Vegas "Best Of"

We had a great trip to Vegas this last week. Despite taking off in horrid storms (with tornadoes just not that far away that left people killed and homeless), we made it (and felt guilty for making it, when people had just been killed and left homeless).

Neither of our kids got sick back home, we didn't get sick, hurt, robbed, etc. So it was a success!

Here are some of the Vegas "Best Of's" from the trip...

BEST MEAL: Canaletto pizza, salad, bread in St. Mark's Square of the Palazzo.

BEST DRINK: Tie between virgin pina colada at Jersey Boys and mock razztini at Red, White and Blue Steakhouse. They both topped the REAL razztini I had at Tacos and Tequila, proving that the $5 fake drink really does win out over the $12 "real" one.

BEST SHOW: Well, we saw two this trip: Jersey Boys and Ka. Both were amazing - and very different from each other. But Jersey Boys wins overall. On top of the phenomenal acting and singing, we got upgraded to VIP 5th row tickets, and got to meet the actors. TOP NOTCH through and through. LOVED IT. Already bought the soundtrack. ;)

BEST NEW FIND: We thought we'd seen it all last year. Somehow we totally missed Planet Hollywood. It had the Miracle Mall shops in it, Earl of Sandwich (seriously, word's best sandwich) AND both M&M World AND a four-story Coca-Cola store, where they made any kind of coke drink - by hand - with syrup - as you ordered it. So cool. And I got to meet Coke Bear.

BEST TOURISTY "THING": The gondola at The Venetian. It's just cool. You have to do it every time you go, even if you already did it.

BEST VIEW: On top of the Eiffel Tower. A.MA.ZING. We still haven't done the Stratosphere (hey, we have to leave things for next time). But atop this structure, you can see all of Vegas, including the amazing Bellagio fountains.

BEST SIGHTING: Well, we saw both Bill Weir from ABCnews and Shakira. Bill was on the street in front of Caesar's Palace taping a segment for Nightline. Shakira was in our elevator. She is beautiful. She's very pleasant. And she said "How's your vacation going?" We said "Great!" and she said, "So glad to hear it." Then she got off at the Spa.

And now, the "Not-so-best of's"

Mandalay Bay. This is where we stayed. Beautiful hotel, awesome beach pools. ZERO ability to sit and enjoy the pools. SO MANY FREAKING PEOPLE. SO MANY CHILDREN. Not a romantic getaway like last year. AND they got our room wrong (they fixed it though). But still, not staying here again. AND they allow smoking in the hotel/casino. I'll take my Palazzo, private pool and no kids, no smoking resort next time, please.

Razztini - the real one. I hate alcohol. I don't know why I feel compelled to try it. It doesn't make me cool. It doesn't taste good. It's expensive. Bleagh. I'll take my $5 virgin drinks made with juice. Or iced tea. Or a diet coke. I'm so over trying to order a drink. What a waste of time.

Skin. The dress barely covering your butt and showing all of your boobs, stupid high heels you can't walk in and shorts unzipped so your underwear shows is SO overdone in Vegas (only on the weekends though - luckily we left Saturday morning so only got one night of it). I wanted to grab those girls, stand them in front of mirror and say "REALLY? You are so much better than this."

SO, here's what we came away with.

We're old-timers. We hate alcohol. We hate slutty looking girls. We prefer hotels where the "older" people stay - not the club-hopping, skin-showing models. We prefer musical theater. Yes, Frankie Valli is cool. Take away the smoke. Take away the bars. Give us a gondola, a pizza and a private pool. We want to wear comfortable clothes and shoes, we want to see our dolphins, watch the fountains at night, and pet a sting ray.

We've done Vegas twice now. We still love it. But now, we can customize a package we KNOW works for us. Or maybe we'll try a new locale. Who knows. What we DO know is that those 4 days are GLORIOUSLY relaxing and fun. We miss our kids, but we come back better parents because we slept in. We didn't cook. We didn't fight over schedules. We were just US. Old, un-cool us. ;)

Pictures coming soon.