California/Vegas Vacation part 1

Wow, I don't know where to begin, however I should start from the beginning with my trip to Vegas for Jazzercise event. Most of my pictures are on my phone so I have emailed them to myself but they seem to take forever to load so I will go with what I have on my camera. I didn't have my big camera and my little camera doesn't take the best pictures but I have a few good ones.

So we left for Vegas on Wednesday the 22nd of June, wow that seems like forever ago. There were 4 instructors, me, Julie, Judy and Shelly, who went and two of them brought there significant others.

 

 

 

Shelly and I roomed together and we had a blast. We got in late Wednesday night and by the time we got all checked into our room we were pooped and starving! On the shuttle to the hotel we saw a sign at one of the casino's, Bill's Casino, I think it was called, for Steak and Egg's for $8.99 after midnight. We were so hungry we could have ate a horse, and it was after midnight so off we went, it was only a block away or so and it was so good! We were all a little cautious but it was really good. After "supper" we went back to the hotel, it was now 2:30am DBQ time however the 2 hour time changed put us at 12:30am, and played a little craps, me and Mike, Judy's husband, but we didn't win. I lost $60 in about 20 minutes, ouch! We headed back to our rooms after that, I think Judy and Mike stayed and played but we were exhausted. When we got to our room, Shelly and I couldn't believe how loud it was, we were not warned about the noise but Julie and her now husband, Fred, were told that it was very loud, now we know why. Outside our room, we were on the 8th floor, but there was a big party tent outside playing very loud music. Shelly and I just laughed but it didn't seem to bother us too much, I think the music finally stopped around 4am!

Thursday we didn't have any plans, all our Jazzercise stuff was on Friday evening and all day on Saturday. So Thursday we got up, not in time for breakfast or a cheap bloody Mary, however Shelly's daughter was in Vegas doing some work, she works in LA and was doing a photo shoot or something in Vegas, she planned it around the time we were out there which worked out perfect. Shelly and I met up with her and her boyfriend at Planet Hollywood for lunch and to hang out in the pool there.

 

It was a perfect day, high about 100 degrees and the water was perfect. We each had to have a frozen cocktail, however it was, are you sitting down? $14 for about a 20oz glass. Wow, and we only had one! LOL So while we were at the pool I received a text from Julie, it was picture of a marriage license! Shelly thought for sure they did it while we were gone, but they just got the license. We were told to be at the chapel in our hotel by 5:30, we were going to be bridesmaids! It was the funnest thing and Julie and Fred finally tied the knot! They have been engaged for about 9 years so we all think it was about time.

 

More Pictures of the Bride and Groom to come...

After the wedding, I met up with my cousin, Doug. He picked me up after he got off work and took me to his house, he has a beautiful house. I got to meet his girlfriend, Kiana, she was a hoot! She made up some fresh spring rolls and something else, I don't know what it was called but it was spinach with a chunk of fresh Parmesan and a slice of tomato and her homemade balsamic vinegar. It was so good. Doug had planned on taking a shower since he was working outside and then taking me out for dinner but we just got talking and then Kiana came home and made her specialties so we just stayed there. It was great catching up with him, its been a long time since I've seen him. He took me back to the hotel about 11:30. I got back to the room and Shelly was sleeping, however the music was just as loud as the night before. Julie and Fred ended up changing rooms, just across the hall, we had that option too but we were fine in our room.

Friday morning we got up and headed over to Cesear's Palace for the shopping extravaganza.

 Again, more pics to come...

 
It was crazy. I got a few things and then waited in line for about an hour to check out. We then went to eat at an outdoor restaurant called Serendipity, it was not very good.

 

I had a chopped chicken salad but the chicken did not have any flavor or anything and I was starving, but it held me over until after the live routine taping that we all got to attend. That started at 4:30 and it was amazing seeing all the people. I have watched these tapes for the last 2 years to learn new routines and it was amazing to see the taping team doing there thing.

Not very good pictures, but you can see all the people waiting to get into to Jazzercise!

 

We got to see first hand the new set coming out. It was funny, because I know now that I'm not the only one who messes up. We had to start a couple songs over, I think 3 of them, one was because Rich, one the instructors on the taping team, tripped over the step and another one, Cheri, her hair was sticking up or something, not sure about that one but it was pretty funny. Those are the only 2 I can remember. After that it was about 8:30, we headed back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. Everyone met us in our room and we come to find out that Julie and Fred and Judy and Mike bought tickets for The Blue Man Group. I guess one of the guys bought them and forgot about me and Shelly, so Shelly and I were kind of ticked off that they didn't even ask. Not sure if we would have gone but just the fact that they didn't ask. So we were all going to go out for dinner, it was between PF Changs or Toby Keith's restaurant that was just next door. We decided to go to Toby Keith's place. Shelly and I wanted to grab a drink for the walk over, not that it was far, but we had coupons to use, so the 4 of them went ahead since they were the ones in a hurry because there show stared within an hour. They got there and we got a phone call that there was a 45 minute wait and they couldn't wait, so off they went and her again Shelly and I are thinking "I can't believe they are doing this" we ended up eating at Toby Keith's restaurant but we waited for over an hour but then again we didn't have anything else to do, right? We couldn't really think of anything we really wanted to do and by this time its after 10:00, so we decided to go to the outdoor shows, such as The Bellagio's water show, we did see this during the day but wanted to see it at night with all the colors, The Mirage's volcano and Treasure Island's Pirate show. But first we had to go to Ceaser's palace because Mike gave us a few drink tickets that he won while playing Keno, we thought this was nice of him since they didn't think of us when buying the tickets for The Blue Man Group, so we left Cesear's with about 5 drinks in our hand. And the bad thing was, was we only got to see one show, The Mirage's volcano, we did walk to Treasure Island but the show was canceled because it was super windy and by the time we got back to The Mirage, it was midnight and that's the cut off for the last show including the Belagio. So the night was kind of a flop but we had fun! It was kind of an early night, except for the loud music that kept us up most of the night.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early, we wanted to be over at Cesear's by 8:30, the first class started at 9:30 and from there on we Jazzercised and Jazzercised. It was a blast. We got a break about 12:30 and guess who was in town?? My family! They made it to Vegas by 8:30 that morning, they drove straight through. They tried finding a room in Vegas but no luck, there was not one room in Vegas ANYWHERE! So after all my classes were done about 5:30 I came back to the hotel to shower. We decided to pack up and head to CA. Linda and Tom rested in our room while I was at Jazzercise and Tom and the kids went and walked around Vegas. We headed out about 8:30, not late enough for the kids to see Vegas at night but they drove up and down the strip for a couple hours so they got to see it all, just not at night. So Luke found us a hotel that was vacant was about an hour and a half away in a small, small town of Baker, CA. We stayed at Wills Fargo...More to come on that later.