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| Flying over Vegas! An interesting landscape! Luckily, the clear skies allowed us to enjoy the views! |
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| Here we are! It's the first time in Vegas for Darren, Mike and me! |
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| Tracie & I are so happy to be here together! (Darren's still sleepy...) |
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| Our hotel, which was absolutely amazing and over the top with luxury! Darren & Tracie booked it and paid for it all! They simply asked us to join them! Too generous and SO appreciated! |
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| Heading up to our room! |
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| Love the ceiling in this place! |
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| Time to explore the Miracle Mile Mall! |
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| Bright lights and showgirl advertisements! Just what you'd expect! |
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| Time for food! |
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| Love catching photos of people when they don't know I'm watching! Isn't Tracie beautiful? |
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| We eat here the next morning! |
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| The view/reflection from our hotel room window! |
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| Tracie and Darren's bedroom with the four-seater jacuzzi tub next to it and, in the distance, their full ensuite! These photos don't come anywhere close to doing this hotel suite justice! |
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| The kitchen! Stunning! |
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| "I'm drunk!" (Don't see Darren like this often.) Although we were all extremely tired, when Eugene and Jo arrived, we were revitalized! Don't know if it was their charisma or the whiskey. Probably both! |
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| As Eugene pours drinks, Jo wonders why, of all the things to buy for a hotel suite in Vegas, Darren chose milk...? |
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| Bro-mance! |
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| Some great company! |
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| Tracie sharing vids with Jo and Mike! |
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| Checkin' out our view the next morning! Surprisingly, everyone was verticle and smiling! |
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| Hanging out before Eugene went off to a poker tournament! |
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| The five of us went sight-seeing! |
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| Fake, but still stunning! |
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| Some beautiful architecture! |
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| So many places simply catch your eye! |
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| Lovely companions, on a hot, hot, hot day! Tracie actually jumped into the fountain, literally! That's why she has no shoes on! |
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| That's the fountain! |
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| Some lush vegetation! |
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| We found an air conditioned place to explore and eat/drink anything COLD! |
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| The Beatles Lounge = Revolution! |
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| I thought this was very cool, but I probably wasn't as stoked as Mike and Tracie! |
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| "No Photos"...? Yeah, right. It's John Lennon's guitar!!! |
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| Action shot! |
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| Darren had a very special night planned (which we'll get to later), so we all split up for the evening! This is Mike getting creative! |
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| We had the Brazilian restaurant experience for the first time, and it was entertaining, educational and delicious! They pushed carts over to our table to make each of our beverages from scratch, during which they explained the ingredients while demonstrating the process! Amazing! (We loved this woman as well! So friendly!) |
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| I probably couldn't eat enough that night to get my full money's worth... |
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| ...but I think Mike made up for me! They would carry skewers of various meats (and fruit) to the table, cut off a sizzling chunk while we, the customer, used tongs to pull it off and put it on our dish. Again, they would often tell us the type of meat, how it was cooked, etc... We were there for about two hours. So interesting! |
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| Look at this beauty back from the Elton John show! The six of us had an absolutely fabulous Tuesday evening celebrating together, because... |
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| On Tuesday, March 24th, Darren proposed to Tracie and... |
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| ...Tracie said "YES!" |
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| Before Tracie knew what was about to happen... |
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| ...Darren and Tracie had reservations at one of the top restaurants in Las Vegas! |
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| However, they left early and... |
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| Darren took Tracie on a magical walk! |
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| (I bet we all know what Darren wished for...) |
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| He took her for a stroll through botanical gardens! |
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| It looks like a dream... |
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| ...or a fairy tale! |
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| With beautiful flowers! |
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| Colours and detail! |
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| And then he walked her outside of the Bellagio, toward the fountains and... |
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| ...under the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower, he popped the question and she accepted just as the fountains exploded in dance with music and lights! |
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| After soaking up the moment while watching the fountain show,...they arrived at Joel Robuchon's restaurant, a world renowned chef!!! |
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| Ate delicious, world class meals! |
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| Savoured each other's company! |
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| They simply endulged! And why shouldn't they? It was an evening to celebrate!!! |
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| Tracie in the moment :) |
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| Finally, they returned to the hotel room where Eugene, Johanna, Mike and I were waiting. Apparently, besides Tracie, I was the only one who wasn't aware of the BIG surprise. This is a picture of oblivious me about half a second before I figured it out! Tracie basically had to hit me over the head with her new rock! |
