I'm back today to share the second half of our Las Vegas trip!
See Part 1 here, in case you missed it. I ended up with photos galore from the trip, so I've tried to narrow it down to the best photos, and the ones that really capture the experience of our trip for you all.
We leave off the day after the Britney show, and it was another day exploring the Strip. First we went into The Paris, which had a really elegant feel, as evident by the many chandeliers that hung on the ceilings.
I mean, how gorgeous are those?! As we walked around inside, we felt like we were walking the quaint cobblestone streets of Paris.
The Paris also had more of the "sky with clouds on the ceiling" look, similar to The Venetian.
We explored other hotels too, like The Aria, where colorful bicycles hang above you.
And then the New York New York, which captured the shiny lights and hustle and bustle of Times Square.
We went to Hershey World and M&Ms World while we were there, which might be heaven if you're a chocolate lover. There are pretty impressive models of the Statue of Liberty, one made of chocolate, and the other made of Twizzlers.
The outside of the New York New York might be the coolest part. It's a replica of the New York skyline, which is definitely another sight you don't see everyday living in Illinois.
We made our way down the Strip, all the way to the Luxor for the Titanic Artifact Exhibit.
The Luxor is literally in the shape of a pyramid, modeled after the pyramids of Egypt.
When you enter the Titanic exhibit, you are supposed to turn off your phone, as no pictures are allowed inside. So we could only take photos outside the exhibit.
The exhibit was really cool though and well worth the time. As you walk through, you get to see real artifacts from the ship, and also learn about real passengers along the way.
Before you enter, you receive a "Boarding Pass" that is supposed to look like the boarding passes that the passengers received.
The back contains the name and information of one of the real passengers aboard the Titanic. You carry this pass with you throughout the exhibit, and at the end, you get to find out whether that passenger survived or perished.
We found out that all three of our passengers survived!
After the exhibit, we took a taxi downtown to Fremont Street.
We watched people zip lining above us at Slotzilla. Then we ate at a restaurant in one of the older casinos downtown, which didn't feel quite as fancy as those of The Strip.
At night though, we got to see the Fremont Street Experience, where the roof and buildings are all lit up. It's quite the spectacle, and I feel like it was worth the trip downtown to see.
The highlight of the night though, was the Neon Boneyard tour. We had gotten our tickets in advance for the first night tour, and it turned out to be really cool, and informative.
Our guide was great, and you learn a lot about the history of all the signs as you walk through and see them up close.
You even learn a lot about the history of Las Vegas from the stories of the old signs.
We thought it was a cool experience, plus all of fun pictures you get during the tour are totally worth it.
This one was called The Ugly Duckling.. but he's cute, right?!
The next day was our last full day in Vegas. Haley and I layed out again by the pool in the morning. You can't beat the tropical atmosphere of the Mirage pool. And it was hot, even in the morning at about 9 am!
Then we all went back to Buddy V's again for dessert.
My creme brûlée was amazing!
Our last day was spent mainly between The Mirage and The Venetian. It was nice with both hotels being right across the street, so we could experience both places without having to walk super far, since we had already walked a lot over the past couple of days.
I had to play the slots once while I was here. Of course, I only played $10 and lost most of it, but hey, when in Vegas, you have to play at least once, right?
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant in The Venetian, where we even got a little show put on by some characters in costume in front of us.
Mom and I shared a very authentic looking margherita pizza, while Haley got pasta. It was pretty delicioso! (is that Spanish or Italian??)
We also got a view of the Venice streets in both the day and the night time while we ate.
After we went back to The Mirage and got photos by Siegfried and Roy, we saw the Cirque du Soleil Beatles LOVE show.
It was another show where we couldn't take any photos or videos during the show, so we had to get what we could outside the theater.
I did get one of inside the theater before the show. The stage was in a round, which was cool, because we felt close to the action, and it really looked like there wasn't a bad seat in the house.
It was my first Cirque du Soleil show, and this one was all set to Beatles music. It told a story throughout the show as Beatles songs played in the background. The choreography was really great, and was obviously well thought out and practiced.
We got our photos with the Beatles (ha ha), then went outside and got to see the Mirage volcano erupting before our eyes. It was actually much better than we expected!
And the Vegas heat was even more intense with all that fire right in front of us! Whew!
It's safe to say my first time in Vegas was all around a success! The only downfall was traveling back home, when our flight from Vegas to Denver was delayed, so we missed our connecting flight and had to spend the night in Denver. That meant our flight home was moved to the next day... It was a long 2 days of traveling home, spent in airports and on flights.
It was worth it though to experience Las Vegas and spend time with family. We had a great trip overall! Trent and I will definitely be making our own trip to Vegas in the future!
