Vegas!

This past week I was at a continuing education conference in Las Vegas put on by the American Association of Nurse Practioners. It was held at the Venetian and Palazzo hotels. Talk about luxury! It is a five star hotel and I had a luxury suite all to myself. Of course I wish Brandon could be with me but someone has to work :)

The Venetian obviously is supposed to be like Venice and since I have actually been to Venice (with my good friend Kelli Jo) I think I appreciated the ambience even more.

The gondola rides.

The ornate paintings and ceiling murals.

And Saint Marks square.

And don't forge the gelato! Except I forgot I deleted my photo of the gelato!

I learned a lot while I was there and took a couple of workshops- skin biopsy and eye exam. Some poor cows helped us learn theses skills.

Those weren't the only interesting things I saw while I was there.

I did a little shopping at Ceasar's palace.

Watched the volcano erupt at the Mirage.

Watched Larry King interview a couple of legendary nurse practitioners.

And then did a little clubbing with the celebs.

Went to a Lakers game.

And saw a few concerts.

I was able to go to a try-out of "American Idol".

And we were honored to have President Obama come to the conference to support all of us amazingly dedicated nurse practitioners!

Another interesting thing I learned was about the EDC. I met a gal while waiting for drink at the pool who told me she was in Vegas for the EDC. As I walked around I would hear people yell "EDC!" And everyone would start cheering. I saw lots of people dressed in an odd fashion, even more odd than the "normal" Vegas attire.

So naturally, being at a continuing education conference, I wanted to further my learning and looked it up on Google. It stands for Electric Dance Carnival. On the local news they expected it to draw 100,000 people to Vegas. A You-tube promo video shows people dressed in all kinds of carnival-parade-float-like attire dancing to a loud electric bass with carnival rides and,I expect, lots of liquid Tom-foolery. I might have attended but I forgot to bring my tutu, fishnet stockings, and glow-in-the dark face paint. Sigh. . . Maybe next time.