Las Vegas 2012 ~ Kentucky Derby Day



Day 7

Spent the morning relaxing at the hotel pool.  Afternoon we went to the Kentucky Derby Day Party.

We enjoyed mint juleps and food

 It was fun. Dinner tonight was at The Canal Street Steakhouse.  I had French wine & a delicious Filet Mignon.  Ron had chicken breast with angel hair pasta.  It was all very good.  Dessert has from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Las Vegas 2012~ Day 6

Day 6

was spent at the pool & hot tub and basically hanging out in the casino & far too many appletini's.  Very relaxing day ;)

Las Vegas 2012~ Night with the Mafia

Day 5

Today was a day of pampering for me.  Steam bath, jacuzzi and most importantly.....a Swedish Massage from head to toe using peppermint aromatherapy.  My massage therapist (Joe Amato) was absolutely wonderful.   We spent the evening in the Downtown Fremont Street area.

Our first stop was the Mob Museum.  It was very interesting, I had no idea that New Orleans had such a big Mob connection.

We had dinner & drinks at Triple George Grill.  I had a Cable Car martini (spiced rum, curaçao, lemon sour), my favorite drink in Vegas.  For dinner,

Ron had the chicken pot pie which he said was awesome.

 I had the special, halibut topped with Italian sausage, sauteed onions&peppers, served with wild rice, fresh green beans & carrots, delish!

We will be back on our next time we visit the old downtown are of Vegas. After eating we walked down Fremont St making a few "donations" at casinos along the way.  Downtown used to be a fun area but I think the poor economy of Vegas has had its impact here. The shops & casinos are not as nice :(

Las Vegas 2012~ Night in Paris

Day 4

I spent the day enjoying the pools & hot tub, while Ron thought he died & went to heaven in the Sports Book where you can bet on everything and anything. @3:00, we left for Eiffel Tower Casino on the strip.

We had dinner at the Le Village Buffet of Paris.  We had duck la orange,  roasted lamb, spinach mushroom,cheese crepes.  The coffee was strong but good and we sampled various French pastries. After dinner we browsed shops & lost about $30 in the slots before heading to the theatre.

Tonight we saw Jersey Boys.  It is a musical about the life of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.  The story itself was fabulous.  They sang all their hits perfectly.  This is THE BEST SHOW I have yet to see in Vegas!!!! Afterwards we walked the strip.

Watched the dancing fountains of Bellagio and the exploding volcano of Mirage. It was a great night.

Las Vegas 2012 ~ Grand Canyon Trip

Day 3

Today we ventured outside of Sin City to the Grand Canyon South rim.   We left the hotel @ 5am.

 We decided on a short side trip to Seligman Arizona  one of the stops along Route 66. We ate breakfast at a Diner I found on Yelp called West Side Lilo's Cafe.  

Ron ordered "those potatoes" along with biscuit & gravy

OMGosh that one biscuit took up a whole plate.

  I ordered the Route 66 special -eggs,"those potatoes", huge thick pieces of bacon & two pancakes the size of Ron's biscuit!  It all tasted wonderful, including the coffee.



After we finished eating we took some photos of an old drive-in with much memorabilia of old Route 66 days.

We arrived at the entrance to the Grand Canyon 2 hours later.

Our first stop was Mather Point, the views were breathtaking.

Next, we took a short hike along Bright Angel Trail..more challenging than it looked, especially when we had to go uphill.

We stopped along the rim towards Hermits Rest then took the bus back to our car.  Each stop was more spectacular than the one before.  I wished we had stayed overnight to see more. On the way back we decided to make a quick stop at Hoover Dam for some pictures.

It was a very long, but scenic drive to and from Las Vegas.  It took 15 hours round trip. If I did it again, I would put out the money to stay overnight, just too long in a car IMHO.


Las Vegas 2012 -Menopause was awesome!!

Day 2 We awoke early & had coffee & breakfast in our room.  My most favorite thing to do in Vegas is walking the strip.  It doesn't matter if it's early morn or night.

