This year I went to Las Vegas for my birthday, even though my original plans was to try to fly to Japan for a few days. The real reason for this trip was for my brother to finally see his girlfriend after six months. During the time there I rarely seen my brother as the aunt asked if it was okay if he stayed with her. I said it was okay as he was the one that paid for the room. As for my time there, I wondered about strip and enjoyed my time.

Effiel Tower at the Paris hotel and casino

HellCat Challenger being given away at The D

The day that we were we leaving, We all (Meech, Taylor, Trish and myself) made a trip to the desert of Las Vegas. The area we went to was Red Rock Canyon. There we walked two paths around the area. The scenic route in itself is a full 13 miles around. While it was extremely hot, we manage to reach an area that has a small river bank that is dry during the small, but it had a small watering hole.

When I make another trip to Vegas I will be hitting up another desert path and this time I will be better equip to walk the desert heat.

For New Year Eve, buddies of mine from work decided to do a last minute day trip to Las Vegas for the New Year. Monday everything was planned out, and Wednesday we were on a plane heading to Vegas. When we arrived, I admit we were a little lost walking through the airport. Have a few turn-abouts and we finally made our way to the infamous Las Vegas strip. Knowing it was the holiday we knew it was going to be pack.

Throughout the day we got into tourist mode. We walked the strip in it's entirety. The whole time there we winged the whole day, no plans were ever made til that moment. To bypass all the boring tourist activities, the nightlife is of course is when Vegas truly comes alive.

At around 9:00pm the strip is shut down. Meaning no cars are allowed and people are allowed to wonder on the streets with no problem. Even though this was Vegas, the weather was just a tad bit warmer than it was back home. So a few hundred people who weren't use to the cold was complaining about it being cold. While there was a few who embrace it as if it was nothing. There were parties everywhere you went. Some parties were charging $150 a head so those were completely out of the question.

As time came closer to midnight everyone (who wasn't stuck on a table or slot) came out. At the stroke of midnight a ten minute fireworks display went off along the strip so everyone was able to see them no matter where they were at on and off. In the end it was one of the best moments to be able to do something like that in my life.

After the show we went back to MGM to kill some time before our ride came to take us back to the airport for the 6 o'clock flight home. For the second time ever I was able to get first class heading back home. What that meant to me was that I was able to sleep with no problems but not before getting a picture of the snow cap mountains and have breakfast.