Viva Las Vegas!

I have always been pretty vocal about the fact that I am the kind of person who could go her whole life without ever going to Vegas and be perfectly fine.  I'm not big on either drinking or gambling, so I didn't really see the point in going.

But when two of my co-workers proposed a quick trip over Spring Break, I found it impossible to say no.  Not because it was Vegas, but because it was a chance to get away.  And by the time Spring Break rolls around, I feel the itch to go somewhere, just for a bit.

And so, we headed for Vegas!

We got checked into our hotel, The Palms, and the first thing we did was take a nap.  I wish I was lying, but that actually happened.  We were exhausted.

We eventually woke up and got ourselves ready to go out.

We gambled for a bit before heading to Cirque de Solei.

Pretty amazing show.

A show that was not very amazing was the show at Treasure Island that we watched after we left the Cirque de Solei theater.  Very cheesy.

After that, we went back to our hotel.  I was in bed by midnight.  Yes, I am a party animal.

The next morning, we slept in a bit, then got up to walk the Strip and to go shopping

First, we watched people getting married on the ship at Treasure Island.  Not exactly the most classy of occasions, but whatever works for the couple, I suppose!

There is so much to see along the Strip!

There are also, well, some interesting people to watch along the Strip...

After walking and shopping and walking some more, we decided to go lay out by our hotel's pool.  Unfortunately, we returned to a hotel that was being transformed in preparation for MTV filming their Spring Break.

So, instead, we took a nap.  A really long nap.  Are you sensing a theme of this trip?

Then, we got up to get ready to go out again.  Our plan was to go back to the Strip to see the water show at the Bellagio and to then go to the old downtown - Fremont Street.  The Strip looks completely different at night!

The water show was awesome!  The bus ride to Fremont Street was not.  Somebody threw up on our bus, so we had to evacuate it, wait on the sidewalk for what seemed like hours, and then get on a later bus.  It ended up being a ridiculously long process, but we did make it!

By this time in our trip, I had gambled away all of $6.00.  Yes, I am quite the high roller.  In this building, I sat down at yet another penny slot machine and watched my twenty dollar bill waste away, one penny at a time.

To spice things up a bit, I hit a button that said "MAX BET," and crazy things happened.  Yin Yangs and pandas all lined up in the best kind of way, and I ended up winning 176 free games!

So, I sat back and watched as the video machine played for me 176 times.  Although boring, I will not complain about leaving $86 whole dollars richer than when I walked in.

And on that note, my Vegas gambling was finished.  I just couldn't wrap my head around throwing money away and having nothing to show for it.  Also, Courtney randomly developed hives while this whole free game thing was happening, so we had to leave to go get that taken care of.

And that was pretty much our trip!  We went to bed, woke up, and got on a plane.  It is worth noting that one of the first people we saw once we left the Omaha airport to head back home to Lincoln was this guy:

Good ol' Nebraska.

Staycation

Every year, it gets more and more difficult to find time for a family vacation.  Last year, we went to Chicago as a family because we were able to block out the time.  This year, our schedules just didn't work.  I took four classes and volunteered for a week, and my brother works full-time and isn't easily able to get time off.

So, we decided to do a weekend staycation... you know, a vacation where you stay in your home state.  My parents, who will both be turning 60 this year, and my brother, who is now 23, had never been to the zoo, which is remarkable considering our zoo is arguably the best in the United States.  I have been there countless times during my childhood (with aunts/uncles or as part of camps) and as an adult.  So, my family decided that they wanted this to be one day of their weekend getaway.

My mom's favorite animal is the penguin, so we had to make sure to arrive in time to see the penguin feeding.

This was something I hadn't seen, but I really did learn a lot during the presentation.  Here, the zookeeper on the right is tallying the number of fish each penguin is eating to make sure that they have all been fed and that no penguin is over-eating.

My brother was most looking forward to the aquarium.  (Cue JAWS music...)

I always enjoy looking at the jellyfish.  They're beautiful, but also deadly.

 

The Desert Dome is structurally well-done, but I find it to be quite boring.

I was told to take a picture of the Bobcat because it is my brother's college mascot.

My favorite exhibits are the monkeys/gorillas.  Here was a monkey who lives in the jungle.

After we had been walking for a while, we decided to ride Skyfari (a ski lift of sorts) to the other side of the zoo and back.  My parents and brother do not care for rides, so this was about more than they could handle, as you can see by how tightly they are holding on:

We finished our day in the gorilla valley and orangutan forest, looking at some more of my favorites.

After the zoo, my mom said she wanted us to eat at a sit-down restaurant that they had never been to before.  Cheesecake Factory proved to be exactly what she had in mind, which meant I got to enjoy this slice of Heaven.

All-in-all, it was a fun day away!