Day 1: Vegas, baby!

Before I forget everything, let's talk about that trip I took! This will be very summarized or I'll never finish.

I purposely took a later flight so I wouldn't have to get up SUPER early and then feel all tired and headachey. I arrived in Vegas at around 1pm and Dania had already gotten the rental car and picked up some snacks and beverages. After picking me up, she wanted to stop by the Pinball Hall of Fame, where we played a few games. Then we headed to our hotel, the Monte Carlo, and unloaded our stuff.

[Dania's burger at Holstein's]

By then it was late afternoon and I hadn't eaten a real lunch, so we opted to have an early dinner and then sight-see afterwards. We had dinner at Holstein's, a burger place in the Cosmopolitan hotel. It was pretty good, and the hotel had some really cool decor.

Vegas is so over-the-top and decorated, which would never work in, say, my own home. But it's cool to see and photograph! There was this bar area that was surrounded in strings of crystals (I guess it's called the Chandelier Bar, now that I looked it up), and then a whole wall of sewing machines, plus quirky lights, video screens and statues.

We headed back to the hotel briefly before going out again. We wanted to go swimming, but the pool/lazy river was unfortunately closed! :(

 [Chihuly ceiling installation (?) in the Bellagio lobby. So cool.]

There are sooooooo many things to see and spend time on, but we had to make some sacrifices and set priorities. Not only because of our short stay, but it just takes time and energy to get everywhere. We went to the Bellagio and saw the botanical garden/conservatory, the general lobby area, and the fountain show. I loved that hotel and all of the cool things to see. It's more sophisticated than some of the other hotels and there are all sorts of beautiful details in the decor.

We walked around a bit and Dania wanted to see the Venetian after having seen it on a previous visit. It took awhile to get there, but it was really cool. They have the canals and gondolas and then inside is a pretend sky over an area that is supposed to look like Italy (I wouldn't know). The gondola drivers sing, too. I know most of you are aware of all this, but I thought I'd mention some details for people who haven't been or heard much about Las Vegas.

We agreed that a cab was in order for our ride home. We were exhausted from walking so much (with all my camera stuff, including the tripod), plus it had been a long day of travel. It probably took just as long to get back in the cab, due to traffic, but it was so worth it to sit down awhile. Then we grabbed some frozen yogurt and went back to our hotel to relax and watch TV.

These are just a few of the photos, but I have more in a gallery I'm starting and will link to in each post. Click here to visit the gallery! You may leave questions/comments on the photos and I'll try and respond. I didn't spend a bunch of time on edits, so just accept most of these as travel snapshots. :)

Have you been to Vegas? What's your favorite thing to see there?