As I said in my last post Keith and I took a little vacation for our 5 year anniversary to Las Vegas at the end of September. We decided back in May that since we had not taken a real vacation just the 2 of us since our honeymoon that it was about time to get away. We stayed at the Venetian and thanks to Keith's Holiday Inn points for all those hotel stays for work we were able to get 2 nights free which helped to make our trip a little more reasonably priced.
We started our first night off by going to
Otto by Mario Batali in the Shops at the Palazzo which was absolutely delicious! I have always loved watching Mario Batali cook on the Food Network so it was a real treat for me to get to eat at one of his restaurants!
We then moved on the Fremont Street to check out Old Vegas. Now I have to warn you that if you are going to visit Old Vegas, check out what they have going on there before you go. We didn't realize that it was a Biker Rally weekend and let's just say we saw some interesting things. Though you usually see quite a bit of interesting things on Fremont Street!
I loved that they have a sort of canopy up between the hotels on Fremont Street! It allows you to walk all along the street and not worry about the weather. Plus they canopy is like a TV screen so I am sure they could do all kinds of neat things with it.
Of course I had to take pictures of all of the iconic hotels all lit up! We went into each one while we were there and it just amazed me how these hotels are still open after all of these years!
After our time on Fremont Street we headed back to the strip to check out a few other hotels. I could literally just walk in and out of the hotels all day looking at the amazing decorations and interior of all of these buildings! It just amazes me.
We stopped by the Wynn and the Encore before we headed back to our room for the night and this waterfall all lit up was just so neat. They had a cute little balcony/bar that you could go to that looked right over this and made for the best atmosphere.
Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast from the food court in the Venetian before we headed off to walk through The Forum Shops and meet up with a friend of mine that is currently living in Vegas. I was just amazed by the amount of shopping in Vegas. I never really saw many people frequenting the shops but man you could sure do some damage to your bank account both at the tables and the shops!
As I mentioned above Saturday morning we met up with one of my friends that I have known since the 4th grade. Jessica and her family moved to Vegas about a year and a half ago when her husband matched for his Family Medicine residency at the Air Force base there. I hadn't seen Jessica since she was pregnant with her 2nd little one Jude who is already over a year old! It was great to catch up with her and see both of the kids and I even got a sweet surprise when her sister came along who moved to Vegas to live with her last December.
We met up at Seredipity 3 and sat around and talked for quite awhile before the kids got restless and we moved on to the Bellagio to look around and to pick up our tickets for "O" which we were going to that night.
The Bellagio had some of my favorite decorations indoors.
The conservatory of the Bellagio was all done up for Fall and the flowers and plants were just so pretty!
They even had this great talking tree that scared poor Harper to death! I don't think that little girl will ever be the same when she goes into the Bellagio!
After we finished at the Bellagio we headed over to the Paris to look around and let the kids burn off a little more steam. The Paris was by far my favorite hotel of all. I think it was since I have actually been to Paris and the hotel reminded me so much of it. Plus the croissant I had there was just delicious!
We decided before we left that since Saturday was our actual anniversary that that would be the night that we had a fancy dinner and went and saw a show. We picked "O" by Cirque du Soleil in the Bellagio as our show and it was just wonderful! Before we went to see the show, we did a little more sight seeing and of course had to check out the fountains in front of the Bellagio
We didn't stay for the whole show since we had dinner reservations but it was neat to see such a landmark of Vegas. For dinner we chose to eat at
Michael Mina in the Bellagio and let me tell you it did not disappoint! We both did a tasting menu and it was just amazing! After watching so much Top Chef and Food Network its always great to eat at a restaurant like that and know just what goes into all of those meals.
Sunday during the day we did quite a bit more sight seeing and actually walked from one end of the strip to the other. We checked out the Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Cosmopolitan, Aria, MGM, NY NY, Excaliber, and Luxor (basically every hotel on the Strip). Again it was just so neat to see how each hotel was themed and decorated.
Sunday night we met up with Jessica and her husband Kirk again for dinner at
China Grill in Mandalay Bay. Again another fabulous restaurant and after that meal I am pretty sure I could just spend days and days eating in Vegas. After dinner we headed up to
Mix at Mandalay Bay for a great view of the skyline of Vegas all lit up (and if you ever make it up to Mix you have to go to the bathroom while you are there - just trust me on that!)
It was the perfect way to end out trip! Good food, good friends and a great view!
I would definitely recommend to everyone to get to Vegas at least once in their lifetime though I am sure we will be back multiple times in our remaining years. I would have loved to see a few more shows and of course continue to eat my way through Vegas!
