Monday, September 29, 2014

Vacation Recap: Laughlin and Las Vegas

My vacation is, sadly, over.

But it was amazing!

My boyfriend truly terrible ex-boyfriend got an offer from Harrah's Laughlin (southern Nevada - about an hour and a half south of Vegas) to fly out and stay, for free, for 5 days. It was for two people, and I think he sort of likes me cheated on me for a year, including while we on this trip, but I didn't know that at the time, so I went. 


Plane essentials.


With our boarding passes we got free drink vouchers!

(As Sookie Stackhouse says: "They're like booze for dolls! They gave me 10!")


The view from our room. This is the Colorado River - we were on the Nevada side, but we landed on the Arizona side. So now I've been to Arizona!


Harrah's Laughlin is really gorgeous. It's a little older, and certainly a little less flashy, than the new Vegas hotels, but the area is beautiful, it's very well-maintained, and everyone is really nice.

(My yelp review of Harrah's is finally up too!)


They even have a private beach!


So I didn't win any money gambling (well, I did, but I gave it all back - damn you slot machines!). Kyle did, but I still feel like I won because I found a Dolly Parton slot machine that played her music continuously. Bow before her!


Kyle isn't really a breakfast person, so while he played in a poker tournament (which he won!) I got some breakfast and read.


This is the breakfast special. It's hash browns, topped with bacon, topped with eggs, topped with sour cream, topped with green onions. It's everything I love.


They also have amazing pancakes at the cafe in Harrah's, so I got those too. 

Hey, it was vacation!


After breakfast I went down and laid on the beach with my book, a pretty frozen drink, and lots of sunscreen!




Kyle and I ate a lot. He is a dinner person. On Thursday, we decided to go a little crazy and eat all the food.


It's vacation!


On Friday, we rented a car and drove up to see his parents. (Yes, on our vacation I met his parents for the first time! Thankfully they're awesome!)



And a Statue of Liberty made out of chocolate. (In the Hershey's store in New York New York)


And a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge.


And the hotel/casino I knew we HAD to go to - The Paris!


We stopped to watch the water show at the Bellagio, which just happened to be set to one of my favorite songs, "All That Jazz" from "Chicago."


This was one of my favorite things on the Strip. I had a horrible headache (I'm sure the total lack of vegetables for 3 days didn't help...) but I really enjoyed this.












The Paris was definitely my favorite casino we went into. Like New York New York, it's set up to look like you're actually in that place. Very cool.


Back at NYNY we ate some pizza and lost some money on this ridiculous True Blood slot machine.


Leaving on Saturday we found the only street sign with my name on it I've ever seen.

(Which we did not steal. I'm proud of us.)


We also went to Freddy's, which is sort of like a Steak 'n Shake, on our way back to Laughlin. 


They definitely said we should have this. It's a funnel cake under frozen custard topped with powdered sugar and strawberry or chocolate. 

I don't even have words.


On our way back to Laughlin, we saw some gorgeous scenery.






(And a lot of bugs clearly.)

We actually missed our exit and drove across the border to California (another like 2 minutes) and turned around. So on this trip we actually went to 3 states!


Back in Laughlin, we decided to check out some of the other casinos. 


The Colorado Belle was pretty cool, and it had a little river walk that connected it to the next casino over, which was old and dingy and where we won the most money.


There's a "Tropicana Express."


And a genuinely terrible casino (I've never had people be so rude) with a very cool sign.


It's hard to see here, but outside Pioneer we saw a GIANT raccoon.

Later that night Kyle had his first In N Out experience.

We were too excited to take pictures.


Sunday morning I took the car back, and then we went for breakfast.


I had pancakes again, because I have a problem.


But I also got a side of bacon, because bacon is never a problem.

(Post edited to remove said ex, like three years later -oops)



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