Viva Las Vegas!
I got back from Las Vegas several days ago, and I had am AMAZING time out there! It was my first trip to Vegas, and I was amazed at how much there is to do out there, and I had so much fun every day. I'll try to give a brief summary of what I did since I'm kinda busy right now, and this is the first day I've had any free time since my return, and I can actually take a breather for a while.
Friday: Beki and I drove together to the airport, and our flight went very smoothly. We'd never flown Frontier before, but they're very good considering how affordable their tickets are. We had a brief layover in Denver which is their hub, and then we arrived in Las Vegas around 11:30pm. By the time we made it to our hotel room at Circus Circus, we were both exhausted and just went straight to bed. We missed out on a fun party at The Palms with the pharmacy girls, but c'est la vie.
Saturday: Beki and I spent the whole day walking up and down the strip, exploring the hotels and perusing the shops. Each hotel is virtually a small city in itself, and there is so much to do in each one. My favorite hotels were The Wynn and Venetian -- they are absolutely gorgeous and so intricately decorated. Whenever I go back, those would be my top choices for hotels to stay in. We did some shopping in the Miracle Mile mall where I got some sexy awesome True Religion jeans (don't ask the price) :-/ and we watched the indoor thunderstorm there. I got lots of great photos of all the hotels, and you can find them on either MySpace or Facebook if you don't have an account with anything.
Las Vegas Photos Part 1
Las Vegas Photos Part 2
I can't even venture to guess how many miles we walked each day. Everything is so huge, and our feet hurt by the end of the day, but it was worth it to see all of the hotels! We registered for our conference at the Venetian and met up with the girls (Courtney, Kristen, Liz) to explore the hotel. We ended up seeing part of a filming of World Championship poker at The Venetian's casino, and we also saw an infomercial taping with Susan Lucci in the Venetian shopping plaza.
Sunday: Went to a couple meetings in the morning at The Venetian about residencies and interviewing tips. Afterwards, Beki and I met up for a brunch buffet at Harrah's with Pam, Melody, Danny, Jason, and Robyn. Jason flew in the previous night and surprised Robyn with a dinner at Tao and then he proposed to her -- they got engaged in Vegas! Yay for the lovebirds! :) After the buffet, we rode in Danny's rental car and drove through the Vegas desert. It was amazing how the landscape shifted from barren wasteland to snowy mountains so quickly; it was quite the juxtaposition. We played around in the snow for a little bit and had a lot of fun freezing our butts off. That day was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. That night Beki and I explored Caesar's Palace and The Bellagio and watched the fountain show, which was astounding. We were both mesmerized the entire time. We then met up with the girls at Margaritaville and rode together to Hard Rock for dinner at the Pink Taco. heh heh. Yep, that was its name. Some guy was trying to get us into an afterparty there with Fall Out Boy, but we just stayed in the casino the rest of the night instead. I played blackjack with Liz and Courtney and lost $60 there. Boo! That was my first time playing at a table though, and it was quite fun. I just wish the minimum bid wasn't $10 because it was pricy. Then we caught a cab back to our hotel and crashed.
Monday: We missed the talk by Maya Angelou in the morning, and everyone said it was amazing, and I'm still kicking myself for not going to it. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the residency showcase interviewing people at different residencies, asking them questions, handing out my CV, and just keeping my name/face fresh in their minds so they remember me come admission time. I'm applying to ORMC and Florida Hospital, so hopefully I made a good impression and I get accepted to one of those. Later on we went to a reception at Harrah's for UF students/alumni and we hobnobbed with everyone. Then a small group of us headed out to explore the strip and have some fun. We goofed off in the Bellagio and then headed up to the top of the Eiffel Tower to watch the fountain show from up high and see the amazing city lights at night. We then gambled a little more in the casinos and I lost another $60 playing roulette. I guess my luck was just nonexistent, like usual. After another late night we walked back to our hotels and called it a night.
