A Best Friend's Birthday Surprise
We met in 1999 and greeted each other when out at the same parties, events or activities. It wasn't until 2004 that we really started to hang out on our own and on a regular basis. We are alike in so many ways and yet so different and I love that about us.
The past few years I've been surprising her for her birthday. I'd show up in San Diego without her knowing...although, I'm sure as time has passed, she's figured out that I'll always be there. This year was a bit different. First, you have to know that I LOVE BIRTHDAYS. I love my own...but I love planning parties/events for those that are close to me. For my hubby's 30th last year, I did a 7 Deadly Sins party that (I thought) was siiiick :)
So what do you do for your best friend who lives in a different state?! Welp, every year I contact her hubby to see what is already in place (if anything) and then I go from there. This year (since it was a mini mile stone birthday) I thought....what better place to go than Vegas!! Her hubby thought it was a good idea and said she needed a getaway - and off my brain went.
I decided for her 35th birthday we should do 35 things in Vegas. Boom...my idea was born. However, Vegas isn't a cheap city and there was A LOT of research done on what is free and/or minimal in cost. I knew I wanted to do one big thing, but the rest would need to practically free. Of course the regular Vegas sites were on there (like the Bellagio Fountains) but I wanted it to be different. So I started asking my Vegas friends "where do you take people from out of town?" hoping I'd get something other than "the strip" - I didn't. So...the digging began!
Plans never seem to go the way they were meant to. A small wrench was thrown into my plans when my best friend text me one day to say "hey....the girls have two weeks off in October. I wanted to show them Vegas and see you. Would it be okay to stay with you?" RED ALERT, RED ALERT PEOPLE! Of course I couldn't tell her no. She kept asking me where she could take her daughters (6 & 9) that were inexpensive and family friendly. I didn't want to give her all the awesome places I had planned to take her. But I gave her a couple.
A couple weeks before the big surprise, her husband text me to say they had an extra ticket to the Jimmy Buffett concert. (The original plan was to pick her up in CA the Sunday morning after the concert). I wasn't a big fan of Jimmy - I only knew a handful of songs, but I agreed to go. *SIDE NOTE - The concert was AWESOME and the people watching was AMAZING.* I surprised my BFF on Saturday evening by arriving at their hotel. Later she would tell me she wasn't that surprised because her husband told her to pack for a couple extra days and she knew something was up when he wasn't packing. Oye vey.
Sunday morning we got up, got ready and started the journey!! Again, not everything went according to plan. We definitely went out of order after a while and some places we didn't end up going to and found ourselves at other places. I've included my notes from my excel spreadsheet. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask :) We started off taking pictures everywhere....that kind of died down :p
Note - I numbered envelopes and made her open each one just before heading to the next place. Some include inside jokes....because all BFF's have a ton of inside jokes.
Please feel free to use this idea and / or any of the places I took my bestie:
I wanted to keep all of the fun in Nevada, but we did make our first stop Peggy Sue's. So what we had ice cream for breakfast :p
| Place | Location | Hours Of Operation | Entrance Fee | Show Times / Notes | |
| Bonnie & Clyde Getaway Car | Whiskey Pete's | 24 Hours | Free | http://www.vegas.com/attractions/near-las-vegas/bonnie-clyde-car/ |
At this point, I got confirmation of plans that weren't apart of the original process....so we changed things up a bit. Number Two was going to be saved for later, but we never got to it:
| Sanders Family Winery | 3780 Kellogg Road
Pahrump, NV 89061 | 10am - 5pm | Free | http://sanderswinery.com/ |
Didn't have time for number 3 - since it was closer to number 2. Fast forward to number 4.
| Take Picture In Front of Vegas Sign | The Strip | 24 Hours | Free | http://www.vegas.com/attractions/on-the-strip/welcome-las-vegas-sign/ |
So my BFF and I have a long tradition of "kissy" pictures - here a few from over the years:
Since Vegas is known for quickie weddings and chapels....what better place to nab a quickie kissy picture.
| Take Kissy Chapel Pic | Little Church Of The West | 24 Hours | Free | http://littlechurchlv.com/ |
I've lost the card for number SIX - but when we were both living in San Diego, we took a trip to Vegas. That weekend we were staying with a friend and he left us to stay in his house with his roommates. We invited one of his roommates out with us. When we got ready and left he asked us where we wanted to go....we made him take us to Sonic. There were always commercials for it in San Diego, but we didn't have any! Who knew years later that roommate would be my husband :)
When my BFF was here with her girls a couple of weeks ago, her oldest saw a lady with a famous frozen yard drink and pointed out that it was a huge icee....so i had to include one in our adventures. Note - they are BIG and are hard to finish! They are really cold and hard to hold for long periods of time. Also...there is ALWAYS a Groupon for these.
| Get Frozen Drinks | Miracle Mile Shops | 24 Hours | $25.00 | https://www.groupon.com/deals/fresh-grill-bar-2 |
Clearly the gal behind the counter is not the best photographer LOL
| Miracle Mile Fountains | Planet Hollywood | 12pm-11pm | Free | On The Hour http://www.miraclemileshopslv.com/entertainment/free-fountain-show/ |
| Exhibits @ Crystals | Crystals | 24 Hours | Free | http://www.theshopsatcrystals.com/ |
If you've never been to the Crystals....it's pretty neat in and of itself. I mean...it's all high end shopping and I'll never be able to afford shopping there....but the decor is awesome!!
We walked next door to the Bellagio....we failed and didn't get pictures.
| Bellagio Atrium | Bellagio | 24 Hours | Free | http://bellagio.com/attractions/botanical-garden.aspx |
The next stop was what threw a wrench in my plan....but I was okay with it :) I had found this Groupon after I created my list. We had to watch the clock and get to our next destination by six. So we never made it to the winery. But instead, we took a helicopter tour of the strip at night :)
At this point we went home to relax, freshin' up and change. This also the point where my list went haywire. Again - not all things on my list made it, but we still had tons of fun!
| Container Park | Container Park | 24 Hours | Free | $0.00 | http://downtowncontainerpark.com/ |
| Downtown Canopy Lights | Fremont Street | 8pm - 12am | Free | http://vegasexperience.com/ |
| Hogs & Heifers | Downtown | 24 Hours | Free | http://hogsandheifers.com/ |
| Gold Spike | Downtown | 24 Hours | Free | http://goldspike.com/ |
As we were leaving we stopped at Mickey Finz to see our friend perform with his band JV Allstars. That ended up being a late night - but we had a ton of fun. There were definitely things we didn't get to on the list....but this one took place of another :)
Always a good time when with JV Allstars
Happy Birthday - by JV Allstars
The craziness that happens in Downtown Vegas
I just realized this is forever long!! I think I'll breakup this blog into two. Until next time!
Essentially,
Evie xoxo
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