Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Vegas!

How lucky am I to have a sister who is also my best friend? Pretty lucky I would say. She has wanted to go to Vegas for a while to jump off the Stratosphere, so finally, we made it happen. Here we are arriving at the airport in Vegas ready for the fun to begin. The first afternoon there we drove to see the Hover Dam. That thing was huge and amazing. We went on the tour through the power plant and got to see how it all works. We also went to the visitor center where it shows how and why they built the whole thing. Totally amazing that man was able to figure out how to control the massive Colorado River.
This is the new highway bridge they just built last year so they would have less traffic going over the dam for security reasons. That is also an engineering marvel.



It was very hot!!!


That night we went with our tour guide Julie, my friend who lives in Vegas and who let us stay at her house, down to the strip. We went through some of the casinos and watched the shows that they do on the street.


I loved the Billagio fountain show. Very impressive!


The next morning, we set out to do what we came for, watch Tracy jump off the Stratosphere. You can't believe how high up it is. 855 ft from the top of the tower all the way to the bottom. She payed a hefty penny to do it, but it really was awesome!


All suited up and ready to go!


The Clemens family came with us to watch the jump and have lunch with us after...if Tracy lived.


She lived and loved it! She screamed the whole way down. Later that afternoon we went back to the strip to look at some of the other casinos and do the Coke and M&M museums.




We then returned that evening to the top of the Stratosphere to ride all the crazy rides they have on top. Way fun and a little scary.




This is the picture they took of us on the one that shoots you to the top of the needle on the Stratosphere. I am on the left and Tracy is in the middle. Pretty funny we think.


The last day of our trip we had some time to kill before going to the airport. We had gotten our fill of the strip and done everything good Mormon girls could, so instead we went to see the movie "Captain America." LOVED it!


I thought I should at least put in a dollar to the nickel slots. I put it in, pushed the button a few times and was up to $1.20. Then I pushed it a few more times and got down to $0.20. One more push put me at $0.70 so I figured I would cash out then. So I took my ticket and went to the window and got my 70 cents. Funny huh! The picture was totally worth my 30 cents!


We still didn't have to be to the airport quite yet and decided that we better eat at at least one all-you-can-eat buffet while in Vegas. The Clemens told us about one in a new casino that they thought was the best and they were right! It had everything for a great price and was so yummy. This is my dessert plate at the end. Do you think I gained weight on this trip? You bettcha! We rolled on out of there and went to the airport to go home.


It was so much fun to be in Vegas with my sister and friend Julie. It was great to take a break from being a mom and wife for a few days and just have some girl time. I am so glad that Tracy and I are such good friends. I love spending time with her and just being ourselves together. I am so lucky to have her as my sister. Good times!

2 comments:

Julz said...

Love it!! And I'm totally going to have to steal my family picture... I was hoping you would like the buffet! Come back again soon!

Stephanie said...

What a BLAST! That all sounded like a great way to spend a few days! (NOT the jumping off the tower, though!) Glad you two can have such good times together.