Another year... another trip to Vegas! What can I say, we love Vegas!! This year was a bit unique for us though, because this was the first time that we've gone to Vegas during the spring time. We usually always go over Columbus day or Thanksgiving. We decided to go over Easter this year, because that way both of our moms would get to come on the trip with us (Cody's mom is a teacher and had spring break). Both of our moms really like to gamble so Cody and I were happy to have the opportunity to bring them on vacation with us.
Day 1
We stayed at our vacation club for most of the week, but we were only able to get the Jockey Club from Sunday to Sunday, and we wanted to be in Vegas on Saturday night so we got rooms at Excalibur for Saturday night.
In all the years that we've been to Vegas, this was the first time that we've ever gone inside of the Excalibur. We were shocked by how nice their pool complex looked (it was kinda cold our first couple days in Vegas so we couldn't check it out). Excalibur is usually a cheaper hotel option in Vegas, but from the looks of their pool area, I bet it'd be a nice place to stay if you were on a budget in Vegas.
Of course, our first stop in Vegas is always the Bellagio. We had to check out the spring time decorations in the Conservatory and eat at the buffet (yummm). We went to pick Cody's mom up at the airport around 11pm and then gambled at Excalibur for the night (we all lost there... boo!) The first night in Vegas is always hard for me because you gain 3 hours when you go there... so even though the clock says that it's 11pm... my body thinks its 2am. And Cody's always like nope... we're on Vegas time! Let's go out and do stuff for the night haha. So when we end up staying until like 2-3am Vegas time every time we go and I'm so sleepy the next day.
Day 2
Once we got up and headed out, we got lunch at Miller's Alehouse (their zingers have been our favorite ever since we went to Orlando). Once we realized that Vegas had a Miller's Alehouse, it has become one of our "regular" stops. Afterwards, we were able to check in early at the Jockey Club. I'm so glad that we picked to stay at the Jockey Club, because you just can't beat being center strip and having a full kitchen. This year, I feel
like we got a really good room too, because we were in the front tower
and we had a view of the Bellagio fountains (room 828).
After getting our groceries and hanging out for a while, we went to the Cosmopolitan. This was the first time that Cody's mom had seen the gorgeous Cosmopolitan Chandelier.
Cody ended up doing really good that first night at the Cosmopolitan and was the big winner for the night. Bier Haus became our favorite game of the trip.
We kept saying "Winner, Winner, Pizza Dinner!" because after Cody won he bought a couple pizzas from Secret Pizza for our late dinner that night.
Day 3
My mom decided to stay at the Cosmo and gamble while Cody, Deb, and I walked down the strip. Deb hadn't been to Vegas in years so she wanted to see the sights. So we walked and stopped along the way to take some pictures.
Deb is so funny... she sees Kelsie taking selfies all the time... so she was ALL about getting some good selfies of us haha. And I forgot my selfie stick!!!! Darn it! This is like the 3rd trip in a row that I've forgotten it and wished that I had it. ...I think Cody might have hidden it somewhere... *note to self: find selfie stick before our cruise in May.
We were able to get people to take regular pictures of us too.
Here we are walking around the Mirage. We also walked down the Venetian too. They have a huge mall inside of there that we had never walked through before. It's amazing with how many years that we've been going to Vegas how there are still so many things that we haven't seen yet.
One thing that was completely new was Hell's Kitchen. When we were in Vegas in November they were still building Hell's Kitchen, and it only just opened up in March (I think). I watched this whole season of Hell's Kitchen to see who would win the spot as the head chef at Hell's Kitchen (and the person that I was rooting for won it!!). I really wanted to eat here so bad, but it was kind of expensive and no one else in our group had seen the show... so they weren't that excited about it. Also since it is so new, it was really hard to get reservations, and we could only get a time at 4pm which really didn't work with our schedule. Oh well... maybe next time... if we go to Vegas again...
We used some of our free MyVegas rewards for buy one get one buffet tickets at the Aria's buffet. We were shocked by how good the Aria's buffet was! I think that it was one of the better buffets that we've been to in Vegas. The food was delicious, with lots of variety, and we were pleasantly surprised.
Day 4
On day 4, we decided to try to do some thing that would keep us all out of the casinos because we weren't doing so great gambling wise... So we decided to check out the Hoover Dam.
