{dear friend}

On the last morning of our trip to Vegas we headed out to Red Rock Canyon for a sunrise hike. Do you remember how we do a New Hampshire Hut-to-Hut hike every summer? Well it’s Zan’s uncle Tim who organized that every year and it was Zan’s uncle Tim who was in Vegas at the very same time we were. Hiking is Tim’s favorite way to exercise and we were happy to tag along. Luckies!

It is so nice to have family in a faraway place while you’re traveling. We were able to see a lot of family on this trip (people we don’t often see AND people we do!) and it was just the best. Tim knew a just-right trail that was perfect timing for our morning. We got the the Canyon just as the sun was making it’s mark against the sky and we reached the summit of our hike while the light was golden and gorgeous…

So beautiful! Hands down one of the highlights of our whole trip.

Oh man, Las Vegas.

!!

What a fun little adventure. :) We went for two nights over our trip to the West Coast and saw a LOT in 36 hours. While we were visiting we stayed at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino because they had a pretty good deal on rooms during the time we were there. As it turns out, many hotels have all different kinds of rates at different times, so we just looked for one that wasn’t too ridiculous as we knew we wouldn’t be spending much time in our hotel. We never do on these types of trips! Too much to do! TOO MUCH TO SEE!

On the first night of our stay we came into town on the later side and grabbed a quick dinner before heading to the Mirage to see the Cirque Du Soleil show LOVE — a tribute to the Beatles. It was really good and my first Cirque ever! I loved the music and of course, the movement and acrobatics wowed me. Seriously, WOW!

The next day was when Zan was working, so I dropped him off in the early morning so I could have the rental car and then I went to find breakfast at Makers and Finders in Downtown Las Vegas. I had read about it in the Townske guide I mentioned before and it was the perfect place to start my day. I had a really delicious oatmeal, fruit, and honey bowl and a lavender latte — which was amazing. Highly recommend. :)

After that I had my 10:00 tour at the Neon Museum which I wrote more about here. Again, I loved this tour. So cool to see the old signage and lights. Such a fun piece of typography history.

Next up, I needed some lunch. I decided to try PublicUs and am so glad I did. It had such a cool vibe and great food too. That open faced fig and prosciutto sandwich is the meal of my dreams.

I had a great time walking down Freemont Street, which was the first ever paved street in Las Vegas and where many of the first casinos were located. So much old school in this city! I loved that.

The Container Park was another cool attraction to stumble upon — a shopping and food center made entirely of old shipping containers. There was a park for kids inside and many places to eat and sit to take a break from the sun.

After walking around downtown Las Vegas I headed back to the strip to spend some time wandering around the Bellagio…

The center courtyard was a wonderland of flowers and origami art and Japanese inspired decor. I was in awe from the minute I walked inside. Museum quality, I tell ya. That hotel is incredible.

When Zan finished with work for the day he and I continued to walk the strip, exploring this and that and trying to just take it all in. There is so much to see and we didn’t really have an agenda which was nice. We just wandered the length of the strip stopping wherever looked interesting. We walked around the hotel New York, New York, went to the Coca-Cola Store and sampled different cokes from around the world, and eventually ended up back at the Bellagio for dinner.

This is the Chihuly installation on the ceiling of the lobby in the Bellagio. INCREDIBLE! (I had to say it again.)

For dinner we met up with Zan’s uncle who was in Vegas for the NAB conference, which was happening at the same time that we were there. We ate at Lago in the Bellagio and it was really magnificent. It was tapas-style, which is always my favorite. Really truly delicious food (I LOVED the mussels!) and we had the best view in all of Vegas — I am convinced!)…

We sat right in front of the famous fountains! Every 15 minutes they go off with a different “choreographed number”, if you will. I loved every minute of it. From there we took a walk through the Venetian hotel, which is amazingly set up just like Venice. Since we went there on part of our honeymoon it was really fun to see. They even had gondoliers taking people on rides through the “Grand Canal”. Ha! This place is such a trip.

The morning we left Vegas we got up before the sun to hike at Red Rock. I have lots of photos from our visit there and will do another post on that next. So many photos! I am trying to break them up for the sake of scrolling. Before leaving the city we had breakfast at Bouchon inside the Venetian hotel. It came highly recommended and was the perfect way to end our stay before heading back to LA.

Vegas, baby! I loved it!