Las Vegas Oct 10-14 2016

Las Vegas Welcome Sign


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Eiffel Tower


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Flamingo Wildlife Habitat


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Hoover Dam


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Red Rock Canyon


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Grand Canyon


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OUR VEGAS TRIP

OCT 10-14, 2016

 

Mon. Oct. 10

After 2 hours at Pearson Airport, and 4 ½ hours on WestJet Flight 1118, we have finally arrived at Las Vegas McCarran airport.  It is only 11:00 pm here, but it feels like 2:00 am to us, because of the 3 hour time difference.  We picked up our luggage, and made our way to the taxi stand to get a cab to the Flamingo Hotel on the strip.  The amount of traffic on the roads, at this time of night, is staggering!  This city seriously never sleeps!  Check in was a breeze.  We got room 1878, a newly renovated room, on the front of the hotel, facing the strip.  Everything is pink!  I’m in pink heaven!  And there’s a tv screen built into our washroom mirror!  That’s not something you see every day!  Too excited to sleep right away, we made our way outside, and got our first look at the Strip.  So many lights!  So many cars!  So many people!  We took tons of photos, and selfies of course, and after soaking up all the sights and sounds, we made our way back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.   Vegas, we have arrived! 

Tues. Oct. 11

            This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, with an awesome view of the Strip and the mountains, from our floor to ceiling windows!  First on the agenda for today was breakfast at the Flamingo Hotel Paradise Buffet.  We made our way to the lobby, found the restaurant, and after a pretty short wait, we were seated at a table with a beautiful view, overlooking the Wildlife Habitat outside.  The food was excellent, and with so many choices, we had a hard time making up our minds.  We each had a made to order omelette, cooked to perfection along with the usual sides of bacon, sausages, hash browns, pancakes, waffles.  We finished off with a plate of fruit and danishes.  After several cups of coffee and orange juice, we were stuffed and ready to face the day! 

            Soon we were ready to head out onto the Strip.  We put on our walking shoes, and armed with cameras, selfie stick,  and bottles of water, we headed out to the bus stop in front of the Bellagio Hotel to make our way down to the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.  We bought a 24 hour bus pass each, and waited in the scorching sun and heat for the bus.  When it arrived, there was quite a big crowd waiting to get on, and the bus was soon packed.  The ride was relatively short though, and soon we were taking our selfies in front of the sign.  “A few dozen photos later, we made our way to the other side of the street and took the bus back up the Strip.

 We got off in front of the Paris Hotel and headed inside to buy tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower.  The guy in the gift shop selling the tickets was awesome.  He asked if we had any discount coupons and of course we did not.  After a bit of joking around, trying to convince him, unsuccessfully, that we were actually staying in the Paris Hotel, he gave us an amazing deal, and we got in for half price.  We trekked over to the elevator and the attendant there had amazing stories and history to tell us about, as we waited for the elevator to come down.  When he found out we were staying at the Flamingo, he told us all about the history of the hotel, and lots of fun facts and trivia.  When he found out we were from Canada, we all laughed as he told us how they found it cold the previous week when the temperatures had dipped into the low 50’s!   We told him that was still “shorts” weather in Canada!  Soon the elevator arrived, and up we went.  It was quite a ways up, and although I tried to control my breathing, I have to admit I was on the verge of hyperventilating when we finally arrived at the top viewing deck…..  I’m not good with elevators and heights.  But it was all worth it when we saw the view.  We could see all the way out to the mountains which surround the city on all sides.    We spent a lot of time taking in the beautiful views and snapping lots of photos and selfies.  It was time well spent.  We will not soon forget the views of the Strip from that high vantage point. 

After descending back to ground level, we decided to head into the Miracle Mile Shops Mall which was almost next door.  We walked through the mall, did some window shopping, and enjoyed some delicious smoothies which were so thick and delicious, they almost counted as an actual meal.  By now we were dead on our feet and needed some rest, so we headed back to the Flamingo, and took a break in our hotel room.  Tonight we would be heading out to Fremont Street.

