Adventures in the USA: Rachel's Travel Diary

Viva Las Vegas!

I had a nice day on Friday – met Chris for lunch at the office, then went for a walk around The Grove and the farmers market (got a scoop of cherry chocolate ice cream to enjoy in the sun!), watched some of this week’s jazz concert at LACMA, them met back up with Chris as we headed to Culver City to see the final Mission: Impossible film! I haven’t seen any of the Mission: Impossible films before, despite being very familiar with the music having played it in more than one youth orchestra, but Chris and his colleagues gave me enough context before the screening that I understood what was going on. We went to an indoor food market before for some food at Bang Bang Noodles – tasty but spicy!

We had an early start on Saturday as we needed to get a taxi at 6.30am before our 8.45am flight to Vegas. It was another smooth flight – this time with Alaska Airways – and we touched town just after 10am. There was an ‘extreme heat’ weather warning in place for Saturday (41 degrees!), so we decided to head straight to the National Atomic Testing Museum before our hotel check out time. There were 3 distinct sections to the museum. Firstly an exhibition about the Manhattan Project – some artefacts from the project, information about the history that led to Oppenheimer’s famous ‘Trinity Test’ and the long-term impact felt at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Second was an interactive exhibition about the structure of the atom, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion – a recap of GCSE and A Level physics there! Finally, the biggest section of the museum was about the Nevada Nuclear Test Site which was used for nuclear testing between 1951 and 1992. It was very informative, although perhaps a little too much information as after a couple of hours we couldn’t take any more in, and we headed off towards our hotel to get a late lunch.

We were staying at Caesar’s Palace, and we still arrived too early to check in, so we settled in the food court for a slice of pizza from ‘Buddy V’s’ – one of the many eateries in Las Vegas linked to Buddy Valastro who owns Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken and who’s tv show ‘Cake Boss’ mum and I used to watch when I was a teenager – it was pretty good pizza as well! After we’d eaten, we wandered through the hotel to get our bearings, took a quick look at the ‘Temple of the Gods’ swimming pool complex, then checked into our room at 3pm. We had such a good view! We were on the 13th floor of the 15 storey ‘Julius’ Tower, which is the smallest of the towers at Caesar’s Palace, but we looked out over the pool and could see the Rio Hotel in the distance.

Once we’d taken a bit of time to settle in, we went exploring. We headed towards the Paris hotel, via Bellagio. The Bellagio has a lake in front of it with lots of fountains, and there is a fountain show every 15-30 minutes synchronised to music. Meanwhile, opposite that is the Paris hotel with a replica of the Eiffel Tower (half the height of the real one) and a model hot air balloon! Inside the casino of the Paris, the ceiling is painted like a blue sky with fluffy white clouds, so despite all the flashing and whirring slot machines, there is an element of calm. We went for a general walk through the Paris, tried out a couple of the slot machines then went for dinner at RPM Italian in the Caesar’s shopping complex for some delicious pasta and espresso martinis! After that we walked back towards the Paris through several other hotels and casinos (I lost track of which ones), stopping for a couple of cocktails along the way. Our last stop of the evening was a hidden Speakeasy Bar in our hotel with live music and cocktails, then we called it a night just before midnight.

On Sunday we headed to the Buffet at The Wynn for 9.45 – unlimited food and unlimited alcoholic drinks for up to two hours. We had paid in advance which meant when we arrived we entered a much shorter queue and were seated within 10 minutes. We’d done some research in advance on how to get the most out of an unlimited buffet and it was suggested to aim for 4 plates of food, but opting for small portions of lots of things rather than piling your plate high. First we went for a walk through the whole buffet to get an understanding of what was on offer and make a plan. First plate for your favourites, second plate focusing on higher value items (carved meats and seafood as suits your preference), third plate a mixture of things you missed or might not usually choose and fourth plate for dessert. I’d heard good things going in about the dessert selection at the Wynn so I instead opted for 2 plates of desserts – think of it as a selection of afternoon-tea sized treats! Some of favourites were roasted pork loin, vegetable potsticker dumplings, mac and cheese and cinnamon rolls.

After we’d finished (both reaching our goal of four plates) we waddled back to our hotel for a nap. Going for a buffet brunch was what I was most looking forward to and it certainly did not disappoint, although I am glad we went in the morning and had planned to take a rest afterwards! After a couple of hours, we went down to the pool to read and swim – it was still very hot, around 36 degrees, but it was cloudy as well so didn’t feel as bad as the direct sun of the previous day. When the pool started to close at 5pm, we changed for the evening and went to see the fountain show at Bellagio as we’d managed to consistently miss the start of it the day before. Then we went back to a few of the casinos again having read up on the rules of Blackjack and Roulette. We didn’t win anything significant, but we didn’t bet very much money so weren’t expecting anything to come of it. My approach was to have fun and any winnings I made just extended the experience.

On Monday we headed straight to the pool when it opened to make the most of the hotel’s facilities, before packing up and checking out at 11. We walked to Treasure Island hotel to get a closer look at a Pirate Ship they have outside – we’d seen it from across the road the previous day – then headed back to Caesar’s for a set menu lunch at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. We had pan fried scallops, Beef Wellington and sticky toffee pudding – all very tasty. After lunch we headed back to Bellagio to see their conservatory and botanical garden – rather extravagant displays near the hotel’s foyer, which for this season feature anthropomorphised animals in high society, lounging on sofas and swings, surrounded by flowers. I was expecting the conservatory to be rather bigger than it as from the photos I’d seen online, but I’m still glad we saw it. Then we slowly walked down the strip to see some of the other hotels we’d read about – New York New York with replica Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, Excalibur with it’s medieval castle decor and Luxor with a 30 storey black pyramid. We had a final pit stop to make the most of the air conditioning at Excalibur, then it was time to go to the airport for our return flight to LA.

I find Las Vegas a bizarre, non-sensical place. It’s all about spectacle with little substance behind the facade, but I did enjoy it! The food was a particular highlight – we always prioritise good food when we take a trip. It’s a good job I didn’t hate the place, as we might be coming back in a couple of weeks with our friend Ralph who arrives from the UK on Friday. I think we’ll try to tie it in with a trip to the Grand Canyon and maybe a Cirque de Soleil show, but we haven’t booked anything in yet. For now, I’m going to work through the increasing pile of Girlguiding related admin I have to do!

Signing off now from the across the pond,

Rachel