Well, it definitely lived up to it's name...

Corey and I celebrated our 3 year Anniversary on May 10th! We didn't do much the day of because we planned on a trip to Las Vegas the next weekend. Corey's parents take a big trip every other year and this year they planned to go to Vegas. They asked if Corey and I, as well as his brother and his brother's girlfriend would like to join them. Being only slightly less than an three hour drive from Vegas, we definitely obliged. I can't say that I was overly thrilled to be going to Vegas for our Anniversary but I knew it would be good to spend time with Corey's parents and his brother (who I have only really seen twice).

At one time I thought Vegas would be fun to experience. Then we did. I can't say that I desire to ever return. I can definitely attest to it's nickname "Sin City". I won't go into detail but that city is literally crawling with temptation and sin, which everyone walks around freely accepting. At times, I was seriously disgusted and heartbroken at the state of this world. There were somewhat redeemable aspects to the city...the incredible architecture and themes of the casinos and resorts, good shows and the fact that the pawn shop from the hit show "Pawn Stars" is located there :) Other than my utter shock (even though I had been warned) to the blatant sin, the clouds of cigarette smoke in the casinos (or walking by them), the "pleasure pit" (I'll let you figure that one out) which Corey and I unfortunately stumbled upon and the multitudes of people, I did enjoy our visit with Corey's family. We were able to do some pretty incredible things with them, including a tour to the Grand Canyon (with a short helicopter ride inside :), the Hoover Dam and the Mojave Dessert (the only place that Joshua Trees grow ;). We were also able to enjoy some great food and get our first (and last) go around with slot machines. Here are some pictures from our short trip...

The Colorado River that flows into Lake Mead (the largest man made lake in the world, or may be the 2nd largest...I'm not very good with tour facts) is very low...I can't remember exactly by how much, but as you can see, it's pretty low.

The Hoover Dam...if you look really close you can see people and cars at the top. You can also see some tractor trailer truck on top of that HUGE bridge in the back.

Oh Corey ;)

Driving through the Mojave Dessert to get to the Grand Canyon (this is taken through the bus window, so it's not super clear).

We arrived at the Grand Canyon Ranch (I'm not exactly sure how to describe it..."odd" doesn't seem sufficient) where they took us to the Helicopter pads in a horse drawn wagon. This ranch is one of the first established in this region with the original cabin still there (again, I don't know the exact date or details ;).

I wouldn't put these helicopters in the same category as those from the Bachelor...they were a bit more rickity :) It was truly amazing to experience the Grand Canyon from that vantage point though. It's really hard to imagine not believing in God period, but especially after seeing it.

I know it seems like it should be bigger, but to give you some perspective, there is a white dot on the river that is actually a boat dock with boats, a building and helicopters landing around it.

We saw this show our first night in Vegas...it was supposed to be similar to Cirque De Sole. It was impressive, but a little strange. Let's just say it started out with the image of a baby talking in a large hanging globe and somewhere along the way a very large plastic barbie came out of the ceiling...

The view from our room on the 54th floor of the Planet Hollywood Towers. I won't lie, our room was pretty suite ;)

A few other things not pictured...
~Our visit to the Pawn Shop, which was actually very small and overpriced :(
~ The awesome Brits on our tour that entertained my talk of the Royal Wedding ;)
~Phantom of the Opera! I went with Jeremy and Lindy to see Phantom, which was SO good (we weren't allowed to take pictures inside), while Corey and his parents saw the ultimate Variety show. I hear Corey went on stage for a portion of it...a mask was involved, but I'm still not clear on what actually happened :)
~All of our incredible meals, including Holsteins in the Cosmopolitan where Corey and I discovered Bailey's Oreo Milkshakes!
~And finally, Corey's dad almost choking to death at the Billagio Buffet...he's fine now, but for a few seconds there we were sincerely panicking ;)

My advice for future Vegas visits? Don't. Okay, but if I had to go back? I would hang by the pool, order room service and maybe venture out to a few shows.