Vegas is for...Lovers???

Back in April 2009, my boyfriend (now fiance) Steve and I planned a trip to Las Vegas with my close friend Andy and his girlfriend Becky. The trip was basically my chance to meet Becky and Andy's chance to meet Steve; unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, Andy and Becky had to postpone their trip.

Which meant that Steve and I went to Vegas...all by ourselves. And I feel that I have to write about this particular Vegas trip before I can write about my most recent one, because it was the third of my four very different Vegas experiences and did in a way quell my desire to go back any sooner than I did.

Not that it was a bad trip--it wasn't. And not that I didn't have a good time with Steve--in fact, I had an amazing time with him. Really, this trip not being one of the better Vegas experiences I've had was due to circumstances out of our control.

Enjoying a meal outside at La Salsa on the one nice day (weather wise) of our trip

One: It was cold. I mean, during the hottest part of the day one day it got to about 75...but other than that we faced temperatures as low as 50 degrees at night and an average of maybe 65 during the day. I was highly disappointed as I'd expected it to be a bit warmer than that, it being April and all.

Two: I got sick. I am unlucky enough to have some sort of aversion to shellfish. Not an allergy, really, because sometimes it doesn't bother me at all. I think that it depends on numerous things--the type of shellfish I eat, how stressed out I am when I eat said shellfish, whether there is alcohol involved, etc. So I guess it was sort of my own stupidity that led me to eat a giant meal of sushi and shellfish at the Grand Wok & Sushi Bar at the MGM Grand. The restaurant itself was exemplary so I hate that it became part of what made me feel ill later that night :/

Three: We forced ourselves to go out to a club--Tryst, to be exact--when I was already feeling ill. And we got in line too late (10:30, I think) and waited too long to get in (over an hour).

Four: We stayed at the Paris. I just wasn't at all impressed with this hotel, and that disappointed me because it does have a great location. But for the price you pay? Not worth it. I'll stay at the Mirage from now on.

Five: We got sucked in (or rather, as much as I love him, Steve got sucked in) to a timeshare presentation at Planet Hollywood. Shoot me in the foot. Please. Because that would have been less painful than this presentation/sales pitch was.

Six: Finally, we got screwed over by our cabbie on the way from the airport to the hotel, and then she actually tried to argue with me when I refused to give her a tip! As I told her, if she had taken the short way to the Paris (which would have resulted in a $15 max fare vs. a $25 fare), she would have gotten a tip. Plain and simple.

Now, as I said--things went wrong on this trip, but that doesn't mean that we didn't have fun :) And I wanted to get our mistakes/issues out of the way first before I dove into the great things that happened on this trip, those being:

Bananas Foster Crepe for dessert at Mon Ami Gabi

A) The shopping. I had never really been shopping in Vegas before, but for some reason, Steve and I felt little desire to gamble on this trip. In fact, I think he wanted to shop more than I did! We experienced The Grand Canal Shops at the Venetian, The Forum Shops at Caesar's, and the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Of those, our favorites were definitely the Miracle Mile Shops, mainly because they offered the highest number of stores that were actually in our price range.

B) A romantic and amazing meal at Mon Ami Gabi. The only disappointment about this meal was having to eat inside because it was so chilly and windy outside.

C) Cirque du Soleil: LOVE at The Mirage. Cirque shows are amazing anyway, but we are huge Beatles fans and this show was simply breathtaking thanks to the practically perfect combination of music, acrobatics, and props.

Enjoying the North End of the Strip ;)

D) Seeing the North End of the Strip. Yes, it's a bit seedy. No, the hotels and casinos are nowhere near as amazing as the likes of Caesar's, Bellagio, etc. But we had a blast exploring the slightly-more-old-school areas of the Strip :)

E) Playing the marriage joke on our friends. That's right, while in Vegas we signed into Facebook. I changed my last name, we changed our relationship status so that it showed we were married to each other, and we both had our status updates say "Out Celebrating!" or something of the sort.

Steve showing off our blackjack winnings

F) We did gamble a little bit and won about $100 at Blackjack. What else is there to say about that?

G) Finally, we made up our own game. We call it "Hookermon" and the tag line is "Gotta catch 'em all, hooker cards!" For those of you who have been to Vegas...surely you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't been...well, whenever you make your way to Sin City, just keep an ear out for fingers flicking a certain type of business cards and you'll catch on ;)

So, can Vegas be a blast with a significant other (and no one else)? Well, it was for us, even when things didn't go quite as planned. So yes, Vegas can be for lovers!