...tuesday in vegas...

We had a FULL day on Tuesday! We slept in after our late night/early morning. We got a shuttle to take us to the Fashion Show Mall. We wandered through the mall, doing a little window shopping along the way!

It was H-O-T-T HOT! outside, so when we reached the strip again and found a Mexican cantina grill - El Segundo Sol - it was a perfect lunch spot.

We had delicious guacamole and fish tacos - and Melissa and I were thrilled when our favorite drink from Mexico was on the menu!! It's never on any menus at Mexican restaurants!

After lunch, we continued walking down the strip - through the Palazzo and the Venetian.

From the walkway between the Palazzo and the Venetian: a view of The Mirage and Treasure Island.

The gondolas at the Venetian.

At the Venetian, we stopped to play some slots....left Grandma for 15 minutes and when we came back, she'd won big!! So exciting!!

From there, we took a cab down to Fremont Street. I was excited to see what that was all about since we hadn't done that the time I was in Vegas before. We went to the Golden Nugget to check it out - that's where Melissa and her friends are staying over the weekend. They've fixed up the G.N. a lot and added a new tower and pool. The pool has a slide that goes through a shark tank! Crazy!

We hung out on Fremont for quite a while - did some gambling, of course. The machines are supposed to be "looser" down there, but I didn't notice.

Mom played some slots and had some luck - when she went to cash out, it came out in nickels!

(oh yeah - and we found Starbucks. *love* It was much needed by that point in the day!)

We found Elvis!

I was excited to see this cowboy - a very classic Vegas landmark!

We got to watch the light show - it was "American Pie" so it was fun to see all the history they used to accompany the song and make it come to life!

After the light show, we were HUNGRY! so we went to a sushi restaurant we'd seen inside the Golden Nugget. Grandma treated us to dinner with her big winnings from earlier in the day!

Our seats were perfect for people watching. It could be a sport in Vegas. You see the craziest things!

We took a cab from Fremont Street to the Rio after dinner. When Mom had been in Vegas with Dad, they went to the Rio for their Masquerade in the Sky and she really wanted to see it again. We got there only to find out that they were on vacation this week! Darn! So we walked around, played a little Wheel of Fortune slots, pulled Grandma away from her favorite "7s" machine, and got a cab back to our hotel.

We were stopped at a red light on the strip just in time to watch the fountains at the Bellagio! That is one of my favorite things in Vegas and one of the things I really missed about staying at the Bellagio. Last time we were in Vegas, I loved staying at the Bellagio and watching the fountains late into the night. It's beautiful from the street, but looking down on it from above is incredible.