Las Vegas: Day One - - Peanut Butter was the "BANE of Our Trip"!

Hello All! Welcome to the recap our of Vegas trip. It's going to have to come in some "parts" because I just don't think I can contain all the memories to just ONE entry. So, I'm going to start from the beginning: THURSDAY MORNING.

With our bags packed and suitcases loaded in the car, we head out to the "big" Birmingham International Airport. After checking our bags at the door (and holding my breath that mine was under the 50 lb limit) we proceeded to security. **Side note: Dave and I had gone to the grocery store Wednesday night and bought some snacks. Stuff like crackers and peanut butter, pop-tarts and apples, just to have around the room and in our bag while traveling and for a little pick-me-up in the afternoons. We thought this was just going to be fabulous. Now fast forward back to security** So, at this point we are a little behind (because I didn't get ready quite fast enough). We get all the way through the line and start unloading our pockets, taking our shoes off and pushing it all down the belt. Just when we thought we had made it, the little lady from security goes, "Who's bag is this?" Dave said it was his with this questionable look on his face. As she starts digging through our carry-on full of snacks, she finds our 18oz jar of peanut butter and says, "Sir, I'm going to have to through this away." After a little fiasco we had had at the grocery store the night before over the peanut butter, she was NOT going to throw that jar away! In order to keep the nice lady from throwing our peanut butter away though, Dave had to go all the way BACK outside to put it in our luggage that we had already checked and then come BACK through security. Needless to say, we cut time a little close leaving Birmingham, but we had the peanut butter.
Once we got on the plane and through Atlanta, our trip had finally begun! Four hours later (with time change and all) we had landed in Las Vegas. Dave spotted Charles Barkley in a video store as soon as we got off the plane and insisted I take his picture with this "star" (if you would still call him that).

After taking the picture and talking about why he would never be governor of our state we began to get a little closer to baggage claim. At this point I started thinking about New York and how Dave had promised me that he would be at the airport to pick us up on Sunday with a sign in his hands with my name on it. (And even though I thought that would've been cool, the surprise I got was even better!) While having these thoughts though, this man just pops up with a sign that said, "Presidential Limousines: D. Ashley". What a surprise! I had just gotten off the phone with my mom telling her that we had landed and that I would be sure to call her and let her know that I had survived the cab ride to our hotel (because I have this awful fear of cabs - Watch The Bone Collector and you'll understand) ... BUT, I didn't have to take a cab because we had a limo waiting for us :)
Our limo driver was super nice and took us to the welcome sign to take our picture and then drove the scenic route to our hotel.

(At this point Dave began taking pictures out of the windows as if we weren't going to be walking for the next four days to get better shots of these places. But, it was cute!) As we got closer to our hotel, I realized just how pretty Caesar's Palace was. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL and it was right next to the Belagio (which has the fountain that I was determined to see at least ten times). So, we got our stuff, stood in line for our room for a good twenty minutes (or Dave did at least, I people-watched) and began the journey to find it. Now, dont let these places fool you, just because you've gotten inside the hotel, doesn't mean you dont have another ten minutes worth of walking before you even get to the elevator that takes you up five flights to your room - we were NOT prepared for that! The room was magnificant... The view - interesting. We arrived a little earlier than planned and due to this, got traded on the room we were supposed to have, which was fine, but I think Dave was a little bummed at first. But, we unpacked and put everything away so that we could go play without having that looming feeling over us.

Straight to the Forum Shops we heading and took our time gawking at everything.

We got cornered at one point by a lady wanting us to sign up for a 90 minute thing. She promised us $100.00 but Dave eventually walked away (little did he know where that money could've gotten us later!). After the shops came our walk through the statues and over to the fountain! I was super pumped about getting to see these infamous shows I couldn't contain myself. Below is one of the first shows we saw. I managed to get Dave to record one :)



After walking for a while longer, we went to try our hand at the Craps table (which proved well) and change for Dave's little surprise because we had to be downstairs at 7:00. Dave's surprise was a limo tour of Vegas at night. We got to go back to the sign to take some more pictures and then we set out on our quest. First was the fountain show - AGAIN! Then, a wedding chapel - just for PICTURES!

All in all, DAY ONE was fabulous! We did so much that we barely realized how tired we were until settling down in the back of the limo on our way back to the hotel. We quickly realized that tomorrow was rapidly approaching and sleep was definitely needed!