Vegas, baby!

Last Friday we set off on a surprise adventure for our wedding anniversary. This year it was my turn to plan something for us and for Dave to be surprised. I thought he'd never suspect that I had a trip planned to Vegas for us. Dave had always wanted to go, and while it never was on my radar to go there, as the day drew nearer, I got more excited.
Not only did Dave not know where we were going, he didn't know the method of transportation that we were taking. I'd even packed for him! (That is an ultimate act of trust - I don't know if I'd ever let him do that for me. But I'm the control freak between us.) Dave didn't seem to have any idea where we were headed even when we got to the airport. It wasn't until the agent at the counter asked how many bags we were checking to Vegas that Dave realized where we were going. And though I wasn't able to capture the moment on camera, I have a mental picture I'll always remember. Dave was pretty excited!

After a looooong flight at the back of the plane (sitting next to a guy who felt that half of my seat was his & wanted to constantly talk about how he just got out of jail with Snoop Dogg's cousin) we finally got to Vegas.
I think it's safe to say that our expectations of Vegas were a little different that the reality of Vegas. Don't get us wrong - we had a really good time! (4 days / 3 nights of no child and some alcohol = how can you not enjoy?!?) But Vegas is somehow even more expensive than we thought. And way more smokey that I would have guessed. And if we had a $5 bill for every child we saw, we'd have left far ahead financially! Who brings infants & toddlers to Vegas? What is there to do for these kids? Wow. And we both were very disappointed in the severe lack of Elvis impersonators. The weather was warm on Saturday (about 85) but a severe cold front blew in and we had a high of 68 the next 2 days and 30 mph winds. Yikes!!

The good stuff was that the food was wonderful everywhere we ate, and we had a fantastic room at the Mirage. My friend Jen (pregnant with twin girls!!) and her husband drove up from LA for the weekend so we got to spend some time with them as well. Dave and I had an amazing dinner high above the strip in the evening thanks to advanced reservations at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant (see 1st picture above). The food here was so good, I deliriously only managed to take pictures of Dave enjoying his huge bowl of creme brule and of my raspberry napolean (probably one of the top two desserts I've had in my life).

Probably our favorite part was that we saw Cirque du Soleil Beattles show "Love", which was just amazing!! I can easily see why it won for show of the year in both 2008 & 2009. All you really do need is Love!