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Wow that was a great sleep except for the fact that the sun was shining in the window already and it was only 8:00. We didn’t get back until about 3:00 after all so only 5 hours was a little tough…but we were somewhat used to it thanks to a four month old at home (it’s OK, she was left with her grandparents). It wasn’t until about 11:00 we decided to head out for the day having eaten some granola bars to settle the urge to kill. McDonald’s breakfast and Starbuck’s coffee is a great way to start the morning. Today was the day to shop, and shop we did!

We figured we’d walk the strip a little more as we needed to hit the internet café just up the road to take care of a couple of emails. We kept on walking, a good thing since we had two McDonald’s meals in a row to walk off! We hit Sephora and Urban Outfitters on the walk down the strip. It was at Paris we decided it was in deed time to shop. We hopped in a cab that the staff hailed for us (yeah, he really just blew his whistle) and we were off to the Premium Outlets. First stop was some real food. Well I’m not sure if you can consider it real food, but it was certainly more then a Kashi granola bar. From the food court, off to Carter’s for some shopping. Remember that four-month old I mentioned, well did she ever clean up. We spent more there then we expected. In fact we even found a cute Lady Bug costume for her to wear this Halloween…she’s going to be so cute!

After Carter’s, it was off to Coach to find some amazing deals. Deals were found, but I wasn’t paying attention. We had picked up a book at Urban Outfitters that I decided to start paging through. I have no clue how long we were in there but I know in the end we were all happy. We also hit Banana Republic, The Gap, Adidas, Starbucks, Puma and a few other shops without much success. It was pretty much a bust but the deals that were scored, scored big!

We had to get back for the show at TI and still needed to change. We had heard you could do it by bus so inquired at the information booth only to find out that it would be two buses plus the monorail and take almost two hours to do. Sorry, but the $40 cab ride seemed to be well worth it considering I bill out time between $30-80 per hour. In the cab, to the hotel, quick change and drinks (of course we had duty free left) then off to the monorail to head to TI for the Cirque du Soleil show Mystère. We snagged a 24-hour pass on the monorail since we new we were headed to Paris for dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant the following evening and didn’t want to walk all that way or pay for another cab.

The humour on the monorail was awful. Stating that the speed of the monorail is faster then David Copperfield’s hands and the entire Jubilee Showgirl line combined. It was even bad by WestJet standards and those jokes are typically groaners. Just before arriving at TI we ran into a promoter, Ronnie. He was going to hook us up with VIP access and guest list to JET that night but we didn’t have the time. He was promoting out of a backpack on the corner which raised a couple of red flags for us but thought it might be interesting. Anyways, back in to the hotel, through the maze of slot machines and into the queue for Mystère tickets. We had purchased them on the shows website a few weeks earlier as it was the best price we could find.

We were starving after the walking and standing in line and had already scoped out dining at the Social House, a nice little sushi place. They were busy and we only had about 45 minutes to eat so we made reservations for after the show got out. We decided to take the recommendation and hit Kahunaville as it was close to the doors for the show. A couple of drinks, some Monday Night Football and a few appetizers were all we needed. We chowed down on the Tahitian Coconut Shrimp and Hawaiian Sliders. We got a great show as well with some flashy bartenders complete with free shots at the end of that show. A great start to an evening of shows.

So off to Mystère – right across the hall in fact. We had amazing seats in the second row from the stage. At first I was noticing there were a lot of men in the production and I for some reason hadn’t expected that. It wasn’t before long though that the women started to show up. It was difficult to tell the difference between some of them thanks to the amazing makeup job. We were so close you could feel the breeze as the performers flew overhead on the trapeze. Amazing special effects, displays of strength and endurance and of course a musical score that went very well with the show. It kept the story line moving. I would definitely recommend to anyone that they go see Mystère at TI-Treasure Island while in Las Vegas. I’m also very happy that we purchased in advance. There are half-price, or heavily discounted ticket sellers along the strip, however we didn’t really see them being to deeply discounted.

After the show it was upstairs to Social House where we had some Saki, their signature Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno. It truly melted and was done similarly to Tataki. The view we had out the window was great. You could see the pirate ship where The Sirens of TI perform each night. Once done our amazing sushi we decided to take in their show. I’m not sure if it was the fact we had just witnessed the true choreography and athleticism of Mystère or because we were beginning to fade, but honestly the show was disappointing. Poor lip-synching the show lended itself to almost a cheesy pirate burlesque show. That would be the only highlight of the show was that there were women, no actually girls, dancing around in scantily clad lingerie. Of course the guy pirates were nicely ripped too I was told. Overall, I wouldn’t waste my time standing around for this one again.

After the show we hailed a cab and took “the back roads” to the MGM Grand. After a quick shoe change I was off to the Hooters Casino right across the road. A quick 10 minute walk found me standing around waiting for the $3 blackjack table…easily the cheapest one near the Vegas strip. Before long a seat opened up and I limped in with $50 in change. Before long I was almost double my money but alas I kept playing. After a mere 3 hours at the table I walked out with the $50 I came in with up 3 Coronas and 2 bottles of water. I had also probably tipped the four dealers about $30 during that time too. The way I look at it is that they pay me for a win, so I’ll thank them with a tip on the fly. Back across the street to the MGM Grand and my head hit the pillow to pass out for the night.

It was hard to say good bye from YWG to our little girl that would be spending the next few days with her grandparents. We were sure she would be taken great care of, but at only four months old it was our first time without her for a night…ever! Alas, we headed through security, hit the duty free shop for some Vodka and Gin and proceeded to wait at the gate for boarding. The flight itself was uneventful.

We arrived on time, in fact thanks to the great WestJet service we arrived early only to find ourselves stuck on the plane because U.S. customs wasn’t allowing us off until they were ready. I guess that makes sense, but seriously leaving us on the plane sucked but wasn’t the fault of WestJet we were told. We hopped a quick cab ride to the MGM Grand and were greeted promptly with an offer of assistance for our bags. They weren’t that heavy so we politely declined. We proceeded into the lobby where the smell of fresh roses hit our nose. Then it was check-in time and it went very smoothly. We were greeted by someone that escorted us to the desk and the agent was quick and knowledgeable too. Upstairs to the room to throw the bags in and chill for a bit and try some of that duty free we picked up.

We decided that it was Vegas and we needed to go for a walk since we were both starving. We headed down to the casino floor and began to walk. It wasn’t long before we got distracted by the sites and sounds and a quick sit at “The Frog Prince” turned into a few minutes. I took off to try my luck at Black Jack and before I knew it had blown through $20 – not hard to do on a $10 table. Back to the slot machine, the money was gone so it was off on the great quest of food. We found a McDonald’s right in the MGM Grand and cautiously had a few burgers to eat and then we decided to hit the strip. Always up for adventure we kept walking past the sign for the monorail and on to The Signature at MGM Grand. Well, we didn’t realize just how far we had walked and went to the lobby to inquire the easiest way to get to the strip. “Oh just hang a left, go through the gate, then hang another left and you’re almost there” we were told. So we walked. And we walked some more. And we walked even further. Finally we arrived at the strip only to realize how far we had already walked on very little sleep the night before. A sign of things to come no doubt.

We thought about heading the opposite direction on the strip but decided we should think about heading back to our room. We hit the 7-eleven on the strip to grab a couple of over sized Heineken and proceeded to walk back to the MGM Grand avoiding pick-pockets, gun slingers and gang members along the way. We didn’t actually see any of those, just artistic license to the story…well, they may have been there but like I said we didn’t see them. We got back to the hotel and crashed.