Tuesday: Beki went to the second half of the residency showcase, but I didn't want to go since I did all my interviewing the first day. So instead, I went to the Stratosphere in the morning and rode the elevator to the top of it. There are three thrill rides up top, and I went on all three. Needless to say, I dangled off the top of the tallest building west of the Mississippi, and it was awesome! :) I then went to the Sahara and rode on their rollercoaster there, which was really fun as well. Afterwards, I walked through the Fashion Show mall which was ginormous! I finally ended up back at the Venetian to meet up with everyone after the interviewing and we went as a large group through some hotels and had dinner at a pizza place. We then went to The Mirage and went to a fancy sushi place called Japonais, and the chic, sleek atmosphere there was awesome. It was a sushi bar / lounge and we sipped delicious martinis while eating sushi on our last night together. It was so much fun, but we finally called it a night around midnight and began the long trek back to our hotel.
Wednesday: Got up early and flew back to Orlando with a layover in Denver again. Made it back home around 11:30pm and I still haven't unpacked yet. Too busy. Ugh. I only got a few hours of sleep before I had to wake up extremely early and head to work again. But I had an awesome trip and can't wait to go back. I never got to go to the Grand Canyon or see any of the shows there, but I will DEFinitely go back in the future and get the full experience.
Yesterday I spent the entire day at Disney since I had one more ticket that expired in a week. I went with Dixie, Larry, Tara, and Jason, and we had fun exploring throughout the park. They're big pin traders, so I was able to see how that process works, since that's a big Disney thing that I'd heard of but never really seen. They say it's an expensive, addicting habit, but it's fun. The Christmas lights are up at Disney, and I went to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and they lights there were astounding. Cinderella's Castle is amazingly decked out for Christmas like never before, and it was breathtaking in person. I saw the SpectroMagic light show parade as well and it was interesting. After Disney, I headed over to Tony's housewarming party, and the place was super packed -- he just moved into a house near downtown with 3 other roommates, and they had like 30 people at the place. I had a lot of fun and was able to catch up with some old friends. Didn't get home til around 3am or so, but fortunately I was able to sleep in today.
Overall, I had an amazing week and it was a much-needed break from rotations. It was both informative and fun, and I am so glad I was able to attend.
In front of Cinderella's Castle with Tara, Dixie, and her husband Larry
The waterfountain in front of Spaceship Earth at Epcot
The tunnel of Christmas lights leading up to a gigantic Christmas tree
The castle is brilliantly lit up at night
My good friends at Tony's party -- Allison, Tony, Alison, Josh, me, Matt (with Jayce and Carly making faces in the background)
Friday: Beki and I drove together to the airport, and our flight went very smoothly. We'd never flown Frontier before, but they're very good considering how affordable their tickets are. We had a brief layover in Denver which is their hub, and then we arrived in Las Vegas around 11:30pm. By the time we made it to our hotel room at Circus Circus, we were both exhausted and just went straight to bed. We missed out on a fun party at The Palms with the pharmacy girls, but c'est la vie.
Saturday: Beki and I spent the whole day walking up and down the strip, exploring the hotels and perusing the shops. Each hotel is virtually a small city in itself, and there is so much to do in each one. My favorite hotels were The Wynn and Venetian -- they are absolutely gorgeous and so intricately decorated. Whenever I go back, those would be my top choices for hotels to stay in. We did some shopping in the Miracle Mile mall where I got some sexy awesome True Religion jeans (don't ask the price) :-/ and we watched the indoor thunderstorm there. I got lots of great photos of all the hotels, and you can find them on either MySpace or Facebook if you don't have an account with anything.
Las Vegas Photos Part 1
Las Vegas Photos Part 2
I can't even venture to guess how many miles we walked each day. Everything is so huge, and our feet hurt by the end of the day, but it was worth it to see all of the hotels! We registered for our conference at the Venetian and met up with the girls (Courtney, Kristen, Liz) to explore the hotel. We ended up seeing part of a filming of World Championship poker at The Venetian's casino, and we also saw an infomercial taping with Susan Lucci in the Venetian shopping plaza.
