Day 2

We made it to Vegas after a long day of speeding. We stayed at the Westin, a "dog friendly hotel" where the hotel staff didn't seem to like dogs very much. Well, everyone except for the nice cleaning lady who offered Christi dog biscuits for Mika. The place was nice, but the elevator smelled like cigarettes. Andy and Mika had never experienced Vegas, and the hotel was just off the strip. We decided to walk down to the strip around 10 p.m. and, hopefully, catch the Bellagio water show.

Along the way we met a few people who wanted to pet Mika. Their boozy breath really turned her off. We walked over the nekkid lady cards scattered on the ground, and we saw Chewbacca and Robo Cop (or something like that) on our stroll. Mika endured the chaos until we walked into the Bellagio where there were too many people and the floors were slippery. Then Mika started to claw at the ground and tremble. Christi scooped her up and walked down a flight of stairs with her to the patio. We found a place to watch the water show. Once we were outside Mika was fine. We felt like such bad parents.

Note the 24 hour Starbucks and the resurrection of Red Skelton. 

A skinny guy with a Santa hat stopped by and petted Mika (she seemed to like his coffee breath), and then Andy went to go get some green tea gelato. Just before Andy got back the water show started:

A word to the wise about seeing Vegas for the first time: dodge the puke outside the Bellagio, don't play the dollar slots at your hotel, and never bring your dog. After we were done with the water show, we decided to head back and stop traumatizing Mika. 

We watched a little cable and then got up late, thinking we had a shorter day of driving ahead of us. Besides, we wanted to play some slots before we left the casino. We spent some time at The Flamingo and won about $40 on the Wizard of Oz slot machines when all was said and done. Andy thinks he saw Moe Green and the ghost of Frank Sinatra. 

After that we were off to get gas and hit the road!