Our Midnight Arrival
We arrived in Las Vegas on a late night flight on the cheap airline Frontier. It was an odd departure, leaving from Austin's South Terminal at 9 pm. We had had a full day getting ready for our trip before we left for Vegas. And then our trip to Vegas was delayed about half an hour.
So around 12:30am Austin time (10:30pm Vegas), we arrived in Vegas. We caught a Lyft to the hotel, and arrived at the front desk, exhausted and tired. As we made our way to our room, walking through the smoke-filled casino filled with sad-looking gamblers, I feared I had made a big mistake planning a vacation for our teenage boys in Sin City. I sank into bed that very first evening, despondent. Fortunately, I was wrong, as we proceeded to have an amazing trip ;)
The Venetian
The next morning, after sleeping in a bit, we hauled ourselves out of bed and out of our hotel room to explore the Strip. We started across the street at the Venetian. I had heard there was a 9:45am gondolier parade. If there is, we never saw it, but it was fun gawking at the indoor canals and exploring the shops. We enjoyed Kalifano, a shop specializing in sculptures made from recycled metal parts and Houdini's Magic store, which had fun tricks and gags.
Caesar's Forum Shops - Fall of Atlantis
From the Venetian, we crossed the street to see the Fall of Atlantis show in Caesar's Shops.
Dave and I had seen the show years ago and wanted to show the boys. The dialogue remained as garbled and hard-to-understand as always, but the fire and water show was still a lot of fun.
The Flamingo
After seeing the Fall of Atlantis, it was lunchtime and we were all hungry. We found a small food court that had Panda Express (Kyle's favorite) Chipotle (my choice) and Pizza. With something to eat for everyone, we enjoyed a quick meal
We then headed down to the next casino, Flamingo, to explore their wildlife habitat, complete with flamingos and pelicans.
This is a small area in the middle of the casino that most people probably just pass through, but we really enjoyed exploring all of the various creatures.
Bellagio
We continued on our way across the street to watch the Bellagio fountains. This is a spectacle to behold, with huge fountains timed to old-time music. It made us laugh and smile and even gasp a few times.
The next morning, after sleeping in a bit, we hauled ourselves out of bed and out of our hotel room to explore the Strip. We started across the street at the Venetian. I had heard there was a 9:45am gondolier parade. If there is, we never saw it, but it was fun gawking at the indoor canals and exploring the shops. We enjoyed Kalifano, a shop specializing in sculptures made from recycled metal parts and Houdini's Magic store, which had fun tricks and gags.
Caesar's Forum Shops - Fall of Atlantis
From the Venetian, we crossed the street to see the Fall of Atlantis show in Caesar's Shops.
Dave and I had seen the show years ago and wanted to show the boys. The dialogue remained as garbled and hard-to-understand as always, but the fire and water show was still a lot of fun.
The Flamingo
After seeing the Fall of Atlantis, it was lunchtime and we were all hungry. We found a small food court that had Panda Express (Kyle's favorite) Chipotle (my choice) and Pizza. With something to eat for everyone, we enjoyed a quick meal
We then headed down to the next casino, Flamingo, to explore their wildlife habitat, complete with flamingos and pelicans.
This is a small area in the middle of the casino that most people probably just pass through, but we really enjoyed exploring all of the various creatures.
Bellagio
We continued on our way across the street to watch the Bellagio fountains. This is a spectacle to behold, with huge fountains timed to old-time music. It made us laugh and smile and even gasp a few times.
We then headed inside the Bellagio and checked out the beautiful hand blown glass flowers decorating the ceiling of the registration lobby. Doing the math, we realized that each flower probably cost around $500... Which quickly led to us imagining what would happen should one fall on us.
I had read about the Conservatory inside the Bellagio, which was decorated for Christmas with its "Majestic Holiday magic", so we went to check it out.
The seasonal exhibit, titled “Majestic Holiday Magic,” featured the return of Queen Bellisima, and takes guests on a journey into her enchanted icy kingdom. The south bed houses the queen’s favorite family of Polar bears, playing and welcoming guests as they walk enter the Conservatory.
Towering at a height of 30’, the north bed features the queen’s castle, guarded by her majestic rotating soldiers.
Lastly, the west bed holds the main attraction for the year. The holiday tree stands 42’ in height and 18’ in diameter, and is adorned with many beautiful ornaments.
