Long Weekend Adventures in Las Vegas...

Oh, the long weekend!! I love them! It is an extra day of no classes. It is like having two Saturdays, but the second one didn’t get the memo that it is supposed to come before Sunday, not after. Saturday's oversight in not checking its email results in the rest of the week being a bit...awkward. That however, is a problem for later, becuase in the moment of the long weekend, nobody really dwells on the rest of the week.

My cousin Jessica came to visit me for the long weekend. She has been to my place once with her family, but it was just on their way to California. Since I am moving soon she decided now was the time to come visit before it was too late.

We wandered. We didn't really have a set plan of attack for our weekend. Jessica just knew she wanted to see the Strip, watch movies and eat good food. We started at the end...Mandalay Bay, walked through the Luxor and Excalibur then across the street to the MGM, M&M's World, down the street to the Bellagio and back again.





















In the Luxor they have an exhibit about the Titanic with artifacts, information and an iceberg. It was pretty cool.

(not just the iceberg…)

They give you a “boarding pass” as you enter the exhibit with the name of a person and a brief life history. It was interesting. Both Jessica and I had third class passengers; mothers of two; and we both survived (with our children). It was a very interesting experience.

We saw the fountains at the Bellagio and wandered through the conservatory to see the new exhibit for Chinese New Year. Both were good. I really liked the pandas though...


















The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay is cute for a small aquarium. Jessica enjoyed it and that made it all the more enjoyable for me.


















As we are walking through Mandalay Bay back to my car and having a discussion about all of the celebrities I have seen in Vegas since I moved here (not many…), when we began to hear “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s coming from somewhere and it was getting louder. Imagine our surprise when we stumbled across an open bar in the middle of the casino with the Plain White T’s sitting in the middle and playing live. It was a private party, but they said we could go in if we wanted to. Jessica is too young, so she stood outside while I snuck in to get some closer pictures. I was pretty cool.

We made Buffalo Lasagna for dinner on Sunday (love it!). It was an adventure. Jessica “liked it” but thought it was weird. I guess the majority of the population lives in a “food bubble” and follow the taboos of what people think should and should not be eaten. If I hadn’t told her it was buffalo, she never would have known.

We had a movie marathon as well to catch up on things we have missed. It was a really great time! Gotta love long weekends!!