I'm married!!!!

I'm just messin' with ya...we didn't really elope. We DID have a great time in Vegas, though.

Where did I leave off? I believe it was Wednesday some time. We went to the live stage version of The Price is Right, which was just like being at an actual taping but without the Bob Barker and audience members were able to play along at their seats. It was a blast, but neither of us won anything--or even made it to Contestant's Row, dammit. After that, we visited some of the other casinos, rode a roller coaster at the New York casino and just had a blast. (I collected matchbooks from each casino we went to; I still have some in Dave's suitcase but over the course of our visit, we went to MGM Grand--aka our "home casino"; Bally's; Mirage; Harrah's; Flamingo; Caeser's Palace; Paris-Las Vegas and New York, NY-Las Vegas....holy crap. As I type this list, I realize that we did pretty damn good. If you've never been there, there's a monorail that you can take from casino to casino, which makes getting around VERY easy.)

Thursday, we went to the Mirage for Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden/Dolphin Habitat. I have to say, dolphin-wise, the Dolphin Research Center was actually better, but this place was cool, too. It had an underwater viewing area, so that was something I've never seen before--at the DRC, once they go back underwater, they're out of sight. The Garden had lions, tigers, leopards, etc. It was here that we had the distinction of getting marked/sprayed by a tiger. Pretty gross, eh? Yeah, I know you're jealous.

That evening, we got all duded up and went out to a fancy dinner. We got pictures taken; I'll get them scanned and posted ASAP. I wore a DRESS, even. A black one.

After dinner, we went back to the tables one last time. (I should mention that during any "down time" this week, if we weren't our sightseeing or eating or sleeping, we were probably at the tables.) In the end (of course) we lost, but damn, did we have some more "Vegas moments," including me going "all in" a few times to keep us alive --and even winning and doubling our stacks a few times. He later said that seeing me catch his eye across the table and pushing all my chips into the circle was "sexy as hell," LOL. Doing so bought us some more time, but in the end, we walked away down about $600 (the money we won back that morning). I had hesitated about going, thinking maybe we should quit while we were ahead, but Dave said he had put a certain amount aside for this trip and we were less than 1/3 through it. On the way home, he told me that leaving Vegas "only" down $600 made it a VERY successful trip for him ("I gambled with the same $600 for 5 days without hitting the ATM once! That's a great trip!"), and that all in all, this was the best trip to Vegas he has ever had.

Before going back to our room, we went down to the Strip and took in the absolutely breathtaking view of it lit of at night. It's a view I'll never forget. (We took pictures on his digital camera, which I'll also post as soon as he downloads them.)

We got back at almost 1 am due to some flight delays; we walked out of the airport and straight into Tropical Storm Barry. Yeah, welcome home. (Still, as all you Weather Channel enthusiasts know, we DESPERATELY need the rain.)

All things considered (including our midnight-on-Thursday fight about room-service chicken strips), one of the best times of my life.