Las Vegas 2005
Erich and I went to Las Vegas for our second time together (third time for me) in August 2005. Not the best time of year to go to the desert, but, we originally planned the trip to correspond with my cousin Derek turning 21.
Our hotel, the Luxor
When we were ditched, we decided to go anyway. Our adventure began at the airport upon arrival. It was 10 pm and about 95 degrees. We hailed a taxi thinking it wouldn't cost more than $10 since the airport is less than a mile from the strip and our hotel. Of course, being taxi novices, our cab driver drove us in a complete circle around the airport and it ended up costing $25! Our first lesson learned: don’t use cabs in Vegas.
We headed up the strip on day one to see all the new hotels and changes. The highlights included the Arabian Nights Hotel (featuring Kelly Clarkson’s hot video for Behind These Hazel Eyes on a monitor), the new Wynn Hotel and the Mirage. The first disappointment of the day came when we walked the mall in Caesar’s Palace only to discover the Virgin Records had been changed into a Toy R Us! The second disappointment was the removal of the cool pirate logo for Treasure Island, having been replaced with a garish, crayon color designed new sign featuring the hotel’s reimaged name: TI. Whoever came up with the new name, which sounds more like a Terminator sequel than an actual hotel, obviously flunked out the prestigious design school at UNLV. Blech!!!! Lesson number two: never visit Treasure Island again.
The recently opened Wynn Hotel
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That evening I took Erich to go see Celine Dion at Caesar’s Palace for his birthday. We had tried twice to see her before and both times fell through, but, apparently, the third time is the charm. And though some may scoff at the idea of seeing Celine, her concert was amazing. The performance was very theatrical and yet personal. She spent several times during the show talking directly to the audience and you could tell she genuinely enjoys performing. |
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One of many fountains outside Caesar's Palace
The Parisienne Hotel
After coming back drenched in two gallons of sweat and looking like the color of a cherry tomato, I met up with my Kelly, who was about 30 minutes late due to the unpredictable Vegas public transit system. When she arrived we ate ice cream at Coldstone’s and chatted for what seemed like twenty minutes (when in actuality it was almost three hours). Erich was probably wise to stay at the room and nap. Once our visit was over, I met up with Erich for one final buffet at the Luxor. The next morning we headed home and took the knowledge learned at the beginning of our trip and caught a $5 shuttle to the airport.