When evening arrived, we headed back out to the Strip, to take the bus up to Fremont Street.  When we got off the bus, we stepped into an instant assault on our senses.  There were so many lights, sounds, people, and sights.  There were street performers everywhere we looked.  There were people painting, dancing, singing, dressed up in costumes, selling arts and crafts, and tourists everywhere, shopping, drinking, eating, gawking, and of course taking photos.  We walked up and down the street, taking it all in.  At 8pm the light show started, and we all stopped and looked up at the covered roof to watch the show.  When it was all over, we realized we were pretty hungry and decided to find the bus stop and head back to the Strip in search of a late dinner.  While we were on the bus, we started chatting with another couple.  It turns out, they were from Toronto.  Haha, it’s a small world.  We got off the bus and after a half hour of searching and checking out different restaurants, and their menus, , we finally decided to dine at Margaritaville, which was actually in our hotel.  We had a great table, outside overlooking the side street, where we enjoyed doing some people watching.  And trust me, in Vegas, people watching is A THING!  You never know what you’re going to see next!    Anyway, Don ordered steak.  I ordered chicken.  The food was delicious and cooked exactly how we ordered it.  We topped it off with dessert and then headed back to our room.  We were exhausted after our busy day.  Tomorrow we would take it a little bit easier…. 

Wed.  Oct.  12

            This morning we decided to head down to one of the cafes in our hotel for breakfast.  We ordered bacon and egg croissants and coffees and the food was delicious.  The portion was huge.  I’m pretty sure I will be ordering something smaller, tomorrow morning!  After breakfast, we wandered over to the Flamingo Gift Shop to see what they had to offer.  I was looking for pink flamingo earrings, and I was not disappointed.  They had several styles to choose from and it didn’t take me long to choose a pair.  We also bought some stuffed Peppa Pig toys for Paulyne and Angelica, and a souvenir photo frame to remember our trip.  While we were browsing, we ran into Donny and Marie.  Literally.  Haha, not the real ones, but life size cardboard cutouts advertising their merchandise.  We got the bright idea to take my picture with them, but I needed to move Donny over a bit closer.  I knocked him off balance, and Don had to act quickly to catch him.  He grabbed him by the neck, and set him straight, while I was dying of laughter.  I’m surprised we didn’t get kicked out of the store after all that!  We quickly finished up our shopping and left soon after.  But we did get some good pictures!

            We went up to our room to drop off our shopping and headed back out to see the “Wildlife Habitat” in the back of our hotel.  It was beautiful.  There were live flamingoes, pelicans, turtles, many different varieties of birds and fish, waterfalls, and pathways winding through the beautiful grounds.  We watched a hummingbird feeding at the hummingbird feeder.  There was a pretty wedding chapel with a waterfall right beside it which would make for some awesome wedding photos, for those inclined to get married in Vegas.   We took tons of photos and selfies and made sure we got one for our new photo frame, which another couple kindly offered to take for us.  After thoroughly checking out everything there was to see, we headed back up to our room.  While we were in our room, I decided to sync up my FitBit, and was shocked to find we’d walked over 14 km, and did over 20,000 steps yesterday!  On a good day, I can do 10,000.  I’ve never come close to 20,000!  And I dragged Don along for every one of those steps!  No wonder we were so tired….

            Next on our list was a visit to Caesar’s Palace Hotel.  We wanted to check out the Forum Shops and the free “Fall of Atlantis” show there.  I had read that the show is kind of “hokey” with animated figures, but still worth a visit.  Of course, the area where the show was located was at the very back end of the mall, and you had to walk the entire mall to get there.  Good marketing strategy!  The show was good with lots of fire and loud booms.  We could actually feel the heat from the fire, from where we were standing.   It was kind of hokey, but hey, it was free, so what do you expect?  After the show, we made our way to the Caesar’s food court and enjoyed some great pizza for lunch. 

            We had tickets for “Ka”, a Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM theatre for tonight, which I had purchased at home, online, before we left.  We had front row seats, and I couldn’t wait.  I have always wanted to see a Cirque show, live, and the anticipation was killing me!  We decided to try the MonoRail which would take us directly from our hotel to the MGM Grand, with only one stop in between.  We bought our tickets and made our way to the platform to wait for the train.  It arrived right on time and we hopped on.  The ride was kind of bumpier than I expected, but it was pleasant, none the less.  It was definitely more comfortable than crowding onto a packed bus. 

