Viva Las Vegas!

I really do not know where to begin with Vegas. It was such a good trip and I am so happy I went. It was everything you would expect Las Vegas to be, It was loud, crowded, noisy, and busy. But it was wonderful. I have to say that the thing that stressed me out the most was the flight. But that is mainly because I had never flown before. As soon as the plane took off I was fine. In fact I loved it. Can't wait to book my next flight, just have to figure out where to!
Our flight was early way earlier then I am used to getting up. My body was seriously in shock. It was like "But where's the sun?!?" We left New Orleans at 6:30 am our time and the flight was roughly 3 & 1/2 hours long. Which put us in Vegas around 9:30 am or so New Orleans time, but Vegas is an hour behind so it was really 8:30 their time. And let me tell you something. Las Vegas may very well be the city that never sleeps, but they should also consider calling themselves the city that never EATS! For Real! We got to our hotel at around 9:30 or so Vegas time and there was nothing open. Not one restaurant. Well they did have one open in the food court but we had been up for so long that we wanted lunch and not the breakfast that they were serving. Apparently none of the normal places open until 11am in Vegas so we had to wait. Keep in mind we had at that point been awake for lets say about 6 hours and I had not eaten or had any coffee. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that we are lucky I didn't get really cranky. ha
It was worth that waiting though. Let me tell ya'll what. The Johnny Rocket's in the Las Vegas Flamingo Hotel is the absolute best burger joint I have been to.
I mean..... Just look at it... Look.... You know you're jealous..... It was so good.... Nomnomnomnom

Our hotel, The Flamingo Las Vegas, was awesome. They say, The Flamingo wasn't built on the Las Vegas Strip, the Strip was built around the Flamingo. Its one of the oldest hotels there and was originally owned by Mobster Buggsy Segal. Pretty cool huh? 

It was a beautiful place with very friendly staff. I do have to mention that I did see something pretty cool. One day while walking through the lobby to get back to our room. I saw hotel staff all standing around in a circle with I am guessing maybe the General Manager standing in the center. He was reading out-loud good comments and reviews that people had either posted on TripAdvisor or the hotels website or just online in general.After each one the group would cheer and clap.  That was awesome to acknowledge their staff that way is pretty cool. I loved that. Made me glad I was staying there knowing they treat their staff with such respect and gratitude That was cool and I liked it. In the service industry all the employees get sometimes is just the negative. It is awesome that they show them the positive to and do it publicly. Because they rock. 

Everyone we met while there was always smiling, helping with directions, or show times. And the housekeeping ladies were funny and friendly. 

The main reason we stayed there was because the show that we went to Vegas to see for my friends birthday was there at the Flamingo. The Donnie and Marie Show. It was an amazing show! I cannot say enough about it. They were just awesome. Such talented people and funny. It was so good we saw it twice. We were able to meet them after one  show and they are just as nice as they are talented. They talked and took pictures and signed autographs. 

If you are in Vegas and get the opportunity to see Donny and Marie, just do it! You will love them. So entertaining, there's a reason they have been voted the best show in Vegas for the last 3 years. They did old stuff, new stuff, covers of stuff, they did Broadway stuff you name it they did it. It was so awesome. 

And look I caught Marie Guitar pics! :) 

But what I wanted was her shoes. Omg that lady wears some amazing shoes during their show.. All sparkely and shinny and heels oh my! (I mean come on, we all know my favorite color is sparkle!) 

While we were there we did manage to cram allot of stuff into just the few days we were going to be there.. all in all we saw 4 shows:
Donny & Marie x 2
Legends  (Also at the Flamingo)- When in Vegas you have to see a impersonator show it's like law or something right? Who goes to Vegas and doesn't see Elvis, I mean come on, really..
Veronic Voices - This was another really good show. She does impersonations of female singers voices. One woman 50 Voices. She went from Whitney Huston to Britney Spears to Joan Jett and Adel in the matter of minuets.

