Day 2: highs & lows

When we woke up in Las Vegas on Day 2, I immediately got out of bed and opened the blinds from our 21st floor window of the hotel. I saw overcast skies, gloomy weather, and parking lots below. The day didn't look quite as optimistic as I felt it would be when I first woke up! We showered, and got ready for the day's plans despite the depressing weather that was hovering outside.

 

Our first item on the day's agenda was for Josh to golf 18 holes at the Aliante Golf Club which is approx. 15 miles northeast of the strip. We drove down the strip, looking at all the resorts in the day light, before driving back onto the freeway towards the golf club. We had a tee time at 10:00, but we got there way early (Las Vegas time is an hour off ours, and we woke up earlier than we thought we would). Because it was raining when we arrived, there were a few cancellations, and we got in on the 9:00 tee time with two other fellows instead. It worked out really well for us! As Josh was golfing in the dreary weather, I just sat and enjoyed the ride in our cart rental.

 

 

I was delighted to see blossoms on some of the trees, since I wouldn't be seeing any in Salmon for 2 more months.

 

It was the craziest weather--not at all ideal for golfing in, and definitely not what I'd imagined for Las Vegas! But I was so proud of Josh for enduring all 18 holes in blowing wind, downpours of rain, and bouts of snowfall. Thankfully we got lucky and had sunshine for 2 of the holes right in the middle of it all.

 

 

Since the sun didn't seem to be promising an appearance when we arrived at the golf course, Josh didn't bring his sunglasses golfing with him. For those two holes when the sun peeked through and the terrible weather stopped, he was wishing that he had! It's rare for me to see Josh without sunglasses during bright times--the man has different sunglasses stored in each car and multiple in our home; he has quite the collection of them! So I had to capture the rare image of him squinting...

I wished the weather had looked like this all day...

 

Just when we didn't think we could endure the weather anymore, we were on the 18th hole. I can't believe Josh finished it, but he did. Even the guys who golfed with us dropped out before the end, as well as several others on the course at the time.  We took the clubs back to our car, and were soaking wet. We drove back into town, and went to Hash House a Go Go for lunch. I'd done a lot of restaurant research before we began the trip. I did NOT want to spend $50 on a single steak meal, like so many of the resorts on the strip offer, and I was not interested in buffet food, either. I wanted to eat at places that came highly recommended that served good food without a huge price. This particular restaurant was at the top of the list, and it did not disappoint!

My friend Heather lives in Henderson, and I hadn't seen her in over 10 years, so I asked her if she'd like to join us, and she accepted the invitation. She brought along her two cute daughters that I'd never met, and we had an awesome lunch together!

I almost ordered their famous Chicken & Waffles, but instead I ordered a Biscuits & Gravy Benedict. It was different, but very filling and so good. See her youngest daughter eyeing my food? She was sooo cute!

Josh ordered the sage-fried chicken benedict. It was huge! He couldn't even eat it all!

 

I was glad that I'd done my research ahead of time, because lunch was fantastic! And it was worth waiting for...by the time we were done golfing, it was after 2:00 before we arrived at the restaurant to eat. After we consumed all that we could, we said goodbye to my friend Heather and her adorable daughters, and we drove back to our hotel. We changed out of our wet clothes, and headed towards the Stratosphere. It was the only thing on the Strip that was within walking distance to our hotel, and I wanted to go to the top of it so bad! Josh obliged, and we began the trek. On the way, I spotted these beautiful pansies. The color combination is the exact same colors I had for my wedding colors 15 years ago, and since this was our anniversary trip, I thought they were very fitting, so I captured a photo:

 

Josh doesn't like heights, but he let me talk him into coming to the top of the tower with me. AND, when I paid for the tickets to go up to the top, I also purchased tickets for the Big Shot ride...for BOTH of us! We got into the elevator and went up 109 stories. The panoramic views were amazing. Since the weather was yucky, I was slightly disappointed, but the valley is pretty flat, so we could see for miles and miles in all directions as we looked out the viewing windows.

We found our hotel through one of the windows, too. Here's most of the giant Circus, Circus that we could see (it's not as tall as some of the other buildings on the Strip, but it seriously is huge in acreage):

 

After walking around, we went up another floor to the very top of the Stratosphere, and went outside to ride the Big Shot. On the platform next to the ride, we noticed this sign, and had to document the moment!

 

 

At 921 feet above the Strip, Big Shot is the world's highest thrill ride. It shoots you straight up the needle on top of the Stratosphere 160 feet in the air at 45 miles an hour. Then it drops you back down, at a slightly slower rate, and you float up out of your chair so that you feel like you're free-falling back to earth. Because Josh and I were the only riders, we had to sit on opposite sides of the ride to equally balance it.

I was sad that I couldn't sit next to him. Josh was NOT impressed with it at all. In fact, he hated it. I, on the other hand, felt like it was very exhilerating and thrilling! I screamed the whole way up, and laughed hysterically the entire time we dropped. I loved it, and could've done it again! This was a photo the machine took of me. Hilarious!

 

When we were leaving, it was just getting dark, and I could see the strip all illuminated. It was just lovely! I was sooo glad that we went there, although Josh says he'll never do it again!

On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at a souvenir shop along the street to get some items for the boys. And as we walked through the huge hotel to get to the elevators that took us to our room floor, we saw a circus act perform. We took a break from walking, and rested our feet for a while on the hotel bed before heading back out in the car to go the Luxor, where we had tickets to a comedy show that night. We parked and walked a little ways to get to the pyramid-shaped building, and we passed by the beautiful Excalibur on our jaunt.

The show was good, and we got back to our hotel room late that night and just crashed. It had been a very fulfilling day for me, but had been a long one for Josh with the low temperatures that he golfed in and the height fears that he experienced!