viva las vegas

phase two of our trip was vegas.  john and I drove the four hours through the desert heat to the fabulous las vegas.  we took a wee stop to visit my friend tim along the way.  by saturday afternoon, and a near disaster on the freeway, we had parked the car and had a drink in hand.  and then I took a nap.  holy exhaustion!!  I'm not giving you the play-by-play, but we did some cool stuff on this trip, so I'll give you the low-down on the coolness!

{no idea where this picture was taken.  that said, I wore this hat on our museum day, and it's proof that john was with me!  we met up with some friends in vegas and on our first day together we went outlet shopping.  some SERIOUS deals, as in I got a $150 dress for $20.  yep.  that good.  then the next day we hit up some museums.  I've said this before, and I'll say it again, the mob museum is worth your time. plus, I did some research prior to going and read the book casino.  LOVE.  I'm a bit obsessed, I know.}

{after the mob museum, we went to fremont street and got our two for one steak meals.  yep.  gotta love downtown vegas.}

{then we went to the neon museum.  at dusk.  the smoke from the fire outside the city created an interesting haze in the sky.  our tour guide was amazing and we learned so much about the history of vegas from her.  and it was HOT.  I took a ton of pictures.  I LOVE urban history.  it was amazing!}

{so the lido sign is from the stardust, where the show ran for 32 years.  started in 1958 and it had some juicy mob connections.  love this stuff!}

{lots of great, old signs.}

{then we went to new york new york to have some drinks at my all time fave vegas bar - nine fine irishmen and ride the roller coaster, 'cause why not?}

{I love staying at the flamingo.}

{wow.  I look tired.  ha!  john took me to mesa grill for my birthday.  I think I love bobby flay.  best meal ever.  seriously.  caramel chocolate pudding for desert.  yummmmm.}

{this sums up our stay in vegas - reading books like casino and wise guy and drinking coffee!  okay, well that sums up the flight delay out of mccarran. grrr.  they gave us food vouchers, but six hours in the airport was a bit icky.}

{leaving.  I love her, but we need to break up for a while.  gonna watch a bunch of gangster movies.  that'll make me feel better, right?}