We had fun walking around here and taking pictures for a couple of hours. And finally the weather started to turn nice!! Cody called Deb our unreliable tour guide, because she kept telling stories and Cody said that he didn't believe that she knew what she was telling us about haha.
Here we are on the state line of Arizona and Nevada. The Colorado river divides the two states. After checking out the dam and deciding against a dam tour (kinda pricey to do and didn't seem worth it), we ate a nice little lunch that we had packed before heading back to Vegas.
After we got home, we walked down to the park at NYNY to listen to some free live music. We took our drinks with us and hung out there for a couple of hours. The weather was great, and it was really nice to sit there and hang out. We also went to the Hershey's store and bought some really yummy treats for the walk back home.
That night we went to see Legends in concert. We saw Sting, young Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and Elvis Presley. While we were waiting in line to get into the show, a guy walks past us, and Cody goes... hey that's Elvis! And the guy kinda smiled and walked in an employees only area... and sure enough he was the Elvis in our show.
I really thought that the kid that played Michael Jackson was amazing! He moved so fast and quick and sang so well. He was probably my favorite during the performance (Sting was my least favorite).
Elvis was the last one to come out. He went back stage after most of his performance, and Cody was like ohhh he's going to change into the Elvis suit and then he's going to sing Viva Las Vegas. Deb was like.. nahhh I bet you $5 that he doesn't sing Viva Las Vegas, so I was like "Oh yeah?? I'll take that bet." Deb... if you're reading this... you owe me $5 haha. Because OF COURSE he sang Viva Las Vegas!
Ok... I have to point these guys out, because they were the "show within the show" for me. They went CRAZY for every performer that came up and were like SUPER excited for each act. All the performers noticed them.
And the old lady sitting next to them was PISSED! You could just tell that she was mad. She was sitting her arms folded and was leaning away from them.
However... Elvis saved the day. He was passing out scarfs to a few women...
And he gave it to her, and she light up like a Christmas tree. He saved her night, because I could tell she wasn't happy before this haha.
Here's Cody and I on one side of the table...
Here's our moms on the other. The theater we were in was the Donnie and Marie theater. For years Donnie and Marie's picture/advertisement has literally covered the entire front of the Flamingo's building so we were a little surprised by how small their showroom was, but I guess that's what happens when you need to fill it up every night.
Day 5
Before our vacation, our vacation club called us and asked if we would stop in to talk with them, because there had been some updates to our program that they wanted to go over with us. We decided to go and see what it was... last time they called us in, they added thousands of resorts to our program, so we were hoping that maybe something good had been added again. We were a little disappointed to find out that wasn't the case. I guess the cost of our program is doubling in price for new people joining the program. New people's maintenance fees are going to be over $800 a year vs our $400, and then each week is going to cost them $350 vs our $170 a week. They said that if we ever upgrade our program that we would go into the new pricing structure so they were allowing us to get anymore stars that we'd like now ahead of that. So... that kind of sucks for new people looking to buy into the program, but I guess doesn't really impact us too much. We have the amount of stars that we are happy with now, and I don't think that we'd really need anymore... We were super happy that it didn't take us long there, because it was a really nice day out. Half an hour in and out, and we were back on vacation.
Cody made some burgers for lunch for the four of us, and then Cody, Deb, and I went to the Cosmopolitan's Boulevard Pool for a few hours (we get into their pools because we are staying at the Jockey Club). It was a really nice day out, but the pool was packed. We weren't too impressed with the Cosmopolitan's pool either, because there wasn't much space to swim.
The Jockey Club provided a free shuttle to Fremont Street from 6pm-10pm so we decided to head down there that night.
I tell you... some of those people on Fremont Street.. Phew... One of the locals said that they called it "Freakmont" street, because you really do see some crazy stuff down there. The guy in this picture is no where near as crazy as some of the stuff we saw. Guys were literally having women pay for them to sit them down in a chair and give them lap dances... girls were dressed up and acting out B&D scenarios... homeless/crazy people were doing crazy dances and had rude signs to try to get tips... it was nuts! If you're ever going to Vegas for the first time, and have kids with you... here's your warning... DON'T TAKE THEM TO FREMONT STREET! And even more... DON'T PUSH A SLEEPING BABY IN A STROLLER AT NIGHT ON THE STRIP! -End Rant... Ok.. Just Kidding... not ending my rant just yet... For as long as we've been going to Vegas, I've seen these parents hauling their kids around in the most inappropriate places in Vegas, and I just can't stand it! I feel like it is such a selfish act to choose to vacation in Vegas when you have little kids, let alone to be out at night time on the strip with your kid sleeping in a stroller. It's just not right. And I told Cody that we are NOT going to ever be those people... Ok.. now end rant...
