Our 2nd Las Vegas Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were reminded that, despite the frustrations and/or disappointments in life, there is so much for which we can be thankful.  My whole day was a reminder of all the blessings in my life.

I declared that my Thanksgiving began the minute I picked up my parents from the airport on Wednesday evening.  We ate awesome (unhealthy) burgers and garlic french fries at Strip Burger at Fashion Show Mall.  You should try this place when you come to Vegas.  These french fries will seriously not disappoint.

Because we ate way too much, we needed to move around before heading home.  We decided to venture over to the Wynn, right across Las Vegas Blvd from Fashion Show Mall.  I've lived here 15 months and actually had never been inside the Wynn.  It is so beautiful!!

Right inside the main door, there is this gorgeous conservatory with vibrant trees, flowers, etc.  It was actually pretty breathtaking.  I especially loved this adorable carousel that was covered in flowers.  

Not only was it covered in flowers, it really functioned!!  

I didn't try to ride it, I suspected from the "don't touch" type signs that the huge security guards wouldn't take too kindly if I tried to touch any of the flowers.  After exploring the Wynn and a few other casinos/malls, we went home to get some sleep before our early Turkey Trot plans the next day.

The science nerd in me compels me to share the name of this bar with you.  You can find it inside the Palazzo shops.

We started out our Thanksgiving Day proper with a lovely 12k Turkey Trot on the Six Tunnels to the Hoover Dam trail.  The course followed a reclaimed railroad trail that was used to transport materials necessary to build the Hoover Dam about 80 years ago.  The run has beautiful views of the Muddy Mountains, Lake Mead, and the Hoover Dam.  And, the tunnels are just really cool.

My average pace was 10:30 over the approximately 7.5 miles.  Obviously, I'm not super happy with that, but I haven't been running much lately, so I don't really have much to complain about.  Plus, my pace isn't really important.  I was out there with my husband, my dad, and my mom!

(PS - my mom killed it. For the first time, she ran the entire 5K without walking!  She also PRed and cut 10 minutes from her 5K time at this exact turkey trot last year!!)

After the Turkey Trot and cleaning up, we headed to the Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino for a delicious buffet lunch/dinner at The Wicked Spoon Buffet.  (Check out this article listing the Wicked Spoon as one of the top places to eat Thanksgiving dinner!)

These are just two of my many, many plates of delicious food.  Trust me, I'm not one of those bloggers that says she ate so much food, but really ate 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes, 1 oz of turkey, and a pound of salad with fruit for dessert.  We were literally at the buffet for 3 hours and I loved every single minute of it.

After eating my weight in buffet delicacies, we needed to walk off a bit of that uncomfortably full feeling.  As we walked around, we encountered this giant shoe and I made the misguided decision that I needed a picture of me inside the stupid shoe.  Spoiler Alert:  I got stuck and needed my husband and my dad to help me out.

It seemed like such a good idea before I got in. 

The flaw in my plan for this fantastic photo op was sliding into the toe box butt first.  I just kept sliding and sliding until I was pretty much folded in half.  Unfortunately, the shoe was so steep because of the killer stiletto, it made it pretty much impossible for me to get out on my own....especially given the aforementioned disgusting quantity of food that I had consumed.

Christmas has come early, my blogger friends, because my mother was on hand to get my unfortunate predicament all on video for your viewing pleasure.

We also stopped in a spot overlooking the chandelier bar because it is just stunning with all the crystals and makes for an excellent photo background.

 Eventually, we wandered over to the Bellagio.  I've been there several times since moving to Las Vegas, but I had never encountered this:

Yes, that is a Guinness certificate for the "World's Largest Chocolate Fountain."  I just wanted to sit there and watch it and wait for my appetite to return so I could try to convinced someone to let me put my head under any one of these ribbons of melty chocolate.

And, because this is apparently a post of videos, here's a little something I threw together in iMovie of the fountain.  I've watched it a couple times and I think I'm going to need to pour some Hershey's chocolate syrup in my mouth and try to convince myself that it is a giant chocolate fountain =) 

Stay safe on Black Friday.  I think I'm going to skip shopping and watch the Iowa football game in the morning and head out for a hike with my parents!!