Las Vegas {30th Birthday Trip} ~ Part 1

So yes, this is the year I turned 30. It’s still weird answering “30” when asked for my age. But, anyway…

My dear husband planned something big to celebrate this big milestone birthday. And I didn’t even know about it until we were at the airport ready to get on a plane. Yes, he’s that sneaky.

I thought I was accompanying David on a work trip. He has to take Continuing Legal Education classes for his license, and he told me he had to go to Bonita Springs for a conference. And I believed him — everything from the hotel we were staying at, to his office booking my airplane ticket, and all of the things in between. By the way, it was months – MONTHS – of me thinking I was going somewhere in south Florida for one of these conferences.

So, we get to the airport, and David says, “I have a confession. We’re not going to Bonita Springs.” Ummm… what? He proceeds to show me the tickets to Los Vegas, and the reason we are going … to see the BACKSTREET BOYS in concert. AHHHH. I looked like a fool crying and jumping up and down in the middle of the airport.

Needless to say, this was an epic surprise he pulled off. It was the first time going to Vegas for both us (an David’s first time traveling west of the Mississippi for David). And it was awesome!

Hotel: The Venetian

We stayed at the Venetian, and we could have spent all of our time in that one hotel. It was beautiful and full of shopping, eating, and swimming pools.

The Food

We don’t gamble, so we spent our time eating, shopping and seeing fantastically entertaining shows. But mostly eating.

Brunch at Hash House A Go Go

The first morning in Vegas, we went to Hash House a go go for brunch, which is in The Linq. It was packed, so we waited 20 or so minutes. But as people were coming out, they said, “it’s worth the wait.” And yes it was!

This restaurant was featured on Man vs. Food, and David ended up ordering the dish that was on the TV show: The Sage Fried Chicken

I ordered a “house hash” with roasted Chicken, garlic, onions, asparagus and rosemar. It came with crispy potatoes & topped w/ 2 eggs, served with fruit and biscuit.

We didn’t need lunch that day. 🙂

Dinner at YardBird

David did his homework and had a lot of things planned for us while we were in Vegas, including a reservation for Dinner at YardBird which is one of the restaurants in The Venetian. Apparently, in Vegas all of the food is enormous. We feasted on fried chicken, mac & cheese, cornbread and salad (not pictured).

This one was my favorite. The food was great, the design was cool, and the service was great.

Show: Backstreet Boys Larger Than Life

That night we had tickets to see the Backstreet Boys “Larger than Life” show, held at The Axis at Planet Hollywood.

It was a packed house as it was the last night of their residency. And the show was AMAZING. Even David said the production value was great. It was loud, there were tons of lights, lots of great dancing, and of course, many throwbacks to our favorite BSB songs and moments. They even shows some photos of the boys from back in the day, and how they progressed through the years.

All in all, a super fun show.

PART 2 COMING SOON