The View from Las Vegas

Wednesday morning we were up EARLY to be at Caesar's Palace for The View live from Las Vegas! I was able to get ABC VIP tickets from a friends' father in law (thanks Kelly and Roger!!!) Our seats were AMAZING; front row..feet from Jessica Simpson, Elisabeth, Barbara and Whoopi (Joy and Sherri too!)

Me, Roger (aka Pop-pop) and my mom


Elisabeth Hasselbeck and I

She was totally squishing me; in a good way of course. She sat down during a commercial break on the step in front of me and we had a looooong conversation about the military, being mom's, our kids, etc. She was AWESOME, just as I suspected. Really down to earth and approachable. She told me to thank all of the people in my life who are in the military or support a military member...so THANK YOU from Elisabeth!

Whoopi

I just love Whoopi. She always has the best advice and words of wisdom for the younger ladies on The View. During the Cirque de Soleil performance another woman and I were pulled from our seats so the camera man could sit in our place. We were given seats near the large boom camera (is that what they are called?) and Whoopi was standing there watching the performance. I motioned to her that there was an empty seat near me and she came over and sat down! I made a total FOOL of myself; but that's okay..not like I'll ever see her again! We ooh'd and ahhh'd over the contortionists and all the stuff they were doing!

The guest performer was Jessica Simpson...she was like this >< close to me!


After the show we went in to Caesar's Palace for some gambling and I proceeded to drop MAJOR cash...but, it was a casinos money anyway so no biggie! From there we walked down the strip towards New York New York to an In n Out...


More on that adventure to come.....

What happens in Vegas.....

stays in Vegas, right?! I got home yesterday from my whirlwind trip to Vegas; gambling, spa treatments, gambling, attending taping of The View, gambling, In n Out, Dunkin Donuts, gambling....do you see a pattern?

I flew out on the red eye Monday night and arrived in Vegas at 630am Tuesday. My mom's flight was to arrive at 820am so I killed time by getting Starbucks and playing a slot machine in the airport! I WON! Well, it was only $10 but I still won :)

We took a cab from the airport to the hotel which cost a FORTUNE, but we didn't feel like stopping at every hotel in Vegas by riding an airport shuttle. We stayed at the Golden Nugget downtown and WOW have they really put work into that place! In the middle of the swimming pool is a huge shark tank and the water slide goes right through the middle...tres cool!



We left our bags with the bell captain since it was before check in time and off to the casino we went! I played some table games; Three Card Poker and Let It Ride. Not much luck there so I meandered around the casino floor and stumbled upon PENNY SLOT MACHINES!!! OMG, how fun! I played a couple different ones and then found a "Deal or No Deal" themed one. There are so many options to play I really didn't know what I was doing for about 15-20 minutes :) I started getting on a roll and going to the "BONUS" round. I built up quite a large sum in credits and started betting the maximum amount. That turned out to be a very good thing because this happened.....

I had NO IDEA what was going on. I kept trying to hit the button to make it spin again and it wasn't doing anything. I thought I had broken it or something!? Then my mom walked over and started screaming like a crazy person...then I realized that I hit the JACKPOT! It was $909 on the progressive jackpot and I still had about $200 in credits on the machine!! That started the trip off on a good foot!

Here are some other pictures from the trip:


The 4 Queens Hotel & Casino on Freemont Street


My new best friend at Dunkin Donuts


and the famous Cowboy dude that you see in alot of pictures and ads for Vegas


We hit the hay early that first night because we were attending a LIVE taping of THE VIEW at Caesar's Palace the next day...more on that in my next post!