Vegas Baby!!

Before we took off on our summer trip, we planned a trip to Vegas. This time we were bringing my Mom along to check out some of the great things in the Vegas area that don’t include gambling! Unfortunately, Cole had an issue with his ear and had surgery the day before we were scheduled to leave. I thought we should cancel the entire trip, but Ed suggested that I take my Mom and have a girls week. (He is so awesome!!). Ed stayed home to take care of Cole, and the girls were off to Vegas.

We had a great view of the strip from our room.

One of our first stops (ok maybe we stopped at the casinos first) was a cool little area at the Park MGM hotel. The place was called Eataly https://www.eataly.com/us_en/stores/las-vegas . Essentially this is a 40,000 square foot Italian market and eating area. There were several deli type areas for sandwiches, charcuterie, salads as well as gelato with seating areas to enjoy your choices. Additionally, there was a sit down restaurant that served pizza and pasta. The food was amazing in a super cool environment.

Check out this link to see more details about these establishments. https://www.eataly.com/us_en/about-eataly/eataly-history

We headed over to the Linq Hotel to do a little gambling and see Farrell Dillon, a comedy magician, at the Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club. Farrell was absolutely awesome. One of the best illusionists that I have seen. The addition of comedy and reacting to audience input on his feet was spectacular. The venue is small so it lended well to audience participation. We really enjoyed the show and highly recommend it.

Our next stop was Red Rock Canyon. This is a beautiful National Conservation area about 30 minutes west of the strip. It has a great visitor center with lots of information about the area.

We also checked out the Conservatory and Botanical Garden at the Bellagio. This is a 14,000 square foot area on the first floor near the check-in area of the hotel. From their website, they say ‘Each season, the enormously talented Horticulture and Engineering teams transform the 14,000-square-foot Botanical Gardens into a showcase of inspiring sights, sounds, scents and colors. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter are all featured—along with a special display for Lunar New Year. When the seasons change so do the displays. The talented Conservatory team changes out the design and also replants and repurposes as much of the living plant material as possible, further celebrating Mother Nature and our commitment to sustainability.’ This spring’s theme is Tea and Tulips. It was really beautiful.

It is hard (for me) to go to Vegas and not see a Cirque du Soleil show. This time it was Mystere at Treasure Island. These ladies were absolutely incredible!

As with every Cirque du Soleil show, the action comes at you from everywhere and sometimes you don’t know where to look!

Next up we went up to The Valley of Fire State Park. This little gem is located about an hour north of the Strip. We learned about it several years ago, when we went off roading in a Jeep with a company called Las Vegas Rock Crawlers. https://lasvegasrockcrawlers.com/ . It is well worth the drive. The beauty of this location is hard to describe with words. I hope the pictures will do a better job than I can.

We were treated to some special visitors when we were there. I have been to the Valley of Fire several times, but have never seen any wildlife there. This time we did!! Along the road we saw several female Bighorn sheep. In the picture below, on the left-hand side, you can even see a baby with tiny horns. This little one was still nursing!

When we exited the park , Mom and I spotted some movement on the hillside. Could it be more wildlife? From a distance, I could see something that I have been wanting to see ever since we were in the Badlands National Park two years ago. Male Bighorn sheep! I found a safe place to park on the roadside and ran back to snap some pictures of the beautiful guys!

We saw several other fun things back at the Strip. The gondolas at the Shops at the Venetian and the Sphere, a new event space in Vegas.

All in all, we had an incredible trip. I am so grateful that Ed suggested that we go. We made some amazing memories that I know my Mom and I will cherish for many, many years.