A Vegas Goodbye

Now, here's the last of Vegas. [Find the first two recaps here and here.] Also, I'm being featured today on Hollie's blog. You'll be sure to learn a thing or two about me so head on over there, too :)

Back to the recap. Since the Neon Boneyard had been such an unexpected disappointment, luckily, I had planned out another [and final] fun day for us. Thanks to my go-to Vegas girl Katy, I heard about the Shark Tank pool at the Golden Nugget and HAD to go! I have absolutely zero desire to ever swim with sharks, pet a shark, etc. so I really have no idea why this appealed to me so much. Maybe because it’s AWESOME? How many times can you say you’ve gone down a slide that went straight through a shark tank?!

So, we woke up and headed downtown to the Golden Nugget. If you’re not a hotel guest, it costs $20 a pop to get in. It probably would have been worth it if we could have stayed all day, but we were only there for 2 hours or so. The chaise lounges are super comfy, but limited. So, the earlier you get there, the more prime real estate you can get.

Soon after arriving, we were headed for the shark tank! We climbed the stairs and off we went, down the slide! The slide is enclosed and yellow but toward the end, everything goes kind of dark until you’re hurled into the pool. I didn’t realize it the first time going down, but the dark area is the shark tank! It happens so fast you can’t really see anything but it’s still fun! Now, this shark tank is smack dab in the middle of the pool. So, not only can you see all the colorful fish and big sharks through the glass, but you can watch other people go down the slide!

Another cool touch the pool had were the chaise lounges in the water! There’s a very shallow section of water with about a dozen white chairs in it, allowing you to lie out in the sun while also feeling the refreshing cool water!

The rest of the day progressively went downhill. I started realizing that all the hopes I had had for this being a refreshing trip of growth and togetherness were being put out by reality. The reality was, I saw the same man I had left eight months earlier in Utah. I was so afraid to admit it to myself – that he hadn’t changed, that I was still so unhappy with the way he treated me; the way he treated life. As the hours of our last full day together passed, that reality crept in. It was a painful, heart-wrenching blow to see that after all this time, and all the hope I had in my heart, I still had made the right decision to end our marriage.  Everyone wants to believe in love. Everyone wants to see the good – to see two people work hard at repairing something that had been shattered. I wanted SO badly to believe that that could happen. But it didn't.

Later on, we headed off to dinner at The Hard Rock Hotel followed by an evening on Fremont Street. The Fremont Street Experience is a must! I had wanted to visit this place for so long. The canopy that hangs above the street is the largest LED screen in the world! Every 15 minutes or so, a new “show” starts and everything around you stops as everyone looks up to watch and listen to a medley of music from artists such as Bon Jovi and Queen.

Then, once the show is over and the lights come back up, all the street performers start up again. But these street performers are the real deal – unlike the trash you’ll see on The Strip. There was an Al Pacino impersonator, Ozzy Osbourne, Stevie Wonder. You name it, they were there and they were GOOD! There are amazing street artists, saxophonists, and concerts going on all simultaneously. Quite the “Experience!” Has anyone ever done the zipline down Fremont? Is it worth it?

After a while, we left and went for a drive, although the time was filled mainly with silence. My eyes felt like they were constantly welled with tears as the reality finally sunk in for good. This was it. I could have listed a hundred different ways that he continued to hurt me and be so careless with my heart. But that was it. Through the loss of my mom and the end of my marriage, I learned something important: Sometimes time changes nothing at all.

I packed my bag that next morning, with this feeling in my gut that I couldn’t ignore. This was really it. No matter how many times he told me we’d continue to see where things went, it’s like my heart already knew this was the last chapter. I sat and waited as he showered and packed, checking my watch as time sped past. I had a flight to catch but that didn’t seem to phase him as he went along his merry way. For the first time ever in my life, I missed my flight. We had arrived at the airport too late for me to check in. He, of course, still managed to make his flight back to the city where we once lived together. After I hurriedly figured out a new flight leaving an hour later, we walked toward Security. We kissed, said, “I love you” and just like that… I knew that would be our final goodbye.

Goodbye, Vegas. Goodbye, love.