't wait for more!

[Ceara's mawmaw]

That brings back memories from May.....we stayed at treasure island had a blast!! Great start to your TR.........

[mcc0313]

Great start Amanda...it sounds like a great time so far.

[chezp]

Great start Amanda - and I'm another one getting in the mood for our upcoming Vegas trip in October, thanks to your trip report!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start and pictures Amanda More please

[lauren-roxy]

Great start!! Can't wait for more!!

[RobDVC]

Great start, Amanda!
..to paraphrase Vegas Vacation...I can't wait to see all your Dam pictures.

[christiejay]

Great start! I haven't been to Vegas yet, but if Southwest would just issue a DING for our WDW trip in the next 10 days, we could use our credits to look into going over the holidays. If not, it might be a while ...

Still, I'm looking forward to hearing more and seeing all your pictures!

[lexiemom]

Great start! Can't wait for more.

[amandal]

Originally Posted by WDWfan

Amanda - You're getting me in the mood for my upcoming trip! I leave for Las Vegas on July 5th. I agree with you about the Seafood Buffet at the Rio. It is definitely worth the trip! I haven't been downtown on my last 2 trips, but I really want to go this trip. I the light canopy. Can't wait for more!

CANOPY!! That's the word I was looking for - thanks Lesley. I'm glad you're getting excited, hopefully I can relive my trip through yours (hope you plan on doing a TR)

[amandal]

Originally Posted by RobDVC

Great start, Amanda!
..to paraphrase Vegas Vacation...I can't wait to see all your Dam pictures.

This was the ongoing joke when everyone found out we were going to / went to the Dam. The gift shop was full of corny stuff like - "Here is my Dam T-shirt" ; "Here is my Dam coffee mug" . . . . So annoying

[amandal]

Thursday June 12th - Day 2

Today we went to the Hoover Dam. It was fun and definitely something I'm glad we went to see. It was cool to be in Nevada and Arizona at the same time. We also saw Lake Mead on the drive there and back, which is really beautiful. After the dam (around 3 or 4) we walked the strip and tried to find somewhere to eat. We ended up in the Italian restaurant inside the Excalibur. Dinner was good, service was terrible. Here are some pix from today:

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Apparantley, Danny is not good at centering

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The Nevada - Arizona Line

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Lake Mead. Someone correct me, but doesn't this Lake have some type of significance?

[amandal]

Day 3 - Friday June 13th (ooooohhhhhh)

Javier travels alot for work and when he comes to Las Vegas, his company usually puts him up at Red Rock Resort. When planning the trip he suggested we visit there. Today was the day we did so. Red Rock is about 25 minutes off the strip. It is a "freestanding" resort with lots of ammenities for people who don't want to stay on the strip. It was very nice and clean. We were glad we took the time to visit here because it was definitely a different feeling here than on the strip. Don't quite know how to describe it, but different. When we arrived we went bowling first. They have a 30 lane bowling alley inside the resort here. Then we had lunch at the buffet. Delicious. Tons and tons of diffrent choices. They even had an ice cream parlor at the end as one of the desert selections. Here are some pix from Red Rock
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Me and Adrienne in the lobby of the Red Rock Resort

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The guys (Danny, Javier, and Chris) intently watching their bowling scores

By the time we got back from Red Rock, it was time for Adrienne, Jav, Kerry and Chris to get ready for the wedding they had tonight. Danny and I knew we were going to see a show tonight, so in the morning we got tickets for Carrot Top since he was playing at the Luxor. We had time before the show, so we went to the pool and relax during this time. We were so full from the buffet at Red Rock, that we didn't eat dinner. The show was at 8pm and it was absolutely hilarious. Carrot Top makes alot of props and they are (IMO) the funniest part of the show. We really wanted to see Cirque tonight, but the tickets were sooooo expensive that we decided against it. We were happy with our decision to see Carrot Top, though.