Michael & Liz are Bloggable

Boy do I not feel like bloggin, which is the reason why I haven't blogged in forever. But I realize it's crappy to say that I will blog all about our trip to Vegas and then not blog at all...

Well as you heard from Liz's brief post, internet was 10 dollars a day in Vegas and I was going to spend the 10 bucks once just to blog once but I figured, no, I went there to do my best not to spend money and I'm going to stick to it darn it. I think we ended up spending about $250 from the Saturday to the Thursday. I also say "we" like Liz had anything to do with that, but it was really my food and our drinks that we were spending money on.

Just a brief conclusion after the trip: Liz's brother Scott put it best, Vegas is awesome for the first 2 or 3 days, but then you just want to go home. It was awesome seeing the hotels and all the fancy casinos and the attractions that the hotels had to offer but after a couple days, it starts to disgust you. Just to name a few things: the porno cards that are being handed out, the constant barrage of shops and entertainment, and the ding ding ding ding sounds you hear constantly. But I won't dwell on the negatives. Like I said, it was awesome for the first few days but I think had I left Monday or Tuesday, I would have been completely satisfied.

The rest of the post is going to be my award ceremony. There are some awards to give out for the best and worst of Vegas.

Worst Hotel: There is no doubt it's Circus Circus. The place is a dump and should be bankrupt in 10 years. I went there and it was EMPTY. The ceilings are 7 to 8 feet tall in the lobby and the "amusement park" they advertise doesn't look all that inviting. And I saw no clowns.

Worst Attraction: The show at Treasure Island. We were expecting it to be interesting, funny, and entertaining. Let me set the stage for you. There are two ships at war in front of the hotel. One ship is run by women in bikinis and the other is run by men who can't seem to find their shirts. That introduction alone lost our attention but I think the line that caused Liz and I to turn to each other and say "you wanna leave to beat the crowds" was when the captain of the men's ship said "We came to take your booty". The only cool thing about the show was seeing the fireworks from our hotel room, other than that it was definitely a big waste of time.

Most Disappointing Hotel: MGM Grand. What is there other than a couple Lions and an indoor stadium for boxing? Oh right, a casino. That's not enough for me. I was expecting this place to be awesome, and it was one boxing ring and a couple lions shy of being just any other hotel/casino. To top it off, they keep the doors to the arena locked, so I didn't even get to see the inside. boooo!

Most Disappointing Attraction: The Mirage Volcanoes because it wasn't there, it was under construction. That was enough for us not to go visit The Mirage and it's a close second to worst hotel for not having their main attraction available.

Biggest Awe Factor: The inside of the Luxor. If anyone knows anything about Vegas it's that the Luxor is a pyramid, but who knew that it was hollow inside?!? You can see all the way to the top! That was a big "awe factor" when we found that out.

Biggest Gross Factor: Eating healthy was almost impossible so one day I sucked it up and had a chicken sandwich at McDonalds (which for anyone who is counting was my first trip to McDonalds since February). I'm the kind of person waiting at the counter, counting the clock until it rings 11AM so they'd serve me lunch and not the grossness that is breakfast. Well I got my "right out of the oven" chicken sandwich, and the breading was soft and wet and as I was eating it, it was squishing off the sides of the sandwich and I ended up throwing 3/4 of it away after giving it my best effort. The value meal cost me 8 dollars too. Gross. I am officially never going to McDonalds again. The experience was enough to ruin it forever. I can feel a tingle in my throat as I think about it.

Best Meal: Hands down the 10AM wings I had at the sports bar inside the Palazzo. Why 10AM, cuz football starts early on the west coast and boy do I LOVE that. This bar had stadium style seating all over the place but instead of seats, they were leather couches. Instead of tables, they were leather ottomans that doubled as foot stools. There were also 70 plasmas around the bar that were all on swivels so no matter what game you wanted to watch, if you get there early, you can turn the TV toward you, tell your waitress your TV number and your game is on lickety split. I think the Bengals knew I was rooting for them hard in a really sweet place, cuz they didn't lose that day... they did their best and tied.

Worst Meal: See McDonalds above.... but if I can't use the same thing twice, then it would be the $7 bud light I got at the first restaurant we sat down at on Saturday Night. It was a nice "Welcome to Las Vegas wake up call".

Funniest Thing To See: The lions in the MGM Grand were pretty hilarious. This doesn't improve the MGM Grand in anyway because just having lions doesn't make the hotel awesome, but the trainers were treating the lions like they were pet cats or dogs. They were throwing balls around the room and the lions were chasing them and slapping at them and pouncing on them. The trainers were throwing bones at them and the lions would catch it and basically bite the bones to shreds. It was funny to watch lions act like that.

Coolest Attraction: Hands down the rollercoaster on top of New York New York. If it wasn't so expensive I would have ridden that thing 10 times, but $30 wasn't worth a couple minutes of awesomeness to Liz and I... at least not on this trip.

Best Attraction: Is there really any attraction that can compete with the Bellagio Fountains? We could have stood there all night long to watch the fountains. And every song was different. There was only one time where I heard the same song twice, but fortunately that song is awesome ("My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion) ... that's right, I just said that. But standing there with Liz in front of the fountains, is close to one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done in my life. It's just so amazing. I wanted time to stand still.

Best Hotel: This is a tie between the hotel we stayed in and the hotel I wanted to stay in. The Palazzo and the Bellagio. We were thrilled with the Palazzo and it was a fantastic room with 3 plasma TV's, a glassed in shower, remote control curtains, and a section couch in the living room. But I think next time we go, it will be in different circumstances where we will stay where we want (Bellagio) and do what we want (ride the rollercoasters). Hopefully it's everything I think it will be.