Vegas, Baby!

Well here is the more in-depth look at the Vegas trip that I promised. :)  We drove up on Monday morning, leaving the house around 6am.  We took the parent's car since it gets MUCH better gas mileage than mine and also needed to get out on the highway more anyways.  Over a year old and it only has 6200 miles on it.

Anyways, we went up through Wickenburg, Wikieup, and Kingman... but then went off through Bullhead City and Laughlin rather than over the Hoover Dam. (Mom doesn't like mountains.)  I took over driving around Vegas since I knew the city better and was more comfortable driving around in heavy traffic.

More in-depth journal entries after the jump...

Day 1 - Arrival
We rolled into Vegas around Noon and grabbed a quick bite before heading to our hotel. We would be staying at the Aria, part of City Center and one of the newest hotels on the Strip.  I must say first impressions are that the hotel is amazing.  You drive up toward Valet and the main entry but then dive under the whole thing to get to self-parking.  Then you walk all the way around to get to main registration... which happens to be on the opposite end of the casino.

Registration was a snap though and the hotel itself was "State of the Art".  Upon entry to the room, the curtains (which are motorized) part to give you a view of the city, the lights all brighten, and the TV turns on to soft, welcoming music.  The entire room was controlled via a touch screen panel on the table by the bed.  Temperature, Curtains, TV, and Lighting were all accessible from it.  Plus it let you set up events like what happens when you wake up... and lets you set up Privacy or Maid Service options.  We hung out at the hotel for most of the day, but managed to head out to Bellagio to see the Fountains before bed.

Day 2 - Conference Time
My conference didn't start until Noon, so we grabbed a late breakfast/early lunch at Luxor using their all-day buffet pass so we could get dinner that evening too.  The conference went well and I made some great contacts.  That evening, after hitting the Luxor Buffet again, we made it in time to see the Sirens at TI... which if you have your parents along with you, I don't recommend. LOL  The show has a definately sensuality to it now... with scantily clad girls and shirtless men (yum).  Afterwards, we were going to stop at Bellagio again but my parents were once again tired out already... so we headed back to the hotel.

Day 3 - Conference continues / Leaving Las Vegas
An early conference time meant a fast breakfast at the cafe downstairs and a run to the meeting hall.  More contacts made and all-in-all, a productive conference.  I skipped out of the catered closing lunch so we could check-out and hit the road.  We left Las Vegas around noon and started our way back... with me driving as the hills through Wickenburg were still a bit much for Mom.

It was a good trip... but I really would like to go back and enjoy it by myself... where I can go visit the other places we missed this time.