We also went to the MGM Grand and did the CIS Experience. and went just down the block to M&M World.

Went to the Mob Museum. Learned about the history of Vegas and the Mob. Pretty interesting stuff. To get there we took a buss form the hotel, it was sort of a hop on hop off shuttle bus that went all over Vegas. Got some pretty good pictures form the bus. I will have to make a separate post of pictures since there are so many.


It was such a fun trip and I will definitely be going back.

And in keeping with my musical tradition I have two videos for ya today.... How about first some old school Donny and Marie....

And last but not at all least, the King himself.........Because.......... Viva Las Vegas!!

Up, Up, and Away!

I love traveling, always have. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of big family vacations, caravaning  across the US. With 20 or so  family members and a line of cars. From Tennessee to San Antonio, Arkansas to Florida and well basically everywhere in-between. I can remember pulling up at Graceland and being so excited to sit in the Pink Jeep from Blue Hawaii with my Godmother and take a picture. Screaming when the Zebra at the Wildlife Ranch tried to stick its head in the car window, (While my parents laughed and took pictures by the way). And well so many other memories that in themselves should be their own Blog posts, so more on that to come. 

While I have always been fascinated with traveling, it has always been the same for me. Only Road-trips or Cruises. Yes that's it. No flying for me. Never have, and always said that I likely would never fly, unless it was to a place that I REALLY wanted to go and only if a road trip was not possible.

About a week ago I finally caved. Yes people. I flew. Got on a plane and went to Las Vegas. It was awesome! The flight itself was not near as bad as I expected. While I admit the whole packing for flying thing really threw me for a loop. Good Lord! Only certain things allowed in your carry-ons, checked bags limited in weight, What to bring, what to leave home. I am a notorious over packer so it was difficult for me. 

We had an early morning flight out of New Orleans direct to Las Vegas. It was definitely different for me. Going through security wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Actually went pretty quickly, and I'm glad to know my tweezers and toothbrush aren't a matter of national security. 

I will admit that for a few days leading up to the trip I was very nervous about flying. But as soon as I took my seat I was fine. I sat by the window and spent just about the entire flight taking pictures and looking at the changing landscape. Did you know they fly over the Grand Canyon going into and out of Vegas. It was beautiful! 

Not a bad pic for being taken with my crappy old iPhone 4 eh?

 On the way home.... The Grand Canyon just before sunset.

Dallas, at night, from the air..... Soooooooo pretty! (Well honestly I have never seen anything from the air at night so I'm sure more seasoned flyers are laughing at that but so what! I still thinks it's pretty... lol)

All - in - all I would say it was a success! 

So, where are we flying to next??????

Time for a trip

Look who I found hanging out in my backpack. I guess it's time for another trip. Hope he does not leave without me!  

Al da Gator is ready to go! 

Wildlife Ranch, San Antonio Texas

San Antonio was so much fun. Such a beautiful city with so much to see and do. One of the things I knew I had to see while I was there was to visit the Wildlife Ranch. It is a Wildlife preserve that is home to a gaggle of animals. From Giraffes to Lamas, and even Texas Longhorns.
As a little girl on a trip with my family my parents brought me there. It was one of the most traumatic experiences I had as a child. (Well except for that time I got lost in that Hotel in Arkansas for 4 hours, but that's a whole other story) You see, all of the animals roam around freely. You drive through the preserve in your car, with the windows rolled down and when you purchase your admission they give you bags of feed. So the animals come right up to your car and eat sometimes right out of your hand. On my first trip there. I was traumatized by a Zebra. FYI Zebras are jerks. They bite, they are rude and they stick there entire heads through your window and steal the feed bag right out of your hand... And as a 4 year old child It scared me for life!
But any-who! I decided to give the place another try.. and I am glad I did.
Once we arrived and got our tickets (and bags of feed) we drove in. It is a one way road through the entire place, about 4 miles long and has many different areas, some of the animals are separated I am assuming because they cannot all play together nicely.
As we were driving in we spotted our first animal. A Buffalo who knew how this shindig works, lets just call him Gus. Well Gus stood at the front of the line of cars and slowly mozzied his way to each car getting his fill of feed from each.

