Last month, we took a trip to Vegas. We had a blast! We stayed for 5 days and 4 nights. Insider tip: Saturday night hotel rates in Vegas are double the cost than any other day so to save money, we stayed at The Blair Suites on the first night. After checking in, Zac thought he was going to take a nap, but I was ready to go-go-go. Who arrives in Vegas and takes a nap?! That's a negative, partner. Let's party!
Really, it was less partying more walking, although I did buy one of those tall and skinny plastic containers with a mixed drink inside.
The bus stop was a 10-minute walk from our hotel. Not too shabby. The Blair Suites sits right behind Encore. We purchased two 24-hour bus passes on the ''double-deuce'', which was $8/person. The bus pass was incredibly convenient for those return trips back to the hotel.
We rode the bus to Caesar's Palace and hit up the Nike store. Zac bought himself a t-shirt and I bought myself, nothing. Vegas Nike was double what I would pay for athletic clothes back home. Everything on the strip appears to be marked up. They think if you're shopping on your casino winnings, you can afford to splurge a little more. Not this girl. I have to save my money so I can pay the casino's to lose my money. Every time. Err.
Outside of the Nike store, was a neat surprise. There's a water fountain inside of the mall located in the center of this large space. Everyone started to gather around the fountain and suddenly, the fountain comes to life. It starts playing music, the statues are moving, fog is rising from the rocks. The fountain shifts and these huge characters arise from the pillars below. There was a King, a mermaid, and a dragon. It's like "The Little Mermaid" with a twist. It ended up being a 10-15 minute play about...ya I missed that part. I wasn't quite sure what the storyline was lol, but the theatrics of it all was fun to see.
It was a hot day in Vegas. 90+ degrees. We walked over 15,000 steps on the strip, stopping and exploring different casinos and shops along the way. We cruised through the 3-story M&M store, taking a break from the heat. AC is always a plus too! Next, we checked out Hershey World. Just checking out all the candy stores, while we're in the area. They had a baked goods counter with everything like fudge, cake pops, cookies, and more. Who doesn't love a good cake pop? I tried cookies and creme and red velvet. Both were delish.
In between all that walking, we took gambling breaks inside several casinos. We stopped and gambled at Aria, Bellagio, New York-New York, and Caesars Palace. It wasn't until the end of the day that we realized our tickets from one casino to the next, were not transferable. We had gathered a collection of cash out receipts from each casino. Now, we'd have to backtrack to each one. Oops. Someone forgot to explain the rules to us newbs.
Before cashing out at Aria, we were playing at the roulette table and had already lost about half of our "gambling funds". Zac hits a button and within seconds, now triples our gambling funds. I'm over here screaming, "OMG! What did you do?!" He said, "I honestly have no idea, but that was awesome!"
While in Vegas, we saw Blue Man Group and The Variety Show. Blue Man Group was awesome. This was my first show and I thought it was entertaining. We paid $170 total for 2 tickets to Blue Man Group.
The second show we saw was The Variety Show. It's supposed to be an all-in-one inclusive Vegas show, where you get a variety of every vegas act, all in one show. I don't know that this show would have been as funny if it wasn't for the participants pulled from the crowd. They selected a really tall guy to come up on stage and he was asked to put a mask on. The mask covers his head and face and the mask ends up being the face of a Chinese woman.
The comedian is whispering in the guy's ear what he wants him to do, but he really takes his character to heart and starts doing his own thing. He's crossing his legs, waving his hand, and starts laughing every time the comedian gives him an instruction. He's laughing so hard, now we're laughing. He's so tickled by every instruction the comedian whispers to him. He's stomping his foot and holding his stomach, while hysterically dying of laughter. He totally stole the moment and the show. We laughed so hard, we cried. Zac and I's abs were both sore the next day from laughing. I wish I could have filmed it. It was a good time.
Aside from that, there was another memorable piece of the show where a roller-skating male and female duo came out to perform their act. She wraps her skates and ankles around her partner's neck, and he starts twirling her in circles, as he is also on skates. Again, kind of crazy to picture if you weren't there, but definitely memorable. All I thought was, "Please do not come flying into this crowd !" lol. But kudos to yall! Well done. I would never trust Zac to hold me like that. That's commitment.
On our third night in Vegas, we walked the strip and stopped to watch the Bellagio water fountain show. After, we visited The Paris Hotel & Casino. We stopped by the piano bar for a bit and then grabbed an Eiffel Tower souvenir drink on our way out. That thing was massive. One was enough for two people to share.
I'm watching the guy make my drink and he's pouring the rum like it's water. If I had to guess, I'd say my drink was 70% alcohol, 30% strawberry daiquiri slush. My first sip was exactly what I imagined it would be like. "Woooowwwwwww!" I shouted. The Eiffel Tower souvenir drinks were $16.99/each. They were pretty large in size, so we were only able to take one home with us. What's neat is there's an insert at the top of the tower for coins and it serves as a piggy bank. Now, it's where all of our loose change currently resides at home.
My favorite bar inside The Paris Hotel & Casino is the Piano Bar. If you've never been, two pianos sit on stage and the pianists battle each other. If I pay $10 to request a song be played, they'll start playing until someone comes and puts $11 down, and pays to change the song. This continues until it's up to $20+ per song. Going to the piano bars is one of my favorite things to do while in Vegas after I've run out of gambling money.
These were some of the stops we made along the strip that night. Not even knowing what Sprinkles Cupcakes was before this trip, we were heading back to our hotel, Harrah's, (which we switched to on night two) and decided to stop for a sweet snack. Within minutes of standing in line, the line was now out the door. We laughed about how everyone else must be thinking the same thing at 12' o clock at night. Come to find out, Sprinkles Cupcakes is a popular tourist stop known for its "Cupcake ATM's". Apparently, I'd been living under a rock and missing out. I see what all the hype is about though. The cupcakes were delicious!
One thing I love about Vegas is the detail in everything. Every casino, every building, every store, tells a story inside and out. I love architecture and design. It's so much fun just to walk up and down the strip and admire all the work and details that went into these places. It's like an art walk. Another thing I love about Vegas, there's always something new to do no matter how many times you've been before. This was my third trip to Vegas and Zac's first. I wasn't able to get him on the Stratosphere ride at the top this time around, but maybe next time.
We spent our last day in Vegas poolside, soaking up the Nevada sun rays and drinking margaritas. 4 hours and a few margaritas later, I passed out in the cabana and woke up sunburned. Ouch. You can rent a cabana for $50/day. The cabanas were nice because they had sides that you could let down if you wanted a break from the sun.
During our trip, Zac made out pretty well on the craps tables. I lost about $200 on the roulette tables. I hate losing! I had fun taking advantage of the open bar though, so hey-hey! After my second consecutive day of losing $100 on the roulette tables, I finally decided to quit while I was "ahead". I snagged a table at the piano bar and enjoyed the rest of my night there. Zac stayed on the craps tables and checked in periodically.
Overall, we had a great trip and enjoyed our time in sin city.
Check out my post about our road-trip to the infamous Area 51 here.
No comments
Thanks for visiting!