Shameless 'Vegas Promotion: A "touristy" night on the town here is... "like a box of chocolates..." -F. F. Gump

Once upon a time... a friend of mine suggested we go do the tourist thing around town... which is right up my alley (sorry for the lame idiom) ...so we did!

This is the view of the strip from Sunrise Mountain at night:

Yep. We conquered that beast.

We started the evening at the Bellagio's conservatory. SOOO pretty. I really need to take my mom down there. I know many locals and tourists go here regularly, so I won't bore you with too many pictures of flowers and whatnot... but here are some of my favorite items displayed:

The Olive Tree.

How...biblical? scriptural? :)

Fun Fact:

Kinda' cool, no?

This cute little guy (probably 6'x7' chillin' overhead) reminded me of a scene in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" :) ...he's pretty cute

Fun Fact:

After the conservatory at the Bellagio, I headed outside...where the real fun began:

What? You don't walk down any old street in your town, snap a pic... and get THIS in the background?

Stopping to appreciate the scenery:

(Enh..mostly just checkin' out the firefighters...) :D

I also got to experience some gelato from The Paris...

Impressive likeness, no? and delicious to boot!

Another fun fact: my ideal proposal goes something along the lines of what Patrick Dempsey's character pulled for Reese Witherspoon's character in "Sweet Home Alabama," BUT... I wouldn't mind ONE. BIT. eating here before or after:

look haaah'daah

(Rafiki, Lion King)...

see it now?...

How much do you wager these seats set him/her back?

YIKES!!!

Bellagio: Beautiful during the day

(the hotel, not me. I must've been distracted...

but read on, and you won't blame me...)

GORGEOUS at night!

This was the first time I had stopped and watched the Bellagio fountain show, outside, at night, in its entirety (sad..considering I've lived here for half my life now...). It really is impressive... and the music they played (Josh Groban, Sinatra, Pavarotti, Lee Greenwood, etc) gave me the goosebumps all throughout the show...

Okay, now for the REALLY fun part:

-Vegas Characters-

The Devil and...a skank-angel?

Getting a pic with blue/red spidey and the black spidey would have been fun...

But why? when this pic was SOOOOO much better than anything mine would have looked like!!!

Why is the Raven like the writing table?!

(a total letdown: he disappointingly could NOT do the Futterwacken dance)

Dork.

Not even close to the hotness that was achieved by

Antonio Banderas in the same role/costume...

And what would a night of 'Strip-walking been

without more Elvi?

Cute. Really. :P

After thoroughly corrupting my soul - visually - I decided it might be nice to end the night by taking some nighttime shots over at the Temple.

Isn't she so photogenic?

As is he... :)

Had such a great time!! Who knew?!?

...An incredibly fun and inexpensive night...

Gelato: $6.00

1/4 tank of gas: $5.00

Pictures and Experience: Priceless