"My Happy Place"

Some people love the mountains, while others feel happiness when they are near the ocean. For me, my Happy Place is a lit-up, crazy town in the hot Nevada desert...Las Vegas!

My mom and I have been going to Las Vegas every year, for the past ten years or so. I feel like I know "the Strip" as well as I do our local Target store! I never get tired of going, and my mom and I get excited about our trip months before we even go. We usually stay in Vegas for about 4 nights.

What could a married mom like myself, who doesn't drink or gamble, find so fun about Las Vegas?
Well......

When we arrive, we have lunch first. This time we picked the restaurant, Eiffel Tower. Look at the view from our table!

Next, we check into our room. I love the view we have this time! We can see the fountains at the Bellagio. At night, the Eiffel Tower sparkles so beautifully. I love just sitting in front of the window, enjoying the view, with a book or magazine, and relaxing.

Our view from our room, at the Paris resort

We spend each day on different sides of the Strip. One day, we visited New York-New York...

The Excalibur

We always make it a point to see a show. My kids and I love the TV show "Criss Angel - Mind Freak", and he just came out with a live show in Vegas. Very entertaining!

We had dinner one night at "David Burke." The highlight of the meal was my dessert - a cheesecake lollipop tree with 3 types of cheesecake, and a bubble gum cream to go with it. Then, if that isn't enough sweetness to kill you, strawberry cotton candy comes at the end of every dinner.

Well, since I am talking about eating already, that is one of my favorite things about Vegas - all the great restaurants and sweet places. I ate fruit salad, yogurt and chocolate croissants for breakfast, lobster salads and crepes for lunch, sea bass and swordfish for dinner...with tons of sweets in between!

The chocolate fountain at the Bellagio

Me enjoying a gelato at 10:00 AM...a little early, but hey, it's Vegas!

My kids would love this!

For the first time, we went to Downtown Las Vegas, to Fremont Street. Imagine about 4 city blocks covered with a dome, and the dome lights up and plays music. You don't see that everyday! This is what it looks like before it is all lit up. It seems like you are inside, but you can tell you are still outside, on a city street.

And now it is all lit up!

Here is one of my favorite resorts, the Bellagio. I stayed there with Michael one year. They have a gorgeous stained glass ceiling in the lobby...

...and gardens to explore.

Here we are at the Venetian. When I am there, I pretend I am really in Venice. (some day!) We ate lunch here...pizza and pasta! When I came with Michael, we rode the gondola. (it is a bit too romantic for my mom and I to ride it!)

The Wynn is another resort we like to explore...

...along with the new Pallazo resort

We love to go to Cesar's Palace because it is HUGE! I like the Forum Shops, and how the "sky" changes from day to night.

We enjoyed our stay at Paris. For now, this is as close to France as I will get!


Inside Paris

Here are some last random shots...

This is the inside of Planet Hollywood. My mom isn't too crazy about the loud music they have! We stayed there once, and had breakfast in their 24 hour diner. The music was so loud my mom's scrambled eggs were moving!

This is my mom's favorite picture, I bet. She put in $5 in a slot machine, and out came $200!

Some day, when my kids are older, I hope to take them to Las Vegas - so that we can have fun together, like I do with my mom.

Til' next year!

*** Note: A special thank you to my husband for working from home while I was gone, and taking care of the kids, house and dog. I love you, honey!