Day 24

So today we said our tearful goodbye to Los Angeles county (we Krysta did, and I did for a few days anyway, I'm going back on Saturday hehehe). We checked out of the Econo Lodge in Glendale, where we had spent a total of 7 nights on this trip now. (Yes I can now reveal where we stayed, didn't want people to know while we were still there!) It served us well and was fairly inexpensive. I had to sleep on my air mattress the whole time we were there though.

real life Saul Goodman?

Anyway, we checked out around 11 and headed towards fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada! It was about a 4 hour drive from Glendale to Vegas, very little traffic on the way. We made a quick stop at a McDonalds and gas station, but otherwise drove straight into the city. Got to Vegas a little after 4, I think anyway, checked into the Tuscany Suites & Casino. I booked the room through hotels.com, and it was only like 30 bucks. Pretty crazy. After getting settled, we decided to walk over to the strip, which was a few blocks away from Tuscany.

So we walked over to the strip, passed by a few more hotels/casinos  including the massive Ballys. We walked by the Flamingo a bit, streets were really crowded even though it wasn't really late yet, but I guess this city runs 24/7. Looked at a bunch of the places along the strip, took pictures in front of them, etc. Ton of people along the street giving out rather interesting pamphlets and "reading material" (to keep it family friendly). I can't believe people actually hand that stuff out as their job. Anyway, we walked around a little more, and went into Madame Tussads Wax Museum.

We didn't end up going to Madame Tussauds Hollywood on this trip, I went on my LA trip last year, but we just didn't get around to it this time, so we wanted to go here in Vegas. It was fun, lots of very realistic looking figures, not to mention a "live" exhibit probably especially for Halloween where you walk around a very scary laboratory and people jump out at you. Ahhh!!! Here are some of the pics.

yeah...Arnold makes me look like a girly man...

aw yeahhhh

poor Krysta, her dreams are ruined!

really like how this one came out, long live The King!

After exiting the museum, we saw a rather large crowd gathering nearby, I was a little perplexed, but then realized that Anderson Cooper was down there, as there was going to be a presidential debate the next day in Vegas and he was hosting it. Looked like he was talking to people, taking pics, maybe signing autographs or something, not quite sure.

We eventually walked back to the Tuscany. When I checked in, they gave me a coupon booklet thingy that included a $20 coupon off any $40 purchase at the Italian restaurant in the lobby. I'm a sucker for Italian food, so we made a reservation there for dinner, which we went to at about 7:30. Great food, great atmosphere, very friendly and efficient waiter. All around good dining experience. After eating, we headed into the hotel's casino for a bit, where I failed miserably at the penny slots. We headed back to the room, I watched House at 9, and then went back over to the lobby for a bit.

Sat at the hotel bar, ordered a few drinks, talked with some of the people there, including the bartender who was a pretty cool guy. They also had a virtual poker game at the seats at the bar, so I decided to play. As you may remember, I only really learned how to play poker a few nights ago, so I wanted to test how well I remembered it. I actually won some money in the game! Shocking I know. I only put a $5 bill in, eventually had as much as $15, but stopped once I got down to $10. I guess that's how you manage to "win" - set limits for yourself so that you don't lose everything.

Anyway, short, but fun Vegas experience, would have liked to maybe see a show or something, but alas we need to keep a tight schedule on this trip.... Here are a few more Vegas pics for your enjoyment.

yeah I'm the man