Las Vegas v.4

So like I said, I went to Las Vegas almost two weeks ago with my family for our annual Nascar weekend trip. Here's how it went down:

Friday I got up super early for my 5:20am flight, and when I arrived in Vegas at 9:45am Ryan picked me up and we went to eat at a New Mexican restaurant filled with maps of New Mexico and Southwestern art. Then we checked into the South Point Hotel and Casino (located on Las Vegas Boulevard but a couple miles south of the strip) and took a nap. A couple hours later my parents arrived, and that's when we all headed to my packet pickup and dinner.

Saturday was my half marathon. After we got back from the race I showered and changed, then Ryan and Mom and I went to the Hard Rock for a great lunch at Culinary Dropout. I was starving after the race, but then I was stuffed after lunch. So it was time for a nap. That evening after Dad was back from the Nascar race, we all went to see the Gatlin Brothers in concert. There were two kids in the audience, and after them Ryan and I were definitely the youngest people there. It was fun though.

Sorry it's fuzzy, but look how happy we look! Even if Ryan is hiding his face as he takes the photo, and I am accidentally blocking Mom.

Sunday both Dad and Ryan went to Nascar, so Mom and I headed to the strip for some sightseeing. We started with the conservatory at the Bellagio, which had a springtime and butterflies theme.

Bellagio conservatory.

Butterfly house!

I love that Las Vegas has so many mosaics, like this one at the Bellagio.

Next we walked to the Paris for lunch, then to the Flamingo to look at real live flamingos. Then we took a break at Margaritaville and got to sit up on the outdoor patio because the weather was so nice, and from there we walked to Caesar's Palace to play some slots. Finally we'd killed enough time that Ryan and Dad were done with the race, so we went to the Monte Carlo to meet them and walked to New York New York for a good Italian dinner.

Giant slot machine at New York New York. Alas, he didn't win.

Later that night Ryan and I visited the ice bar at the Monte Carlo. They give you a coat and gloves (with upgrade options for a fur coat and hat, which we didn't spring for) and you go inside and drink out of ice cups and sit on ice seats and the whole thing is very cold but also pretty neat. (Or "cool," if you will.) I don't think I'd enjoy it if I were wearing a skirt and heels like most girls at night in Las Vegas, but I wasn't.

They wouldn't let us take cameras inside and they wanted twenty bucks to buy the photos they took. So here we are outside the bar after our freezing visit inside.

Monday we all went to an outlet mall, since that's how my family rolls on vacations. While there we enjoyed a big sushi buffet lunch. Ryan also spotted a professional wrestler at the buffet (I think it was this guy). When we got back to the hotel we had to take naps again, and then Ryan had to go back to Flagstaff which was very sad. Once he was gone my parents and I headed to the strip, where we watched the volcano erupt at the Mirage, had a drink at Treasure Island, and ate dinner at the Wynn.

The rocks are a "volcano" at the Mirage that erupted shortly after this photo was taken. Sure I have some shots with the fire and lava, but this one is prettier.

Hehe.

Love these mosaics at the Wynn!

Tuesday my parents and I went to Red Rock Canyon (where my half marathon was on Saturday). Dad and I hiked around on the red rocks while Mom drove around and took pictures on her own. The great thing about the red rocks is you don't have to stay on a trail, and you can wander wherever you want!

He's so strong.

 

Red Rock Canyon pistachio sighting!

 

 

Pretty desert.

After a little while we met back up with Mom and drove to a different spot, where Dad and I went for a 1.5 mile hike to a spring. The trail was really just an old road and was covered in rocks. A lot of rocks.

There are at least five bighorn sheep in this photo. Only they didn't really have big horns.

Once we reached the spring a man told us about a cabin just a little farther up, so we headed toward that but then a different man coming from that direction said it was farther than we thought, so we turned around. Poor Mom was just sitting in the car all this time and we didn't bring any water with us on this desert hike, so I was fine with turning around.

This was the spring (dammed up) at the end of the hike. Not the most exciting end-of-hike-destination, but oh well.

 

End of the hike! We survived.

Parents!

By this point it was mid-afternoon and we'd never had lunch, so we headed to Big Dog's Brewing Company for food and cold beer. Then we booked it back to the hotel so we could all freshen up and head to the strip for the evening. That's where we saw the Cirque du Soleil show Mystère, which was fun. Except watching all those acrobatics can really make one feel physically inadequate.

Tuesday was my last night in Vegas, so I ended the night by finally winning some money on the slot machines back at our hotel's casino. Up until that night I'd been losing left and right. (And by that I mean I lost, you know, like twenty bucks a day.) So that was exciting.

Another fun family Vegas trip on the books!