Wrapping it Up

Tuesday was our last day on vacation, so we slept late. We checked out of the hotel and were off to the Excalibur and Luxor for some sight seeing. At the Excalibur they had a Krispy Kreme donut shop so we stopped for breakfast. After stuffing ourselves full we went over to the Luxor to fulfill all of Greg's wildest dreams and some of his kodak moments. We took a "ride" on the Search for the Obelisk ride. It's one of those motion rides where you sit in a chair and watch the screen and they take you on a journey through the depths of ancient Egypt and wasn't really worth the $10 it took for us to get in. Oh well. After that we took the Tram back to the Excalibur and walked across the sky walk to New York New York for a ride on the famous roller coaster. We ended up being first in line for the ride and Greg and Kayla ended up in the front seat. It was a minute before they got over their fear and thanked me for making them go on it. It was great!! After the roller coaster we got pretzels at New York Pretzel and I got a picture of the Coyote Ugly Bar. We then went to Caesars Palace to eat lunch at Planet Hollywood, where our power passes got us $40 off our meal. We then walked around admiring all the stuff they have on the walls in the restaurant. I got a picture on my phone of Marlon Brando's suit from Guys and Dolls. No one else really understood why I thought that was cool, but I had just watched the movie. At that point we decided we'd better start heading home. Our only regret was that we didn't make it to Sky Mania, an indoor trampoline arena. We finally got home at 2:30 in the morning and the Vegas Vacation was over. I just wanna send out a thanks to my friends Jessica, Kayla, and Greg for coming and helping me celebrate my "21st" birthday in style!!

After the Wax Museum

After we left the wax museum we decided to walk to the M & M store. Someone should have reminded me how far that really is. We started out walking south on Las Vegas Blvd. averting our eyes from the guys handing out the stripper cards and decided to stop and do the Eiffel Tower experience. We went into the Paris Hotel and bought our tickets (with the power pass of course.) Here's a few shots from the top. We stayed on top long enough to see one fountain show at the Bellagio across the street and then continued our journey down the street. Oh one shot from the bottom. We finally made it to the M & M store where we browsed quickly and I bought a few things. When we left Yellow was outside taking pictures with people. We decided then that we didn't want to walk back to the car so we decided to catch the monorail at MGM Grand. We went into the lobby and stopped to check out the lion exhibit. There were two guys inside with the lions throwing meat at the windows, so we got up close and personal with a lion and his wife. (Remember it's through glass so the flash was a little crazy on these pictures.)We rode the monorail back to the car and then went back to the Stratosphere. After a quick McDonalds dinner we decided to head up to the top of the Stratosphere tower. Here's a couple shots from there.
I forgot to tell you that on our way to the wax museum we found a shop that had hoodies for $10. They only took cash and travelers cheques so I'm sure they were stolen, but we didn't care. I thought it was kind of funny that we unknowingly all wore them for the trip up to the tower. We're just advertising for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Monday ended at that point and we slipped into a restful slumber that belongs to those who walk miles and miles down the strip.

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

Anyone who knows me well knows that if I say Madame Tussauds wax museum was my favorite thing in Vegas, after saying that the Bellagio fountains and the dolphin habitat were my favorite, it's just par for the course. I mean you're talking to the girl who listens to the radio and shouts, "this is my favorite song" about every single song. Therefore it goes that I can have at least three favorites in Vegas. So for those of you who thought I should post pictures on my blog the entire time, this should make up for the drought in my first few posts. So here goes, a picture says a thousand words so I'll just say a few. This is the crew at MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX MUSEUM.

I thought it only appropriate that we start with Greg's incredibly awkward experience with Britney Spears. (He didn't even know who it was until after we made him touch her boob.)
Here's Jessica, Greg, and Kayla hanging out on the set with the lovely Cameron Diaz.
Next is the three of us with Hollywood's Hottest. It's a little hard to see that beautiful face in the shadows but it's none other than Matthew McConaughey.
Now, my favorite of all times actress is Julia Roberts (especially after she played me in My Best Friends Wedding) so I had to get a picture with her. Nobody else even recognized her. :(

Practically the whole reason we were even interested in the wax museum was because Greg had heard that his gay boyfriend Johnny Depp was preserved in wax there. Greg was almost afraid to go up to him. What would happen if he saw the real deal?

One of the great things about Madame Tussauds is that every girls (and some guys) dream can come true. What is better than the dream wedding? Well, with George Clooney as the groom, I think all of our wildest dreams were realized.


Jessica Marie Clooney

Gregory Elmer Clooney

Kayla Mindy ClooneyJulianne Clooney



This one's for Crystal!



What would a trip to Vegas be without a cameo with the King?

Ol' Brown Eyes

( I watched Guys and Dolls right before we left. I was pretty excited to see Frank Sinatra "in person")

So I know it's not in your history book, but Kayla really was the first woman on the moon.

28 years ago she was my idol. I was Princess Di for Halloween for at least 2 years, maybe 3.

