Las Vegas with the 50mm

My last trip to Las Vegas back in 2009, I took only my 10-20mm wide angle lens and forced myself to shoot with it only. Those images can be found in this flickr set. This time around, I took the 50mm and the iPhone. Having just the 50mm was challenging for street and architecture photography but was perfect for shots inside the various resorts. The iPhone was a blast and I'll share those Vegas shots in an upcoming post. But for today's post, here is summary of my week of indulgence via the 50mm lens. I would have had more images but my SD card corrupted and even my recovery software wouldn't bring them all back (a lesson to everyone....upload those photos right away!).

We stayed at Mandalay Bay which was really nice.

 I hate the fact that none of the rooms have coffee makers.

And, I have stayed in most of the resorts in Vegas so I can say with some certainty that Mandalay Bay has really thin walls. Noise was an issue...the kind you don't want to hear at 4am, if you get my drift. :)

Mandalay Place heading up to the Peter Lik gallery. You can either be intimidated by amazing photographers like Peter Lik or you can be inspired. I was totally inspired by all the galleries I visited.

Rice. I was attracted to their sign and so we chose to have dinner (and mango mojitos!) here
one night. We had a Calamari appetizer and for dinner I had Yellowfin & Jalapeño sushi rolls
and Tuna Sashimi. Charlie had Teriyaki Salmon. It was super delicious!

Bar Moderno at the Aria was our favorite. Great atmosphere, location, service and mojitos!

The lights along New York New York. I enjoyed walking around snapping pics despite the heat.

A colorful mannequin at a candy store was perfect for a photo op.

We saw the Cirque Du Soleil's Viva Elvis show at the Aria. Being a HUGE fan of Elvis, I was so excited but in the end, after previously seeing "O" and the Beatles "LOVE" show, Viva Elvis turned out to be a disappointment. It was a limited-run show so not as much effort was put into it. It was still good but just more of a Broadway style and not as much acrobatics or artistry. :(

After the Viva Elvis show we had a very filling and super delicious dinner at Maestro's. It was the architecture that made me want to dine here. It reminded me of a futuristic version of Captain Nemo's Nautilus. We had a calamari appetizer and I ordered tuna tartar and a side of the best sweet potato fries I've ever tasted. My hubby, as usual, orders Salmon.

The Bird Chair of Bellagio

Casino at New York-New York. I'm not much of a gambler anymore but I did manage to lose $80!
But, I guess that's not too bad for being there almost a week. Could have been worse!

One of the lions at MGM. Everytime I've been they always seem to be sleeping. They had cubs but there were so many people crowded around I couldn't get a decent picture. Take my word for it, they were super duper adorable!

Glowing Orbs taken at a restaurant at the Aria.

Bokeh Tree Lights

Plastic Twins

 Angel in Stone

 Paris, Vegas style

Green Tree Monitor

Strolling along the Promenade

 Tree lights at Bellagio

The faux gondola at The Venetian. I won't ever take a ride in this because I've done the real thing and I don't want to replace those memories with a memory of a fake ride on a fake canal.
 Same thing with the fake Eiffel Tower. I've been to the top of the real one,
 so I will pass on a ride to the top of faux Eiffel. Still, it's fun to see other people enjoying themselves.

Standing Vigil

Under the Bridge

Yellow-tipped post at Treasure Island.

So, I only took about 80 images with my D90 but these were the only ones I could recover from the card. I did save a few "interesting" images from the D90 for a later post this week but I'm very thankful I took tons of images with the iPhone. I have since tossed the corrupted SD card. Sucks, but, that's digital life! :)