Another year has come and gone.  And we decided to spend this year's New Year's celebration in Sin City.  I've never gone to Las Vegas for New Years before so, this was quite a shocker.  I had always envisioned Time Square as the de facto BEST place to celebrate New Years.  But, with the banning of alcohol, terrorist threats, crazy security, hordes of people (and families), and chilly weather, we decided to look elsewhere.  Good thing we did.  Vegas was awesome.  Definitely one of the best New Years celebrations. 

The entire Las Vegas strip is closed down so that party goers and drunken college students can drink, laugh, yell, scream, and be merry.  It's one big party out there and everyone's invited.  We went to our friend's suite at the Venetian first before hitting up the streets with drinks in hand.  To make transportation easier, we put the coke and rum into the original coke bottles and just brought those onto the streets.  Then, we waited for the countdown. 

As the clocked ticked down, the crowd grew louder and louder.  Then, everyone joined in on the countdown as the final seconds to 2005 ticked away.  Next came the fireworks.  One after another the casinos put on a display for the folks outside.  It's a definite, site to behold.  We enjoyed the entire display outside the Bellagio in front of the amazing fountains.  And after it was all over... made one of the stupidest decisions ever... We decided to walk back from the Vegas strip to the Palace Station. 

Granted the total distance isn't all that far.  And we were all somewhat inebriated.  So, our decision-making capacities weren't that great.  And, the strip was blocked off.  So, it was crazy trying to find a taxi.  But, it's still not the smartest move of all time.  It did, hoewever, end up giving us plenty of picture opportunities on the way back to the hotel.  And, we did learn about Paul's amazing rapping skills, Brian's knack for remembering old theme songs for tv shows from the 80's, and Cat's ability to act drunk even though she hadn't had any alcohol at all. 

This gorilla was just asking for it

So we had to take two pictures with him

Circus Circus indeed

Rowr

Whoa there

We ended the evening with some relaxation back at the hotel. 

The next day, we spent some time just shopping around.  We went to our favorite major shopping area in Vegas: the Caesar's Palace Forum Shops.  Great place to go to spend the day.  There's the free show there with talking statues, an aquarium that surrounds it, plenty of shops, and of course, the FAO Schwartz.

Where even grown ups can act like kids

And have a good time