I went to Las Vegas with a group from my school for a differentiation conference July 17-21. We got to Vegas on that Saturday evening and got checked into our hotel. It was late so we looked around for somewhere to eat dinner. Because it was a national conference, the place was PACKED and finding food wasn't easy... We chose Queen Victoria's Pub. The food took FOREVER to get and was decent...
We got ready for the conference to start the next day. After attending the first day of the conference, we met up and went out to the show we had decided to see, Jubilee! But before it started, we walked through Paris and ended up eating dinner at an Italian restaurant that was INCREDIBLE!!! For about $17 we got a Caesar salad (best EVER), salmon, potatoes, veggies, sorbet, and a glass of wine. Seriously, I was BLOWN away by the food! Then, it was off to Bally's to check in for the show. It was exactly what we'd wanted I suppose...something traditionally Vegas.
After that, we walked around, crossed the street and went to the Bellagio. I was mesmerized by water show!!! My boss, Barbara Hartwick, wanted us to see all of the blown glass in the lobby and the conservatory (which always has a different theme).
Then, we checked out one of the night clubs/bars that was gorgeously fancy inside! I felt like I was in a movie. A band was getting started, and they were incredible! Not to mention, along the side of the club was several sets of French doors that led out to a patio overlooking the watershow. I kept going out there to watch it...I couldn't help it! Like I said, I was completely mesmerized!!! We finally left around midnight, but I wanted to stay. Between the music and water show, I was SET!
After the conference the next day, we all planned on going out and heading to to the Freemont Street Experience on the old strip. We ate at a Tony Roma's at a casino, and stayed to watch the show... Tyler Pate had told me that it was incredible, and he was right! The theme for the show we saw was Queen.
From there, we hopped back on the bus (we'd bought bus passes--so much cheaper than cabs), and got off at the Stratosphere. Barbara, Sheri Hamlin, and I went to the top of the tower to see Vegas from the air. It was beautiful!
By the last day of the conference, we were all exhausted! The classes started to become redundant (and I was getting a lot of phone calls about dance "stuff" because this was right in the middle of switching studios and try-outs for both studios...). I took a nap and got ready for going out on our last night. We first started out by taking the bus to Mandalay Bay (the farthest we could go on the strip--we were trying to get out to see "the" Vegas sign), but it was farther than we could walk. So, we went to Mandalay Bay and talked a security guard into letting us see the beach they have. Pretty cool! Then, we went to an ice bar called 5 degrees. It was pricey, but quite the experience. We weren't supposed to bring cameras, but I can't say I stuck to that rule... We bought their picture anyway. Suzanne didn't want to do that, so she met up with us after we were done.
From there, we walked through the passage into the Luxor and on into Excalibur. We crossed the street and saw (from a distance) MGM, and went into NYNY. We were looking for something to eat (we were starving!). We ended up eating in some kind of Applebee's-ish place that was about America. The service was not good and the food wasn't anything to write home about... But we were glad to finally EAT! We walked through Hard Rock Cafe and onto the M&M store.
I had been saying I wanted to play craps (don't even know HOW to play, but was dying to throw dice!), so we went to Caesar's Palace. But when I got in, I got overwhelmed and chickened out. We were about to head out when Suzanne, who had won over $400 in slots at this point, suggested we go into one more night club at her treat. We had a great time. It was tiny, and loud, but had fun dancing as a group--it was great bonding.
We then walked to the Venetian and caught the bus back to our hotel, the Rivera. I got to my room about 4ish (which was 6ish back home!). I fell asleep and got up around 10:30 so I could pack up quick and check out by 11.
On our way out of town, our cab stopped at "the sign" so I could get a fast picture of it before heading to the airport. The planes were practically full of teachers (a ton of NLR teachers at that). One of our flight attendants was quite full of himself, and a flirt. He was showing off his modeling notebook (he was an underwear model) and even did a fake strip-tease for the entire plane. It was all quite entertaining!
I got home to Little Rock that night around 9ish and the girls had made signs for me. How sweet!! I was glad to be back (even though I'd had a GREAT trip!)