            We arrived at the MGM Grand, and had to ask directions to find our way to the theatre.  Once we got there, we found our seats and settled in to wait for the show to start.  The seats were comfortable, and there was lots of leg room because we were in the front row.  Big bursts of flames kept bursting up from the pit in front of us.  We could feel the heat emanating from it.  I was thinking to myself, this is going to be one heck of a show!  And it WAS!  The performers were amazing.  The set was amazing.  The story was amazing.  I seriously loved it from the beginning to the end.  Performers were running up and down the aisles, right beside us, and right in front of us.  I kept hoping they didn’t trip over our feet!  And the acrobatic acts were directly above our heads.  It was all so amazing and I loved every minute of it.  I was sorry when it was over.  I wanted it to go on, I enjoyed it so much.

            After we left the theatre, we made our way to the lobby of the MGM Grand to call an Uber to come and take us to the airport car rental building, where we had reserved a car to rent for the next 2 days.  As this was our first time using Uber, we had no clue what we were doing!  We managed to find our way to the hotel’s Ride Share pick up location, and used the app to order a car.  We got a text that he was there, but there were so many cars in the Ride Share waiting lanes, that we couldn’t find him.  Finally, after a few more texts, we found our brown Mazda 3, with Keith as our driver.   Keith was awesome.  He was very friendly and talked to us about Vegas and some of the things he’d done there since he’d moved from Montana.  One of the things he recommended for us to see was Red Rock Canyon which was not far from Vegas.  He told us there was a driving tour through the park, with scenic stops and we knew we’d enjoy that!  We decided to keep it in mind if we had any extra time.  He dropped us off at the car rental building and we made our way inside to get our car.  Our first Uber experience was a good one!

            The car rental went smoothly.  They have a very steamlined system there, and we were leaving with our Nissan Altima soon after.  As we were pretty hungry by now, we googled the nearest Applebee’s for dinner, and soon were sitting down for dinner.  Our dinner reminded us about how much we miss Applebee’s back home.  After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel, found the last parking spot in the parking garage, (NOT a lie, the LAST parking spot!) on the top level, and then had to take the stairs down one level to the elevators because the elevators didn’t go to the roof level.  Go figure. 

Thurs.  Oct.  13

            We awoke to another beautiful sunny day.  Does it ever rain in Vegas?  Our plan today was to head out to the Hoover Dam, but first, breakfast.  We headed down to the same café where we’d had the delicious bacon and egg croissants the day before.  This time I was only going to order a plain croissant though!   When we got there, we realized the Pelican Feeding show was about to begin out in the Wildlife Habitat, so we decided to check that out first.  The show was very interesting and humorous, and the pelicans were fun to watch.  After the show, we had breakfast and then it was time to head out to the Hoover Dam. 

            We programmed the GPS, made our way to the roof of the parking garage, and we were soon on our way.  The drive was scenic with mountains all around us.  But the mountains were all brown, with no trees. These mountains looked like gigantic gravel trucks had come and dumped huge piles of dirt all over the place!  But it was scenic, nonetheless, and we enjoyed our drive.  We arrived at the Hoover Dam within an hour and worked our way to the top (again!) of the parking garage which had been built right into the side of the mountain.  It was a tight fit with steep ramps, so I was glad we weren’t driving a standard transmission or a big SUV.   I was claustrophobic enough!  We made our way down to the Dam and walked the length of it, on both sides of the road.  It is an amazing structure of behemoth proportions, and extremely busy with tourists.  We stopped to take many photos and take in the scenery.  We had our photo taken with Don on the Nevada side of the state line and I was on the Arizona side.  We were wondering why the times showing on the clocks were the same on both sides of the border, when Arizona is supposed to be 1 hour ahead of Nevada.  Little did we know, that question would be answered the next day…….

            When we were finished at the Hoover Dam, we headed back towards Las Vegas.  We used the GPS to find a Sonic Drive In and stopped there for lunch.  I was a little disappointed to find out they’d discontinued the Java Chillers which I had been looking forward to.  But lunch was still delicious. When we were finished lunch, we were deciding what to do with our afternoon.  We decided to take our Uber driver’s suggestion from the night before, and check out Red Rock Canyon.  We programmed it into the GPS and we were on our way. 

