Day by Day Travels

We flew out of Bellingham early on a Friday morning and were in Las Vegas in 2 hours (thank you Allegiant Air).  Once in Vegas we checkin in at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. We’ve never stayed here before but it’s close to the airport and at the end of the strip so a good location. Friday was wasting away but we freshened up and were off to explore.  Made it to New York New York when the hunger set it. The Hersey factory got our mouths watering. We had heard that inside the NY NY casino was a great Mexican eatery- we quickly found Gonzalez y Gonzalez- met up with the rest of the crew and had a delicious early dinner. We put some money in the slots and after now winning we hopped over the newer Eataly and enjoyed some delightful gelato.  Back to Mandalay Bay as Danica was arriving a little later than us for a quick weekend visit. We settled in at the Irish bar at the hotel and enjoyed some beverages, before Danica arrived safe and sound.  All those Vegas lights and sounds make one pretty tired so to bed and another day of adventure in our heads for Saturday.

We started off the day thinking it would be good to have a breakfast at the hotel- we had made a reservation to prevent line ups and were seated in no time. We soon realized we had made a terrible mistake- the coffee was so bad and the menu did not look promising. It wasn’t – a ver expensive meal and we were all very disappointed. But on we trudged- off to explore the strip some more. We found the gardens at the Bellagio filled with blooms and so amazing; we watched the fountains dance outside; Caesars is always a treat with the Trevi fountain and moving statues.  Before long we were at the newer Linq hotel and area- we found a zipline.  So of course me and Danica had a go.  It was short but really cool going above everyone’s heads down the alley.  All that activity had us pooped. So back to the Mandalay Bay and an afternoon at the pool.  You have to spend the afternoon at a pool that has it’s own beach. Later we all cleaned up and were off to the Rio hotel- well off the strip for a show called WOW.  It was not bad- a lot of the contestant from America’s got Talent were in the show. After some wow it was time to hit old Vegas. We cabbed down and straight to Carson Kitchen for dinner.  A bit of a wait was worth it- the food was excellent. It filled us up for all the sights to see on the old strip.  All walks of life meet here for sure- we wandered up to the end and found a band called Spandex Nation playing some hard rock covers- they were very good. With the night getting late we  made our way back to the hotel and fell into bed. Another great day.

Sunday we woke with the intention of not going to the strip at all. We found our way to the Arts District as it looked pretty fun.  Breakfast was as at Maker’s & Finder’s- it was excellent! The area had a ton of thrift stores, art galleries and we other neat stuff- we spent most of the day exploring and having a great time.  We ended the afternoon at the outlet mall – Las Vegas North Premium outlets- who doesn’t want a good bargain or 2? Frank and Delaney needed a bit of a rest at the hotel, but me and Danica still had lots to do. We walked down to NY NY as we had to go on that rollercoaster.  It was pretty fast and cool. Then we made it across the street to the M&M factory for a bit of chocolate therapy. A quick stop at Ross on the strip for some more bargains and back to the hotel. A quick turnaround round and a stroll down to the WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS sign- which appeared a lot closer on google maps.  Also there are no bathrooms on the route there- just saying!  We made it to the sign and there were a ton of people offering to take our photos – at first I declined and then realized I was not going to get a good shot. So for $15 a guy took a ton of really neat pics and then airdropped them to be right there.  Not a bad idea if you want a good shot.  We ordered a quick uber and were off for dinner at Lotus of Siam for Thai food.  Luckily our driver knew that the place we were going to had moved and we had the old address. An amazing thai dinner to finish off a whirlwind weekend in Vegas.