Vegas Baby!
Hold on to your hats friends! I have 106 photos to share with you guys. Yipes! Where did all the pictures come from you might ask? That would be Vegas baby! Jordan and I have spent the last 5 days in Las Vegas, Nevada where we saw so many cool things! Vegas is just an overload for the senses because there are so many things to see, hear, and do. I'm going to take you through our trip but I'll try to let the pictures do most of the talking.
Top Left: I was anxious to get to Vegas so I had to take a picture of our flight info. In this shot we had 14 minutes before boarding!
Top Right: Jordan and I stayed at the Aria Hotel Resort and Casino. We both were really comfortable and liked where we were. The aria is about in the middle of the strip which was helpful for traveling. This is picture of part of the room.
Middle Left: This is another picture of the room with Jordan checking out the mini bar. Why would anyone spend $11 on gummy bears?!? It was impressive when we first walked into our hotel room because everything is activated by your entrance. Immediately upon opening the door, the curtains opened to the city below, the TV started playing music, and the lights turned on. Kind of cool, huh?
Middle: This is the view from our hotel room.
Middle Right: We both over-estimated the travel time (well, mostly I did) so when we arrived I was starving! By the time we landed, got our luggage, took a shuttle to the hotel, checked in at the front desk, and investigated the room, starving took a turn for hangry (Jordan learned a new word that afternoon - hangry). We decided we'd check out the Nevada mexican food at Javier's in the Aria hotel. It was okay. We have pretty high standards for Tex-Mex so I hate to be too hard on them. This is a picture of Jordan's fajitas.
Bottom Left: This is a picture of my grilled shrimp salad at Javier's.
Bottom Right: Everything in Vegas is deocrated with flair. The Aria lobby and the Javier's interior were some of our first sites of that flair. This is a rope chandelier. I thought it was really neat.
Top Left: Britney advertisement on the Planet Hollywood building. I was so freaking excited!
Top Middle: Jordan and I on our way to the concert!
Top Right: Me standing next to one of Britney's performance outfits. I love the dress I'm wearing, but evidently I over-estimated the attire. I wore more of an "opera" appropriate dress but the actual attire was more of a "hoochie" style. Apparently, I left all my hoochie dresses at home. That's okay though because the victory in this picture is that it's the first time in more than 3 months that I've worn high heels of any sort. I only wore them for 10 minutes, but hey, I did it! The sprained ankle is actually "torn ligaments" so it might be much longer before my ankle is back to normal.
Bottom Left: This is a shot of Britney singing "Circus." She is standing in the ring of fire.
Bottom Middle: Britney dressed as an angle with wings suspended from the ceiling.
Bottom Right: Another Britney shot. Our seats really weren't that bad!
Here is a clip from her "Circus" song:
We cruised around all the different hotels in the strip. Each one has their own attraction and strategy to draw people in. I was just soaking it up while Jordan steered me around the crowds.
Top Left: Interior of the Venetian hotel.
Top Middle: This picture made me laugh. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the cheapest place we could find (McDonalds). I rolled with a large iced coffee to pick me up for the morning and Jordan got a water. They gave Jordan like a 4 ounce cup! It was just too funny.
Top Right: Oh, you know, just a fancy car - Rolls Royce. Car after car after car.
Bottom Left: More interior of the Venetian.
Bottom Middle: In the Venetian they try to replicate all of Venice. In this picture there is a gondala going up and down the "Grand Canal" inside the hotel. Crazy, huh? These replicas can seem very cheesey but since our Europe trip last year, I just love saying "we've been there!" And we've been to the real place, not the Vegas version. Rialto Bridge, Grand Canal, St. Mark's Tower, Bridge of Sighs, etc. etc. I will say, the Venetican did a pretty good job though.
The Bellagio hotel is pretty central along the strip so we saw the fountain show 3 times and once running past it because we had to be somewhere. We've got several different views of the fountains and I loved them! That is definitely a site I would tell everyone to see if they go to Vegas.
The best shows are at night because the lights combined with the water are beautiful! The whole show is done in sync with a song and my favorite was "Fly me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra.
Here is a taste of the fountain show for your enjoyment!
The Mirage hotel is no exception when it comes to attractions. They have a dolphin and tiger habitat in their hotel!
This is "Flash" showing off for the camera. That dolphin can jump! We were so lucky because our arrival was timed perfectly with the dolphins being trained and fed.
The tigers were pretty cool too. They gave this tiger a concrete form that is super tough cardboard and this Tiger flung it around like a tiny cat toy.
He would just chew on the corner and carry it from one side of his jungle to the other.
The bottom right picture is of a blow fish. I thought that was pretty impressive.
This is a quick clip of the tiger:
Jordan and I saw a lot of advertising for this new "ride" called the "High Roller." Essentially, it is a giant ferris wheel with individual cabins that can hold up to 40 people. This thing goes 550 feet into the air to give the rider a panoramic view of the strip and all the lights. We contemplated seeing a show but decided to do this instead for half the cost.
Top Left and Right: View of the ferris wheel from around town.
Bottom Left: This is a picture of the TV monitor inside our pod to show our progress around the ferris wheel.
All - Various pictures up in the "High Roller."
