Bryan told me before I left to have a very wholesome trip with my mom, and told me this with a smirk on his face. And we did. We had a blast, crazy or not!
The trip was wonderful!!! Mom and I had a great three nights in the Sin City, staying at the very resorty and fun Mandalay Bay Resort at the south end of the strip and a whole itinerary of fun and relaxation together. We arrived on Thursday, Mom before me and immediately got caught up over a shared delicious burger, sweet potato fries, and heavenly zucchini fries from Burger Bar in the hotel.
On Friday we set out on foot to catch my first sights of the strip, all the way down tot the Mirage to pick up our tickets for the show. We then had a fantastic brunch at Hash House a Go Go in the newly-named Quad hotel. This was a must for me after seeing it on Man vs. Food, and it was indeed a hot spot for a lot of people. We split one of their large entrees, one of their house hashes that had a little bit of everything for us, sweet, savory, salty, veggie, and one of their spicy bloody marys. We then walked all the way back and spent a lazy afternoon soaking up sun and R&R at our hotels BEACH! It felt so good to laze around and be in a swimsuit, sand between the toes, and sound of crashing waves from the nearby wave pool.
We got a delicious beachy cocktail to get glammed up for our Friday night plans of a tapas dinner at the Firefly Restaurant to relive Spain and then the Beatles Cirque de Soleil Love show which was fantastic!!! I’ve always been curious about the Cirque de Soleil shows and this just confirmed that they are awesome, especially when performed to Beatles classics. Mom and I really enjoyed our dinner, off the beaten path, and got all dressed up for it. We chose a few tapas to share including a mouthwatering octopus dish, kabobs, and an eggplant goat cheese dish, plus house bread, olives, and great glasses of sangria.
Saturday was more of a lazy day of sorts. We first headed to the beach, got a LOT of sun, had frozen yogurt for lunch and then set out for the rest of our day. We did some shopping and rode the New York New York Casino roller coaster which was so much fun. We bused down the strip to our dinner destination of the Peppermill Restaurant. This is the classic Vegas diner with good food, large portions, not bad prices, waiters in old diner getup and neon lights, trees, and vibrant colors to set the mood. We shared a New York steak, plus more sweet potato fries and side salads. Our next stop on the Deuce was to downtown Las Vegas, the Four Queens Casino to be exact. We had tickets to the Mike Hammer show, only slightly knowledgable about what that really meant. The show we saw was freaking hilarious and Mike Hammer was also a really talented magician. I still don’t know how he did the acts he did but I was astonished. And his jokes had my mom and I laughing so hard. The 70 minute show sailed by.
After the show, we got our picture with Mike and vouchers to use at the casino. Mom and I finally braved ourselves to test our skills luck at the blackjack table. We started off on a really bad start, flustered and inexperienced. But once we starting ordering our free cocktails, got used to our dealer and the name of the game, we ended up coming out $50 ahead! We were definitely gloating as we left the casino and in good spirits. We saw a bit of the insanity happening on Fremont St. before getting some tacos and catching the long bus back to our hotel.
Sunday was our last day in Vegas sadly. We woke up nice and early to pack up and then headed to Fashion Square Mall for a very refreshing hip-opening yoga class compliments of Lululemon. It was just what the doctor ordered. After we worked out we deserved a brunch buffet. And not just any buffet on the Strip but buffet at the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan. It was AMAZING!! Everything was so cute in its individual serving glasses, cups, and pots. There was so many things to try and so many good things we had. Our plates included various salads, Asian delicacies, roasted meats, yogurt parfaits, sushi and dumplings, mimosas, coffee, and desserts, oh my. We even got little to-go boxes (unbeknownst to them) to take a few sweets home with us for unnecessary snacks later. And the gelato, oh the gelato. It was not cheap but it was certainly worth it, plus we came out ahead in the casinos!!
Mom and I left for the airport together. We reminisced over a lot of fond memories we had of the trip. It would be very hard for me to pick my one favorite activity, meal, or even day during our vacation. Everything we did I loved and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else. We said our goodbye but knew that another trip like this will most definitely have to be in our near future.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 