Las Vegas... the last day

So if you will recall, J and I didn't head up to the room until around 3 in the morning. Ugh. I am TOO OLD to stay up so late. I woke up early... somehow before 9 am (HOW??) and showered. Thankfully... no hangover. I hardly drink anymore, so I was a bit worried I'd be feeling it.

Our main goal today was to eat lunch at Chipotle. Inexpensive and healthier than other food options. Of course that meant... MORE.WALKING.

We checked out of the hotel around 11, and left our bags at the front so we wouldn't have to drag them around all afternoon. We stopped at a few shops on the way down the strip and got the last of our awesome/tacky Las Vegas souvenirs (where else can I get a nail file with Hello Kitty dressed like a showgirl??)

Finally make it to Chipotle and we have lunch. After lunch we decided we would head BACK down the strip, stop in the few hotels/casinos we hadn't been in yet, and make sure we got back to the hotel by about 4:30 to get our luggage and get the shuttle back to the airport.

We stopped in at Treasure Island, then took a tram to Mirage.

Me and J in front of a huge tree in Mirage

The Beatles Club - Revolution

We wanted to check out the "Secret Garden" at Mirage but found the $15 per person a bit expensive. Next, we decided to head to MGM to look at the lions.

Lions at MGM

We ran out of things to do and I think we all were a bit tired of walking. I bet in addition to the half marathon that I ran, I probably walked the distance of a FULL marathon. And I didn't even have the sense to bring comfortable shoes.

Luxor

Luxor

We made it back in time to get our bags. I had asked earlier and was told it takes just "a minute or two" to get the bags back. Ten minutes go by and we still have nothing. Start asking around. People keep going in the back and not returning. Starting to get tense and angry. WHERE IS OUR STUFF?? Finally someone comes up front. Shockingly there was a problem with our ticket. Whoever filled it out didn't write it legibly so they never entered it in the system. At least I allowed extra time and at least I got all my stuff back.

Had a hard time finding where to wait for the shuttle bus and then THAT was 20 minutes late. Man, I do NOT do well waiting!!! Get to the airport and after getting through security, L and I pick up dinner. I hadn't eaten at Chili's in almost a year, but they had one in the airport, so I ordered the Big Mouth Bites. They were just as delicious as I remember. Yum.

J managed to get a seat next to me on the plane, and this time we got a free cookie. I kept dozing off and then getting woken back up by some obnoxious teenagers behind me that talked very loud, giggled incessantly, and kept kicking the back of my seat. After we landed they said to their seatmate "I hope we didn't bother you." I jumped in and said something snarky like "You sure bothered the rest of the plane. You should be more aware of your surroundings, not everyone wants to listen to that for 90 minutes." Stupid girl has the nerve to say "Like I care, I'll never see any of you again."

UGH.

By the time R landed a half hour later, and we got backs, shuttled back to lot and drove home, it was almost 1:00 in the morning.

Glad to be home.

Viva Las Vegas! Day One

We had funky travel plans for this one. Me, L, and J were all on a Frontier flight (though none of us managed to get adjoining seats, even with booking 6 months in advance) and R (L's boyfriend) ended up flying Southwest. Our flights were about an hour apart. R's flight left before ours, so we had a bit of extra time at the airport.

I was bored during the flight and was one of "those" people that fills out the puzzles in the free magazine.

Yep, did them all in pen - no mistakes!

Only bad part about the flight was that we left too early in the morning to get our free cookie. Bummed :(

Arrive in Vegas, find R, and then catch our shuttle to head to the hotel. We were happy to discover that we could check in and drop off all our stuff. I had picked the Luxor to stay at because it was close to the start line of the race AND it is located in the more "fun" part of the strip.

So I mapquested where the Expo was - we had to be thereby 5:00... and I was pretty distressed to find that it was at the Sands. Over 2.5 miles away!! Ugh!! Did NOT want to do so much walking on our first day (not to mention the day before the race). But, off we went. We had to get lunch anyway, and stopped for a healthy lunch at Subway.

Heading down the strip

After lunch we kept walking, taking our time. All of a sudden, there is only a few hours until the Expo closes.

Me and J

Paris... and Manilow??

After walking for a JILLION years, we finally pass the Venetian and are able to follow the swarm of people headed to the expo. I have never run a Rock 'n' Roll race before. It was PURE chaos. A billion people, but very well organized.

I had signed up for the race so long ago that I had put my estimated finishing time of 2:15. It's been AGES since I ran one that slow.  I was a bit disappointed when I saw I was put in corral #17. L said that it was possible to change corrals at the expo, and I moved up to hers, #7 with minimal effort. (Although I would never have signed up for that one... too fast!)

It was hard to even walk around the expo. WAY too many people and nothing I was interested in buying. Madness all around.

After the expo we decided that we had already walked THIS far, so we might as well walk all the way to the end of the strip. We made it down to Circus Circus before we turned around to head back. By now we were starting to get tired of walking. Race day was starting to seem like a bad idea. And L and I were both starting to get cranky because we were getting hungry. Did you know it's actually pretty tough to find pasta in Vegas?? We checked lots of restaurants and they all had ridiculous wait times. A pasta place a few blocks off the strip claimed the wait was over THREE HOURS. Are they kidding??! We finally found a buffet (risky) in Planet Hollywood. They line didn't look too bad. Until you got through the velvet ropes, went down the escalator and found yourself in an amusement park line. !!!! I thought I was going to snap :( It is not a pretty sight when I am starving.

On one hand, I was psyched to get salad, pasta and dessert all in one... on the other... I'd have to be careful what I ate.

Boring salad, hardly any topping options!

Mmmm... Pasta!

I actually cannot believe that I forgot to take any pictures of what I had for dessert. L and I picked a few and shared them. They were all pretty small and DELICIOUS.

Once we had our food we were good to go. We headed back to the hotel, where L and R called it a night. 

I stayed up with J and gambled a bit in the slots and finished my pre-race beer. In bed at a decent hour (pretty sure it was before 11:30).