New Years in Vegas!

Josh and I decided to take an over night trip to Las Vegas from January 1st-2nd. It was the perfect time because Josh was still out of school, and I had just finished a crazy week of weddings, and needed the break!

Josh left where we were staying as a surprise, and he made a great choice! We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the strip. It was an AMAZING hotel, and there was no casino, so it was nice that you didn't walk into the lobby and smell cigarette smoke.

When we got to Vegas, it was already nighttime, and we were pretty much starving. So we hit the strip in search of a food court. We finally found one that was still open in the Venetian, which happens to also be our favorite hotel. We quickly discovered that food courts in Vegas are expensive...but we were starving, so we got some cheesesteaks, and they were way good.

After we ate, we spent some time exploring the Venetian. I love how they make the shops look like they are outside!

The next day, we went to cover all of the rest of the sights on the strip. We started with the MGM Grand, where they had the lions, which I always love to see.

The MGM Grand also has what Josh claims would be in his dream home: about a million TV screens playing pretty much every single game happening in the United States at one time.

Next we headed over the M&M factory!

We even waited to see the 3-D movie. The movie didn't make a lot of sense, and probably doesn't teach ideal morals for children (the red M&M loses the white "M" on his chest while gambling in Vegas), but it was fun.

After that, we went next-door to the Coca-Cola Factory, where we enjoyed a really good root beer float.

There was also the most hilarious polar bear ever that would bite your head and then start laughing.

And then there was an out-of-order Coca Cola machine. At Coca-Cola World. How embarassing.

Then we enjoyed some of the other sites of Vegas:

The Bellagio, as always, had an amazing conservatory. We were there while they still had their Christmas set-up. The houses, polar bears, snowman, everything was made of flowers.

Of course, we had to see the Bellagio fountain show, because that's probably the coolest thing in Vegas.

We finished the trip by eating a delicious dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and then we decided to watch the fountain show one more time. But the Bellagio was farther down the strip, and it was getting close to the half-hour (the fountains go on the hour and half hour) so we pretty much had to run all the way there. We made it about 1 minute before the show started, and it was definitely worth it. After that, we made the 6 hour drive back home, and got back at about 2 or 3 in the morning! But we had a great time; it was our first getaway together since our honeymoon!