  At 7:00am we headed out to walk the strip. We checked out a few casinos, stopping briefly in each one and checking show prices/times @ box offices.  It was a great way to get some exercise. We shared another delicious California Cobb salad for lunch ,then I headed to the pool while Rob headed to Sports Book.

Although we intended to see BlueMan today, we changed our mind last minute & bought tickets to Menopause the Musical at the Luxor.  I am so glad we did! It was soo funny.  The musical is set to 60's music and they make you laugh the whole time! I highly recommend. We had supper at a local Chinese restaurant we had gone to before & it was delicious. What a fun day!

Las Vegas 2012 ~ Day 1

We were in the air to Las Vegas at 7:00, we arrived in Las Vegas in only 3-1/2 hours and was in our hotel room at The Orleans off the strip by 9:30am

We have a king room with a obstructed view of the pool.

Our room is very spacious & clean.    Since the room was exactly the same as our last stay, I won't be doing a separate post on the room.

We unpacked then bought a few things @ Walmart. We ate at The Courtyard restaurant. I had a grilled salmon salad, Ron had a California Cobb, both were huge and very good. Ron bet some horses & played some poker. I am suffering from jet lag so I just spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Getting Ready for Vegas 2012!!

It's time to update my must-see list for our Vegas 2012 trip, we leave this Sunday April 29th.  We have been to Las Vegas many times, while there are some things I like to do on every trip; walking the strip and visiting the "old vegas" each time I go. I try to add new ones each time, so far my list for this trip includes:

 

• The Blue Man Group @ Venetian~~This show has been on the top of my list for a while, it would be great to finally see it. If you have seen this show, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
• My 2nd choice will the the Jersey Boys also in the Venetian.
•  
• Grand Canyon South Rim~~We plan to do a day trip on Tuesday with a stop over at the World Famous Snow Cap Drive-in (Route 66) in Seligman Arizona and a brief stop at the Hoover Dam 
• Spa Day~~Of course no lady can visit Vegas without visiting a spa for a luxurious massage and treatment.
•  
• Italian Restaurant~~Italian food is a MUST during any trip to Vegas. The Roma was recommended by my former coworker and friend Sharron and is now our FAVORITE. It's a deli during the day but at night it is transformed into a intimate, delicious Godfather-type restaurant .
• The Mob Museum ~~ I'm a huge GodFather fan so I think this should be kewl. 
• Binion's Steakhouse ~~ This restaurant is in the Fremont Street area

I will let everyone know how it goes!

Disney World 2012 - The Good/Bad

The Good
* Driving straight through without staying in a hotel worked for us.  The money saved for a night in a hotel paid for the fuel.
* We brought an ice chest with water,drinks,fruit,yogurt, milk & packed breakfast cereal/bowls/spoons. Eating in the room allowed us to get ready quickly to make the first bus to the park, thereby giving us time to ride without lines and crowds.
*  Eating Supper on the hotel grounds may be more expensive, but we came back so tired, it was worth the added expense.  They do have healthy choices for the kids.

The Bad

* Next time we will add one or two days at hotel for relaxation.  Allow the kids a break, use the pool, enjoy the hotel grounds.  It was too much walking for the kids to do the park 3 days in a row. 

* Going for Mardi Gras is great but next time we will assure that it is not Presidents day weekend.

Disney World 2012 - Day 5 Trip Home

We loaded up the car with most of the things with the exception of one suitcase per person.  We drove straight through leaving our hotel 5am while the girls slept the first couple of hours.  We stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel in Lake City around 730am.  The service and food were good as usual.  We swapped drivers until we we stopped for a quick lunch at a Burger King in Tallahassee.  We dropped the kids off at their house in Ocean Springs at 4:30 and headed back to our house.

Disney World 2012 - Day 4

Mardi Gras Day. Today is our 2nd day at the Magic Kingdom and the last day in Orlando. After eating breakfast in our room, we met our bus in the front of our hotel and once again arrived at the opening of the park. Today we started with Space Mountain/Tomorrowland.

After the girls got their fill of repeated rides on Space Mountain, we headed to Indy Speedway.  Afterwards we went to Stitch and then the Mad Hatter Teacups.

We skipped over Fantasyland to ride Splash Mountain a few times. 

