Just one last entry on my vacation.  Whenever I go someplace it has to be beautiful.  When I am surrounded by beauty I seem to rest deeply.

This was my last supper.  If I hadn't have been so hungry I would have just stared at it for a long time.  Instead, I dug and made a pig of myself.  What fun!

This last water show was the best one all week.  I never got tired of watching them.  What a great memory.

Bally's has such an incredible entrance-way light show. I saw it later at 4am at its best.  It looks like magic

This view makes for a great souvenir!

The school year finally ended!  I was so exhausted and needed to get away desperately.  Mommy Dog and Missy disappeared (probably off on some sort of doggie excursion) and all of Missy's puppies had been placed in good homes, so time also seemed right for getting out of town.

I took the stipend I got from coaching track and booked a penthouse suite at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas!  I hardly ever get out and once I got to Vegas I drove around for a couple of hours because I was so nervous about checking in to a really high class place.

It truly could have been a really hillarious episode from that old, old show the Beverly Hillbillies with me staring as Ellie May Clampett (well, more like Jethro, but I'm a grrrlll).

I mean the hillarity began right from the start.  I took an off ramp and immediately got lost.  Who gets lost in Las Vegas?  I mean everything is all on one freaking street!  Well, after touring the industrial district and eating two tacos from the local illegal alien hangout I stopped at a mini-mart and got a city map and spent about 30 minutes determining my exact location. 

Yes!  I was only 2 blocks from where I needed to be!!

So off I went.  After getting lost two more times and creating a traffic jam at the entrance of the Hotel Monte Carlo's visitor parking (I had turned into a driveway without paying heed to the DO NOT ENTER sign) I finally spotted the Bellagio Marquee up ahead.

There was construction going on and the traffic became terrible!  I needed to turn right to get to the hotel but the there was a line of cars in the turn lane about a mile long.  I panicked and called the hotel and asked them if they could they please save my reservation because it would be mid-night before I could get there.

So I just said "screw it!" and passed the hotel.  Somehow I was able to get turned around and pointed toward the hotel but from the opposite direction.  After making an easy left turn I was found myself on the hotel grounds headed for the valet parking.  YAY!  But my little victory was short lived because ahead was an army of taxies blocking the way.  An officer who was directing traffic must have seen the look of compete insanity in my eyes and so waved me around the middle of the mess to the front of it. 

What should have been a straight shot to the valet parking lane didn't turn out that way.  I ended up stopping in the drop off only lane.  Well so I missed the intended touch down spot by ten feet.  NASA space exploration command would have been proud.

Well, the valet parking coordinator wasn't impressed at all because I was blocking a lane where the traffic should have kept moving.  But he was very polite and said, "No problem."  His eyes, on the other hand, said, "God what did I do to deserve this?!!"  Anyway, I gave him a $10 dollar tip and that seemed to smooth things over.

I did the same to the bellgrrrlll who had to dodge and block traffic in order to take care of my luggage. 

Once I finally made it through the hotel entrance it took the staff two tries to get me pointed correctly to executive check-in. We all tried not to look too embarrassed!  Executive check-in is like having your own private person to get you checked in.  No standing in line.

So I finally made it to the elevator and was on my way to my wonderful penthouse suite on the 32nd floor.  Well, I went up.  I went down.  I changed elevators and went up and went down a few more times.  The elevator wouldn't stop at the 32nd floor.  All the other people in the elevator were getting where they wanted to go!  What did all the elevators have against me?

Hello, Ellie May!!  Knock, knock!!  Is anybody home?  I began observing the other passengers more closely.  It seems that to get the elevator to go you have to use your room key card.

I really do need to get out more!

(BTW all the photos here were taken from my room window.  The views are spectacular!)