Las Vegas - 50th Anniversary Trip

For my parents 50th anniversary my sister and I decided to take my parents on a trip to Vegas. We didn't tell them about the trip, in fact they thought they were babysitting my kids while we went to Vegas with friends. We finally told them near the end of June so they had a bit of time to prepare for the trip. 

Day 1

On August 7th the six of us (Mom, Dad, Dana, my Aunt Nancy and my husband and I) met at our place and we took a car to the airport. I got lucky and was randomly screened when we arrived so everyone sailed through security except me!! It wasn't too bad and I met up with everyone on the other side. Our flight was uneventful and we arrived in Las Vegas just after lunch and got checked into our rooms at the MGM Grand. Once we got settled we headed out into the Strip to see the sights. It was hot - and I mean a hot like no Canadian has ever experienced at home! We stopped at a pizza place called 800 Degrees and ate some delicious pizza before continuing our exploration of the Strip. We stopped and a few of us tried our luck at the machines. As usual the machines ate my money and I got nothing in return. It's a good thing I'm too cheap to put much in!  My hubby was on a roll and winning and I sat with Dad when he hit it big! We were pretty tired so eventually we turned in for the night. 

Day 2

I'm always awake early in Las Vegas because of the time change. So we got up and we're out on the Strip by 6am ... yup pretty early!! I try and wait till it's light out and the night crawlers have retired for the night, although we still see some interesting sights at that time of day. It's my favourite time of day to wander - it's cooler, there are no people around and I can take pictures without the crowds. We met up with the rest of the family and ate breakfast at our favourite breakfast place Fat Tuesdays. Then made some plans for the day. We wandered through a few stores and then headed for the pool. The pool at the MGM Grand is beautiful and I'm happiest floating along in the lazy river. It's hot enough that I also don't need to come out for hours!! I managed to snag an unaccompanied tube floating along the river and I was set. We spent a few hours floating and then we headed back to the room for our evening plans. My mom, aunt and I were headed to dinner and a show and my dad, sister and hubby we're heading for and Irish pub with some live music. We had dinner at Casa Nova in the Venetian and it was delicious - beyond delicious in fact. The best part was we got 50% off the food because we bought a coupon at the 1/2 price ticket stand in the Strip. So we had three delicious meals for $47.  Then we went and saw Cirque du Soleil - Mystere at Treasure Island. I've seen that show before but it was still good the second time. After that it was time to retire as we had an early morning the next day. 

Day 3

Today we got up early to catch a tour of the Hoover Dam. We took a VIP Tour which allowed us to travel on a small bus with only 13 passengers. Much nicer than a huge tour bus. Our driver was named Brenda and she was very informative and man, oh man, could that woman talk!! I don't think she took a breath all day. She was an excellent guide and made a few extra stops so we got the most from our day. We stopped at the Las Vegas sign for pictures. Then we went through Boulder City and saw some of the original buildings from when the dam was built. Finally, we got to see the Hoover Dam up close and take the tours. It is absolutely huge and learning how it was built was very interesting. The amount of concrete used to build it, how they diverted the Colorado River so they could build it and the different jobs and pay scale were my favourite facts to learn. Matt and I walked across the dam and I was terrified being up so high but I couldn't miss the chance to walk across it. It was so hot there it felt like the skin on the backs of my legs was melting!! We also got to walk across the new bridge "The Mike O'Callahan/ Pat Tillman" bridge which was built for cars to get across. They are no longer allowed to drive across the dam to get from Arizona to Nevada. The bridge took ten years to build and its huge. It was a whole new level of terror to walk across this bridge. I had transport trucks zipping past on one side and absolutely nothing on the other side. Matt loved it and kept hanging over the edge to get a better look!! 😳 We got some great pictures and then headed to Lake Mead to pick up the others on our bus. I kinda wish we'd paid the extra to take the cruise on Lake Mead and see the Hoover Dam from the water. On our way back our driver took us to a little park at the base of the mountains to see some big horn sheep that come down in the summer to eat the grass. It was really neat to see so many of them and not really in the wild either. When we arrived back at the MGM Matt and I headed to the pool to cool down and relax and the others met us down there. After we relaxed by the pool we went back to the room to prepare for dinner. We ate at Emeril's New Orlean's Fish House in the MGM. Again we had discounted coupons which made the meal more affordable. The food was delicious!!!! After dinner Mom, Nancy & Dana went to see the gardens and fountains at the Bellagio, the boys went to gamble and I was unable to "people" any longer (it was a very long loud day) so I headed back to the room for some peace and quiet. 

Day 4 (our last day)

Again I was awake early and watched the sun rise over the Strip. We were up and out again by 6am. We went to the casino so Matt could lose a bit more money. I won $10 so I was pretty happy!! We walked down to see the gardens at the Bellagio and I took a bunch of pictures with no crowds in sight - in fact we were the only ones in the garden! It wasn't as nice as I've seen it other times. I think the fall garden is my favourite!!  Then we took some pictures of the fountains at Caesar's Palace and walked back. We'd already walked 5km before 8am. We checked in with Mom & Dad and found out Dad had won big the night before ... Matt was not impressed since he was on a losing streak!! We went to the pool for a bit then checked out of the MGM and moved all our stuff over to the Monte Carlo for the day. Our flight was leaving at 11:45pm but we still wanted a home base for the day. So we booked one room at the Monte Carlo because it was cheaper than extending our stay at the MGM. I went and did a bit of shopping with Mom & Nancy and before we knew it, it was dinner time. We decided to return to Casa Nova in the Venetian because it was delicious!!  We had another awesome meal and by that time my feet were killing, I had walked close to 15km today I wanted to relax before catching the plane. Nancy and I went back to the hotel while others stopped to gamble a bit. The losing streak continued and it was finally time to pack up and head to the airport. We had a great trip and I'm looking forward to our next for my parents 60th ...