Anyways... We did the typical stuff on Fremont Street. We watched the large television screen come to life, we gambled in the casinos, got our picture taken with the Million dollars, and saw the world's largest golden nugget...
Here's our moms with their favorite object behind them. Too bad the casinos weren't too good to us on this trip... no one in our group were big winners during this trip.
Cody and I go to Fremont Street on every trip to Vegas, but we realized this year that we've never gone to the top of Fremont Street!?!? I don't know how that is possible.. but this was the first time that we saw the "Fremont Street Experience" Sign.
And the welcome to downtown Las Vegas sign! We were shocked that we never came down this way before. I'm not sure how we never wandered down there...
Before our first trip to Vegas, we watched a show about famous places in Vegas and Heart Attack Grill was one of them. They weigh you before you enter into the restaurant and if you weigh over 350 lbs you eat for free. They cook their food SUPER un-healthy and they give everyone a hospital gown to wear when they come in and the waitresses are dressed like nurses. I've always wondered where this place was, and I was shocked to see that it was right on Fremont Street and we never noticed it!
We left Fremont Street at 10pm and came back to the strip. We went and watched the Bellagio fountains for a while, and then we walked down by Bally's to get something to eat. Cody's mom had been talking about Walburgers all week, so we were going to go there, but the menu didn't look all that good. We ended up eating at Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken which was right next to it instead.
Day 6
The next day we spent at the Mirage. We used our MyVegas coupon to get free sandwiches from Carnegie Deli (which Cody has always wanted to try). He really liked his sandwich, but I wasn't too big of a fan.
After lunch we went to Seigfried and Roy's Secret Garden. We actually had quite a bit of trouble getting mom's rewards to come up so it took us a little while longer than planned to get it. However, the stars aligned because we got to meet Seifried!
Mom was "super fan" and told Seigfried that she comes to the Secret Garden every time she comes to Vegas (which is true) and Seigfried gave her one of his special coins.
Here's mom hugging Seigfried after he gave her the coin. She was so excited. I guess that Seigfried comes to the Secret Garden just about every other day...
But we were extremely lucky to get to see Roy! I guess he almost never comes out! For those that don't know, Seigfried and Roy used to perform with lions and tigers in their shows. During one of their shows it looked like a tiger attacked Roy and the bite damaged either his neck or spine which left him in a wheelchair. When we were last at the Secret Garden, the people working there told us that the sequence of events didn't really happen as it appeared. Apparently, Roy was about to have a seizure on stage and the tiger sensed it and was trying to carry him to safety. Tigers carry their young by the loose skin on their neck, so when the tiger used it's teeth to carry him by the neck it wasn't because the tiger was trying to hurt him... it was the tiger trying to help. Unfortunately, that help did tragically leave Roy in a wheelchair.
However, he must be doing better now, because he was able to stand up for a little while to take pictures with some people. Seeing both Seigfried and Roy is very rare, so I think we were super lucky.
Mom and I got back in line to get a picture with both of them. :)
Cody and Deb checking out some of the exhibits.
Here is Deb and my traditional "trying to get the picture with the animal" shot. Haha.
It seems like the Secret Garden is my spot for getting really good pictures of my mom. I think it's because she enjoys being there. Mom ended up going to the Secret Garden three times during our trip. When we went to the pool, she went to the Garden.
As we were leaving, we were watching this dolphin playing fetch with itself. It kept throwing the ball and chasing after it. There was a baby dolphin the same tank, and I guess the baby likes to play with the ball too, and we saw her swimming around this dolphin to try to play too.
Back in November, Cody and I stayed at the Mirage. In November it was too cold to get to enjoy the pool, so we kept our key and brought it with us during this trip. Sure enough, we were able to show it and head out to the Mirage pool. We hung out here for a while after the Secret Garden and enjoyed the warm, wonderful weather! Afterwards, we went to PF Chang's for dinner... which is the only place that Cody and I have gone to dinner on every trip that we've been to Vegas. It's officially tradition.
