Bright Lights City

Every year about this time, Husband has a marketing conference and the Rolloff which is the big promotion pay out event. It's basically where the rep rolls dices 15 times and then they get paid out based on the formula. It's kind of a big deal.

A few years ago it was in Orlando and I tagged along. Last year it was in Baltimore and I didn't. Because of my six month old and all. But this year it was in Las Vegas and I had never been to Vegas and ALWAYS wanted to. So I went along. 

I left our house on Tuesday to take the kids to my parents house then flew out from there early Wednesday morning. (Like I had to be at the airport by 4:00.) It was kind of funny because with the time change I was in Las Vegas by 8:30 AM! Husband's flight was supposed to get in around 9:45 but was delayed a bit. So I had a lot of time to kill in the airport. 

But finally there he was and then finally, there was the suitcase and we could take our town car to the hotel. It was really nice that he was on his own flight with no one else from the company because usually we are on a bus but because it was just us we got a fancy schmancy car. If you've ever been to Vegas you know that you can see the strip from the airport, but then it takes a long time to get there because the lights take forever!

We obviously arrived in daylight but this gives you an idea.

We checked in to the Cosmopolitan and were able to get our room immediately. I didn't take any pictures but the internet is helpful in situations like this and they're better than I could have taken. 

Note to self: the mini bar is weighted and if you life the extremely overpriced items  for more than 30 seconds it charges it to your room. We did not have any room charges but the warning was only in the fridge not on the snacks on the counter. And when I say overpriced, I mean $8 for 6 mini-sized Snicker pieces. Not even fun-sized! 

Plus our room came with a terrace balcony with a little love seat and footstool, and the bathroom included a water closet with LOUD wallpaper and a double vanity. 

We had lunch reservations at Fogo de Chao which is one of my favorite chains. In Las Vegas it's just a regular restaurant. But it was delicious and we were allowed to expense one meal that day so it was free. Since we had both been awake since 3:00ish in the morning, we opted to take a nap. Then we got ready to walk over to MGM and see Ka. 

I am going to do a Cirque specific post later but I will say this, I loved it. If you've ever been to Cirque before you know there's a preshow, make sure you are there early enough so you do not miss the preshow of Ka! You wouldn't believe all the people who missed it and they don't let you in at all because they are in the aisles and it was really cool. 

After Ka we walked back a different way, stopping at Walgreens to pick up some incidentals, and then ate a late dinner at Earl of Sandwich. The last time I had this sandwich was in Orlando and I was hoping it would live up to the last time. It did and we parked ourselves in a perfect people watching situation. 

Even on Wednesday night I was horrified at the parents who had their babies and preschoolers in strollers at 11:00 at night. I couldn't convince myself that they were all traveling in from Hawaii and it wasn't late for the kids yet. There are some interesting things for kids in Las Vegas to be sure, but I think I wouldn't take mine at all, and certainly not until they were at least upper elementary age. And even then, not on the inappropriate strip at 11:00 at night! 

After our people watching we headed back to our room and went to sleep. But not before standing out on the balcony and marveling at how nice the weather is. No bugs or humidity? That's kind of awesome. And that was our first day in Vegas.