Vegas III: The Final Assault

On our final day in Vegas we decided that we had done our damage to that town and that we should pack up and head out early. We made a slight detour to The Bellagio Hotel to visit it's famed lobby ceiling filled with hand-blown glass flowers by the world-renowned artist, Dale Chihuly.

It was truly amazing. These pictures do not do it justice.

Here's the lobby reception desk. I loved the detail behind the desk and how they had tied in the artwork from the lobby ceiling.


We then strolled over the the Botanical Gardens adjacent to the lobby. The theme was "Spring Awakening." Judging from this photo, we had not been awakened by spring quite yet.

A view of only part of the garden.


I loved this little path with fountains that shot water over head as you passed by.

Here's a frog made from moss and other planty things.


I was kind of nervous this tree would begin talking. Does anyone remember the talking Christmas Tree they put in ZCMI stored during the holidays? I steered clear of that thing. Always.

Here's a beautiful snail made from roses.


They even brought in some more glass blown flowers for the garden display.


Close up of plant life. It's been so long since I've seen a flower growing from the ground.


We grabbed a bagel then left town just as quietly as we had entered. See you soon, Vegas! You were awesome.

During our drive Jeremy and I had deep, deep conversations about:

• How no one ever feels refreshed leaving Las Vegas. I almost everyone leaving Clark County is dog tired and smells of stale smoke.
• What's up with Arizona and their refusal to recognize Daylight Savings? Who do you think you are, "Grand Canyon State"?
• How much I enjoyed hearing Hall & Oates, George Michael and Prince being piped into our hotel at all times.
• We once again went over my hatred of St. George.
• How after visiting Vegas, I am totally rethinking my stance on the use of glitter.
• While passing thru Logandale, Jeremy said that sometimes he might be difficult.
• But once we were in Leeds on the other side of the Utah border, Jeremy said that he might be the easiest person ever to hang with.
• How Jeremy is really good at concentrating on the road. (So much so, that accidents involving beverages sometimes happen. You'll have to wait a few minutes for that one.)

We were getting close to the Utah border and I started to feel a headache coming on. Was it all the fun of Vegas finally catching up to me? No, it was the realization that we were only minutes from my nemesis, St. George. Here I am giving the city of St. George a dirty look.

I swallowed my pride and decided that although I didn't really care for the town, I wasn't going to make Jeremy's stomach suffer. He was hungry and needed to rest his eyes. We stopped at the Outlet Mall and hit up a Cafe Rio knock off. We were worried that it wouldn't be as delicious as the original.

Here I am wondering if I will be happy with my marinated chicken burrito.

It seems Jeremy is actually excited and not at all nervous.


Turns out, Durango's isn't as tasty as the Rio, but it will do in a crunch on a Sunday in a hostile city.

Just as I was starting to think maybe I was being too hard on St. George, I noticed this little fountain near our table. See how it depicts cute little children playing in the water?


But then I moved in closer and saw this.


That's so typical of St. George. We saw plenty of fountains in Vegas, much more beautiful than this thing. No where near any of them did I see an unwelcoming sign like this posted. Again, St. George, you are my sworn enemy.

Just as we were leaving the city limits, heading on up north, as if the offensive fountain signage wasn't enough, St. George caused Jeremy to spill his entire 32 oz Mountain Dew all over his pants. The very pants he was wearing that day. Jeremy isn't convinced that it was actually St. George that made him do it. Rather, he thinks it's just karma's way of getting even for him spilling Pepsi on my pants on day one. What a nice way to bookend our trip.