            Red Rock Canyon is only a 20 minute drive from Las Vegas so it did not take us long to get there.  We paid a small entrance fee to enter the park, and stopped at the Visitors Centre to see if any maps were required.  We found that there is just one road, one way traffic only, and there were scenic lookout stops along the route, with ample parking.  It’s 13 miles long so we would be taking our time and enjoy all there was to see.  We were not disappointed.  The views were incredibly beautiful and breathtaking, to see the least.  We were in awe.  We stopped at every scenic lookout there was, and were blown away by the beauty and vast expansiveness of it all.  There were distinct colour differences between all the rocks.  We saw red, brown, white, grey and orange.  It was amazing.  We saw rock climbers and hikers up on the rocks.  It was all just so beautiful. 

            When we left Red Rock Canyon, it was getting close to dinner time.  We decided to look for a Cheesecake Factory since I’d always wanted to try this restaurant.  We found one in a suburb on the other side of Las Vegas and it was everything I had hoped for.  We had a delicious dinner and  pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  This restaurant is aptly named, considering how delicious their cheesecake was.  I wished we could take a whole cheesecake home with us, but that would have been a little difficult, so I had to say goodbye to all the yummy looking cheesecakes and leave them all behind. 

            We made our way back to the Flamingo Hotel for some much needed rest after our busy day full of road trips. Luckily we didn’t have to park on the roof of the parking garage this time which was good since we’d have to check out the next morning, and we would have all of our luggage with us.   After it got dark, we decided to head over to the Bellagio to watch the Dancing Water Fountain show.  We could see it every night from our hotel window, and it looks really pretty at night, with all the lights so we wanted to see it live and close up.  It was as nice as we expected and we enjoyed the show.  We then headed inside the Bellagio to look for the Conservatory where they had their Fall Harvest display.  It was beautiful.  There were lots of coloured lights and flowers, and plants and trees and foliage.  It was very crowded though, and it was a bit hard to get close up to see everything.  But it was beautiful.  After a short walk on the Strip, we headed back to the hotel to get organized and start packing, since we were leaving tomorrow.  Our flight wouldn’t be until 11:30 pm but we had to check out of the hotel by noon so we decided we’d spend the day tomorrow at the Grand Canyon.

Friday, Oct. 14

            This morning we woke up to our beautiful view for the last time.  We would be checking out soon and flying home tonight.  After our breakfast of croissants and coffee, we headed back to our room to pack up.  Once we were done, we’d be heading out to the Grand Canyon for the day.  We didn’t have to return the rental car until 9 pm and then be at the airport at 9:30 so we had the whole day ahead of us.  We’d read that it would take a couple of hours to get to the Grand Canyon, so we figured we’d be able to spend the day there and get back in time for our flight.  We said goodbye to the Flamingo Hotel, we entered the Grand Canyon into our GPS and headed out.  About 20 minutes into our drive, I noticed that the GPS said our travel time would be over 5 hours and we wouldn’t be arriving until late afternoon!  That couldn’t be right……  We were confused and started to worry a bit.  Luckily, at the same time, we noticed a sign for the Nevada Visitors Centre coming up.  We pulled in so we could ask some questions.  The lady inside was very helpful.  She told us that our GPS was sending us to the South Rim, but we should actually be heading to the West Rim.  This would only be a 2 hour drive, she told us, and gave us a map to show us exactly how to get there.  She told us that we wouldn’t be able to explore on our own.  We’d have to take shuttle buses to the various lookout points.  She also told us to make sure we had a full tank of gas and food and water for the drive, since we would be driving through the desert and there would be nothing along the way.  She showed us where we’d be crossing over the Arizona border and mentioned that usually there is a one hour time difference, but they don’t follow Daylight Savings Time, so there was currently no time difference.  Well THAT explained why we were confused at the Hoover Dam!  She also mentioned that while we were out at the Grand Canyon, there would be no cell service and even the GPS signal would be lost as we would be out in the middle of the desert.  No GPS signal??  We found that hard to believe…….!  We left, armed with our information and map, and stopped for gas, food and water for our trek through the desert.  Once again, we were on our way.

