Day 2 |
Friday, February 14: We were still on Indy time so waking early enough to see the sunrise was very easy to do.
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In addition to the airport, our room featured a view of David Copperfield's giant head. | |
We headed west in our rental car, passing the tower wing where our room was (on the left in this photo), ... | |
... and the majestic MGM lion, overlooking the Strip. | |
Here's the Orleans. We continued to drive west. | |
This park caught our eye, ... | |
... so we got out and took a brief look. This is what parks look like in places with no water. It was pretty in a very stark, desert-like kind of way. | |
We decided to spend our breakfast dollars at Del Taco. | |
We had never been there before so we were excited to try it. After consuming a huge burrito each, we decided that we were fans. | |
We kept driving west. But why? Why? | |
This is why. We had a morning date with Red Rock Canyon. We arrived exactly an hour after we left, and that included the park and breakfast stops. | |
The visitor center features a very long window on one side of the building that provides the perfect frame for the gorgeous scenery right outside. | |
Behind the visitor center building is an open-air interactive museum with lots to see and do. | |
Rattlesnake! | |
Check out this artsy shot. | |
This metal sculpture featured pinwheels in an exhibit that focuses on desert air. | |
At the very tip of the exhibit is a round platform with displays identifying the surrounding sites. | |
For example, here's the Turtlehead Peak sign. | |
Triops! They're also called tadpole shrimp, according to this sign. | |
Huge lizard statue. Not to scale. | |
After spending a nice long time at the visitor center, we headed out to drive the scenic loop. | |
Our first stop provided a perfect background for some portraits. | |
Here's more scenery. | |
And more. | |
And still more. The rocks are many different colors and it's absolutely beautiful. | |
At roughly the halfway point, we had a nice panoramic view of the whole valley, which is surrounded on nearly all sides by mountains. That's Las Vegas in the distance, not that you can see it from here. | |
Lizard! | |
More scenery. | |
Here's a wide, shallow gulch. | |
More scenery. At this point, we weren't far from the end of the loop, so it was only a 42-minute drive from here ... | |
... to here. We had never been to Circus Circus, so we decided to stop in. | |
Behold the pink awesomeness that is the giant glass dome over the amusement park inside. | |
We mostly just walked around and looked at all of the rides and attractions, but we did ride the twisty roller coaster that loops around the park. | |
Next, we drove down to Mandalay Bay and peeked in on Red Square, a vodka bar with a headless statue of Lenin at the entrance. | |
It was closed, just as it was the last time we were here. Some day, we'll find it open and we'll check out that ice bar. | |
Aureole, the restaurant with the two-story wine tower, is right across the way. We probably could have eaten here, ... | |
... but the more reasonable prices of the food court beckoned to us instead. We got some lunch from Pan Asian, ... | |
... and watched Sweden take on Switzerland's ice hockey team in the Winter Olympics. | |
Our reason for visiting Mandalay Bay was to see the Shark Reef Aquarium. | |
Here's a handsome alligator. | |
This komodo dragon was just chilling. | |
Big fish. | |
Bigger fish. | |
This colorful dude is a green tree monitor. | |
The overall theme of the exhibit was based on Southeast Asia. We had seen a statue like this one at the entrance to Angkor Wat in 2012. | |
Here's a black-tipped reef shark. | |
Here's a statue out of water ... | |
... and here's a statue underwater. | |
We never tire of aquarium tubes. They're very common now but they're still fun to see. | |
In the touch pool were horseshoe crabs ... | |
... and not-very-well-hidden rays. | |
The lionfish exhibit featured this handsome guy with dark markings ... | |
... and this lighter guy. | |
Oooh, huge jellyfish! Cool! | |
This tank was large and dark, so it was especially spooky when this gigantic shark quietly swam by. | |
It was great fun but it's Vegas and we had places to be. | |
So we bolted back to the MGM Grand, got ready for the evening, and made the trek to the Signature. | |
We were here to celebrate! Our dear friends, Dean and Audrey, were getting married. | |
