After a few short hours at the pool, Lisa headed up to the spa gym to get in a quick workout while Meredith and I decided to check out Bare, the 21-and-over "topless" pool. I use the word topless loosely because no one was topless when we went there. Maybe it was too early in the day (before noon). Bare actually ended up being pretty lame. It requires a cover charge, but like most things, all you have to do is find the free admission coupons in one of the stores. Security was about as tight as the nightclubs, so we had to show our IDs and our coupons before entering. It's located near the hotel pool, but it's totally secluded for obvious reasons. It has a covered bar area which are the only "public" seating options. And there were only about 5 stools to sit. All the lounge chairs around the pool are Reserved. I'm guessing you have to pay to reserve those. No thank you. It had a cool whirlpool that cascaded into a waterfall, but of course, to get into the whirlpool, you had to have paid to reserve the area. Security guards covered both entrances. Good grief, you'd think a celebrity was there or something. The pool itself was more like a kiddie pool. It didn't look more than 2 feet deep or so. There were less than 20 people there at the time, but I'm guessing it was due to the time of day. So, basically, we walked in, went to the bathroom and walked out. Super exciting! I can't believe people might actually pay for that!
After that, we stepped into a slice of heaven: the hotel spa. Oh. My. God. I've had massages before, but this place was beyond amazing. The spa recommended we get there at least an hour in advance to take advantage of all the amenities. Lisa was already working out in the gym, so Meredith and I signed in and got started. We each got our own lockers that came with a fluffy robe and comfy slippers. The lady behind the counter gave us each a cold drink of pineapple and cranberry juice. Delicious! I bet it'd be pretty good with some rum in it too! From there, we headed into their wet room, equipped with three hot whirlpools, 1 cool one, a sauna and a steam room. Awesome. We took advantage of each one of them and basically rotated around for an hour. The whirlpools were the best, except the jets were so powerful, it was a bit difficult to sit still. The jets kept throwing us around in the whirlpool! The sauna and the steam room take a little getting used to. The sauna is a dry heat and can be a bit oppressive when you first walk in. It's very cleansing, but can be a bit difficult to breathe in. The steam room was a different kind of heat, but equally difficult to breathe in at first. The only problem with this room was all the little hot drops of water falling from the ceiling. That kinda stings on bare skin! This was definitely the best way to relax before getting a massage. It really helps loosen the muscles. I can't believe I've been getting massages without doing this!
Once we were thoroughly relaxed, we each went in for our hour Swedish massage. The woman doing my massage would also be doing my custom facial right after. And she was beyond amazing. The room was toasty warm with a heated blanket on the table. I hope this is what heaven is like. She worked out all the stress and knots I've been carrying around for awhile now. All my stress lives in my shoulders and neck, so she spent most of her time rubbing out the kinks there. It was painful at times, but by the time she was done, I didn't think I could stand up. My entire body was like a pool of jello. When I walked back into the waiting room to get ready for my facial, Mere and Lisa had on the same expression I did. One of pure bliss. The whole time I was thinking how great it would be to take my mom, my sister and my sister-in-law to a place like this. They all deserve a little pampering.
After a quick break, it was time for our facials. We had gotten a great deal on a massage and facial from the spa, so that was how we decided on our treatments. Due to my "youthful" complexion, my esthetician decided on an organic facial. It was great. She used a sonic thingamajig that buffed my face off. It wasn't painful, it was actually really nice. It was just a surprise since she didn't warn me about it. The facial was just a quick 1/2 hour session, but I felt and looked great afterwards. My skin was so smooth! Once we were all finished, I basically decided that I was never leaving that room. I'm going to move to Vegas and live inside the spa. They had showers available, so we spent a little more time pampering ourselves and getting ready to head out for the day. The spa day was by far one of the best things about the trip.
Since it was still early in the day, we decided to do some more sightseeing and check out other hotels. I really wanted to see the Venetian, so we all donned our matching tank tops and headed out. Lisa had made us matching black tank tops to advertise our hot almost-30-selves. We were sexy.
Somehow the picture we got of us all wearing our shirts got deleted, but here they are. The 30th Bday Diva was Lisa's, mine was the Kiss Me, I'm 30, and Meredith's was Too Sexy to Be 30.
Striking a pose outside our hotel.
Since I had wanted to go to the Venetian since we got there, and it was right across the street from our hotel, we headed there first. It's really gorgeous inside. Very Italian, obviously. Inside there is a canal with gondoliers. Since I went in Indy a few months ago, we decided to forgo riding on one this time. The next time I step in a gondola, it better be in Venice though! We perused some of the shops, but didn't actually go in. My bank account couldn't handle buying something in most of those stores! We decided to eat there though and found a very delicious restaurant that was reasonably priced. The guy who seated us was super nice too. He was going to seat us in what I referred to as the "Early Bird Special" section, but when we asked if we could sit somewhere else, he literally ran to the hostess desk to find us another available table. Now, that's what I call service! Maybe it's just because we were so cute! Our waitress here was evil. And by evil, I mean she forced us to buy a dozen freshly baked chocolate chip pecan cookies. Fresh, as in, they were baked while we were eating the rest of our meal. This was by far my favorite restaurant. Not only was the meal fantastic, but so were those cookies. Amazing! My four didn't make it out of Vegas. Meredith somehow had the restraint to take two of them home to her husband. Sometimes it does pay to be single.
The inside was beautiful. I loved the ceiling that was painted and back lit to look like a real sky.
I was auditioning to be the 4th member of the Blue Man Group. It was very difficult to keep my eyes that wide! And no, they aren't real. Just statues advertising their show at the Venetian.