            The drive was uneventful.  There wasn’t much traffic, and we were surrounded by nothing but brown desert sand with hills and mountains in the distance.  Finally we came to a huge sign telling us to turn left for the Grand Canyon.  Grand Canyon West  Finally, I thought!  We’re here!  But it was still another half hour drive through small, native villages.  And we did lose our GPS signal.  That was kind of freaky…..  Eventually we got our first view of the Grand Canyon and we were in awe!  It was massive, and spectacular!  We arrived at the parking lot, and it turned out the attendant’s grandparents were from Canada, so we had a nice little chat with him, which in turn caused a bit of a line up behind us.  We parked and went inside to buy our tickets.  There were several choices of tours.  You could even include a meal, or take a walk on the glass floored Skywalk.  We chose the basic tour which included three stops, one of which was an Old West themed village, and then two lookout points.   They had air conditioned coaches which departed every stop, every five minutes.  It was all very well organized and soon we were at the Old West village and hopped off to explore.  It was hot and dusty, exactly like an old west town should be!  There was a bank, an undertakers building, and even a jail.  We had fun exploring and taking lots of photos.  Then we caught the next bus to the first lookout point.  We were anxious to see the actual Grand Canyon.  We were not disappointed.  It was breathtaking.  Pictures don’t do it justice.  It is massive, deep and beautiful.  We could see the SkyWalk and I was glad we didn’t buy tickets to go on it.  I don’t think I could have done it.  Later, another couple we were talking to said they had gone on it, and they could actually hear the glass making cracking noises as they were walking on it.  Nope, that’s NOT for me!!!!  They also had to take their shoes off and wear cotton booties while they were on the glass.  I guess they can’t take any chances with sharp footwear.  Needless to say, we had no regrets on passing on the SkyWalk.  The views more than made up for it.  There were trails winding down and many people were exploring, but we opted to say up top and view it from there.  We boarded the next bus and headed to the third stop.  This view was even more spectacular.  We could see the Colorado River winding through, way down at the bottom of the canyon.  Map Link  There were lots of rocks and trails to follow and no barriers to stop anyone from falling off a cliff.  We never ventured too close to the edge.  I wonder how many people actually fall off the cliffs?  I don’t really want to know…….  After carefully winding our way around, and taking lots of photos, and taking in the spectacular scenery, we were ready to head back.  We boarded the next bus and it took us back to the main entrance.  After a quick washroom break, we headed back towards Las Vegas.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I’d see the Grand Canyon, and this was an experience we will not soon forget.  The Grand Canyon was more beautiful and spectacular than I ever could have imagined.  It was the perfect ending for our week in Las Vegas.

            By the time we arrived back in Las Vegas, it was time for dinner.  We found a Golden Corral and enjoyed Shrimp Week.  I had shrimp to my heart’s content!   While we were eating our dinner, Don took a look at the receipt.  He showed it to me, and I started to laugh.  It turns out the cashier charged us for one regular dinner, and one senior’s dinner!   She never even asked for ID.   I guess she just assumed Don (not me!) was a senior!  Great way to save a dollar! 

            After dinner we decided to find a Dunkin’ Donuts.  We could only find one on the GPS so we headed there.  When we got there, it was closed.  The sign said they close at 5pm every day!  What kind of Dunkin’ Donuts closes at 5pm????  So, no Dunkin’ Donuts for us.   We then headed out to find an empty parking lot to change into our “Canada” clothes for the trip home.  We would be arriving in Toronto at 6:30am, and our Las Vegas clothing would not be warm enough, by a longshot!  We found the perfect parking lot, got changed, sorted out our luggage, and then headed to the car rental building near the airport to return our car.  Again, the system there was very streamlined, and the car was returned in no time at all.  We headed out to the front of the building to take the shuttle back to the airport.  We were the first on, but it soon filled up and we were on our way. 

The shuttle dropped us off at Terminal 3 and we headed to the WestJet gate to check in.  The WestJet agent who helped us check in was great.  He noticed that my ticket showed I was registered with Nexus, but Don’s was not, and promptly fixed it for us.  A couple of hours later we were seated comfortably on flight 1119,  leaving the bright lights of Las Vegas behind.  In a few hours we would be back to reality…… Thank you Las Vegas, for a truly unforgettable vacation!