A few weeks ago my family enjoyed another long weekend in Las Vegas. My parents got into town on Thursday the 9th in time to see Donny and Marie perform at the Flamingo. I flew in later that night, and the three of us enjoyed a really late night snack at a restaurant in our hotel.
The next day the three of us visited the Springs Preserve. We'd never known about it before, but it's a neat place right there in the city. It has some botanical gardens, museums, a (Disneyfied) western town, and a large nature preserve where the original springs that helped start Vegas were before they dried up. We spent several hours there, starting with the botanical stuff and the butterfly house, then a ride on the train around the preserve, then a stroll through Boomtown, a quick trip inside the Origen museum to see the indoor flash flood experience and some live animals, and then over to the Nevada State Museum for some history.
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| This bird's long neck was wobbling around kind of like a snake. |
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| Riding the train! |
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| Playing a 1905 shopkeeper in Boomtown |
After all that fun we were pretty hungry, so we headed downtown and had a really good meal at the Smashed Pig gastropub. When we got back to our hotel that night mom and I were tired enough to just head to our rooms. I believe my lights were out by 9:15.
The next morning we got up really early to head out of town so I could run the Lovell Canyon 10k. There were several other races going on at the same time, from a 5k all the way to 50-miler, but it was still a relatively small event. The course was an out-and-back, and was uphill the entire 3.1 miles out. It was enough to feel taxing, but the downhill wasn't steep enough to actually make up much time. I managed to come in 6th woman overall, 15th overall, and third in my age group (though they only awarded age group prizes to first place). It was fun to be out in the desert among the mountains running.
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| Getting ready to run. |
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| Finished! |
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| It was fun having my parents there at the start and finish. |
After the race we headed back to the hotel just as Ryan and Lauren arrived in town. The five of us went back downtown to eat at Carson Kitchen and walk around Fremont Street. I liked the restaurant, but I never like Fremont Street. It's too grungy for me. Back at the hotel some of us napped, then we all walked to the Wynn to see the Lake of Dreams and eat dinner. That evening Ryan and Lauren and I walked the strip, stopping occasionally. My feet were plenty tired by the end of the day.
Sunday the parents went to the Nascar race, while us kids hung out. We ate dim sum at the Rio, then Ryan convinced us we should get Chinese foot massages. Turns out they actually massage way more than the feet, which Ryan knew but didn't divulge. It was nice though, and since my legs were sore from the race the day before I was okay with it. We followed that up with bubble tea, and I was happy we found the same chain place I enjoyed so much in Boston.
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| Taro slush with bubbles. So delicious. |
Back on the strip we did some wandering until it was time to meet up with mom and dad for pizza after their race. Then us kids did more walking on the strip, and found ourselves at a bar where we enjoyed two games of old school Trouble.
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| Flamingos and palm trees. |
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| Haven't played this in so long. |
Monday we ate lobster rolls for lunch (at the same restaurant I had enjoyed twice while in Boston), then we all went back to the Rio and enjoyed a game of indoor Kiss-themed miniature golf. Mom actually played with us, which she's never done in our whole lives. Why didn't she join in earlier?
After our golf game we visited the Bellagio to see the flower display in the conservatory. After that us kids did more strip wandering.
That night mom stayed in but the rest of us went to a hot pot restaurant for dinner. None of us had ever done that before, and I don't think we had quite the right method down for cooking all that random stuff (lots of seafood and shellfish and raw meat and veggies) and getting it out of the soup to eat in time. It was also super messy. But it was a fun bonding experience, and the food was pretty good. This was our last night in Vegas, and since I hadn't done much gambling at all on this trip I lost a little bit of money back at our hotel's casino before going to bed.
The next morning dad dropped us kids off at the airport. We were booked on the same flight to Atlanta, and we actually managed to get seats together, which was fun. We had lunch together on our layover before finally saying goodbye.
Another great family trip!
