I spent a week in Vegas one day.
"Jeff and I are going to Vegas!"
Probably not the most sought after Christmas destination, but Vegas proved to be a pretty good choice for our first Christmas just us after 5 years of marriage. They (whoever 'they' are) say, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Obviously, if that were true it wouldn't be so appealing to go because no one would ever know anything about it enough to consider it. So I'll break the mold and share a little bit of our vacation experience with you.
It may surprise you to hear we really didn't witness anything outrageously crazy or offensive or anything else that would be eyebrow raising. The only eyebrow raising situations we encountered were the costs of eating at the recommended buffets! Good night...all we'd ever heard were how cheap the buffets were everywhere and how worth it was to eat at them. When was this? 10 years ago? Certainly things have changed. My apologies to the Bellagio Buffet but it simply fell far below our expectations. It wasn't "bad" and I tried to make up for it in crab legs; but it certainly isn't worth any lengthy wait, which thankfully we did not have a long wait, nor is it worth the price point they've required. But to our happy surprise, our own hotel, The Palms Casino; had an excellent buffet. It's called the Bistro Buffet and our lunch was no doubt satisfactory and filling! I can still hear the Mongolian grill area calling my name...
The other many casino hotels are actually quite lovely inside. Each with their own character of course and very busy for the Christmas season. We were pretty content with our place just off the strip. We decided the popular Bellagio and Caesar's Palace resorts, and other nearby spots of interest; were nice to visit but we won't be staying there if we return. It's just way too busy. We did favor the Cosmopolitan though-we'd stay there if we ever go back. (I wonder if they have a buffet...)
The shopping is excellent but we pretty much played the tourist card and did a lot of walking and looking. Both inside the hotels and outside on the strip there was plenty to see and experience so it was fun. My favorite parts of Vegas were the two Cirque Du Solei shows we saw. We saw Mystere at Treasure Island and "O" at the Bellagio. We love Cirque Du Solei shows ever since we saw La Nouba at the Downtown Disney strip in Orlando, Fl. They never disappoint! Plenty of "wow" moments and overall incredible athleticism from each performer. Just go see one-trust me.
Christmas day was spent at the Grand Canyon touring around. (You can't get THAT close to it and not go.) The tour was well worth every penny and included a tour over the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam alone is pretty incredible; especially keeping in mind that man's own hand built it in a relatively short time frame. Very impressive for sure! We went to the West rim of the Canyon where they have the SkyWalk experience. Also, we found out not only is the South rim owned by the federal government, which we were originally scheduled for; but it's also fenced off so you can only experience so much and it's a couple hours more of a travel than the West rim is. The West rim is on an Indian reservation and is hundreds of thousands of acres of "sacred land"-so there's no fencing in your pictures and you can sit at the end of the top ledge if you dare (I did ;) ). Plus, the last lookout point had really good lunch included with the tour! Nothing like having a good meal while over looking the Grand Canyon. It was a bit chilly that day so the jackets stayed on. But it was an awesome experience...we both agreed we would have never expected to find ourselves at the Grand Canyon on Christmas day at any point in our lives. lol We were happy we did though.
I suppose this is the nutshell version of our trip but hopefully you'll check out our pictures on FB and enjoy. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of or with the storm trooper and Darth Vader we passed. Nor did we meet "the fat black man in a bikini bottom" we were told was located in the original downtown area. (Darn..) Elvis, however; has returned quite a few times as you will see him on just about every other corner between The Bellagio and NY, NY casinos if you ever visit. Do not take any hand outs people are attempting to thrust into your palm-you don't want what they're offering, lol. If you're lucky you'll find the man with the tiny elephant and perhaps you'll see some awesome street performers as you stroll, or walk rather quickly and aggressively, down the Vegas strip.
Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoy a Happy New Year! Love from us!
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