Next to the tree stands Queen Bellisima herself, wearing her holiday best. The queen is ready for the holiday season, and is excited to welcome guests into her enchanted kingdom.
We talked briefly with the gardener on staff, whose full time job was replacing the flowers that were wilted. Apparently the Bellagio has a staff of 120 horticulturists to manage the grounds and conservatory.
We learned that the poinsettias were replaced every two weeks and the flowers every week.
I had read about the Conservatory inside the Bellagio, which was decorated for Christmas with its "Majestic Holiday magic", so we went to check it out.
The seasonal exhibit, titled “Majestic Holiday Magic,” featured the return of Queen Bellisima, and takes guests on a journey into her enchanted icy kingdom. The south bed houses the queen’s favorite family of Polar bears, playing and welcoming guests as they walk enter the Conservatory. Towering at a height of 30’, the north bed features the queen’s castle, guarded by her majestic rotating soldiers.
Next to the tree stands Queen Bellisima herself, wearing her holiday best. The queen is ready for the holiday season, and is excited to welcome guests into her enchanted kingdom.
We learned that the poinsettias were replaced every two weeks and the flowers every week.
Running around the bottom of the huge tree was a large model train.
Leaving the Conservatory, Kyle needed a rest for his back, so we stopped to watch another Bellagio show from a different vantage point. Honestly, we watched the show at least four times during our stay, and it always amazed us.
Cosmopolitan
From there, we headed to the Cosmopolitan, to see their 2 million dollar glass chandelier. While not overly impressed, it was located near a Starbucks, where we sat for a bit, enjoying hot chocolate and coffee.
New York, New York
Rejuvenated, we then walked to New York, New York. Dave and I had ridden the roller coaster there years ago, and had really enjoyed it, so we decided the kids would to. It had been years since either boy rode a roller coaster. Kyle felt the roller coaster made him a little too uneasy (the part where it turned and did a loop), but later decided that 'a little fear was a good thing' and that the roller coaster was his favorite part of our strip exploration that day.
Afterward, we checked out the Nine Fine Irishmen pub, which I had read had a bar that had been carted over for Ireland piece by piece. We enjoyed Irish nachos (thick potato chips with beer cheese sauce and corned beef - Yum!!) and a Guinness before walking back to Treasure island.
Neon Museum
We had 7:40pm reservation at the Neon museum, something Dave really wanted to see. We had tried to see it last time we were in Vegas, but all the spots were reserved. This time we planned ahead to reserve our tour.
This tour turned out to be the highlight of the Vegas portion of our trip. The hour-long tour was a combination of Vegas history, details about the art of neon, and truly just appreciating the artisanship of the various signs. They had a total of fifteen lit signs, and innumerable ones that had not yet be renovated. Despite the cold, the late hour and the ten plus miles we had alread walked,we were pumped with excitement from the tour. Our Boston-born guide gave out details in a voice almost too fast to follow, but he was knowledgable and willing to answer all of our questions.
We had 7:40pm reservation at the Neon museum, something Dave really wanted to see. We had tried to see it last time we were in Vegas, but all the spots were reserved. This time we planned ahead to reserve our tour.
Liberace
Dry Cleaning
Chief Hotel
Random
Fitzgerald
Binions
MilkMan
Martini Glass
Yucca
SushiYama
Although it was late when it finished, we had not had dinner, so we decided to checkout an off strip sushi restaurant that was recommended to us by a Lyft driver. It was the perfect end to a perfect fun day. The restaurant had an all you can eat menu, everything on the menu was included for one, fairly low price. We let the boys choose whatever they wanted to eat. We enjoyed our dinner, reminiscing about our fun day. After having fallen asleep late the previous night worried the trip would be a bomb, I fell asleep the second night thrilled that we had all had such a fun time.
Although it was late when it finished, we had not had dinner, so we decided to checkout an off strip sushi restaurant that was recommended to us by a Lyft driver. It was the perfect end to a perfect fun day. The restaurant had an all you can eat menu, everything on the menu was included for one, fairly low price. We let the boys choose whatever they wanted to eat. We enjoyed our dinner, reminiscing about our fun day. After having fallen asleep late the previous night worried the trip would be a bomb, I fell asleep the second night thrilled that we had all had such a fun time.
That was day one. Enjoyed photos and comments
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