Vegas: the city that never sleeps. And neither did we.

Well folks, I did it. I went to Vegas, found my millionaire boyfriend, and tied the knot. Vegas style.

Believe me? Okay, so that didn't happen. But it could've. One thing I learned in Vegas is that it is the land of opportunity. Anything can happen in Vegas. You can win big, lose it all, meet people from all over the world, see hotels built to mimic New York, Paris, Italy, Egypt, Hollywood, act like a VIP (with tickets you scored from club promoters), see a celebrity, taste foods from all different parts of the world, get your picture taken with Johnny Depp, Michael Jackson, or Elvis...and that's not even everything! The Vegas strip is definitely a world of its own.

Not sure how to go about this post since I had planned on having pictures to guide me (all pics in this post were taken by the girls that went with me). However, my camera and my phone were lost/stolen. Somewhere between leaving a club and going the restroom at 2:30 a.m. And for a girl that doesn't mean a whole lotta time. Probably about 10 minutes from the club to the bathroom sink where I realized both of my valued possessions were gone. After much searching and about three trips to security, I gave up. Although I'm extremely disappointed to lose all of my pictures and camera, losing the phone was just plain scary. When you have an iPhone you carry a lot of personal information with you. With just a password anyone could access my bank account, facebook, or email, not to mention all of my pictures, contacts, and text messaging conversations. It leaves you feeling violated and exposed. Here is what I learned from this experience:

1. If you have an iPhone use the handy locking feature which requires a four digit password to access the phone. Even if you don't use this feature every day, it's a good idea to use while traveling.

2. Also if you have an iPhone, there is a "Find My Phone" app that you can install. In the unfortunate case that your phone is lost or stolen you can use this app to locate it, send a push notification that instructs anyone who finds it on how to return it to you, or wipe the data off the phone. Would have been nice to know about this app BEFORE my phone went missing. You can't install it once the phone is gone. For you iPhoners, download it now. It's free. And better to be safe than sorry.

3. Carry your phone and/or camera or any other important property (I.D., credit card/cash) in something that will be easy to hold on to and difficult for anything to fall out of. I had a small, black wristlet for when I went out at night. It was very easy to hold on to and perfect for walking around with, dancing with, and didn't make it too awkward to carry with anything else, such as my high heels that always came off at the end of the night. However, my handbag didn't close securely enough. The phone and camera made it a little hard to clasp, which is another theory I have on my missing electronics. They may have slipped out when I didn't fasten the bag correctly.

Those are my suggestions. But enough boring advice from me. I didn't go to Vegas to write a how-to guide. I'll start with the beginning.

Journey to Vegas via Seattle, Part One.

On Wednesday afternoon 5:00 seriously didn't come fast enough. Not only do you feel like you have a million things to do at work before leaving on vacation, but you really don't care about a single one. Of course, you have to pretend like you do care. All of your co-workers are silently hating you already for the fun you're about to have while they stay back in the office, so you have to put on a busy, hard-at-work face anyway.

As I frantically and distractedly wrote out a list of things to do for my co-workers to do in case any one of the "worst-case scenarios" actually happened and wrote a list for myself for Monday morning when I knew I would be having a hard time even remembering my name, I could only think of getting on the road and starting my vacation as soon as possible. But of course 5:00 made it's way around and we were off. But not before a trip to my place to pick up my bags. Did I mention I packed the night before while drinking wine? It was a good idea at first, but before I knew it there was more drinking and less packing. I realized this was not as good of an idea when I got to Vegas and couldn't find a few items I was so sure I had thrown in. Next time there will be no wine and packing. Riiiiiiiight.....

Mandy in the front seat. Sanji in the passenger seat. Me in the backseat. On our way to Seattle. Nothing too exciting happened. Mandy drove the first part, and I took over half-way there. I was dubbed the city driver. Even though I am the most small town/country/non-city girl out of the two of them. But, I'm a good city driver. I'm aggressive (this scares most people, I'm sure), I don't worry about getting lost (aka don't panic), and I am pretty good with directions.

We arrived at our desination in Seatlle, which was Mandy's brothers new home in West Seattle. His fiancee currenlty lives there. They are getting married in August. Thanks for the roof over our heads, bed, and shower, Matt and Annalee!

Journey to Vegas via Seattle, Part Two.

After getting up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready, the three of us left with Matt on the bus for downtown Seattle. Matt works downtown and it was an easy way for us to get on the light rail that would take us to the airport. We looked quite out of place walking around in cloudy and cold Seattle in shorts, flip flops, and bright colors with our suitcases rolling behind us. We obviously looked like we were leaving for somewhere warmer or we had mistaken a flight to Mexico for Seattle.

We had our pick of seats on the bus. Matt and Mandy sat together. Sanji and I sat facing each other but each with one seat next to each other. Mistake. I do like to think I can handle just about anything but there are some things I'm just not used to. For example, a man with his hand stuck in his pocket like he is holding some sort of scary object that just has to choose the seat next to me. Sometimes the small town girl in me just comes out. I say something that gives it away or my face says it all. I tried to keep my cool. But when he started talking to us, or at us, I should say since we didn't understand a single word, I got a little freaked out. Although I kept a pageant queen smile plastered on my face and tried talking to Sanji and the nice, normal, young man sitting next to her, of COURSE she would get the normal one, I was praying in my head that this would not be the end of me and that I would at least make it to Vegas. That whatever he was holding in his pocket was anything but a weapon. Maybe a can of pop, a paper airplane, a squirt gun, some candy, ANYTHING. Maybe if he wasn't speaking to us in a different language, wasn't yelling and pointing at us and to the ground and then the sky it wouldn't have been a big deal. Luckily I made it. My prayers were asnwered. The bus stopped, he went one way and we went the other.

