Girls weekend in Las Vegas! It's Spring Break for me, so Lori, Jenna and Cassie humored me by taking Friday off so we could get away.
We stayed at the Wyndham Desert Blue, which is not on the Strip, but we did have a view of the Strip. It looks so tiny compared to all the enormous resort/casinos.
Here's the view from our room.
Vegas is crawling with celebrities, so we took advantage of the photo ops.
I was disappointed to learn that the pirate show outside Treasure Island isn't there any more. The ships are still there, at least. Cassie snapped a photo for us.
Cirque de Soleil:
The Beatles LOVE Show was incredible! No photos allowed, of course, so this is the stage just after the show ended. All you need is love! And music and bungee cords and a gigantic parachute and awesome lighting effects. And some mad athletic skill.
Lori tried on a shoe.
And
Jenna returned to her roots.
But seriously? It was like all we did was eat, drink, and shop.
Friday night we had cocktails at Toby Keith's bar in Harrah's before we saw
Menopause, the Musical (Lori and I thought it was hilarious, the girls not so much). And during the show we had "mood swing martinis" (just like a chocolate martini, but with a clever name).
After the show we had dinner and drinks at
Flour and Barley, specializing in wood-fired pizzas and beer. I had pear-berry martinis with our pizza. Love the name. Loved the food. Found a cupcake ATM outside of
Sprinkles bakery after dinner. I had red velvet.
After dessert the young'uns had to get back to the hotel to get to bed. Lori and I played some video poker. I won! I may keep those shiny coins as a souvenir. 32 cents!
Saturday morning we ate breakfast at Bite, visited Lori's friend, Bill Mastroianni at Nissan Henderson, and did some shopping. I bought a cute dress (see photos, above). And some shoes to go with it. And a purse. Then we visited Madame Tussad's and Sephora, and did some more shopping.
We had dinner before the LOVE show at
Carmine's in Caesar's. Dinner was outstanding. Italian food with lots of garlic served family style. We shared a Caesar salad and angel hair pasta with meatballs. YUM! The dessert sampler was unbelievable -- cheesecake, chocolate torte, strawberry shortcake, canollis. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. There's Italian music playing, of course, and the restaurant is crowded, and when "That's Amore' " played, EVERYONE stopped eating to sing along (until we got to the part where we don't know the words). It was beautiful! I think Carmine's needs to put the lyrics up on the menu board when the song comes on so we can all sing it correctly. Like group karaoke. So fun.
Did I mention that Cirque de Soleil was extraordinary? Please go see it. We were exhausted by that time (the show started at 9:30 p.m. -- way past my bedtime), but most of us were fascinated enough to stay awake through the whole show.
Sunday Brunch at the Wicked Spoon in the Cosmopolitan (with bottomless mimosas) was phenomenal. The buffet went on forever, and everything was beautifully presented, from the fried chicken in miniature fryer baskets, to the delectable desserts. Our server was attentive and cheerful, and kept the mimosas coming. There was so much food. Among other things, I had a vanilla and beet salad, and polenta with poached pears. I'll be looking for recipes for those!
After brunch, more shopping! I did not know there were so many cosmetic shops. We went into them all, with
Jenna as our tour guide and personal consultant.
The five-hour drive home was fairly quiet, as the girls napped in the back seat. Fun weekend. I'd do it all over again.