Sunday: Went to a couple meetings in the morning at The Venetian about residencies and interviewing tips. Afterwards, Beki and I met up for a brunch buffet at Harrah's with Pam, Melody, Danny, Jason, and Robyn. Jason flew in the previous night and surprised Robyn with a dinner at Tao and then he proposed to her -- they got engaged in Vegas! Yay for the lovebirds! :) After the buffet, we rode in Danny's rental car and drove through the Vegas desert. It was amazing how the landscape shifted from barren wasteland to snowy mountains so quickly; it was quite the juxtaposition. We played around in the snow for a little bit and had a lot of fun freezing our butts off. That day was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. That night Beki and I explored Caesar's Palace and The Bellagio and watched the fountain show, which was astounding. We were both mesmerized the entire time. We then met up with the girls at Margaritaville and rode together to Hard Rock for dinner at the Pink Taco. heh heh. Yep, that was its name. Some guy was trying to get us into an afterparty there with Fall Out Boy, but we just stayed in the casino the rest of the night instead. I played blackjack with Liz and Courtney and lost $60 there. Boo! That was my first time playing at a table though, and it was quite fun. I just wish the minimum bid wasn't $10 because it was pricy. Then we caught a cab back to our hotel and crashed.
Monday: We missed the talk by Maya Angelou in the morning, and everyone said it was amazing, and I'm still kicking myself for not going to it. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the residency showcase interviewing people at different residencies, asking them questions, handing out my CV, and just keeping my name/face fresh in their minds so they remember me come admission time. I'm applying to ORMC and Florida Hospital, so hopefully I made a good impression and I get accepted to one of those. Later on we went to a reception at Harrah's for UF students/alumni and we hobnobbed with everyone. Then a small group of us headed out to explore the strip and have some fun. We goofed off in the Bellagio and then headed up to the top of the Eiffel Tower to watch the fountain show from up high and see the amazing city lights at night. We then gambled a little more in the casinos and I lost another $60 playing roulette. I guess my luck was just nonexistent, like usual. After another late night we walked back to our hotels and called it a night.
Tuesday: Beki went to the second half of the residency showcase, but I didn't want to go since I did all my interviewing the first day. So instead, I went to the Stratosphere in the morning and rode the elevator to the top of it. There are three thrill rides up top, and I went on all three. Needless to say, I dangled off the top of the tallest building west of the Mississippi, and it was awesome! :) I then went to the Sahara and rode on their rollercoaster there, which was really fun as well. Afterwards, I walked through the Fashion Show mall which was ginormous! I finally ended up back at the Venetian to meet up with everyone after the interviewing and we went as a large group through some hotels and had dinner at a pizza place. We then went to The Mirage and went to a fancy sushi place called Japonais, and the chic, sleek atmosphere there was awesome. It was a sushi bar / lounge and we sipped delicious martinis while eating sushi on our last night together. It was so much fun, but we finally called it a night around midnight and began the long trek back to our hotel.
Wednesday: Got up early and flew back to Orlando with a layover in Denver again. Made it back home around 11:30pm and I still haven't unpacked yet. Too busy. Ugh. I only got a few hours of sleep before I had to wake up extremely early and head to work again. But I had an awesome trip and can't wait to go back. I never got to go to the Grand Canyon or see any of the shows there, but I will DEFinitely go back in the future and get the full experience.
Yesterday I spent the entire day at Disney since I had one more ticket that expired in a week. I went with Dixie, Larry, Tara, and Jason, and we had fun exploring throughout the park. They're big pin traders, so I was able to see how that process works, since that's a big Disney thing that I'd heard of but never really seen. They say it's an expensive, addicting habit, but it's fun. The Christmas lights are up at Disney, and I went to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and they lights there were astounding. Cinderella's Castle is amazingly decked out for Christmas like never before, and it was breathtaking in person. I saw the SpectroMagic light show parade as well and it was interesting. After Disney, I headed over to Tony's housewarming party, and the place was super packed -- he just moved into a house near downtown with 3 other roommates, and they had like 30 people at the place. I had a lot of fun and was able to catch up with some old friends. Didn't get home til around 3am or so, but fortunately I was able to sleep in today.
Overall, I had an amazing week and it was a much-needed break from rotations. It was both informative and fun, and I am so glad I was able to attend.
In front of Cinderella's Castle with Tara, Dixie, and her husband Larry
The waterfountain in front of Spaceship Earth at Epcot
The tunnel of Christmas lights leading up to a gigantic Christmas tree
The castle is brilliantly lit up at night
My good friends at Tony's party -- Allison, Tony, Alison, Josh, me, Matt (with Jayce and Carly making faces in the background)