I didn’t realize how much there was to do in Vegas as I always thought it was quite boring if you weren’t doing something other than shows but I must admit the city proved me wrong
I've been to Vegas, aka Sin City, multiple times but this time around had to be my favorite. I didn’t realize how much there was to do in Vegas as I always thought it was quite boring if you weren’t doing something other than shows but I must admit the city proved me wrong.
It was going to be a good trip either way as I was meeting up with my best friend from high school who would be flying in from my hometown, Chicago.
Day 1: Acrobats, Burgers, and Chocolate
We both booked early flights and before I knew it we had hit the ground running. For the trip, I ultimately put myself on food duty because I love to eat (go figure). So our first stop was Shake Shack. The first time I had Shake Shack when I was living in London but I wanted him to try it. I had the mushroom burger which is a portobello mushroom filled with cheese and deep fried and I pretty much died of satisfaction.
The restaurant was right next door to our hotel, The MGM Grand, and was also close to clothing stores, M&M world and the Hershey store.
I loved our room! There were mirrors that almost wrapped around the space and a leather brown headboard to the bed with a TV right in the center across from the bed. The only downside where there was no mini fridge to store drinks we had bought or leftover food. The bathroom was open and only had a door for the shower and the toilet, but that shower felt amazing. It had two shower heads, and overhead and a handheld, and the door was wall to ceiling, so you really felt like you were in a huge space all to yourself.
After we took a nap, I brought Matt to Bruxie, home of the original waffle sandwich. It was right by our hotel as well and was almost like a sports bar inside.
The sandwich was amazing! It was a juicy fried chicken wrapped in a crunchy waffle with a little bit of maple syrup egg, cheddar, and bacon. It is definitely the stick hand, egg yolk dripping type of messy but sooo worth it. I really wanted to try other things on the menu as they have savory waffles as well.
Our first show of the trip was Wow: The Spectacular. We bought tickets on Groupon for 30 something dollars. At first, the seating was to the side which does cut off the stage as the stage is low and it is hard to see with people in front of you, but we ended up getting moved to a VIP table in the very front of the stage after the first act. The show was funny, scary (I thought someone was definitely going to get hurt with that acrobat/aerial stuff), and really fun! Everyone was super talented, and the concept was great. I didn’t know what to expect but I’m glad we went.
Day 2: Room Service, Art Exhibits, and Cupcakes
On Friday, we decided to sleep in and splurge on room service in the morning. I’ve never gotten room service before and I felt so grown-up and fancy haha. I had a typical toast, eggs, and bacon breakfast that came with jams, condiments, and all types of sugars for our tea.
I really wanted to go to the Bellagio’s Fine Art Museum because they had an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama called the Infinity Mirrored Room– Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity. The concept of the design was to expand her on her obsession with the “dissolution of the self into the infinite.” It has been a traveling exhibit for the past couple of years and was only in Vegas until April and with only a $15-dollar ticket I had to see it. Kusama’s exhibit called the Narcissus Garden was at the gallery as well.
We finished up just in time to head outside to watch the free fountain show at the Bellagio. It was actually pretty cool to watch the water dance to music and at night the water lights up and it is new songs every time.
Across the street was the Paris hotel where we bought tickets to the top of the tower. A lady we asked to help us ended up getting us coupons to get money off our tickets. The space at the top isn’t big and doesn’t take long. It is nice to kind of see the area outside of the strip. On the way down the elevator, a worker told us a history story about our hotel, the MGM, such as how its color came to be, the lions that sit at the entrance, and how elements were taken from the “Wizard of OZ.”
Lastly, we found our way to the Linq promenade to try out Sprinkles cupcakes and right next door was In n Out. The promenade is gorgeous at night with the High Roller (London eye replica) changing colors behind it. I ended up having a strawberry cupcake which was good but too sweet for me. But I really wanted to try their pumpkin and chai latte but one was out of season and they didn’t have the other one. Inside, they can also turn a cupcake into ice cream which I might have to do next time I am there.
Day 3: Pawn shops, Dirt Dog and Neon lights
This day was our last full day in Vegas. We did a pretty good job of seeing everything we wanted to see. The night before we decided to venture to the Neon Museum near Fremont Street because I saw so many good reviews, but I wasn’t impressed. The museum isn’t quite a museum, it is a yard full of old neon signs such as from hotels, old Las Vegas, Fremont Street and so on. IT is only about .8 miles long and takes less than 10 minutes to walk through. It definitely wasn’t worth the money.
Apparently, the pawn shop featured in Pawn Wars was in Vegas, so we went out to have a look. It was actually packed in there and you can’t take video but there was a ton of jewelry in cases, old money, and paintings from Dahl, Picasso and the guy who now owns Peanuts for sale.
Beforehand we grabbed lunch at a Pho Kim Long, a Vietnamese place only 10 minutes from our hotel. We got wontons and egg rolls and they were probably the best egg rolls, wontons I have ever had. Full of flavor and the sauces they gave really added to it. I knew the place was good by how packed it was and the never-ending stream of people waiting in line for a table. The service was great, and they move pretty quickly but without rushing you.
The rest of the evening was spent exploring more hotels and taking Matt to try Dirt Dog, a gourmet hot dog stand near Ballys. They have amazing fries loaded with corn, cotija cheese, chili powder, cilantro and bacon bits.
Overall, sharing these moments with the people I love make for a fun and adventurous weekend.
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