Even with Vegas drawing the most interesting people from all over the world, this was our one run-in with someone as crazy as he was. Halle-freakin-lujah.

On the plane for Vegas. All bright-eyed and ready.

Vegas. Bright lights. 24 hours a day.

We landed in hot, sunny Vegas around noon on Thursday. After picking up our bags we found a shuttle to take us to our hotel, the Excalibur. For those of you that are not familiar with Vegas, or the strip, the Excalibur is on the strip. It's at the beginning of the strip. It's also very cheasy looking. I basically lived in a hotel and casino that looked like a castle. A little less Disney and not so realistic, but hey, it did the job. We were barely in the room anyway. And for us travelers who don't make enough to spend a lot of money, it was perfect.

First thing we did was go for a drink. Of course. When in Vegas, do what everyone else does. Right? There are the ginormous Margarita drinks you can buy down on the strip. Oh, and the great thing about Vegas? You can drink ANYWHERE. Walking down the street, in and out of stores and hotels. It's great. So you will see people carrying around these large plastic drinking cups. We looked everywhere for the cheapest ones, until we found one for $21. It was at this outdoor bar called La Casa something (sorry, didn't think to remember the whole name). But if you brought it back for a refill it was only $16. You'll think I'm crazy until you go to Vegas and see how expensive everything is.

There is plenty to do in Vegas. My goal was to spend as little money as possible. Since there is plenty to see that is quite easy if you're up for walking around and just seeing the sights. I'd show you the pictures but my camera decided to make Vegas it's permanent home. I am extremely upset that I don't have the picture of me with a Johnny Depp look-a-like. He really did look just like Mr. Depp. Well, maybe if you closed one eye and squinted at the camera. But it was still my favorite picture.

Vegas Nightlife. It's a gamble. On whether or not you make it home with your heels on your feet or in your hands, of course.

All that walking during the day and you think I'd realize that heels would be an even worse idea. But when in Vegas, it's not my local bar where I can wear flip flops, a tee shirt, and shorts and do just fine. In Vegas you are just one of hundreds of young women in tall heels and short dresses. So, while I don't HAVE to dress the part, I gotta admit it was kind of fun. When you live in a small town such as Pullman you don't have a lot of opportunities to get all dolled up and go clubbing. We took full advantage. And luckily, after one night of a much too painful walk home and blisters on top of blisters from our heels we learned to pack flip flops. If you have someone in your group that is taking a larger bag you can pack them all in and pull them out for the way home. No one likes a hobbling, whining, girl at 4am. Especially her friends.

The funnest part of going out in Vegas? Nobody knows anybody and everyone is ready to meet and mingle. I met so many people from all over the country and the world. We made friends with some nice Australian guys the second night that got us in to the VIP at club Tao our last night in Vegas. Even in Vegas it helps to know someone. And they were fun, great guys to know.

We hit Coyote Ugly, Bond at the Cosmopolitan, Caramel lounge and The Bank at the Bellagio, Koi at Planet Hollywood, Tao at the Venetian, and the Chandelier bar at the Cosmopolitan. Not bad for three nights of Vegas. The thing about Vegas is the bars stay open until at least 4 a.m. so thats about the time you start heading home. I figured out that I probably got around 10 hours of sleep from Thursday to Sunday. But it was worth it. I've always been a night owl anyway.

Goodbye Vegas. Hello reality.

Our flight was scheduled for 7 a.m. Sunday morning. Since we didn't want to waste our last night in Vegas we packed before we left the hotel. We got back at 3:45 a.m. to change and grab our bags, got on the shuttle at 4:15 a.m., and was on the plane before takeoff at seven. Sitting in a row with seats that did not recline made it difficult for getting any sleep. We landed in Seattle after 9 a.m. and on barely any sleep hopped in the car for a long and sleepy drive back to Pullman.

I took the first leg of the journey. On watered down coffee I made my way across the state until my part was done. Then Mandy took over. I felt that we were in safe hands since she at least got to nap the first part of the journey. I'm not sure how safe we were on the first part, but as always, I got us there without a scratch.

I was in bed by 7 p.m. Sunday night after getting a new phone and letting my parents know I was home safe. I swear I could hear their sigh of relief from here.

Who goes to work the morning after getting home from Vegas? This crazy girl. It felt weird to get up and not go straight to the pool, to wear work clothes, and to drive myself instead of walk for miles down the hot Vegas strip where I had learned how to ignore people handing out stripper cards. Yes folks, there's really just no other way to say it. I was exhausted and disoriented at work on Monday morning. And I actually wanted to go back. My Vegas life had become normal.

Now I'm back to Erica's actual life normal. Where I hit snooze one too many times before getting up for work, have my morning coffee before my mind starts working, am fairly alert most of the time at work and chat up my coworkers when I'm not, go to the gym, see my friends, keep in touch with family. I'll probably go to the My Office bar this Friday with Jamie. And I'll more than likely be at the river this weekend. Normal life may not be as exciting as Vegas life but I love it and all the people in it.

One thing is for sure, though: Vegas, I'll be back.