After being together for 16 years, we have found that it is important to have date weekends where everything is about us connecting as a couple. Instead of sending the kids to the grandparents and doing the dinner and a movie every date, we decided that every once in a while we need to take a weekend trip that consists of just the two of us. So for our date weekend in April, we decided to go to Las Vegas!
We had been to Las Vegas once before in 2006, which was our first time travelling outside of the south, and we were so overwhelmed. This time we wanted things to be different. Sure, we have traveled all over the United States and we felt more seasoned as travelers but Las Vegas has a culture of its own and we wanted to experience it.
We flew in late Thursday night and took the airport shuttle to The Venetian Las Vegas, which is the hotel that we stayed at. We arrived at our hotel a little before 10 pm and immediately started exploring. It is Vegas after all, the city that never sleeps!
DAY 1
Welcome to Las Vegas!!!!The first thing on the list was to ride the High Roller, which is the world’s tallest Ferris Wheel. The High Roller opened in 2014 and is located at the LINQ Hotel. Tickets range from $20-30 a person, depending on if you ride during the day or at night. They usually have discounted tickets online.Seen here is the enclosed pod that you ride in, while some of them serve alcohol at an additional charge, ours did not. We rode the Ferris Wheel right before midnight and there were only about 6 people in our pod which was nice because each pod holds up to 40 people. It is large enough to walk around and see the city from different angles. There are cushioned seats available inside the pod if you choose not to walk around.This is the view from the top, which is 550 feet above the ground. The city, with all the lights, is so breathtaking that you get caught up in the moment and forget that you are riding a Ferris Wheel.The Eiffel Tower located at the Paris Hotel, is a half scale replica of the famous landmark in France. There is an observation deck 46 stories up with a 360 degree view. There is also a restaurant located on the 11th story inside the Eiffel Tower.The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is located on the Las Vegas strip and is the world’s second largest hotel. Seen here is part of the shopping mall located inside the hotel. The Venetian is also home to 40 restaurants and the famous TAO nightclub.We were in awe walking in each and every hotel located on the strip, the detail and architecture is unforgettable. Seen here is a replica of St. Mark’s Square which is located inside the Venetian Hotel. There are also indoor and outdoor gondola rides available to give you that authentic Venice feel. A private Gondola ride for two is $96, or a shared gondola is $48 per couple.
DAY 2
On Friday morning, after sleeping in until after 9 am, we decided to visit the original strip, which is Freemont Street. You cannot walk from the Las Vegas strip to Freemont street, but there are other ways to get there. You can take a cab or RTC Transit, which is the public transportation bus. It is actually cheaper if you take the bus, which is what we did. Almost every hotel has a bus stop located right outside the entrance and the buses stop approximately every ten minutes. There are kiosks located along the Las Vegas strip where you can buy bus passes or you can wait and pay the driver, which is also what we did. There are many options available but the cheapest and best rate is the $8 -24 hour bus pass. You can hop on and off any of the buses as many times as you want within the 24 hours. The bus stops can get very confusing, there are single decker buses(SDX) and double decker buses(Deuce). Each one has different stops along the route and the Deuce stops more frequently, however both buses will get you to Freemont Street.
The Freemont East district was created by the city of Las Vegas in 2002. Currently, it is a total of six blocks from Las Vegas Boulevard East to 8th Street and then from Carson to Ogden Street South.In 2007, the city added retro-looking neon signs and landscaping, as well as, making the Freemont East District pedestrian friendly.Vegas Vic is probably one of the most familiar cowboys in Las Vegas. He was erected in 1951 and still hangs on Freemont Street over a souvenir shop, which was once The Pioneer Club.The Neon Museum opened in 2012 to help restore signs that have been damaged over the years. After the signs are fully restored, the museum places them back along the Freemont Experience for everyone to enjoy. The Museum offers tours seven days a week, if you want to take a night tour to see some of the signs lit up, book a tour about at least a month early as they sell out quickly. Tour prices range from $20-25 a person and it is well worth the money.The visitors center is in the shape of a Conch shell and is the original La Choncha Motel lobby. It was constructed in 1961 and moved to this location in 2006. The Museum is located near the Freemont Experience at 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North. We took the bus to Freemont Street and then walked to the museum. It is a long walk and the area was not the best to be walking in, therefor some people take a taxi to the museum.Inside the lobby hangs a refurbished mosaic La Concha sign, which is the original sign from the now demolished hotel.Each tour is an hour long and lead by a very knowledgeable docent. The “boneyard” of signs is located on two acres right behind the visitor’s center.The boneyard consists of about 200 signs and this is believed to be one of the oldest which they think is from the timeframe of 1931 to 1935.If you take the night tour, seven of the signs have been fully restored