The Month of Debauchery: Vegas Edition

I’ve been back to work for the last two weeks, but I still haven’t finished talking about all of the fun things I did during my month of debauchery. In an attempt to move on in life, we’ll skip over the small things, pausing to note that I considered writing an ironic post on the fact that the day symbolizing America’s independence also symbolized the end of my freedom from work and responsibility.

There is, however, one thing that must be discussed. One cannot have a month of debauchery without doing something depraved and debauched. Because of this, I spent a weekend in Las Vegas. Okay, actually I went to Vegas for a family reunion. But still.

We were only in Vegas for a day and a half, but we crammed a lot in that time.
We toured the Strip, and I was reminded of the fact that, if you don’t gamble, there’s really not a whole lot to do on the Strip—besides get lost in casinos, that is, which we did a lot of. We did all of the following things, but since each item on the list took about five minutes, it sounds like more than it really is.

• We toured the conservatory at the Bellagio hotel.


• Also at the Bellagio, we caught the end of the fountain show, which I missed most of by continually trying to get a better view.


• We saw the ceiling that’s painted to look like the sky along the Miracle Mile in Planet Hollywood.


• We bought exceedingly overpriced M&M’s at M&M World.


• We saw some lions at the MGM Grand.


• We rode the rollercoaster at New York, New York. We almost died.

When we were done with walking everywhere, we headed back to our aunt and uncle's house to change our clothes and get ready for the night’s adventure: seeing the Broadway version of The Lion King.

The Lion King did not disappoint. I kind of wish they’d embellished the story a little more for the stage, but that’s not the real reason you shell out a ton of money to see the Broadway version: You shell out the money to see the awesome costumes. And they were awesome. I’m including the trailer so you can see how awesome the costumes are.



Another surprise? A guy who grew up down the street from me was playing Timon! I spent most of the night wondering why they painted him green. He didn't blend in with the background at all.

Sunday’s happenings were the real reason we went to Vegas. Our Vegas cousins had been pretty busy. The oldest cousin had just given birth to an adorable baby boy, the middle cousin had just returned from a two year mission to Russia, and the youngest cousin had just graduated from high school. Congratulations, cousins!

We attended church, where the baby was blessed and the missionary gave a great talk. After church we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house to eat some delicious food, mingle with the guests, and pass out on the couches for a few hours before it was time to clamber back in my car and head back to Utah and one more week of debauchery.