Las Vegas - May, 2010 A Wedding and a Vacation

My daughter, Stacey, and her fiancé, Jon, decided that they wanted to have their wedding in Las Vegas, so Chris and I planned our Spring vacation around the event. Chris and I have been to Vegas many times over the past years.

The four of us flew out on Sunday so that there would be plenty of time to get the marriage license and to double check other details. After getting the marriage license ($60 and no waiting period), we headed to our traditional first food stop, In and Out Burger (http://www.in-n-out.com/). The burgers are great here. All fresh items, nothing frozen. Wish we had one in Connecticut!

The wedding was Monday at the Wynn Resort Hotel.

Chris and Deb Before the Wedding

The Wynn wedding consultants were excellent and took care of all the details, including getting us some Static Guard for a clingy item! The wedding consultant told us that we had two surprise guests waiting outside the chapel. One of the guests was a co-worker of the groom, who happened to be on vacation in Las Vegas, and the other was my former CSC manager, Yvonne Decker, who was in Las Vegas with her husband, Lloyd, celebrating their anniversary. They live in Arizona, so Las Vegas is a convenient road trip for them! Before this day, Yvonne and I never met in person, but developed a great virtual friendship. We both share a great love of Las Vegas, shoes, and food! It was a nice surprise to have guests! Although it was a small affair, it was quite elegant. I highly recommend the Wynn for that special occasion.

Mr. and Mrs. Jon Tarrant

Deb and Yvonne (we even look a bit alike!)

Yvonne and Chris chatting it up….I am sure they are talking about food!

The Group - Dottie, Chris, Jon, Stacey, Deb, and Yvonne

The Bride & Groom

After the ceremony, we went on a limousine wedding photo tour along the Las Vegas Strip with a private photographer. Photo stops included the Bellagio Fountains and the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign.

It's over!

Mother and Daugher

After the ceremony at the Wynn

One of the Wynn Reflection Pools

Is there time for some shopping?

Feeling lucky!

At the Bellagio

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris

The Paris Fountain

Deb enjoying a moment!

Chris having a time out!

We invited Yvonne, Lloyd, and Dottie to join us for the wedding celebration dinner at the Range Steak House at Harrah’s. Dinner was great, and the company was even more wonderful. It felt as if I had known Yvonne and Lloyd forever! Food was great although service was a bit spotty at times! Most of us had the prime rib, which was probably the best I have ever had! The lobster bisque was also very good!

Yvonne and Husband Lloyd at Dinner

Stacey and Jon with Their Cake

After dinner, we said our goodbyes to our guests. The newlyweds stayed at the Wynn for 3 nights and then moved to the Paris for the rest of their trip. Chris and I stayed at our old stand-by, the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is a little off the Strip, across the street from the Palms and the Rio. We enjoy this smaller off-Strip hotel. The price was right at $27 per weekday night and $76 for Friday and Saturday! The Gold Coast has a huge bingo hall, which we tried out on two occasions, but unfortunately there was no luck for us there! We also discovered a new slot machine called the Wizard of Oz. It sure was fun making our way through the Yellow Brick Road…lots of neat graphics!

Over the next few days, we showed the newlyweds around the area. We took a trip out to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/index.html). It is amazing that a place like this exists to close to the glitz of the Strip. Entrance is $7 per car, and the route is about 13 miles around the park, providing many photo ops!

The Group at Red Rock

I love hiking!

We did some shopping at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. Along with the great many shops there, it is a fun experience to people watch. People from all over the world come shopping here! The newlyweds enjoyed the fountain shows at the Bellagio and the street performers that come out at night. They even had a few sightings of Elvis (in many shapes and sizes)!

After dropping the newlyweds at the airport for their return home, Chris and I had two days left on our own. We enjoy just vegging by the pool, and the weather cooperated. It was in the 90’s, sunny, with some wind. Just what the doctor ordered!! We visited a “few” buffets, as well as a Thai restaurant, Lotus of Siam (LOS) (http://www.saipinchutima.com/). LOS is a “must do” for us every trip out to Las Vegas. They have a dish called Nam Kao Tod, which we always get. It is crispy rice mixed with sour sausage, green onion, fresh chili, ginger, peanuts and lime juice. We have looked for it at other Thai restaurants, but have yet to find it on their menus. Chris has vowed to recreate the dish himself at home! We visited an international market so that Chris could get some of the ingredients to make the Nam Kao Tod.

Nam Kao Tod at the top and vegetable soup on bottom.

We also stopped at La Salsa Cantina near Planet Hollywood for an early breakfast a few mornings.

Breakfast special was $3.95 with a couple of 99 cent Bloody Marys!

Our flight home was on Sunday morning. We were about 40 minutes into our flight, when one of the passengers became ill. The pilot turned us around and back to Vegas we went. Luckily, there were two physicians onboard to help out. There was a call out to the rest of the passengers looking for either aspirin or nitroglycerin. I think that one of my future “must packs” for vacation will be a bottle of aspirin!

"Yikes! He's having a what?"

The passenger was able to walk off the plane with the emergency medical personnel although he did not look well at all. After refueling the plane, we were once again airborne. We ended up getting home a few hours later than planned. We were tired, hungry, but happy that our “Vegas was showing” and already planning when we would return again!