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| Eugene poured the champaign! |
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| Darren was probably so happy and relieved ;) |
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| The six of us CHEERSED to Darren and Tracie, this beautiful moment and their future together! |
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| Tracie relishing in the moment! |
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| Darren takin' it in! |
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| Simply having fun! |
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| Enjoying great company! |
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| So happy to be able to celebrate this moment with you!!! |
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| The following day, the girlz and boyz split up. We, the girlz, went to the pool to lay in the sun, swim and chat. The boyz went to a poker tournament. Mike's first, and he WON!!! (Smart and lucky!!!) |
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| Tough guy! |
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| Unfortunately, we had to say farewell to these two Wednesday night! Loads of fun! Interesting conversation! Easygoing! Looking forward to seeing them again! |
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| Vegas at night! |
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| We had to eat at the famous (notorious) PINK'S hotdogs! |
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| "Please bow your heads in thanks for this artery clogging, heart-stopping, bowel burning, absolutely delicious, sinful food! And grant us a regret-free, calorie-free, get-out-of-jail-free night! Amen!" |
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| Even more stunning while lit up at night! |
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| The hotel lobbies were like art galleries! |
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| The two were appreciating it just as much as we were! |
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| Love this! |
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| A cylinder seahorse fish tank! |
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| And so many beautiful fountains! |
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| Love these three! |
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| White horse! |
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| The next day, Tray and I hung out poolside. Darren joined us for a meal. |
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| Then we decided to see how Mike was doing in his second Poker tournament. This time he came second!!! Another decent win! |
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| Yay! We went to the Beatles Tribute Show!!! |
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| They introduced it as if we were at THE Ed Sullivan Show! |
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| They had some goofy, entertaining interludes! |
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| "Ringo" had the perfect head bob! |
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| "George" (who had the role down to a tee!) and "John" performing during the Sergeant Pepper years! The sound during this period was amazing! |
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| I think seeing this show was more on my agenda, but I think the others still enjoyed it! :) |
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| I had loads of fun and was so happy the others wanted to see the show! |
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| Tech neck! |
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| Houses of the Holy boyz ready for their night out on the town! (Tracie & I lovin' the entertainment!) |
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| Da boyz and those shirts! They sure did keep Tray and I entertained! But they got quite a few questions, comments and conversations from strangers too! |
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| Darren and I sharing a menu! |
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| He gets it daily! |
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| The studs, with giant, girly-drink cups in their holsters! Somehow, they manage to pull this off... |
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| Out to explore again! |
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| Tracie and I checked out some amazing art! |
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| During our last night in town, we saw a Cirque du Soleil show! |
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| This was my favourite moment of the show! These two were so graceful! |
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| It was an incredible show! |
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| Unique! |
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| One of these performers scared us with a mini-trip, but he caught his balance! They are so skilled and confident! |
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| The sets and costumes blew me away! |
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| Breathtaking! |
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| The show inspired us to try some things on! Tracie looks fabuous in this hat! (She bought it!) |
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| The kooky couple! |
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| I couldn't resist the masks! |
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| Too much fun! |
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| Oooo, I had to get this for Halloween! |
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| Combo! |
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| Tracie looks amazing! She knows how to wear a mask! |
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| Mike wants me to get this outfit! |
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| So, they eventually pulled me out of that store... to see all the other beautiful surroundings! |
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| Tracie snapped a shot of Mike and me! |
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| Check out this staircase! |
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| The end of a wonderful night! |
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| Saying good-bye to our amazing hotel room |
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| Loved this kitchen table, and the entire suite, both sides! But we had to leave... All good things come to an end... |
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But it was so great to be back in Canada!
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| We arrived in Vancouver, and the air was so fresh and cool! It was warm, but rainy! It felt wonderful! |
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| And we had one more day with Tracie and Darren! (Isn't she cute?) |
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| Look at how beautiful Vancouver is! |
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| We made the most of our last evening together, dancing away, like the good ol' days! |
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| But finally, he had to say farewell and a GIANT THANK YOU to Tracie and Darren for their amazing hospitality! Mike and I spent a few extra hours, with many other Yukoners, waiting for our delayed flight back to Whitehorse. Although we had very little sleep before work the next day, it was more than worth it! |
