vegas baby!

when i lived in germany i got to be friends with an aussie chick named chelise...10+ years later of keeping in touch later, she's now in vegas...las vegas is one of the most famous american cities, a pilgrimmage of sorts...i know heaps of people who have been to vegas, but until now, i've never been...
chelise and her boyfriend sean picked me up at the airport, which i found to be surprisingly small for this city...my flight was two hours late, argh...something about the plane in chicago being tested, then our plane being changed...a relatively long flight (most domestic flights in the states just aren't that long) and of course they no longer serve free food...

it took ages for my luggage to come out, i felt like i could've gotten my bag off the plane and walked faster...two other flights were unloaded onto that baggage carousel before my flight!
the two hour delay plus the long flight meant i was starving when i got off the plane...chelise and sean asked if i was craving anything in particular, so i figured i'd go to a fast food joint i haven't yet visited during this visit to the states...who doesn't love a spicy chicken sandwich from wendy's?
the next morning we all had a lazy morning, and it was lovely...sean is in school, and has to study all the time, chelise works crazy hours...neither one of them ever has much down time...so much so that they hardly know how to relax!! sean cooked us all breakfast burritos...YUM...he definitely knows how to cook:)...i also got my first taste of one of the gazillion flavoured coffee creamers available in the states...vanilla caramel, or something like that...YUM!!

after chilling out for a couple more hours, we checked into a hotel...it's part of a time share sean owns...i don't completely understand the system, but there is something about a number of points each year...anywho, this particular hotel had a lazy river, jacuzzi, pool, and heaps of lawn chairs...our 2 bedroom (and 2 bathroom!!) suite overlooked all of this...sweet as :)
since we had all last eaten at breakfast, and it was then early afternoon, we were all hungry...we ended up at a chain restaurant with a big menu...normally i'm not a huge fan of these types of places, but the food was pretty good...and, as i should've expected, the servings were huge...needless to say, i overate...(this seems to be a theme of the entire summer)...

on the way back to the hotel we stopped by an electronics store, i picked up a tripod to replace the one i left behind in colorado springs...i never did figure out where i left it, maybe at the garden of the gods? this time i bought a gorillapod with magnetic feet...i can't wait to use it!!
finally we made it into the pool...yay!! the sun had gone down enough that the lazy river was entirely in the shade...which made it juuuuuust too chilly for chelise, she only wanted to do a lap at a time...the jacuzzi was great too, but just on the side of too warm...we went back and forth, back and forth...i didn't mind...i'm always happy to be around water...
that night we had intended to clean up then go out to dinner...it didn't happen...we were all slow about showering, and we kept talking...chelise had brought a dvd of a denzel washington movie, so the change of plans included watching the movie and calling somewhere for food delivery...chelise and i both fell asleep waaaaaaaay before the end of the movie...hee hee...

the following morning we all woke up slowly, and attempted to enjoy the coffee and tea we found in the kitchen...not.very.good...for breakfast we went to a place called hash house a go go...it's somehow supposed to have farm food 'with a twist'...the restaurant even claims indiana as inspiration...hmmm...chelise and sean warned me that the portion sizes were huge, but i still think they understated the sizes...BIG.PLATES! i ate less than half the mashed potatoes, meatloaf, tomato slices, biscuit, and two egss...the way the food is presented on the plates is definitely worthy of being called food porn...surprisingly, the hot chocolate wasn't that great...good, but not great...

then we took the dogs to the park...two border collies...i'm not sure how i feel about a park in vegas that has green grass, given that this is a desert, so a lot of water must be used...the dogs loved it though...
breakfast was so big that even at 1600 i still wasn't hungry again, so deciding what to do for dinner wasn't easy...sean and i were also 'fighting' over who was going to pay for dinner...after talking about a heap of options, malaysian food ended up being the winter...
since i was in vegas for the first time, i wanted to see what makes vegas famous...the strip...not surprisingly, chelise and sean avoid the area like the plague...i didn't want to spend a lot of time there, but i did want to see it...so we all hopped in the car, and drove to the strip...when we first got to the strip, it was still day...that is, the sun was still up...the first stop was at the end closest to the vegas sign...i got my photo taken with the sign, yippee...(gotta prove i was there, right?)...

from there we  drove down the strip, then back again...our first trip through was during daylight...there are heaps of people walking everywhere...i had the idea that it would be an easy stroll to walk down the strip...but crossing the street often means walking up stairs, over a small overpass, then down stairs on the other side...plus, the strip is a lot longer than i expected...(it's never that lon in movies!)...it's just hotels, shopping, and restaurants...when we got to the end, we turned around and did it again...this time it was dark, so all the lights were on...it looked totally different!!
the car chelise and sean drive has a sun roof, so i was able to stick my camera out and take photos as we drove...fun...so much traffic...
i also wanted to see a view of the area from up high...chelise and sean had to think to figure out a bar/hotel that would allow us to go up without having a dress code or a cover charge...THE hotel, which is another property in the mandalay bay hotel has a bar called mixx (or is it mix? or 'the mix'?) which served our purpose...figuring out where to park wasn't straightforward, but after that we were good...finding the right spot in the hotel to take and elevator up wasn't easy, but oh well...the view was great, i just stared for a while...i love seeing cities all lit up at night, and vegas is unique...a lot of the hotels have 'different' shapes...

the next morning chelise and i went hiking...yahoo!! vegas is mostly known for it's over the top hotels/gambling, but it should also be known for the gorgeous scenery just outside town...a lot of visitors make a day trip to the grand canyon, i decided to save that for another visit...we hiked in an area called red rock canyon...chelise could tell you the name of the particular hike we did, i don't remember...
a beautiful hike, not too long, not too short...it was approximately 92F when we started, and just under 100F when we finished...note to self: bring more than 1 liter of water in that kind of heat...that being said, it was still awesome...chelise has learned the names of most of the plants, and can identify most of the rock as well...(sorry, but i don't remember as many of the names as i should!)...i could go into more detail, but the whole point of the hike was just to enjoy hiking, and beautiful scenery with a good friend...
on the way home from the hike we stopped in the grocery store for gatorade and water...very much needed!

after getting home we didn't do much, chelise and i both ended up with headaches...yuck...i made the mistake of getting online, which probably made the headache worse...taking a shower when you're nauseous from a headache is not fun...it took me foreva to pack up my things just because i kept staring at nothing in particular...
chelise drove me to the airport, i was sad to go:(