what happens in vegas.....

Is it just me, or does 2011 seem to be flying by?  Where have the last 2 months gone?  Now that I think of it, time has been flying since I began working a regular 40-hour work week back in November.  Since then, lots of things have happened in my life--mostly good.  But, instead of catching you up on 4 months or so, I'll just continue my theme of talking about my adventures.  My latest adventure involved the infamous Las Vegas. 

A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to go with a few friends to Vegas to see the Linkin Park concert.  One of the girls has parents who spend money at the MGM Grand, and as a result, they get lots of freebies.  This particular weekend, they got a free hotel room and four tickets to the Linkin Park concert held at the MGM concert venue.

Two friends flew, and me and another friend drove. It's about a 4 hour drive from my house--with no traffic (NOTE: this info will be important later in the story).  So, after hours of endless desert, we arrived in Las Vegas, fought for parking in the 7-story monster parking structure, dragged our luggage down the stairs, through the shops, and across the casino, waited for an elevator, and finally emerged on the 18th floor.  My friend had called to give us the room number, and, after looking at the numbers, we realized we'd have to trek to the end of the massive hallway (think The Shining style, only more expensive looking).  As you can imagine, we were tired.  And sore.  And a little sweaty.  With a bit of grumbling, we slowly made our way down the hall, looking for the room number.  As we approached the end, we couldn't find our room number.  Until we read the numbers on the double doors at the end of the hallway.  We knocked, and when the door opened, this is the view that greeted us:

That's right: we weren't staying in just any room, but a 2 bedroom suite.  It reminded me of the movie The Hangover. Luckily, without a tiger in the giant marble-covered bathroom.  And this was our view:

The Strip by Day....

...and by Night

Not bad.  Especially for free.  Yikes!  After our initial shock wore off, we got ready for the night & the concert.  At 8pm, we walked downstairs and across the casino to the show. and we had FRONT ROW seats!  Ahhh!  This weekend kept getting better and better!  Linkin Park rocked the house, and 3 hours later we left with a buzzing in our ears.

Next stop:  The Cosmopolitan.  The newest hotel on the Strip, the Cosmopolitan just opened in December, and we wanted to check it out.  After walking through the swanky lobby, we sipped drinks at the Chandelier Bar....

It actually felt like we were inside a chandelier.  So cool!

...and called it a night. Night 2 in Vegas was fun as well, but nothing compared the that first night experience. On our last day, we packed up and headed for home.  What we hadn't thought of was that everyone else was heading home too.  I've learned that Las Vegas is basically LA in the desert.  EVERYONE takes the same freeway back home.  This resulted in lots of traffic--we're talking stopping in a giant line of traffic in the middle of NOWHERE in the desert.  It made no logical sense, but what could we do? So we blasted the stereo & sang along while we waited.  6 hours later, we finally made it home.

The Vegas experience was one I won't soon forget.  I'm thankful for generous friends and new adventures.  What an epic weekend!