Sunday Bucket - Once in a Lifetime, Once a Week

2013 is off to a hell of a start, and our Sunday Bucket is collecting dust. But, even though our original slips have gone untouched for a few months, we feel like we haven’t had time to sit! So we put this quick video together to catch everyone up…

This Spring doesn’t seem to be slowing down, so we’re taking an official hiatus until the snow thaws in Boston (usually around May or June), when we head to Italy for a month in Tuscany. A whole new list of weekly excursions awaits!

This week we got a chance to check another one of our bigger slips off our list: the one-day getaway.

A one-day getaway is simple… Book a round trip flight to a nearby destination for a quick change of scenery, without taking time off! A couple weeks ago, Southwest Airlines had a 40% off special, so we made our move and booked two flights to Las Vegas, at a total cost of $78 (tips on cheap travel here).

We landed in Vegas around 5:45p, a few minutes before we left Phoenix, because Arizona doesn’t do the timezone dance with the rest of the country. We took a car to the strip, which grows faster than bacteria, and hopped out at the Wynn.

The place is gorgeous! Restaurants and lounges and beautiful landscaping fill the resort, which was also decorated for Christmas. Vegas in winter has a certain charm and sophistication that its missing when its full of bikinis and Corona Lights.

The night started off on the right foot, as we racked in $5.25 in slot machine earnings…just enough for the bell stand to hold our coats.

We headed to Wazuzu, and ordered appetizers with a nod to progressive dining*, another bucket slip on our list! Across the Casino floor, we met up with some great friends, where we had reservations at Sinatra. When you don’t have much time at a destination, it’s fun to break up your meals so that you can experience the environment and sample a variety of dishes at a few different places!

Steve Wynn recently became Vegan, so most of his restaurants offer an entire Vegan/Vegetarian menu to complement their more decadent counterparts, one of the reasons we chose the Wynn property for our weekday getaway. The food alone was worth the trip.

After dinner, our friends surprised us with tickets to a late show at Le Reve, an amazing spectacle of aquatic acrobatics! The lighting, choreography, and music were better than anything we’ve seen, and with the rounded design of the stage, there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

What a Tuesday! In just a few hours, we crossed timezones, experienced new restaurants, saw one of Vegas’ best shows, caught up with friends, and we were back in time for work on Wednesday morning. The one-day getaway might find its way back into our bucket next year. What about you?

For Your Bucket:

Location: Wynn Las Vegas
Airfare: $78, Southwest Airlines

Last year, at about this time, we saw a neighbor outside with a lasso, a bale of hay, a fake steer’s head affixed to the bale of hay, and a stedfast determination permeating about him. He was going to rope the hell out of that hay.

As it turns out, our friend is a regular at team roping competitions (intro to roping here), and for the last year, we’ve joked about hopping on a horse and giving it a try. Well, the time has finally come.

We took the 40 minute ride up to Carefree, AZ, north of Phoenix, where we met up with our friends and their horses, Surge and Pumba. With far too little instruction, and far too much trust, I was hoisted up onto Surge, who I was assured has arthritis and couldn’t do too much damage to an untrained rider. Lianne and I both got a turn at herding the steer, which is the equivalent of collecting your darts or tennis balls or other game collateral so that you can play with them all over again. We rode around a bit, and got pretty comfortable.

Lianne, as it turns out, is a natural at roping. Her wrist-action is impeccable . Though we didn’t rope any actual steer, she caught us a bale of hay. She roped the hell out of it.