As some of you saw on Facebook, last week I took a trip to Las Vegas with my good friend Betsy. Betsy's husband, Mark and Nate went to seminary together. Now Betsy lives in Detroit with her family, so we don't get to see each other too often.
So why did I go to Vegas? Well, I have always been a huge Celine Dion fan. When I was 11 years old, my family went to Las Vegas and Celine Dion had just started a residency there. Sadly, we could not get tickets to see her then. Since that trip, I have always wanted to see her in Vegas. I had mentioned to Nate once that I would love to see her in Vegas. I figured that we could go some day when the kids were older. Well, Nate did some research and found out that Celine would be ending her time in Vegas this summer. So, for my Christmas gift this past year, he got together with his parents and my mom and they all chipped in for a quick trip to Vegas for me and a friend to see Celine. To say that I was excited on Christmas morning was an understatement. Nate took a video of me reading a note explaining the trip, this video will never see the light of day because I was fresh out of bed and I was so excited that I hit Zoe in the chest. If you ask her, she will reenact the scene for you. Needless to say, I was crazy excited.
When I opened my gift at Christmas!!
Betsy and I planned our flights to come into Vegas within 20 minutes of each other and then we were able to have the first of our flights back to the Midwest together. We had such an amazing time. We shopped. Betsy has two sons and two foster daughters all under age 7. We have zero time to shop without kids under foot. Outlet malls plus moms minus kids equals bliss. We ended up mostly buying stuff for the kids.
We were so excited to only have to feed ourselves on this trip and not several people. We went down to the hotel breakfast and were able to eat our food hot and fast. We had time to sleep in, read books and nap.
Of course, we were still in Vegas. We did plenty of people watching, walking on the strip and seeing the sights. We were able to walk to the Bellagio and see the famous fountains. The walking in Vegas was a lot for this pregnant lady so we ended up utilizing Uber quite a lot. Getting an Uber is an interesting adventure. The app is super easy to use. Let me tell you though, in Las Vegas, if you call and Uber you better be ready. There are several drivers and there is most likely a driver dropping someone off at your location so they will be ready in a minute. We met a lot of interesting Uber drivers. A couple of our favorites were a man from Detroit whose son works for Macklemore and Chance the Rapper and a high school teacher that is originally from Guam.
Bellagio
One of our favorite eating spots was the Peppermill. Apparently the Peppermill has been in Las Vegas for a very long time. It has HUGE portions, trees and other greenery growing in the dining room and neon everywhere. One of our waitresses was wearing an evening gown. It was a very interesting place. Everyone we talked to described it as "very much old Vegas". The food was fantastic and we were still stuffed in the morning.
Giant Portion
Betsy and I with all the indoor foliage at The Peppermill
The second night we of course saw Celine Dion and she was FABULOUS. I have seen a lot of concerts in the last year. She is one of the best. Because of the nature of her ballad type songs, I thought she would be a pretty serious performer. She was actually super goofy and quite entertaining. Along with her great ability to make everyone laugh, her voice was as clear as listening to a CD. Her song performance was beautiful. She has a fantastic orchestra, conductor and vocalists. She is going to be going on tour here soon. If she is coming to your town, you should go. She is phenomenal. If you would like a taste of her goofiness, look up Carpool Karaoke with James Corden and Celine Dion on YouTube. She was just as silly on stage.
So excited!
Here she comes!!!
She was fantastic.
The last day, we did a little more shopping, sat by the pool and headed back to the airport.
Selfie with the Bellagio ceiling glass art.
In the Bellagio Garden
Betsy with the weird moving birds
Butterfly
Sweet floral butterfly
Obligatory picture with a slot machine
Betsy pretending she won big
Everyone needs a picture with the Las Vegas sign
When we're together we have to take a Diet Coke pic.
That's all for now! God is good!