We ate lunch at Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland.  We had taco salads and nachos.  Next we repeated Pirates of the Carribean and the Magic Carpet ride. 

Hubby and the kids practiced target shooting and the girls enjoyed a game of checkers while taking a break from walking.

Disney World 2012 - Day 3

Today we will be spending the day at Universal Studio's.  The girls are very excited to visit the new Harry Potter area, even though Paige is too young for the ride, she is still excited for her sister.  After eating breakfast in our hotel room, we drove out to the park.  We paid our $15 parking free &we were able to park on the first level.  I love the escalators that assist with all the walking between the parking lot and the entrance to the park.

We were warned that the Harry Potter lines get very long, very quickly so we arrived at the gate just as it opend and headed straight for the ride.   Hubby took Paige to Dr. Seuss area while Brooke and I stood in line.  The line was 45 mins long, whew!  The ride was spectacular and we most certainly would have rode again had the lines not been 2x as long when we got off.

Next we headed to Jurrasic Park.

We ate lunch here as well.  We shared Rotissarie chicken and key lime pie while watching the riders next door get soaked from the big plung of the ride.

We bought tickets to both parks so we headed to other park but the kids were exhausted so we only did the Shrek ride and then headed back to our hotel.

At the hotel we let the kids relax with some swim time and ate supper on the grounds.  We shared pizza & pasta.  The food on the grounds is expensive but it is convenient and was pretty good.

Disney World 2012 - Day 2

We woke the kids up at 6:00 am for a quick breakfast before heading to the Disney Park bus stop.  One of the nicest perks of staying on the grounds is the transportation. 

The buses were always clean, the drivers polite and no parking fees!


We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just in time to watch the opening of the park, first time we were able to see it.  It really is fun to watch. 

Both of the girls are older now and were more interested in rides than the opening show at the castle so we headed straight to Adventureland.  We rode Pirates of the Carribean, Safari boats & 2 rides on Splash Mountain.

Next we stopped briefly in Fantasyland for It's a Small World & Haunted house before moving onto Tomorrowland.
ate lunch at the Tomorrowland Terrace today, shared chicken nuggets and chocolate cake for dessert, it was good. 

We left around 2:00 to return to our hotel.  We let the girls swim a little before taking a nap.  We returned back to the Magic Kingdom around 6:00pm, refreshed.  We headed back to tomorrowland for more rides until it was time to walk back to the castle for the fireworks show.  The firework show is spectacular and not to be missed!

After the fireworks, we headed back to our bus, both girls feel to sleep immediately after their bath, totally exhausted.

Disney World 2012 - Day 1

We packed up the car the night before, this morning we loaded up the Grandkids and hit the road @ 530am for the 10 hr road trip to Disney World Orlando

 We stopped for breakfast at the Cracker Barrell in Pensacola around 7am

Disney Towel Animal :)

The trip was uneventful.  We drove straight through, stopping for a picnic lunch at a rest stop and took turns driving.  We arrived at our hotel around 4pm and was relieved when we were told our room was ready.  Our room was in the Fantasia building of the All Star Movies hotel on the grounds.  We had 2 queen beds & a small table to eat on.  We knew there would be no coffee pot so we brought our own.  These are one of the oldest complexes but it worked fine for us since we were not in the room very much!  We unpacked and let the kids unwind in the pool for the evening.  We ate supper at a McDonalds on the grounds and the kids fell asleep early, exhausted from the long car ride.

Branson Trip - Day 5

Today is our final day of our holiday in Branson. The temps dropped & we enjoyed our morning coffee in front a roaring fire. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and just enjoyed our lakefront scenery. Mid-morning we headed out to shop for Christmas gifts.

After returning to the cabin to pack for the ride home, we relaxed a bit before dinner at our favorite restaurant @ the College of the Ozarks. It was comfort food, pot roast for me and meatloaf for Hubby. Later when it turned dark we visited a 2 1/2 mile Christmas Light display in Shepard of the Hills. It was beautiful.

We went back to the cabin to load up the car for our return ride home, and we had snow flurries. A fitting end to our holiday in the Ozark Mountains.