Tag Archives: Las Vegas

♫ We’re up all night to get lucky!

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The final post for my 2013 Las Vegas trip will be dedicated to my favorite part of the city, the unique nightlights covering the city that truly never sleeps!

In fact, when the sun goes down, the party is just getting started. There was one evening when we got back to the hotel after dinner and it was about 10 or 11PM and there was a long line of people checking into the hotel. I couldn’t believe how many people were waiting to check in on a Friday evening.

We started from Harrah’s which is slightly towards the northern end of the middle of the strip and walked IMG_8287north to the Venetian, Pilazzo, Wynn, and Encore hotels and then turned back south towards TI, Mirage, Caesar’s Palace, Bellagio, and Cosmopolitan (where we decided to call it a night at 3 something in the morning). On our way back, we stopped at the Bellagio’s fountain hoping to see one of their hourly water shows but apparently it was too late. There were a bunch of others waiting around expecting a show to start but we were all sadly disappointed. Apparently, it ends at midnight. :\

IMG_7768We walked through each of the hotels and casinos admiring all the lavish decor, fancily-dressed people, and high rollers at casinos like Wynn, Venetian, Bellagio, Caesar’s, and Cosmopolitan.
Most nights in vegas, we stayed out and up past midnight, well usual past my bedtime for those that know me. On our last night, by the time we got back to our hotel, it was about 3:30AM and we were exhausted. Despite not having the sun up, the streets still seemed to be baking in the lingering heat. The city was still busier than ever with people walking about and hitting the clubs. Being up late at night with all the other nigh owls, you can really feel the excitement and energy of the city. Everyone seemed to be having a good time living it up in Sin City.
The week we visited, the Electronic Daisy Carnival (EDC), one of the largest electronic music festivals in North America was playing so a lot of the big name DJs (Some of my favorites) were playing at the local hotels and clubs well into the night.
Coming back home after Vegas, I just wanted to go back. The city was so much fun. The entertainment and larger than life spectacles are just unreal. Back home, everything just seemed so drab, dull, and not quite as exciting.

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Until next time!

Good Eats Around Vegas

This next to last post on our Vegas ’13 trip just highlights some of the tasty and good looking foods we found in sin city.

  • Top of the World at Stratosphere for dinner at sunset
  • Ping Pang Pong inside Gold Coast Casino for dim sum lunch
  • California Pizza Kitchen inside Mirage for dinner
  • Café inside Paris for lunch

 

Red Rock Canyon

Rather than spend four hours each way driving to the Grand Canyon, we decided to just take our time and see a closer canyon, the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. While it’s not a natural wonder of the world, it was pretty cool to get out of the city again and see some different scenery. Not so cool was the temperature, as the day was a sweltering 100° day in the middle of the desert. Fortunately, the sights of Red Rock Canyon can be taken in by driving the 18 mile loop with optional hikes of varying lengths and difficulty.

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The sense of perspective and size is hard to grasp. You can compare it with that tiny car.

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Dam, Hoover Would be Proud!

The Hoover Dam is really an extraordinary sight. If you’ve never been, it’s gorgeous and much bigger than I thought. It’s about 45 minutes from Las Vegas and well worth the trip. It’s an engineering wonder for man to be able to design, build, and maintain (and now defend) such a structure in the middle of a river. The dam took 5 years to build in the 1930s and is situated on the Colorado river, between Arizona and Nevada (two different time zones). It was commissioned under President Roosevelt and named after President Hoover.

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Nevada time to the west and Arizona to the East. In this case, both clocks were the same because Arizona does not observe daylight savings.

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