"Excuse me ladies, do you have any Grey Pu Pon?"

 

After giving Gus there his fill of feed we drove on. Our next encounter was with a Texas Longhorn who had taken up residence right smack dab in the middle of the road blocking us and not allowing cars to pass. As when you did he would swing his big ol` horns every so slowly, and preventing you from passing. He was also Mean Mugging everyone... We actually had to call the emergency pone number provided by the parks service because we sat there for 15 mins not able to pass cause he was being a Bully (see what I did there? lol) How about we call him Brutus the Bull.. Yea he looked like a Brutus to us. What do you think?

 "You shall not pass!"

 

After that is was pretty much smooth sailing Lots of different animals. Some eating right out of our hands. Some that wouldn't come near the cars, some that would stick thier whole heads inside the car to say hello.

 "Helloooooo"

 Bambi!

 No clue what this was but it stunk to high heaven.

 Can you see the deer?

 "Heyyyyy Whasup???"

"You Talking to me????"

And last but not least the Zebras... Jerks.... 

 TOLD YA!!!

Sorry Dude... No Feed For YOU!! Move Along Little Doggie!

We did have fun... Infact I don't think I have laughed that much in a good long while.

Swiming With The Fishies

San Antonio has so much to see and do. One of the things we decided on was going to SeaWorld.

I have never been one for theme parks and such. Mostly because it's to hot, lines are to long, and well, all those PEOPLE. But alas I have to admit that SeaWorld blew me away. It was awesome. We got an early start on the day and got to the park around 9am or so. The shows didn't start till about 10:30 am so we had some time to walk around and check things out. We decided to focus our time maily on the shows and not worry about the rides. We opted to spend the extra 20 bucks or so and get the prefered seating for the shows aswell. That meant, no lines and better seats. It was way worth it.

My favorite show was Azul, It was like cirque du soleil meets synchronized swimming, meets flipper. It was beautiful. They swam in synchronization, they swam with the dolphins and beluga whales, they swung from trapeze, it was pretty awesome. Definitely something I would want to see again.

The Sea Lion show was very good too. Not to mention VERY FUNNY! Those darn Sea Lions are to cute.
Of course we saw the Whales and all the other fishes. And the Ski Show was pretty Rad to.
When I sat down to watch the Whale show I could not stop singing the song from Free Willy....
So here you go...

San Anotonio

Here I am, one week back from my San Antonio trip and finally able to blog. Ya'll It was awesome. But the heat Oh Lawd the Heat! Guess I should have known that San Antonio in late June was going to be hotter then the surface of the sun. And all the going from the heat to the cold AC and back and forth of course made me sick. I lucked out and didn't get sick while there but I ended up with a sinus infection & tonsillitis on the way home that has now lasted a week. Don't be jealous, I always bring home the best souvenirs.. lol..  But seriously, other then the heat and the getting sick it was a great trip.
I have decided to break the trip up into a few different posts.
So lets get the low down on food first... `cause Oh Man did we find some great places while we were  there.

1. Maria Mia Mexican Bistro this was hands down the best Mexican Food I have ever had.. I do not have a picture of it to show you because it didn't even last long enough to take a picture of. I had Flautas and fajitas... It was amazing. It is located in the RiverWalk and you can sit outside on the terrace by the river or you can sit inside. We opted not to sit outside because it was hotter then Hades outside but we sat next to a large window and we could see the river and the boats passing. It was very nice. The staff was wonderful!
2. Texas Pride BBQ   BBQ at its finest ya'll. Seriously! I think its some of the best I've ever had. You chose what you want and they slice it right in front of you. We were a little perplexed as to what to get so the guy slicing (Seth was his name, I told him I'd give him a shout out for being so awesome) suggested we get a sampling of a few different things. We had Brisket (I would have been happy with just that, it was the best brisket ever) Sausage, ribs, and Turkey (yes you read that right TURKEY) Smoked Turkey is DaBomb! When you visit San Antonio make sure you visit Texas Pride BBQ you will not be disappointed. The only draw back for me was their Gift Shop wasn't open & ya'll know I love me a gift shop. Guess Ill just have to make another trip! 