I think that Madame Tussauds should have been the National Treasure Nicholas Cage was looking for the whole time.
(Okay that was cheesy.)

Hope you enjoyed my photo tour of Madame Tussauds. Now get to Vegas and see it yourself!!

Birthday in Vegas

Monday was my birthday and we decided to spend it doing as much as we could. We went to IHOP for breakfast where the group attempted to get the waiter to sing to me and he said he didn't sing. I thanked him, and he asked how I was enjoying my 21st birthday in Vegas. I thanked him again. What a good guy. We left a big tip. We went then to Planet Hollywood to pick up our Power Passes. Now for anyone looking to visit Las Vegas I highly recommend going to expedia.com and purchasing a power pass. It is a card that you pay for once and then it gets you into some of the attractions around Vegas. Now for those of you who are still a little leery, let me just say that it takes about 5 attractions to make it worth the money and you'll love every one of them. After we picked up our power passes, we sat down and mapped out the plan for the day. We decided to start at Circus Circus at the amusement park and off we went. Aside from the fact that certain rides make me sick, literally, it was pretty fun. We went on the roller coaster about 3 times, the bumper cars, and several other rides. After a quick hotel break, we went on to Seigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage. This was one of my favorite things that we did. You start in the dolphin habitat and they had a brand new dolphin that was only one month old. At random times throughout the day trainers come out to play with and feed the dolphins. Jessica didn't seem to enjoy it like Kayla and I did.
After getting our fill of the dolphins, (well actually I could have stayed a lot longer) we went into The Secret Garden. This is where the white lions and tigers and some other animals are kept.

The white tigers were about 5 months old and two of them were wrestling the whole time I was watching. When you very first enter they have this statue of a lion and we thought it would be funny to act like it was biting me while Jessica looked on in scared amusement.

Next it was on to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in The Venetian and I am going to blog that separately so you can read about it later.

My favorite part of Vegas

Alright, it's time to be honest. There is one place in the world that is my favorite place. 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. The Bellagio Hotel. I've never stayed in the Bellagio but between the conservatory inside and the fountains outside, I could literally spend days just at the Bellagio. Now based upon the fact that I had several people with me, and the fact that there is a lot to squeeze into two days in Las Vegas, I only spent a little more than an hour here at my favorite place. Sunday night after the temple, we decided we needed something else to do so we

drove to my favorite place. We walked around the conservatory which was whimsically decorated for fall with trees with faces, wood nymphs, and a tunnel of beautiful fall colors with water going over our heads in little arcs. then proceeded outside to get our fill of the fountains. We watched four shows (they happen every 15 minutes after 8) and I would have stayed on for four more but I had sapped the patience out of everyone else. Although they enjoyed the fountains they don't share my passion and we were all hungry, so we left to find food. I feel homesick. I want to go back. I think someone should put some Bellagio fountains a little closer to my house. I stand in awe everytime and just wish that everyone could see this amazing sight.

Arriving In Vegas

After the excitement of discovering 3 states in an hour, we continued on down I-15 until we reached a point in the road where you can see Vegas off in the distance. Kayla and Greg had the best reaction.

We continued on down the road and Kayla and Jessica tried to take pictures but it was pretty smoggy over the strip so we didn't get any good ones. We hit Vegas traffic coming into town. They are doing construction on I-15 and I'm pretty sure they will never be done. It seems like they were doing the same construction when I was there 6 years ago. I decided to drive to the South end of Las Vegas Blvd. and then get off the freeway so they could see it all. We got off by New York New York and it was so fun to see the reactions of people who had never seen it before. One of the first things we saw was a billboard with a half naked woman. Greg was sure to point this out to us and I warned him that it wouldn't be the last one he saw, but he should keep his eyes elsewhere. We continued north on Las Vegas Blvd. amidst the awe of my friends until we reached our destination: The Stratosphere.

We checked in and found our room on the fifteenth floor and then decided that since it was Sunday we should go see the temple.

We spent about a half hour on the temple grounds taking pictures and enjoying each others company.

St. George continued

So time for the next installment of our trip to Vegas. Saturday night we went to my mom's cousin Julie's house to stay. Julie and her husband Del had returned from a cruise on the Mexican Riviera about an hour before we invaded their house. I'm so grateful to them for opening their house to us, because the weekend of the Marathon you have to book hotels in St.George about a year in advance. We arrived at their house and talked for a few minutes but by then we were pretty tired after staying up all night so we turned in pretty early. Sunday morning we woke up late and watched conference and Julie made us breakfast. We all got ready for the day and then Julie took us on a drive around the community on their golf cart. We saw the community center and now I understand why people retire to St. George. It was great. About 1:00 we left their house and continued on our journey to Las Vegas. Kayla was pretty excited about this part of the trip because she'd never been to Arizona before and so she insisted we stop and get a picture in front of the Welcome to Arizona sign and then later the Welcome to Nevada sign.