All week long, Deb had been talking about how she wanted to go onto the Eiffel Tower. So finally on the night before she left, we bought the tickets for it. As soon as we got into the elevator and started going up, Deb hated it and wanted to go back onto the ground floor. I don't think she realized that we were going to go up to the top of it...
So she pretty much got up to the top, and then got in line to go back down. Cody and I payed $50 to go up there... so we decided to hang around for a bit. It was really neat to watch the Bellagio fountains going off from above. We had never been able to watch the fountains straight on from above, and with the music playing (if you listened really hard... you could just make out the song playing from down below). So that was pretty neat and we enjoyed watching it.
Day 7
Today was all about the Valley of Fire. The Valley of Fire is one of the wonders of Nevada, and is truly spectacular to see. So even though the Cody, my mom, and I had already been here, we wanted to come again so that Deb could get to see it. And her inner science teacher was pretty excited about looking at all the rocks too.
Our moms.
Cody and I having fun posing.
Here is Deb being adventurous...
You can see she was proud of herself haha.
Mom trying to find some shade...
I wanted a picture on that ledge! So I was climbing over to make it happen...
Worth it.
We went on a short hike to look at some ancient petroglyphs. Now I have to laugh, because Deb and I kept accidentally calling these petroglyphs... hieroglyphs... And Cody was adamantly correcting us on the proper name of them... and wouldn't you believe it... spell check on my blog is suggesting that I spell petroglyphs as hieroglyphs haha. Don't feel bad spell check... we did the same thing...
Love this picture of Cody and Deb...
My love and I.
Deb was on a mission to take a cactus back home with her. She kept looking for a good one that she could break a piece off on and take it back home.
After our exploring and taking pictures, we had a nice little picnic lunch that we'd packed. We ended up coming back and heading back to the Mirage. We enjoyed soaking up the sunshine and relaxing in the pool. We wanted to enjoy it while we could, because we knew that the weather back home was not going to be nearly as nice. We also got to go back to the Bellagio buffet for dinner.
Day 8
On day 8 we had to say goodbye to Deb. She left to go back to New York so it was just the three of us left.
For our last day in Vegas, Cody and I wanted to hang out at the Mirage pool again. Mom went to the Secret Garden. We were super lucky to find two chairs to hang out in. The pool was super packed (this picture is from our last trip to the Mirage). We hung out here and enjoyed the nice weather for most of the day.
Afterwards we decided to give the Wynn Buffet another chance. The last time that we'd been here (which had been probably 3-4 years prior), I remember not being too impressed with the Wynn buffet. But we had heard that they did a multi-million dollar renovation to it so we thought that we'd give it another chance. Yeah.... still not too impressed. The buffet was pretty pricey and to be honest, I didn't feel that there was that much of a selection or anything that was too great. We decided to officially cross the Wynn buffet off our list of places that we'd want to go eat at in Vegas.
Cody and I finally headed down to NYNY and MGM to gamble for the night. MGM has a game called Ghostbusters which is identical to the picture above. Cody and I always sit next to each other and play the game. The game is located right where the drink servers walk by, and we both kept giving the girl that brought us drinks a $1 each... so she was getting $2 from us for each round she brought... so she kept on bringing them. We played for hours at MGM and had a lot of fun. In all that time, we barely lost any money... I think we might have even come out ahead. It seems like we always have fun at MGM.
Overall, I think that we had a really good trip to Vegas. No one came out as a big winner during the trip, but I think that we all had a lot of fun. We love that we got to bring our moms on vacation with us to a location that they both really like. We did a lot of sight seeing and activities during our trip, and it is always fun going to Vegas with other people. I'm not sure if this is going to be our last trip to Vegas or not, but if so I'm glad that it was a good trip. It was interesting to go to Vegas during a different season. We really liked that it stayed lighter out longer. Usually in the fall it gets dark by 4-5pm in Vegas, but during this trip it stayed light until 7-8pm. The weather was kind of hit and miss though... the beginning of our week was a little colder but then it warmed up by the end of the week. I think that Cody would prefer to go back to Vegas next time in October, because he missed getting to place bets on football, and it seems like the weather is usually consistently in the 80s. But whichever the season... it's still Vegas. :)
