The getaway

Ryan and I planned an "adult" vacation earlier this year, thinking this may be the best time to get away. Our kids are old enough to be away from for a short while, we have a little money.

After planned the trip, we decided to buy our house, which sort of negated the whole money thing.

But we stayed at the Club 36, a Bluegreen Resort that opened last September. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of going to Vegas (I prefer less tourist-y vacations) but since the opportunity was there and Ryan wanted to go, I was game. Besides, I needed a vacation!

We decided to go on our anniversary and both of us had the idea of getting our vows renewed. Only one of us was set on having them done by Elvis (hint: it wasn't me). We eventually decided to rent a motorcycle and make a day out of some of the areas attractions that didn't involve gambling.

We settled on going to see Red Rock Canyon and Mt. Charleston, both within an hour or so of Vegas.

When we arrived in Las Vegas, it was a scorching 104 degrees. We had pretty much had it, so we turned up the air conditioning and fell right asleep. When we awoke 6 ish hours later, it was still a stifling 85 in our room, with no breeze. EH! The air was broke...they had to fix it. Then we set off toward the Strip, which was about a 20 minute walk.

It felt like we walked for 6 hours.

We arrived at the MGM Grand Casino, which was the closest major Casino to our resort. Even at 10 am, there were people everywhere and lights flashing. We walked though and out the other side to The Strip. We passed New York, New York across the street and walked though some pretty major construction of what someone called a "City Center", a new complex of restaurants and a casino and hotels. We stopped at the Harley-Davidson cafe for a drink and saw that they had a "Chopper Chapel". I suggested that I would be much happier with that instead of Elvis.

When we got back to the resort, we were informed that there is a shuttle that goes back and forth to MGM. Hm. We're dumb.

Wednesday we awoke bright and early to get our Motorcycle at Las Vegas Harley-Davidson. We rented a Black Electraglide and head off toward Red Rock Canyon, which was about 1/2 hour away. It was an amazing place. We rode the 15 mile trail, stopping once to get a better look, but we weren't equipt for a trail walk. Someday I'll go back and hike it.

Next we were off to Mt. Charleston, but somehow, we missed the turn off and went all the way around the mountains to Parhump (which is where all the brothels are). It was an amazing ride nevertheless, Ryan going 90 mph for long stretches because there wasn't another car in sight. The mountains were all around us. We rode about 200 miles in all that day.

Later that night we decided to check out the casinos. We went though Monte Carlo, Bellagio, Paris.

Each has a unique theme, Monte Carlo, Moroccan; Bellagio, Italian, with beautiful umbrella sized blown glass flowers overhead and an indoor greenhouse. Paris in situated under a replica Eiffel Tower, and inside the ceiling is painted to look like the sky. It was our favorite. We gambled a little in each, favoring the Roulette tables as usual, and pretty much broke even.

Thursday we vegged. I think we napped until 2. Then later in the evening we explored Excalibur, where we ate dinner; Luxor, which looks like a Pyramid and even the inside is shaped like one; and Mandalay Bay, where we saw the Shark Reef Exhibit. Then we went to Planet Hollwood to see a show called "The Mentalist" which was really crazy. We couldn't figure out how he knew all that stuff about people!

Friday we got married. ( it was also Sara's birthday and I did not call her. I DID facebook her, but it wasn't good enough and I'm sorry) We did go for the Chopper Chapel, and it was a beautiful service. The minister called it "refreshing" our vows, because we wanted to restate our love for one another, not because something had gone wrong! Afterward we ate lunch and everyone stared at me because I was in a wedding dress. It was a good time!

We went back to MGM nad played Roulette for a while. I was up, Ryan down, so again we were breaking even. But it's hard to win the "Big Money" when you're only playing with $40. We cashed out and went to a Japanese restaurant called Shibuya and ate some yummy sushi. It was so beautiful inside, we didn't want to leave! We went back to the resort for a little swim, when got ready to leave. I definately had a better time than I expected!