We purchased our tickets ahead of time and their website gives you the option to pick what time of day you want to ride. The sun was supposed to set at 7:30 so we opted for the 7:20 ride. Best decision all trip. Our pictures turned out great in the twilight of the evening!
Top Left: This is an up-close view of our neighboring pod. You can see the shadow of people in the pod to get an idea of the scale.
Bottom Left and Right: Us at sunset at the top of the "High Roller!"
Of the little research that we did to prepare for our trip, we decided that we had to see the Grand Canyon. Jordan had seen it a few times as a child, but for me, I'd never been to Nevada, much less the Grand Canyon! The problem with wanting to see the Grand Canyon while staying in Las Vegas is that it is a 10 hour round trip by car. That would mean that we'd have to rent a car, drive 5 hours to and from the Canyon and invest the entire day. The canyon is truly a phenomenon of nature but it's not really something you need to spend hours and hours looking at. SO.... that left us with only a few options to see the canyon. We opted to take a helicopter ride!!! There are several copter options out there but we wanted to land in the canyon and check it out so we decided to use a company called Papillon! Best.Idea.Ever.
Top Left: I was so excited to be picked up by the Papillon shuttle that I took a picture of the side of the bus!
Top Right: Me boarding the helicopter.
Middle Left: Jordan got a window seat so he got some pretty great pictures!
Middle Right: Our view from behind Captain Nate.
Bottom Left: Our flight plan had a scheduled landing 4000 feet below the crust and we knew we would get champagne, but they actually served us lunch! This is picture of our cute little champagne picnic!
Bottom Right: Our helicopter nestled between the canyon walls.
Top Left: Us with our fancy flight headphones on. Whoot!
Middle Left: Picture in the canyon! It's difficult to see but I'm holding a glass of champagne.
Bottom Left: Only semi-nervous smiles as we approach the canyon.
Top Right: We had a lot of Aussies on the helicopter but shockingly, none of them really wanted the champagne. Welp, I helped them out with that problem. After all, we had to finish everything so we can stow the trash in a safe place!
Middle Middle Right (confusing, I know): Me climbing under the body of the helicopter.
Middle Middle Right (the other one): forks of Lake Meade.
Bottom Right: Canyon walls. You can see the horizontal stripes of the rocks.
I highly recommend a helicopter tour if you want to check out the Canyon without eating up your whole day and driving 10 hours.
You can see a short video from our helicopter ride below:
While visiting the Quad hotel we decided to grab a bite to eat. We just happened to be near Guy Fieri's restaurant so that's where we ate! I really enjoyed it! The atmosphere was awesome, the music, and staff were all very friendly, and the food was quite good.
You might recognize Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! Yum!
As I already said, everything around Vegas is built to attract the eye. Wow.
Top Left: Chandelier of colored glass.
Top Right: Very typical giant flower arrangement.
Bottom Left: Multi-story wine cellar. This thing was pretty coool.
Bottom Right: Chandelier of dice!
Top: Inside the Cosmopolitan is a giant crystal chandelier.
Middle Left: Liberace's car. Bedazzled Grill.
Middle Right: Liberace's car. Bedazzled Car.
Bottom Left: Giant wall of playing cards.
Bottom Right: Giant wall of ropes.
Top Left: This is a jellybean statue of liberty!
Bottom Left and Right: Inside the Bellagio is a huge chocolate fountain! This thing was a two-story structure encased in glass but beautiful.
On our last day we stopped at Pin Up Pizza which opened recently on the strip and grabbed a few slices. I really loved the vibe of this place.
I kind of want an over-sized bread board stick thingy even though I have no place to use one. It's difficult to give the proper scale in these pictures, but each pizza they made was 2.5 feet (at least) in diameter.
Various sites around town including NY, NY Brooklyn Bridge and Excaliber hotel.
We saw the replica of Trevi fountain and threw coins over our shoulders. The real thing is much larger (#twss). And of course, we enjoyed ice cream while watching the fountain show.
Everything is on a large scale in Vegas. Here you have a giant flamingo and life-sized fake trees inside a bar area. The kites pictured are from the Aria lobby and those things are much bigger than they look.
Top Left: Luxor Hotel
Top Right: Mandalay Bay Hotel
Bottom Left: Random restaurant with a giant lamp just outside.
Bottom Right: Most hotels had a sort of media center where people would sit and watch horse races, fights, or whatever on TV.
At every turn there is something to see just walking down the strip. A storm trooper might blow you a kiss or you might see a mini-Michael Jackson!
Our last night in Vegas we decided to see V, the variety show. It was funny and a nice rounded snap shot of the different things you could see in Vegas. We stopped to do a little gambling on our way back to the room and had some fun. We did win some but we also lost some. I think we just about broke even give or take $15.00. I did learn that I'm more of a penny slots kind of gal. I don't like to see my money disappear and I can have hours of entertainment (and free drinks) on just a few dollars.
Top Left: NY, NY hotel view from outside.
Top Right: Typical view of all the slot machines! Wow.
Bottom Left: I think we are at Planet Hollywood?
Bottom Right: Jordan in front of the butterfly house in the Bellagio.
We had such a great trip but are both glad to be back home. Vegas was great to get away from our jobs and it was nice to relax together! On our way home, we determined that the city lights of Dallas were "glitzy" enough for us but it sure was fun to see the contrast in person!
Comments
Post a Comment