Vegas

Grandma Johnson started this tradition that when her children (and now grandchildren) turn 21 - she takes them on their first trip to Las Vegas! This Vegas trip was a special one as we were celebrating my nephew Joseph turning 21. He actually turned 21 in October, but we ALWAYS go over Grandma J's birthday in July, so he had to wait a few months. Chris' sisters Gayla (Joseph's mom) and Mindy, her boyfriend Brian, our nephew Shannon and his wife Jill, Chris and I all joined celebrating with Joseph and Grandma.

I had to laugh (and take a quick snapshot) of this sign as we were waiting for our ride in the Vegas airport.

This trip we stayed at the Palazzo! It is a really beautiful hotel and casino. This was the entryway when we first walked in...

Gorgeous huh! And this was our room (or should I say, suite)

Beautiful and very, very spacious!!!! I REALLY though the Palazzo was beautiful! Here's some more pictures of the umbrellas - I liked them the best!!!

One tradition that we have every trip to vegas is to go to Lawry's Prime Rib House for dinner the first night we arrive, which happened to be Grandma's actual birthday this trip! We had a wonderful time, but more importantly, wonderful food!!! They have the best, I mean the best, prime rib! I personally like their mashed potatoes and creamed corn just as much. Once we were finished with dinner, we stopped by the Rio to do a little gambling. I did not do so well there, but I did get a nice back massage while playing a little blackjack! Well worth the $25!


On our way back to our hotel, we were in the limo and stuck in some traffic, so we seemed to be creeping along. We were all watching out the window at this driver of the car next to us who was eating an ice cream cone. Mindy was having a craving and was commenting on how good the ice cream looked just as the woman began to tear off the cone part and throw it out the window (in which we all screamed "NO" as she kept doing it - I mean, that IS the best part!) Anyways, we were all laughing at this woman and what she was doing as Brian says "figures, she is a Kansan". We all looked at him wondering what he was talking about, but sure enough - her license plate was from KANSAS! What a good laugh! (You probably had to be there to find this funny, but I still laugh even as I write about it!)


Our second day there we scheduled a little pampering. The boys (Shannon and Chris) went golfing at the course at the Wynn.

Us girls, along with Brian and Joseph, decided to check out the spa...

Here we are hanging in the hot tub...

and the rain showers... (I think I was getting the Tropical Rain Shower here)

(I cannot believe I posted a picture of me in my swimming suit!) BUT, the best part was my hot rock massage... AWESOME... if you ever have the chance, have one of these... they are the best!

The rest of the day was spent doing a little shopping at other casino shops. We went to the Planet Hollywood casino. I love this chandelier above the staircase, it changes colors and is completely beautiful...



For dinner, we went to another local favorite...Lindo Michoacan...good Mexican food ~ the BEST guacamole!!!


Our last full day started at the Venetian... we did a little gambling, a little shopping (I got a new purse) and then rode the gondolas! I have been to Vegas a ton of times, but I have NEVER rode the gondolas. I'm glad I got to do that this trip!


We spent the afternoon at the Harrah's Carnaval Court, which is an outside bar and stage featuring live entertainment and music! Our real reason for going there was to see Ray's wife Karen. Who is Ray? Ray is our limo driver! We ALWAYS get a car when we go, sometimes a limo when we have a big group of us, and Ray is ALWAYS our driver. In fact, we now are close friends with him and his family. Ray is such a wonderful guy - part of going to vegas is getting to see him! Anyways, Ray's wife Karen is a cocktail waitress at Harrahs and she was working at the Carnaval Court, so we stopped by to see her. And, boy am I happy that we did. I FINALLY had some good luck there and won a little money, or mostly what I had lost up until that point! We listened to some really good music and Brian even got up on stage... and won this lovely hat!


Here we are trying it on for size...

This is the group of us just before loading in the limo to go to dinner...

We ate at the Steak 9 at the Palms and had the most delicious steak I have ever tasted ~ it just melted in your mouth!


I have to tell you that every time I'm in Vegas, I'm always wanting to see someone famous. Who knows why, but I've always wanted to and I never do. However, this time as we were waiting in the limo for Gayla to come out of the Palms casino, I watched as this camera guy came out and got into this Hummer limo parked right in front of us. I even made a comment to Ray, who shunned it off as probably nothing. However, not two seconds later a group of people taking pictures (like what I would imagine paparazzi feels like) swarmed around the Hummer and out walks Hugh Hefner. OF ALL PEOPLE, I get to see HUGH HEFNER! Oh well, it sill was pretty cool! By the way, Gayla ended up being one of those people taking pictures!

Overall, our trip to Vegas was a really good one. We had a little luck (or Chris did more than me) and we had some fun times with family! We look forward to going in October with some friends of our that have never been there before!

We ended the trip by taking a family photo under the FAMOUS "Welcome to Vegas" sign!