We saw these Oxygen Bars in a few different places. Paying for oxygen sounds really stupid to me, but apparently people love them!
Next, we walked a bit further down the strip and check out the Wynn Hotel, another very nice hotel. Again, with lots of stores I could never afford. We didn't spend too much time here. Just looking around and taking a few more pictures. After that we headed back to the Mirage. Sometime during today or the night before, I bruised and/or pulled something in the bottom of my foot. So, it made for a difficult day of walking.
Our hotel at night.
All you need is Love.
Finally, we headed back to our hotel for our 9:30 showing of Cirque de Soleil's LOVE, inspired by the Beatles. I've always wanted to see a live Cirque show, but they're pretty expensive. Fortunately, we were able to get a discount since we were staying at the the Mirage. We weren't able to take any photographs during the performance, so I left my camera in our room. I was paranoid they might try to take it away or something before it started. Unfortunately, everyone and their mother had their cameras, and they were taking all kinds of pictures before the performance including the theater and the ushers. Oh well, I did get some pics later of the entrance to the theater.
The entrance to the theater from inside our casino.
The refreshment counter.
Being a dork.
Funky 60's inspired ceiling.
The show itself was really cool. It's the only performance in the round, so that the seats are all the way around the stage. That made for a very entertaining show. They incorporated all different kinds of elements from large screens on the walls to projections on hanging draperies to a giant sheet that covered the entire stage and half of the audience. The stage itself moved, rotated and had all kinds of things moving up from the bowels of the theater. A VW bug came rolling out at one point too. Acrobats, gymnasts, skaters, dancers, you name it, they had everything. And it was all set to Beatles music. There was a general theme running through it with this one guy with some flowers searching for love. It was cute. Overall, it was really fantastic. The only problem I had is that we went to see it at the end of a spa day. I swear I nearly fell asleep a half dozen times during it. I was so mad at myself, but during the slow parts, I found it difficult to keep my eyes open. I was so relaxed from my massage that it was all I could do not to start drooling in my seat. I never actually fell asleep, although I did start to numerous times. I wasn't the only one. Lisa and Mere found it a bit slow at times too, and had trouble keeping their eyes open. Even though it was our last night in Vegas, we went upstairs for a little cat nap and ended up falling asleep for the rest of the night. We're such party animals!
Monday morning we were up fairly bright and early because Lisa and Meredith had to be ready to head to the airport by 11:30 am. I was determined to do something daredevilish while I was in Vegas. The New York New York rollercoaster didn't open until 11 am, so we opted instead to go up in the Stratosphere. I wanted to ride the rides. Since it was so far from our hotel, we hopped on the double decker bus. It's an incredibly cheap mode of transportation if you plan on riding around on it throughout the day. It just takes forever to get where you're going. We finally made it to the Stratosphere and were a bit pressed on time. Up we went and the view from up there is breathtaking. You can see all of Vegas and the mountains past it. Meredith and I had purchased one ride ticket, but Lisa only wanted to do the Big Shot. Since we didn't know which ride we would do, she didn't end up purchasing a ticket. I really wanted to do the Insanity, which spins you around over the side of the Stratosphere observatory. When it was time for our ride, all the employees said the Big Shot was by far the best option. This is the one that shot you to the top of the Stratosphere in only a few short seconds. I felt bad that we decided on the one ride Lisa wanted to go on, but she wasn't too upset about it. It was actually incredibly tame. We screamed of course, but basically because we had no idea when it would start. It shot Mere and I up in the air, then back down, then up again, then down, and did that a few more times. And then it was over. That's it? I wanted more! If we had more time, I would have loved to do the other two rides, but maybe next time. The Insanity looked tame as well, only because it was spinning incredibly slowly. Yes, it lifted you out over the ground, but at least spin a bit faster!
Up we go!
A view of the Strip from the top.
The Big Shot. We shot up that!
An aftershot. This wasn't during the actual ride!
After we finished at the top, we hustled back to the bus stop for our excruciating trip back to our hotel. Unfortunately, we were a bit late to meet their shuttle, but Meredith and Lisa just caught a cab instead. It ended up being the same price per person, so no harm done. Since I had nearly four hours to kill before my shuttle to the airport, I spent some more QT at the pool. It was nice. Except for the two young British girls next to me trying to smuggle cantaloupes in their bathing suits. Good Lord, how do you walk upright packing those two things? Needless to say, I would not be missing that part of Vegas when I went home!
About 30 minutes before my trip to the airport, I decided I needed to at least do some sort of gambling. I mean, I'm in Vegas! I just did the penny slots, since I didn't really want to spend much money. And I only used $5. I'm not really a gambler. I prefer to spend my hard-earned money on other things, rather than slot machines. I lost all of it. Well, I lost $4.80, but since I couldn't bet anymore, I cashed out the remaining twenty cents. It only took around 5 minutes to lose it. I really don't see how people can spend all day on the slots. Boggles my mind.
My losing slot machine.
Overall, I had a really great time in Vegas. It was really fun to get out of town and spend some time with my friends. Thanks to Meredith and Lisa for a great weekend. I loved it!
2 comments:
LOVE LOVE LOVE VEGAS!!!! Hope you had a good time. But what happened to new thing #43?
Someday I want to go back to Vegas... While we were there we saw the Blue Man Group (totally awesome, nothing like when they were in St. Louis), rode the Gondalas at the Venetian and also went up in the Eifel Tower to watch the Bellagio Water Show... I loved it! But I do have to admit, I have never had a massage, that sounds heavenly!
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