The suite was fully decorated for a Valentine's Day wedding, with enough food to feed an army. | |
The sandwiches helped fortify us for our evening activities, ... | |
... and the wraps came in handy several times over the weekend for a quick snack. | |
Here was part of our wedding gift to the happy couple: MGM Grand poker chips in a vintage wedding bowl with a custom slot machine card. | |
The view from the suite was fantastic. | |
Looking straight out, we could see the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino where we had stayed for a conference four months earlier. | |
To our right, we could see the north end of the strip. | |
Straight down, we could see the facility's pool and the monorail below that we'd be taking the next day. | |
Once the other guests had arrived, Audrey passed out our loot bags, containing souvenirs, shot glasses, and some items needed for the evening's activities. | |
Dean made cocktails for everyone. | |
The sun was setting as the officiant and photographer arrived, ... | |
... and the ceremony started. | |
Audrey and Dean exchanged vows, ... | |
... and we all toasted the newlyweds. | |
Then there were many group photos, both dignified ... | |
... and not so much. | |
Here we are with the newlyweds, properly color-coordinated, of course. | |
Here are our long-time friends, Gina and Patrick, founding member and honorary member of the Vegas Five, respectively. | |
With the ceremony over, it was time to board the party bus! | |
Brian and Becky were the fourth couple celebrating with us. | |
Cheers! | |
As part of the fun, we were on a mission to visit places in Vegas representing the seven continents. Our first stop was to the iconic Las Vegas sign which represents none other than our very own North America. | |
Back on the bus, we raised glasses of champagne. | |
Next, we visited the Rainforest Cafe in the MGM Grand, which represented South America. | |
Gina and Debbie were sad to see that the Lion Habitat was no more. The famous photo of Gina, Debbie, and a baby lion was recreated, except with sad faces and no baby lion anywhere. | |
The continent of Africa was represented by a stop at the Luxor hotel, where Dean and Audrey did an excellent job of impersonating the statues there. | |
Time for a shot on the bus! | |
Of course, this is the Australia stop and here are Becky and Brian posing for their snapshot. To get here, we walked right underneath a billboard for Thunder From Down Under, featuring handsome men presumably from Australia, but ain't nobody got time for that when you have a party bus to enjoy. | |
When we got out for the Europe stop, we were right across the street from our beloved Cosmopolitan. | |
Europe was ably represented by the Eiffel Tower at Paris. | |
We reboarded our bus to seek out our next destination. | |
Beverages continued to be poured, or in some cases, drunk straight from the bottle. | |
The party bus had a pole. For safety reasons, most likely. | |
Some of us didn't even know that Las Vegas had a Chinatown, but now we do. Continent of Asia: check! | |
It's not a drive through Vegas without a stop on Fremont Street. We arrived just in time for a Valentine-themed extravaganza at the Fremont Street Experience. | |
Group photo! Tom took on the photography duties for this one. This was a good opportunity to visit the local establishments -- in particular, their restrooms. | |
We caught a few minutes of the next show before dashing back to the bus. | |
At this point, DJ Dean was rocking the bus with crowd-pleasing tunes and there was much dancing. | |
Our bride and groom performed to one of their favorite Madonna numbers. The bus was moving down Las Vegas Boulevard this entire time. | |
We passed New York New York just before arriving at the Monte Carlo for our last stop of the evening: ... | |
... the Minus 5 Ice Bar, representing the continent of Antarctica. | |
We all bundled up in jackets, gloves, and for some of us, even boots. | |
We weren't allowed to bring in our own cameras, but their photographer took lots of photos for us to buy. | |
Here we are! This was our sixth indoor ice experience, having previously visited five locations in the Icehotel/Icebar family of locations, including the Icebar in Stockholm three months earlier. | |
A good time was had by all, then we helped Audrey and Dean carry everything back to the Signature and called it a night. |
Copyright © Deborah Schilling/Thomas Bundy