Weekend Getaway to Las Vegas!

Hey there! We just got back from VEGAS!

Crazy weekend of gambling and outrageous living... kidding! We went down for a wedding! Matt's high school wrestling team mate and friend got married and his reception was out excuse to take a trip. :)

It was so great to able to just pack up and go. On the way we got to stop at the St. George temple:

It was beautiful! We got to chat with some missionaries and Matt found the German-speaking ones like usual :) It was a perfect rest stop before the rest of our trip to Vegas.

We pulled into Las Vegas after 10pm and that's when the craziness started! We hadn't booked a hotel room because it's such a random weekend and Vegas is obviously full of hotels. Unfortunately when we got to our hotel, we were told they were completely sold out... along with the rest of the CITY!! Apparently there was a NASCAR convention that weekend and that every hotel room within 20 miles was reserved... haha! The person at Best Western helped us and we found that there were a few rooms open in whole the city, and the most reasonably priced one happed to be at Caesar's Palace... the huge resort hotel on the Las Vegas strip!! We never would have thought to stay there but given the situation we immediately made the reservation and were on our way to Las Vegas Blvd!!

It was late on a Friday night and the strip was insane. We could hear the pounding music and smell the cigarette smoke from our car as we drove past the resorts and casinos to Caesar's Palace - it was one big party!

When we found the hotel and figured out where to park it took us a good 20 minutes to walk from the parking area, through the mall, casino, restaurants, etc that were part of the hotel, to get to the front desk. Which was also humongous. Haha. It was all so crazy!

After we found our room we went out looking for dinner and joined the thousands of others in the streets. Music was booming and the streets were flashing with 25-story neon signs all around. It was crazy!!

We walked by Bellagio just as their amazing water show was starting, perfectly set to music:

I still couldn't believe we were really there!

The next morning I woke up PUMPED to be there! I decided to go on a 6am jog to check out the strip.

It was a totally different world than the night before. I think 6am is probably the BEST time to be on the strip. It was gorgeous and sparkly and somehow really clean...  even though only hours before it had been crazy-busy with people!

On my way out I found the hotel's super fancy Starbucks. It was deserted at 6am, but packed when I got back an hour later!

It was an amazingly gorgeous run. The only others out were runners and young couples like us, having breakfast and taking in the scenes before the crowds and heat hit.

We spent the afternoon walking around the strip with thousands of other people, amazed at how over the top and outrageous everything was. It was really fun and completely exhausting :)

Fancy bathroom selfie :)

We ate under 'the Brooklyn Bridge' outside the New York New York hotel:

Mandalay Bay was at the end of the strip so we rested there for a while too - so beautiful!

See Matt on the chairs?

Matt looking at a shark resting on the sand

By the end of the day we were completely spent. We packed up and finished our time on the strip with a meal at Max Brenner.

Most of Las Vegas puts a big emphasis on 'the wow factor' and this restaurant was no different!

I had the most impressive sandwich I've ever eaten: a rosemary-infused waffle surrounding prosciutto, gruyere, apple slices, arugula and lemon aioli. Wow, wow, wow!! Matt plans to recreate it at home.

 

And that wrapped up our time in the heart of Las Vegas! It was more of an adventure than we'd bargained for but one that we'll always remember :) I'm glad we took atvantage of being able to just pack up and go, because one day when we're more settled we might look back and wish we could do things like this again!

In the evening we went to Dustin and Joy's wedding reception which was lovely! It was good to see friends from Corvallis. :)

After the reception we drove all the way back to Provo and this morning we got ourselves to church in kind of a daze, haha.

The weekend is still not over for Matt - today he's giving a talk in a German speaking ward in Salt Lake, so this afternoon he drove up there to meet with them. 

As for me, I'm down for the count! I'd been to Las Vegas before, with Ellen and my mom for a Justin Timberlake concert in 2007ish which was amazing, but it was totally different to be there as an adult! 

Hope you guys are all doing well!! :)