Texas Pride BBQ 

 Now that's some awesome BBQ... Get the Turkey and Brisket, you can thank me later! 

And because who can go to San Antonio and not listen to some good old Country music!

 Ms. Patsy Cline, AKA the Queen of Country Music

Trip Planning... I can't Wait!

I spent most of the night doing research for a trip to San Antonio in late June... We will be going to The Alamo, visiting Sea World, and taking in a Broadway Across America show of Sister Act at the Majestic Theater... I'm so excited I can barely stand it. 

But do you want to know what I have realized.... San Antonio was wayyyyy to much good food.. We will be eating our way through San Antonio by the looks of the list I have just emailed to my copilot lol..... 

Note to self... Pack bigger pants and antacids.. Hahaha

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to the friend I will be traveling with... Its our list of Restaurants we should try to visit.. Keep in mind we will be there 3 full days...

Lawd help us...
(Please excuse my bad grammar and spelling... this was after all a quick email to one of my best friends... :)

Found Restaurant #1 and DUDE it looks freaking awesome! Our always go to… Mexican Food… lol… Got to get our Mexican in…(Open 24 hours a day… 

so we can totally go here when we get in wed if we be hungry… lol)

http://www.mitierracafe.com/menus_specials.html

This place looks pretty flippin good also!

http://www.chrismadrids.com/

this place to… BBQ!

http://www.viewmenu.com/bun-n-barrel/menu?ref=google

San Antonio has way to much good food…

http://www.luluscafeinsa.com/index.html

(FYI I would like to atleast stop here and get my dad a cinnamon roll…. 

Seriously, they have.. 3lb cinnamon rolls… 

my dad loves him some cinnamon rolls…. Lmao)

Maybe we can just eat our way through San Antonio

http://www.tiptopcafe.com/reus.html

Oh man… this place…. Watch the video…. Dude….. we need to go here…. BBQ… Forget the other place… lmao.. Guy Feiri went here with Diner Drive Ins and Dives… NEED I SAY MORE???!!!!

Its 20 miles out of San Antonio but, worth it apparently so, Don't even argue... Resistance is Futile..  lol

http://www.texaspridebbq.net/san_antonio_bbq.php

Watch out San Antonio.... We will be there in about 2 months...                                                                   

Happy Birthday Baby.....

Omg, with all the craziness going on in the last couple of weeks I cannot believe I missed my Baby's birthday! Yep this little Baby Blog of mine turned one year old last Friday April 4th 2014! 

What a wild, fun, and adventurous year it has been!

We have some trips planned for the near future. 

Florida

Biloxi, MS

San Antonio, TX

Soooooo many updates coming soon! 

Until then..... "Happy Birthday to Me!"

Pinspiration Wed.

Don't just be a tourist, be a traveler, because there is a difference.

Take time to enjoy what you are seeing. Appreciate the history of a place you have never been. 

Pay attention, be kind, ask questions, and put down the map and get lost. 

See my other Travel Pins HERE!

Words of Wisdom

Words of wisdom from the awesome Mr. Anthony Bourdain. If you haven't seen his show No Reservations on the Travel Channel you need to watch it asap... Awesome show...

Happy Trails, fellow Globe-Treckers! :)

Road Trip Wishin`

I am in desperate need of a road trip. Who's with me?!?!?!?!

Got this from Pinterest... Don't know where I wanna go first. I do Like that New Orleans is first on this list, as it should be first on everyone's list. Because New Orleans is, well, Freaking Awesome! 
I have always wanted to see Mount Rushmore & the Grand Canyon. And New York, always wanted to go there. 

And well because New York......