sooooooo there was this one time when we planned an amazing puerto rican family vacation, but then cancelled at the last minute, which made me actually weep, but then we all got super sick and were super grateful because we would have been miserable for the week in paradise, but then we had southwest credits to use and a whole lotta flexibility when it comes to time and work, and we have no idea for how much longer, so we decided to go to utah at the last minute when fares dropped below "horrifically expensive," but then realized, HEY GRANDPARENTS! so then we decided to ditch the kids and go to vegas the morning after we landed in salt lake and run to vegas, which ended up being the best decision we've EVER MADE. so yah. i'm going to talk about that now.
more on the running away portion later, but for now: vegas!!! a week prior we had no clue we'd be in vegas. we love vegas. i've miiiiiiissed vegas. poor mike was craving some alone time, and thankfully he was willing to let me tag along:) he's been the best stay-at-home dad the past year, but this break was much needed. i sincerely mean it when i say this was probably the most fun we've had just us two, ever.
also, the sprinkles cupcake atm happened. and it was life-changing. but more on that later, too.
i've talked about it before, but vegas can be the cheapest getaway!! if you take out the alcohol and the gambling, you're golden. we found rooms at the treasure island for... wait for it... $39/night! granted, we had to pay more with the resort fee, but can you believe that!? not to mention, we love t.i. and they have renovated since we visited. also, we had the BEST ROOM with the coolest view!
but first, camels in scipio.
legitimately: camels, gas, and fry sauce in one place.
we were leaving the gas station when we heard someone say the words "fry sauce," and literally we stopped dead in our tracks, turned around, and ordered onion rings with fry sauce because... well... it's fry sauce and that's in the top 5 reasons why utah is amazing.
we chatted and listened to jim gaffigan, ate snacks from my parents' pantry (i miss stealing food from my mom!), and mike gnawed on beef jerky from the gas station. basically, all that clean eating started to go out the window once we hit this place. long live vegas road trips!
our room! we had an end-cap room which means two windows, and two insanely awesome views of the strip. best room ever.
sunshine! palm trees! and the view that never changes after all our years coming to vegas!
our first night we held with tradition and went to town square mall for dinner at brio and some shopping. also, i made a new friend named courtney, and we chatted for like 20 minutes in h&m. that was fun. we also hit up the outlet mall, drove though some sketchy hoods, and wandered around on the strip. oh, and there was this boomerang.
we were so excited to SLEEP IN! our kids wake up at 5 everyday, so basically this was going to be 2 days of heaven! except we were still very much on eastern time... i fell asleep at 9pm and woke up at 4am...........
so i worked from our bed and we watched the sun rise. :)
next, we jay walked across las vegas blvd and ate breakfast at the grand lux cafe.
also, mike is not puking, just looking...
gambling is too much work, even for mike (why can't you just put in some coins!?! ugh. technology), so there wasn't any penny-slot-playing this time. it was pretty shocking. don't tell mike i told you, but my sweet husband said he'd rather use the money to feed homeless people- so that's what he did! a few times he'd sneak away and buy a meal or two for someone stealing/digging through the trash. that guy. *heart eyes* ;)
we also got carded on the casino floor once. "YOU WERE BORN IN '82 and '84!?" i'm flattered.
we got used to the fact that it was 50 degrees instead of 115, and whined just a tiny bit about how different vegas was without the pool.
oh, but it was so much quieter!
on the flip side: so many more homeless people!
and we got offered hard drugs three times!
(mike said it was because he was wearing a beanie:)
mid-morning we tried to power through our desire to nap, and just rested our feet instead.
cure! shopping and in-n-out!!!!!!
i blabbed about this on instagram, but i would like to announce that shake shack doesn't hold a candle to in-n-out. we ate our lunch for $8 (less than a single burger at shake shack), and it was 1,000 times yummier. also, order fries light because they're way better. and sauce on the side of your burger so you can dip your fries. you're welcome.
then we shared a frrrozen hot chocolate at serendipity, and went to see a crappy movie!
we tried to eat dinner at 6:00, which felt like 9:00 (and i never eat after 7:00 so i was a hot mess). it was a fail. seriously, grimaldi's has some of the best pizza EVER, but we couldn't get down more than 2 slices. i almost fell asleep on the table i was so tired! also, we forgot our leftovers in the hotel fridge which may have almost made me cry. time to go back to brooklyn and get the real stuff again:)
we woke up our last morning, watched the sun rise again, grabbed a hot chocolate, and walked down the quiet strip.
we also got interrogated by a hung-over hooker which was rather uncomfortable.
but then my life changed.
we turned down a little nook we never knew existed next to the linq- we stayed at the imperial palace long before it was the linq (it was NOT cool back then), so we never noticed this spot. naturally, we meandered.
and then i saw it:
i started yelling, jumping, and screaming. no one was around except the cleaning crew washing the sidewalks. and i went bananas.
how did i not know one was here!? we've been meaning to go in ny for ages, but have never made it there. i spent 20 minute playing and deciding on what to bring my parents, then i ordered our cupcakes, watched it grab the boxes, and the tiny sliding door opened to reveal our cute little cupcakes. pure elation, let me tell you. mike and i shared our (somewhat stale but delightful) cupcake at 8am.
i cried a little- i wasn't ready to leave! now that i write it all out it seems so fast! it was fast. we were only gone for 2 days, but my gosh it was awesome. cupcakes and grimaldis; hookers and drugs run-ins aside, it was amazing. mike and i were so happy the whole time. usually we visit vegas when it's hot, or we travel when i'm pregnant or sick, but this time was just perfect. all the stars aligned, and we were on cloud 9 for 2 straight days. it was so needed. it recharged and rebooted us. it was the best.
cheers, las vegas!! until next time.
