Oh...the trip?

Sin City, baby. Ohhhh yeah. (To be truthful, my pop let the cat out of the bag by bellering out the location a week ago.) We cracked outta Dodge early last Friday and plopped our buns behind our rented HHR (And they were charging us for a sub-compact...HA! Eff you, Hertz!) before checking into the Strat-
http://www.stratospherehotel.com/

We napped, explored our lodgings, then gussied before we hit the restaurant at the top of the world for martini's and a PHENOMenal supper and a spinning view of greater Vegas. (Really. It spins.) http://www.stratospherehotel.com/topworld.html (We shared tuna carpaccio over a cake of rare ahi tuna, followed by shared lobster ravioli and roast chicken. Hea. Ven.)

Then a show:
http://www.stratospherehotel.com/bite.html

Big deal. Don't scoff at our love of the Vampire T#tty show. It was pure gold. A live dramatic interpretation can be provided to you by yours truly for one cocktail.

Day two was learning to play craps in the casino, then off to do some strip cruisin. (Is it just me, or did the strip grow two miles? For some reason I remember it being, shorter? And holy f#ck, there are literally 6 new casino's being built. Comedy was seeing the construction workers dressed like they were going on an Arctic expedition while Dorajar and I are in light sweaters and jeans.) That was pretty exhausting. A power nap, workout, and then it was off to the MGM grand to get SOMEone their out of town sushi fix (http://www.mgmgrand.com/dining/shibuya-japanese-restaurant.aspx) I'm not pointing fingers here, just sayin'...and sayin' again that SOMEone also has retired their mama...asking if we could take the table behind ours leftover tempura. (And by leftover...get this: A table of, like, 40 Japanese tourists exits before we're even served. They leave 3, count'em THREE full plates of tempura. I suppose it didn't hurt to ask...but man. There are, like, starving people in Japan and stuff)

Oh, the evening show? "Ka", bitches. http://www.mgmgrand.com/entertainment/ka-cirque-du-soleil-show.aspx Yes, a wirework kung-fu Cirque show. The video clip doesn't even begin to show you the enormity of the space. Holy balls...amazing. More over? When you go up to the bar and order a gin and tonic, ask for the large vs. the small, and walk away with a Big Gulp sized drink...well that's just the way to see theatre. ("Um... he poured half a bottle of Tanqueray into the glass darling.") The night ended with a trip to downtown Vegas where we lost a majority of our dough.

Day Tree was about nature. First, we needed to fill up on buffet food (a bullet point) but decided against the pricier casino's and used our two-for-one coupon for Terrible's Buffet. http://www.terribleherbst.com/casinos/lasvegas/restaurants.html We had a surreal morning of it, befriending a group of 4 senior citizens who told us all about what they either did, or didn't do...and we listened as they coveted dear Pat's monstrous strawberry covered Belgian Waffle.

After making it to the park-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rock_Canyon_National_Conservation_Area (and getting the S#IT scared out of me by the park ranger show and telling with a freaking scorpion!) we relenquished our "Advanced Hiker" card for "Re-ray Hiker" after following the wrong trail, doubling back, and realizing we missed the trail head by 4 feet. It was a gorgeous day (high 50's) and I was inundated by text messages from MN telling me about the shitty weather they were having. I felt awful.

Dorajar started feeling crappy so I took her to Fellini's http://www.fellinislv.com/fellinis_stratosphere.htm for a garlicy dinner and watched as the waiter/owner macked on my Kool-Aid. We meandered a little bit, and then hit the hay.

I got up and left Dorajar to sleep while I hit the hotel gym and realized that I was gonna truly miss the Vegas. We packed, hit the Fashion Mall to humor me (and get some last minnit gifts) then off to visit the Luxor and Excalibur. The Luxor buffet was a three hour wait, so we happied ourselves with "Ex's" which was worth the money...but poor sick baby only could manage some mashed potatoes.

Airport.

Then Home.

Did I mention that my girlfriend is made of awesome?