just a quickie, he said

with MIL still in town and the bean still on summer vacation, the hub and i decided to take advantage on a random tuesday morning and headed out for an impromptu vegas trip.  like, a super quickie - one night only, just enough to have some alone time.  i really couldn't have told you how long it had been since the two of us drove out to sin city for some grown-up fun, and we were pretty excited for date night.

i used to really dread the drive out to vegas.  it's three hours of nothing but desert to look at, with only two radio stations to choose from for the drive.  but it seemed that all of the road tripping we've done lately has changed my outlook on that ride, and it's now gone from "gah, three long hours!" to "ah, only three hours!" and in no time, we were at stateline, a mere half hour from the bright lights of the big city.

we were intrigued by the sight of these brightly painted rocks off in the distance, and a quick google search told me that it was some sort of temporary art installation.  we figured we'd just hit it on the way home the next day.

because he knows how much i love the cheesy photo ops, the hub drove us right to the famous vegas sign.  there was quite a line of folks looking for the same thing, and we waited for a few minutes before we decided to just take what we could get even if someone might have been in the background.

and then i got my first look at the strip in quite a long time.  the last time i was here was about three years ago.

the burger joint owned by marky mark and co. didn't look very exciting.

and i was super amused at the giant signs for shows that took me back to - oh, about 1978 or so.

we were staying at caesars palace for the night, but we'd arrived way earlier than check-in time.  so we left our luggage at the bell desk, checked ourselves in at the self-serve kiosk, and wandered through the casino and into the forum shops to find some entertainment.

remember how easily entertained i am.  because i'm a 10-year-old, apparently.

we decided to have a lovely lunch at joe's stone crab at the end of the shops, splitting a fantastic seafood cocktail tower plus a super delicious crab roll.  so, so, so good.

then the hub decided that it was time for me to enjoy some spa time while he headed off to the cigar lounge.  i mean, you don't have to ask me twice.

i spent a quiet half hour in the spa facilities before my massage appointment, trying out the sauna (not my thing) and one of the hot tubs in the back that was unoccupied the entire time i was there.  this didn't last very long though, because i hadn't brought a swimsuit and tested my comfort level going in in my birthday suit.  i guess i'm really a prude at heart though, because i was anxious the whole time and didn't even last for five minutes before i got out and put my robe back on.  too bad, because i could really have used a soak for my tired muscles.  oh well.

the massage was fantastic, and i lingered for awhile afterwards.  i enjoyed a nice long hot shower using all four showerheads, taking my time putting myself back together, and eventually heading out to walk the shops at a leisurely pace.  i did a lot of daydreaming about hitting it big in a casino and then going on a crazy shopping spree here:

i eyed this photo op, but didn't want to ask anyone else to take a picture and so i settled for just a picture OF it instead.

and then to pep myself up for a fun vegas night, i stopped for a drink.

our room was finally ready, and the hub was already up there relaxing in front of the tv.  it took me awhile to find it, and it turned out to be just about the furthest freaking room in the entire resort.  at least it was a pretty nice room:

with a view of the pool area.

we got ready for dinner with a couple of the hub's friends who were also in vegas for the night.

we gorged ourselves at a brazilian bbq restaurant a little ways off the strip, and then i joined them at the cigar lounge to watch some olympics and shoot the shit a little.  when i'd had enough of the smoke, i headed out to try my luck at the slots.

let's just say that i didn't get to go back to that louboutin store.  boo.  maybe next time.