Vegas, baby! Day 1.. Getting acclimated

While early morning flights are great, they can also suck big time because of how early you actually have to get up. Thursday saw us up at 6ish (which is really no different from usual.. but it was vacation.. I don't wanna wake up early on vacation) and off to the airport via metro by 7am. Anyone who has used the DC metro system should know that it tends to suck, especially when you are half-asleep and have luggage with you during rush hour. Which we were and did.

Anyhoo, seeing as our flight wasn't until 10:30am, we ended up having plenty of time to kill, most of which was spent walking up and down the moving walkways, eating breakfast, and me taking random pictures to "document our trip". Scot wasn't thrilled.

The last two were actually on the plane.. but you get the idea!

Our first flight was a veryveryvery small plane over to Cleveland, where we had about an hour layover - the perfect amount of time for some drinks and chicken wings, no?

Bloody Mary.. so good at 11:30am. Scot tried some and his look of pure disgust was priceless.

Our last leg of the flight west was 4.5 hours on a bigger and comfier plane, that actually got us into Vegas about 45 minutes early, which ended up being perfect timing since we could bum a ride off of M (future bro in law) & S (future sis in law) in the car they rented. We shoved six full grown adults and six suitcases in that car, and it was a bit hillbilly-esque, but hey, that made it all the more adventurous! Our first stop was to the local supermarket so we could stock up on munchies and pregaming alcohol for the next few days. For Scot, it was to start gambling.

Blackjack at the store. He lost. This trip already didn't bode well financially ;)

Once done, we finally headed to the hotel - The Signature at MGM Grand, which consists of three buildings a bit further back from the actual MGM hotel/casino, and is so freaking nice. All the rooms are suites, and we had one on the 29th floor with a balcony and fantastic view. It's about a block or two away from the actual 'strip', so the prices are a bit cheaper but quality doesn't suffer. Take a look!

Left: Our hotel.. we're the second tower ||| Right: Part of our fantastic view

Left: Comfiest bed EVER ||| Right: "living room", kitchen, balcony

Left: The bath tub that I totes would have slept in ||| Right: Peering over and fearing the balcony

Scot was having fun playing with things, including the robes that were provided... as well as my big floppy sunhat (essential with big sunglasses in case of morning hangovers) that he thought the hotel also provided.. as a head warmer or something? I don't know what he thought, but he ran around the room as such for a bit:

And this was BEFORE the drinking began.

So after some more chicken to tide us over and unpacking and a few drinks, we all headed over to M & S's room. I should mention that a couple of S's friends were also in attendance, as this whole trip was really in honor of her 40th birthday! So we all talked and drank and ate pizza and more chicken (I seriously thought I was going to start clucking by the end of the night).. and then headed down to the casino at MGM!

Scot and his brother E (who was also there.. family affair!) played blackjack for a while as I looked on, and I eventually started playing some of the penny and quarter slot machines.

This is the most unenthusiastic gambler picture ever.

At least I could get my free-drink buzz on while I gambled!

I did not do well. Granted I'm not a big gambler in the first place, but pushing buttons after a while gets annoying when you're not winning. And I was getting super tired and was feeling really lame, until I realized that it was 12am.. aka 3am in the time zone I'm used to.. and I called it a night. Scot followed and the rest of the crew (ranging in age from 33 - 47) all stayed out until 4:30am. Crazypants'. We got a phone call from E at 3am saying that they were at Denny's and we should come out and get breakfast, to which I promptly closed my eyes and started snoring again.

And thus was my first night in Vegas! I promise the rest were a bit more fun. The plus side of going to bed early is that we got up early, and were able to take advantage of brunch buffets with unlimited mimosas. Oh yes.

4 out of 5 glasses on that table consists of sparkling wine and OJ goodness.

But more on that tomorrow...

:)))