Laurie..

Liz and I went to Vegas 3 years ago for our anniversary.. We stayed at the Excalibur in a pretty nice, if a bit dated, room.. They have one of those "joust" type shows that was a lot of fun and the meal was roasted chicken, so if you didn't eat the skin, it was on plan.. Plus you got to eat with your hands, which was a lot of fun...

New York New York is a really neat place, with lots of food offerings and the "downtown area" is pretty innovative..

We did a "dog and pony show" where a group tried to sell us a time-share, just so we'd get some free show tickets and a couple of meals out of it.. We made it clear right away that we weren't interested, and luckily (surprisingly), the sales guy didn't put any pressure on us...

Word of warning on that.. Their arguements are EXTREMELY persuasive, so if you have any doubts about your resolve to say no, be careful.. Some of the sales guys can get pretty strong armed too... But we saw comedian Rita Rudner and had a couple of good meals, so it was worth it...

Thanks Dan. I'll have to keep the "time share bandits" in mind for free stuff. I never thought of that. I have a pretty strong resolve about things like that. It's just the food type stuff I'm weak at. Go figure!!

Laurie, I've been to Las Vegas several times. I've stayed at the Stratosphere, the Imperial Palace, the Flamingo, The Tropicana, Some AmeriSuites place (not good) and the King Albert hotel (extremely not good!)
and maybe someplace else too.. .trying to remember... Usually fun, but it seems that it was more fun years ago and today they are just trying to get as much of your money out of your wallet as possible. I enjoy the shows mostly, and found that a walk to the Tickets tonight place where they sell tickets for shows that night that were not sold for some reason and are often half priced or more discounted was worthwhile. We saw all sorts of shows that way. Some shows tickets are never there though. Sometimes you can get a good deal with your hotel stay for shows at that hotel. There is just a lot to see.... and you can walk your legs off at Vegas... be careful. Hotels that look close are often a real long way away. I've done the roller coaster at the new york new york and the Big Shot at the top of the stratosphere, and both of those were rather terrifying for me (the top of the stratosphere is worth at least a visit to the top of it you can see for forever up there).

Anyway, I haven't been back since I started the program, although I did take a trip to Reno right before I decided that where I was at was goal. I recommend staying as close to plan as possible, or at least picking limited amounts of "off plan" moments. I chose to be a little over plan on my DH's birthday dinner that we celebrated on that trip. I had won a couple of hundred dollars and we spent it all on a very fancy dinner, and if I am going to spend 200$ for dinner, I"m going to eat it! I think I had a little too much fat and 2 glasses of wine instead of 1 and a little more steak than was on plan... so even then, it was not a big blow out of the plan, just over by a little bit, and a wonderful meal and I had no regrets even when I got on the scale a couple of days later back at home.

well, I weighed in after my Vegas extravaganza and much to my suprise, I was up only 1 lb. All of the walking and water must have made a difference.

I'm back on track now and giving it my all:)

Sarah

Sarah, with all the salt in the restaurant food, you might just see even that one pound disappear quickly! Mostly sticking to the plan and getting right back to it when you slip off is the key to success.

Love Vegas! I'm so excited about this thread b/c we just booked another trip in May for my niece's 21st birthday.

We went in August and stayed at the Mirage and it was wonderful. I now refer to the Mirage as "my favorite place on earth".

My DF and I are big into the pool scene so that is a huge selling point to us. The Mirage's pool is big and beautiful. Waterfalls, very tropical. Great pool-side service. We spent all-day, every day there.

As for nightlife, we visited some neighboring casinos and went to Fremont street. Didn't get too wild, as we were only there for 2 days in between a San Franciso & Colorado trip. We got this great airfare and hit all three cities in 10 days.

I took my mom to a "show" for her 60th birthday. Definately off the "beaten path". It was a female-impersonator burlesque show. It was a surprise to her and we had quite the night. I'll give anyone more info over PM, if interested, as it was quite racy and I don't want to offend anyone :o

This trip we are staying on Fremont street at the Golden Nugget. The have a huge pool there w/ a water slide that goes through a live shark tank. We are planning to see the Beatles LOVE show and either Folies or Jubilee. Haven't decided yet.

My DF is a chef so we will be dining at some of the more upscale restaraunts in town. Also, since it's my niece's 21st, I'm sure there will much bar-hopping.

Viva Las Vegas!!