and are lit up during the tour.The Heart Attack Grill is located on Freemont Street and even if you don’t eat anything, the experience is worth going inside. They are open daily from 11-11 and accept cash only.As soon as you walk in, you get in line to get a hospital gown, which everyone wears. The menu includes a single, double, triple, or quadruple bypass burger and fries and the wine comes in IV bags that hangs on an IV pole. If you do not finish all of your food, you are taken to the center of the room and receive a paddling from one of the “nurses.” Also, anyone over 350 pounds eats for free and yes, you step on the scale in front of everyone if you think you are close to that weight.A picture of the “patients” with the “nurses.” We only ordered one meal and shared it, therefore no paddling for us. A very nice couple from New Orleans shared their IV bag of wine with us as well!The Mob Museum is located a block over from Freemont Street. The museum opened in 2012 and features the history along with artifacts of organized crime in the United States. The mob museum is open daily from 9 am-9pm. You can buy a combo ticket for the Neon Museum and the Mob Museum and save some money, which is what we did. The combo ticket is $30/person and we paid an extra $10/person for a guided tour of the Mob Museum, which I highly recommend.The museum consists of three floors and it takes you through the world of organized crime starting with the beginning of how it started in the United States, why is started, and how it impacts so many things within our country. The tour then takes you through time to present day. There is so much to see inside this museum, you could spend all day here and not see and read everything, therefore it can be overwhelming. The tour guide helped with this by pointing out important things and telling the stories. It was worth it to hear their perspective.This is a map of the world inside one of the rooms, it shows how organized crime is everywhere and not only in the United States. One of the lawyers for the mob provided some of the artifacts and information inside the museum, however, real mobsters come into the museum and have also supplied the museum with stories and artifacts as well.This is the black book, which is a list of people that are banned from the casinos in Nevada. There are 34 people listed inside this book that are still alive today.The Freemont East District lit up at night.Freemont Street was founded in 1905 along with the city of Las Vegas. In 1925, Freemont became the first paved street and is now the second most famous street in Las Vegas. The Viva Vision Screen, which is suspended 90 feet above Freemont street, is 1,500 feet long and 90 feet wide. A light show will play nightly every hour on the hour, starting about 8 pm until midnight, and lasts about six minutes.
DAY 3
After spending yesterday exploring Freemont Street, we decided to dedicate a day to walking the strip going in and out of every hotel and casino, collecting our chips. It was nice taking the day to just leisurely explore each hotel because each one is so uniquely different than the next.
We stopped by M&M’s World located right next to the MGM Grand. There are four floors of M&Ms items which includes plates, clothes, blankets, shoes, toys, and of course candy. It is definitely worth the stop, even if you don’t like M&Ms.Located inside the MGM Grand Hotel is Dave Copperfield’s Emmy trophy. It is located right outside the auditorium doors where his show is performed.After we made our way up one side all the way to the Tropicana Hotel, we decided to cross over and go back down the other side. To cross the street in Las Vegas you use the pedestrian bridges which gives you an excellent view of the strip when crossing.You cannot visit the west coast and not eat at In-N-out Burger! We took a taxi from New York New York Hotel to In-N-Out Burger. It is less than a 2 mile walk, so we decided to walk back to the strip after we ate. It is located on Dean Martin Drive and you can walk the street in between Excalibur and New York New York to get to In-N-Out. Walk on the side the Excalibur Hotel is on because the sidewalk runs out on the New York New York side.The Bellagio is known for their dancing water show. The 8 acre man made lake is home to the musical fountain and a show takes place every 30 minutes in the afternoons and every 15 minutes from 8pm to midnight.Located inside the Bellagio Hotel is the world’s largest chocolate fountain. It is a floor to ceiling sculpture that circulates more than 2,100 pounds of chocolate. There are 500 feet of pipes that circulates the chocolate 24 hours a day. Within the sculpture, there are three types of chocolate; milk, white, and dark. The fountain is actually 27 feet tall, but only 14 feet is visible inside the shop.Caesars Palace is one of the most famous landmarks on the Strip and it has every right to be, as it is also one of the largest landmarks in Las Vegas. The architecture inside the hotel is exquisite and is definitely worth taking some time to walk through the hotel and casino.This is inside The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, which is a shopping mall that is built on as an extension wing of the main hotel and casino. Inside the mall are replicas of many famous fountains, like the one seen here. The mall contains high end boutique stores such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, and Versace to name a few, making it the highest grossing mall in the United States. It also has higher sales per square foot than Rodeo Drive.Las Vegas is a culture of its own and no words can describe. I have fallen in love with this city and would go back in a heartbeat. It is a place that everyone needs to experience at least once!
