Las Vegas - Nevada and Arizona 2022

 Day 9: 25 December - To Las Vegas

Christmas day! Breakfast at LaQuinta Inn was a mess. Too many people and not enough food. Barely had a couple toasts and then left. Time to pack and leave for Vegas today. It’s going to be about a 4 hr drive. Stopped a couple times, once for bathroom break and once for lunch break at Kingman city at a Del Taco. Food was just meh. 

Lake Mead

From there we went to the Hoover Dam. There was a new bridge just across from the dam, really amazing. We walked over it to see the dam from the front then drove over the dam and walked over the dam. It is as amazing as I saw it 25 years ago. After a quick stop at the vista over a lake it was time to go to the hotel.. I remember it differently, well at least less crowded. It is still impressive. There is a new walkway from where the dam is visible clearly And the water level is so low. Drove past Lake Mead, which also seemed low.

Hoover Dam

Checked into our hotel (Baymont Inn), and went to the strip, of course! Parking is free in some of the casinos, and then we can walk around. Now, if this was a normal place, the casinos would chip in and make a tramway that went to all the casinos on the strip. They can charge $5 per day. But America does not think like that. It is a pain to walk around and also these casinos are quite big! We left to go to the Bellagio, where there is free parking. Well after 30 mins of searching it did not happen. Went to Treasure Island to find free parking and walked to the Mirage to see the volcano show. There was a tram from Treasure Island to Mirage. The show at Mirage was okay just 5 mins but interesting.

The first one we went to was Mirage, to see the show in Mirage. 

Walked to the Venetian casino basement for food. Oh the food court was a mess. There was Italian food – overpriced; the Mediterranean was out of falafel! And on top of that there was no place to sit. Wanted to get food from Curry Pot, the Indian place but the line was a mile long, because all Indians had descended in Vegas for Christmas! I have never seen so many Indians in one place in America. We ended up eating some Mediterranean, but not falafel because they were out (why? because all Indians ate them - hehe).  It was ridiculous. The whole experience was disgusting. Too crowded – just not fun. The food was okay, but it took over 40 mins after standing in line to eat and go. Too tired to do anything now. Came home! 

Day 10: 26 December - Las Vegas

Today was not exactly lazy day but still no rush to go. We left after 10 am to go to the botanical garden. This garden is on the property of a chocolate factory. It was a cactus garden with so many varieties of just cactus. All was great! It was all decorated with lights because they do the lighting at night. So pictures all have light bulb strings on them. It was a nice garden.

Then on to Wynn, where there is free parking and also our first casino stop. The casino/hotel is huge and lavish. It has so much artwork, so much pottery and lovely carpeting and floors. Money just reeks from everywhere. The Christmas decoration was lovely. They really went quite big! We walked around the casino. Everything is huge. We were just walking and walking. The restrooms were amazing! The golf course was very green. The pottery was arranged so well everywhere.

It was beautifully decorated and even the other parts of it were full of art. Really great! 

Wynn

From there we left for Planet Hollywood to eat lunch at Oceans where everything is $5.99. I remember eating at the Boynton Beach branch of this restaurant. It was okay. I don’t think we needed to walk this much to eat here. But if I had thought about this before then we could have gone elsewhere and gone to this place in Florida. We went over to Bellagio which was next to Planet Hollywood so I guess that worked out.

We stopped at Cosmopolitan before going to Bellagio. Cosmopolitan had this huge chandelier that was spectacular. It was good to see. But other than that, there was not much going on.

The walk to Bellagio was also great, saw such great sights. I don't remember it being so crowded and full before (20 years ago). 

Bellagio was just spectacular in the lobby. They had such gorgeous Christmas decorations! One whole room was just lovely houses, Christmas trees, a train set and of course the coke polar bears! It took us more than 40 mins to see all and photograph it all. It was just overwhelming. We walked around a bit and then went out to watch the Bellagio fountain show. It was quite lovely. Short – but lovely. 

Bellagio

yeah...chocolate fountain

Came back later in the evening to see the water fountain show at Bellagio.

Next we walked to the Caesars palace and then changed our mind about going in as it would take about 4 hrs to see all. We decided to go back to Wynn, maybe see Encore and the show in Wynn and go for dinner and then go home. Tomorrow will also be busy, and I was tired of walking so much today.

The walk back to Wynn went by much faster as everything was lit up and somehow going back always is faster. There is so much glitz around the Las Vegas blvd. quite engaging – seems like a mela all the time. We went upstairs to see the show. Luckily got some seating before show started so got a little break for the feet. The show was quite cute. Just a love story show on “I love you Babe”. Viki decided that Encore was probably not as great to visit so it was time for dinner.

Dinner was at In and Out burger. I have also heard so much about this burger that I wanted to try it out. Turns out just cheese on burger with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.  I would never go back there again. The fries were kind of dry.

Viki was not done yet; we went to Del Taco where he got the 8 layer burrito. That does it for me for the day! I am dead tired. Made some chamomile tea and chilled. All in all a great day!

Day 11: 27 December - Las Vegas

Next day was more casino and some interesting shops of Vegas (Hersheys, Coke, M&Ms). Lots of walking today also. We started with the Luxor, which was okay okay. Nothing spectacular and made our way down the strip. By night we were all exhausted, but there was still one more to see...the Venetian. So it was just Bhiaya, Satvik and me out casinoing :-)

Day 12: 28 December - Valley of Fire

Today is the day for Valley of Fire - get out of Vegas day! At least this hotel has breakfast. It's always nice to leave the hotel on a full tummy. Sarvesh is not feeling too good. I think it might be the flu. Our flight is also tonight. So the program was to checkout, go to the park and casinos and then head to the airport. But we changed the plan, and checked out of one room and moved to one room so we could rest before going to the airport. 

Valley of Fire is about 2 hr drive north of LV, about 30 mins is off the main highway. It is also crowded. Many people out for vacation! The park is just amazing. I wish we had more time here to do some hiking. It is so much out of the way that overnight stay is not possible so one would have to come back next day, or come early to see more. We did walk a bit, as did Sarvesh, poor him. He did take meds but still. The red rocks just appear out of nowhere and then just continue on.

Valley of Fire

Luckily the van could be returned at the airport, and we were all going to be together and going home. 

All in all such a great trip! The only thing I would change is a bit less driving, one more day at Zion, one more day in Sedona. Which really means in