The Grand Canyon and Las Vegas

Bradley and I went west last weekend. On Saturday, we flew out to Las Vegas and promptly rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon. We arrived right as the sun was going down, so we were unable to see much of the canyon that night, but the following morning, we got up early and watched the sun rise over the canyon. We spent the morning taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

We spent Sunday night through Wednesday morning in Vegas. The first night we went to a show at the Venetian hotel starring Wayne Brady (Who’s Line is it Anyway?). Bradley was so incredible to spend a whole day before we left getting us tickets into the show. We were on the fourth row and could almost reach out and touch those on the stage.  Bradley was there for the NAB conference, so we really only experienced Vegas at night. There is a fountain show in front of the Bellagio hotel every night and there are many different ones set to different music every 10-15 minutes. There is also a volcano show in front of the Mirage hotel and a pirate show in front of Treasure Island hotel, but we missed both of those because of time and strong winds. We also missed the lions at MGM and the tigers at the Mirage because they were not in their habitats when we went, but we did see the flamingos at our own hotel, The Flamingo! (imagine that)

Our hotel was not the nicest one on the strip, but it is right in the middle of everything and the rooms have recently been renovated and our room was amazing! The bed was soooo comfortable. (like sleeping on a cloud!) The room had a huge flat tv on the wall and also a tv inside the mirror in the bathroom! We also had an awesome glass shower. All of the hotels were so amazing. It is like stepping into huge incredibly decorated malls. Each hotel has tons of stores and restaurants.

The first night we ate in the Venetion at Valentino where we had the most delicious pasta. Monday night we ate at the Planet Hollywood in Caesar’s Palace hotel, not the best meal of the trip, but heck, its Planet Hollywood. (I’ve been to the one in NYC, Atl., and Washington D.C., so we have to continue the tradition) Our last night there we ate at Stacked inside the Mirage hotel. Bradley had a steak and I had lamb for the first time. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was so great.

We only spent $3.25 in the slot macines. I know Vegas is known for gambling, but I didn’t find it all that interesting. I guess because I don’t know anything about the games you can play there. But there was so much to see everywhere you looked, that gambling was just a blip on the radar. I am so glad that we were able to go out there even if we barely scratched the surface of things to do. Maybe someday we can go back and get in a few more of the things that we missed on this trip!

Washington, D.C.

Bradley and I had a great time in Washington DC for our 1 year anniversary. We visited the Holocaust museum, the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the Bureau of Engraving, the White House, and the Capital. We went to several monuments on two of the nights. For the most part we stayed on the mall, except for a visit to the zoo. The weather was perfect and our hotel was nice, so the trip overall was a success. For both of us, this was the first vacation we had ever planned where our itenerary was not given to us. We picked all the places and times for ourselves.

 

 

We also started a new tradition on this trip.  I have never known what to do with kitschy vacation souvenirs, so we have decided to bring home a Christmas ornament from each trip we take so that it serves a specific purpose and we can take a trip down memory lane every year as we put up our tree.

New (to us) Pub Table

When Bradley and I moved into our current apartment a year ago, we thought, ” we will only be here for a year, we can do without a dining table for a year.” This is because what is considered our “dining area” is actually just the small open space connecting the den, kitchen, and bathroom. Well, now that we have decided to stay another year, we are ready to actually be able to have folks over for dinner.  I have been scouring Craigslist everyday to find a good deal on a small table for the next year. After one disappointing try, we found a great bar height table in dark espresso-colored wood (matches our other furniture) and a stainless steel top, which is something we had never seen before but liked the clean modern look of it.

We were able to go and look at it last night, and we ended up bringing it home with us! It is small, but has four chairs, so we can have a couple of friends over!

Luckily, we made almost enough money at the yard sale we had on Saturday to cover the cost of the table. Overall, it has been a pretty successful weekend!

First furniture purchase as a married couple!

This weekend we decided to look for a couch. Bradley’s mom was so wonderful to give us one of her old loveseats to have something to sit on, but we have always wanted a little more sitting room so that we could have more friends over. We found a very cute caramel colored sofa at a furniture consignment shop here in Woodstock, that they said is only a year old. Its in great condition, so we went for it. It’s kind of exciting because everyone always remembers the first thing you bought as a married couple (ex: “remember that awful burnt orange chair we bought, we thought it was so beautiful back then, its still down in the basement. What an eyesore.”) Or something like that.

We had to do some tricky manuvering to get both the loveseat and couch in the living room, and again thanks to Kathy, we were able to store a barely used desk and two chairs in her basement, to make more room for our new layout. One of these days, our parents’ homes will stop being storage facilities and we can take all our stuff with us.