I knew Vegas was different the moment I arrived in the airport. The craziness commenced the second I stepped off the plane, and I cannot explain why. Perhaps it was the energy of all the travelers surrounding me, all eager to hit the strip, or the One Armed Bandit gambling machines that lined the walls, but I could feel the difference in the air.
I was picked up at the airport by a family friend, named Julie, who I had met 9 years before in Seattle. She took me to her home, where I would be staying for the next 5 days, and as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light!
The next morning we woke up a little earlier than I wished but I knew that the outcome of this early morning wake up call would be well worth it: we were headed for Red Rock Canyon. It was a beautiful canyon, about 45 minutes away from the house, which had an hour long driving route through the park, as well as multiple stop off points where you could get out and get really close to the rocks, even climb on them!
The rocks themselves were beautiful. 3 different types folded together in incredible patterns, Black, White and a deep Red. At one of the look out points, I climbed high up the side of one of the rock structures and just took it all in. The 360* view of the canyon was amazing and I just sat up there for a while, taking it all in.
After we had adventures around the rest of the beautiful park, we headed to the "Old West Trading Town" for some food. The "town" was basically an interactive museum of the time and the way people loved in the Old West. It was great! There were fully operational shops, nestled in between the preserved homes and entertainment facilities of the times, and if you looked hard enough, you would find the petting zoo! Julie made friends with a deer there who wanted to eat her skirt, while I got close to the cutest goat ever!
After walking around the town, and seeing all that there was to see, we headed to a delicious lunch of cheese and steak subs.
As we were leaving, Julie asked me if I wanted to go see a hotel that had dolphins and tigers in it, and of course, I said yes! We drove from the outskirts of Las Vegas, into the heart of it and onto the famous Strip. It was nothing less than awesome. It is an experience that I will never be able to describe and so I a not even going to attempt it. I remember my mother and father both coming home from Vegas on separate occasions, and asking them "what was it like!?" And they both replied "It was another world, you cannot explain that craziness to anyone. You are just going to have to go see for yourself."
This answer always frustrated me, but now I fully understand. Basically, there is madness and magnificence everywhere you look. We drove a little ways down the road and the turned in to a hotel called "The Mirage".
It was beautiful. You walk into the lobby and a huge fish tank lines the walls behind the staff who are checking guests in. As you continue toward the rest of the hotel, you cross a bridge that runs through a Forrest, and over a waterfall filled pond, to the casino. This was just the beginning. We walked through a maze of casino games, shops and restaurants until we reached the pool area on the other side, which was also filled by multiple waterfalls and had a DJ playing the coolest music! Gosh, I just wanted to grab a towel and stay by the pool all day! Sadly, we moved on from the pool and up a ramp where, waiting on the other side, was a huge pool filled with 3 beautiful dolphins! Playing with large inflated balls and splashing water and making those clicking noises they make. I was so happy, and I saw that there were 3 adjoining pools with even more of them in each, we watched them play and then be fed and then be trained and we learned that they were very well taken care of, interacting with their trainers ever half hour. We then crossed another bridge which lead to where all the tigers and lions were, and they were all playing or hanging out. It was amazing to see and even more amazing that this all existed in the back yard of this beautiful hotel.
It had been a long day out in the desert sun, and so we headed home for a nap and something cold to drink, and then, once the sun had set, Julie put me back in the car, and we drove off toward the strip one more time.
If I thought the strip was pretty in the day, it was sensational by night! I have never seen so many lights in one place, shining in every direction! It was 10pm but it was as bright as day down that street. We pulled into the Bellagio Hotel and I was so excited for what we would see next: The Bellagio Fountain Show. It's a free show that happens ever half hour and is basically the lit up water fountains "dancing" to the music they play over the loud speakers. It was incredible and something I have always wanted to see, another thing ticked off my bucket list!
We headed home again and I fell asleep with the biggest smile on my face.
The next day was my first solo adventure day, and my objective was to explore as much of the strip as I could get through!I was dropped off at the bottom at a huge hotel called Mandalay bay, and decided to work my way up from there.
Mandalay Bay was beautiful! It had a fun and young vibe but still felt sophisticated. It had a wonderful waterfall out back and beautiful intertwining staircases and rounded escalators that lead to a beach for a swimming area, equipped with it's very own pool and next to one of the hottest clubs in the area.
I left and walked next door to the amazing Egyptian themed Luxor hotel. If you are not sure which one I'm talking about, it's the one that is shaped like one of the Pyramids and shoots a huge skylight out of its tip at night. The lobby was beautiful and the attention to detail along the walls and such was amazing! There were statues of the Egyptian Gods all over the place and, as I was leaving the hotel, I witnessed a flash mob!! It was so amazing to see and was yet another thing ticked off the bucket list in less than 24 hours!
I walked to the next hotel, The Excalibur, which is an Arthurian themed hotel, built to look like a castle with a moat and a draw bridge. When you enter, the casino opens up in front of you, and one of the largest arcades in town lies beneath your feet! There is knights amour and swords decorating the hotel and the vibe was very fun loving.
