Day 1 - January 19th 2017
Arrived in to Vegas at 430, stayed at the Vdara.
 |
| View from our Room |
Met up with the crew at the Cosmopolitan, went over to Fremont St ate at Triple 7 Restaurant and Microbrewery afterwards did the Slotzilla zipline with Carmen and her husband Charlie.
 |
| Slotzilla Zip Line Tower |
Day 2 - January 20th 2017
Woke up early and grabbed breakfast at the cafe in the Vdara and then headed over to the Cosmo to catch our bus for ATVs and Dune buggies.
The tour group picked us up at the hotel next door and were were on our way to first ride ATVs in Valley of Fire.
 |
| Valley of Fire |
 |
| Us in the Valley of Fire |
This place was truly amazing, it really felt like we were on Mars with all the red rocks and rugged terrain. The ATV ride was cold, breezy and slow at first more like a sightseeing tour. The ATVs were a bit of work, as the roads were cars (or the tire width of cars) but the ATVs we were on were not as wide as a car so we were half on gravel and half on hard packed dirt. This made the ride a squirrely, so much so that Rebe fell off...twice.
 |
| Rebe on her stead, before the mishaps |
Also with us were a few dune buggies. After Rebe decided to drive off the road twice the tour leader switched to her ATV and Rebe drove a dune buggy for the rest of the ride. It was a good thing they switched because the second portion of the ride was much faster and more technical and even I was working a bit hard to keep the ATV on the right line. But, oh, it was so much fun.
 |
| Dune Buggies |
From there we went to ride dune buggies in the sand dunes, the same vehicles as pictured above, but it has been raining in Vegas and raining hard (at least for Vegas and you can see the clouds in the early pictures). The dunes were soaked, so it was more muddy than sandy and lucky for us because since it was raining we were the only maniacs willing to do this in such horrible weather. Being the smart travelers we are, we checked the weather before we left and came prepared for the worse and were dressed in our snow gear and it held up pretty well.
 |
| The picture really doesn't do the mud justice |
To make things better, we had to walk through two casinos to get back to our hotel room. Just tracking mud and getting some crazy stares, but hey it's VEGAS I'm sure they've seen weirder.
Got back to the room in a rush, cleaned up and headed over to Cesar's Palace to eat dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Great stuff, I had the tuna and it was great Rebe had salmon. After dinner we went outside to the Absinthe tent to watch the show. Absinthe is a Cirque du Soleli-esque show very entertaining, in that it has comedic parts and amazing acts by the performers (even some crowd performers).
After the show we headed back to the room for some drinks and reformulate a game plan for the rest of the night. A few wanted to go to a club, but the music selection was a bit weak in the few clubs we tried. Then we thought it be a good idea for more food and headed to the Milk Bar for a late night milkshake where the group socialized until 2am.
Day 3 - January 21st 2017
Wouldn't be a trip to the west coast without some In-N-Out, so that's what we had for breakfast before heading to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Here the entire group, 11, rode electric bicycles up and down the mountainous terrain. If you've never been on an electric bike they are exactly what they sound like, basically it's a moped with an electric motor instead gas motor and still plenty fast. The bike will do 20mph on the flat and I think I hit 40+ on the downhill, though not recommended as 40mph on a bike is a bit sketchy.
 |
| Red Rocks of Red Rock Canyon |
 |
| Red Rocks of Red Rock Canyon |
This was another COLD day in Vegas and luckily we went the day we did because that night it snowed and shut the park down. The park was good but honestly not as stunning as Valley of Fire which we did the day before nonetheless worth a quick drive through visit if you have a chance.
We wanted to see the Cirque show Ka, but it was sold out on this day and couldn't make a decision on what other show to see so we decided to see O again. Still amazing as the first time we saw it. After the show we headed over to CraftSteaks in MGM where everyone had amazing steak, steak so tender you could cut it with a fork.
Picture 16 reminds me of, I think 'The Land Before Time', where this mountain comes to life and talks to the kid. Could be a different movie. Maybe 'Return to Oz' which was also trippy.
ReplyDelete