North America, Photography, Travel

Road Trip to Las Vegas, Nevada – Heading to Burning Man

road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, Treasure Island, Casino, Hotel
The view from our room!

Packing up at the Grand Canyon was relatively uneventful. We were excited to road trip to Las Vegas and move into our sweet Petite Suite at Treasure Island.

I have yet to be disappointed by the scenery of the Southwest. It really never ceases to amaze me. Once you get settled into desert scenery, you find yourself surrounded by pine trees and mountains.

We arrived at Treasure Island at the precise time that everyone and their mother decided to check in. I have not been in a line this long since waiting my way through the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland some years ago. While I found myself complaining, the payoff was phenomenal. Shaun and I had reserved the hotel room some time ago and had gotten a pretty price on it. It was more than I could every wished for or expected.

Is this how the other half lives?

Marble floors? Two bathrooms? A jacuzzi tub? Seriously? IT. WAS. AWESOME (OSSUM).

Luckily for us, our night was going to be even better. A good friend of ours graciously got us into the posh, premiere club, Tao in the Venetian. Normally, Shaun and I feel like pretty low key individuals. The guest list we were placed on rocketed us up a few spots on the social totem pole. One of the girls at the podium even said, “You are my favorite people of the night.” I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more acknowledgment of my existence than we did in our two days in Vegas.

The club was everything you can imagine a swanky club could be. 10,000 square feet of amazing lighting, beautiful people, and even freaking half naked girls in pasties dancing in a tub of flower petals. Only in Vegas.

road trip to Las Vegas, Abby Tegnelia, The Jungle Princess, Over Yonderlust, Las Vegas, Paris, Casino
Abby is amazing!

The next day we caught up with the one and only Abby Tegnelia of The Jungle Princess at the Paris Casino for a late lunch. While we had been through some interesting weather over our road trip, we were fortunate enough to have some of the most amazing weather I’ve ever experienced in Vegas – a whopping 80 degrees or so. The breeze was amazing and complimentary to the wonderful company and chats over our glasses of wine. Abby was super sweet and we were to happy to have the opportunity to meet up with her.

Abby was a bit surprised over what comes with hanging out with us. While we think of ourselves as low key, every now and then Shaun’s pink mohawk (or my tattoos) generate a bit of attention.

Shaun, Mohawk, Pink, Las Vegas, Paris, Casino
I’m going to paint you….

During our conversations, Abby found herself peeking over Shaun’s shoulder. I didn’t really think much of it, but apparently there was an older couple peeking through some decorative foliage super spy style in our direction. This occurred multiple times during the course of our lunch. It was only when the man came up to our table that it became apparent what was going on.

“Can I take you picture?” the man stated to Shaun as he took out his iPhone. This is where Shaun looked a bit perplexed. Here he was, sitting at a table with two attractive women, and the man wanted a picture of him.

Shaun shrugged and the man took aim. The man concentrated on taking the picture with a determined composition.

“I’m going to paint you.” he whispered in a hushed tone as he turned around and left the restaurant.

You should have seen Abby’s face! I was cracking up at the whole ordeal and I can say without a doubt that Abby was weirded out. She has now been baptized in the experience of hanging out with us in public places. Now she can’t claim ignorance.

The rest of the day was spent gambling our modest budgets away and staying up way too late seeing Mystere (Cirque du Soleil) at Treasure Island. It blew my mind away and I suggest the show to anyone that is able to make it! I finally found myself in bed at about 1:30am on Sunday night when we had to be up at 6am to leave to Burning Man.

Good times.

Here are some pictures from the road trip up and a few of Vegas. 🙂

Road Trip to Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

Road Trip, Nevada, Las Vegas

17 thoughts on “Road Trip to Las Vegas, Nevada – Heading to Burning Man”

  1. @Ayngelina: Thank you! I really love doing black and white. I’m just afraid of it being too gimmicky if I do it too often. I really love contrast in them!

  2. I love the black and white ones too. I think the contrast is great considering that Vegas is all about lights and colors and craziness. The black and white photos put’s it in a new perspective.

    Classic “can I take your pic” sorry ladies, not you, him.

  3. It’s sooo true! The old lady leaning back in her chair so her husband could take photos through the shrubbery. I knew I wasn’t being paranoid! It was so refreshing to watch Shaun model, instead of that “type” of Vegas girls old men are usually snapping pictures of! And speaking of photo… I love yours!! Wow! That was such a fun afternoon.

  4. Sounds like fun – really cool that you got to hang out with Abby! What’s with the weirdo taking Shaun’s pic? I’ve been to Vegas a couple of times and I really enjoyed Mandalay Bay. We eventually made it into Pure in Ceasar’s Palace and it happened to be Nikki Hilton’s birthday party complete with Paris on stage dancing beyond R rated. Something crazy always seems to happen in Vegas.

  5. @Abby: Thank you for having lunch with us Abby! We had so much fun! I had more Vegas pictures but everything came out so cliche.

  6. @Keith: Vegas is definitely a place with character. Every time I talk to someone about Vegas, they seem to have a crazy story. As for Nikki being a stripper, it would have blinded me.

  7. Ha! That’s hysterical – I’m going to paint you! Well now his face will be hanging up in someone’s living room. Cool!

    Love the pics too. esp. the 1st b & w.

  8. I mean, I hope you get a copy of the painting, that would be a great conversation piece. hahaha. Mystere is the one Cirque show I haven’t made it to, guess it’ll be next on my agenda.

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