I crossed the draw bridge to New York, New York which no only looks like the Manhattan skyline, but also has a huge roller coaster that runs through and above the towering hotel. My submission at this point was to find and ride that roller coaster, and it proved to be a maze to get to the ride entrance, through many rooms and up many escalators but it was so worth the journey! The ride was amazing! Not only as a coaster but also as a way to get up high and see the stip.
After the ride I walked across the sky ramp to the MGM Grand hotel which was, in a word, grand. The biggest hotel I had seen yet and the first that I actually got lost in. The hotel and casino was a buzz because not only was there an exclusive Cirque Du Soleil show going on, but there was also a huge boxing match that night between Mayweather and a large rival, who I have no idea about as I don't watch boxing but been I could tell this was big.
I finally made my way out of the labyrinth, I walked down the street until I happened upon the two coolest shops yet: M&M world and Coca-Cola world.
M&M world was a 4 story tower of chocolatey goodness and apparel, with my favorite quirk being a huge machine on the 4th floor that allowed you to customize your M&Ms!
I spent way to much time in the Coca-Cola store but how could you not when the store is inside a giant glass bottle. It was well set out and even had a "Cokes around the world" tasting bar.
I continued down the street and arrived at the Paris hotel, which is French themed and has a huge Eiffel Tower replica emanating from its lobby. The feet of the tower actually come down through the ceiling and into the casino. The tower also has an observation deck on top and a fancy restaurant on the first level.
I couldn't get up to either so I moved onto The Flamingo which was so pretty once you got through the dingy casino level and into the gardens. There is a little river that runs through the gardens and a pretty waterfall where couples were taking pictures, and little groups of flamingoes that were chilling under the palm trees.
I walked across the way to Caesars Palace and was picked up and taken back to the house for a great dinner.
The start of the next day was the most thrilling so far. I was taken to the Stratosphere hotel which has a giant tower coming from the top that rises 350m into the air! There is an observation deck with a restaurant and a 360 degree view of Las Vegas. The view was breath-taking and the little city seemed to arbitrarily placed in the midst of a vast desert. It looked almost colourless which was interesting because, by night, it is the most bright and colourful place I have seen. The tower also hosts 3 incredible thrill rides: Big Shot, Sky Jump and X-Scream, all awesome but the one I was dying to try was the last.
X-Scream is the third highest thrill ride in the world standing 264m above the ground and the ride I decided to start my day off with! It basically shoots you off the edge of the tower and then pulls you back, and I managed to land the front seat. It was awesome and the most thrilling start to any day in a while!
I was then dropped off at the Wynn hotel, which I loved! It was very classy with a tropical feel and even had a beautiful rock waterfall near the entrance. I crossed the sky walk to Treasure Island in the hopes of seeing the free sidewalk show featuring pirates and pirate ships but it was unfortunately not running due to construction so I quickly moved on to the Venetian Hotel across the road. A beautiful place, themed like Venice, Italy, and even has a little river running around and through the property, on which, you can ride the pretty little gondolas while being serenaded by its captain. The attention to detail inside the hotel was incredible, and one of my favorite sections was the Leonardo de Vinci hall featuring his paintings and a few sculptures based on his work. I then traveled to Caesar's Palace, which is the largest of the hotels if I am not mistaken. It was beautiful, and I walked into the lobby to a spontaneous dance party, with a mini orchestra providing the music! The statues that were dotted around the hotel were beautiful and there was even a colosseum replica of sorts inside the hotel! I don't quite know how I got this right, as access is restricted to guests, but I managed to get into the pool area and, boy, am I glad that I did! It was the most breath-taking pool area I have ever seen. Huge pools with a gigantic water feature cascading off of a statue in the centre of the first pool and there were many more, all different, on different levels, and of different temperatures. I ambled around with my jaw dropped for quite some time and then left to go to Planet Hollywood to book the next day's adventure.
I woke up at the crack of dawn and was dropped off at a hotel pick up point. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and got onto a bus, the destination: The Grand Canyon.
The trip was 5 hours both ways down Route 66 but we made some cool stops along the way like The Hoover Dam, that is fed by the Colorado river, and lunch at The Grand Canyon Railroad Cafe which was a cute buffet style restaurant that was train themed and even had little electronic train models circling a track above our heads.
We arrived at Grand Canyon National Park and made our way to the South Rim where we stopped at Mather Point. We were given an hour until we had to return to the bus and set free to explore.
I approached the Canyon and could not have prepared myself for what I saw. That was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, it quite literally knocked the wind out of me and left me speechless for the longest time. It is so beautiful, so vast, so serene, so indescribable, so worth it. If you ever get the chance, go and see it, it is life changing.
I walked around the edges of the canyon and just tried to absorb as much of it as I could, but before I knew it, my hour was up and I made my way back to the bus.
We drove to another look our point called Bright Angel Lodge which was also beautiful but not my favorite of the two. This was more touristy with shops and a lodge and lots more people. We had more time here so I walked around, found a spot, and just sat and starred out into the magnificence.
The bus ride back was mostly in the dark, which was great as it made the trip feel shorter and we saw The Hoover Dam all lit up!
I was picked up at the MGM hotel and we drove to the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign for a picture.
When we got home, I fell asleep with another major thing ticked off of my bucket list.
I awoke the next morning and was taken to the bus station, again. I said my goodbyes to Julie and got on my bus to San Diego, California!
No comments:
Post a Comment