We have arrived in Las Vegas! After the hiatus of the booking and what’s included, we are in our very spacious and comfortable twin queen bed room in the Conrad Las Vegas Resort having been upgraded from the Hilton. The huge twin beds are sooooo inviting but just not yet! Opening the curtains on the 23rd floor we are greeted with the twinkling lights of the ‘Strip’ - you can almost feel the buzz of the place from up here!
We need food but it is late, around 9pm. Where we are is a triple hotel with a massive shopping, eating and entertainment mall plus the inevitable casino floor. So we explore the mall, avoiding the casino but walking past it - Alex can cross the casino floor but no stopping in case he gets corrupted (and it’s part of the gaming licensing law).
Size here is very important. In the mall is a giant sphere used for advertising - must be all of 30 foot tall and it doesn’t even get close to the roof. Just along from the sphere we find a pizza joint, Mulberry Street Pizzeria, and jointly consume a large pizza and beer and a Sprite. There is the huge ‘Zouk’ nightclub within 50 meters of us with a large queue to get in - watching the clubbers and their various states of dress or undress helps the digestion! Although it’s our first night here we succumb to fatigue and return to our room, luscious hot showers and soft, comfy and spacious beds and sleep.
After a wonderful peaceful nights sleep then we are off to - the pool! Alex has been looking forward to this and the resort had a complex of 8 or 9 pools including a child and family friendly one. Alex is in his element and plays happily in the pool for hours making friends. We enjoy a breakfast and drinks served poolside, relaxed knowing there are lifeguards (and other parents) watching the children!
I go and get a haircut - what a pleasure having somebody wash my hair! Just after lunch we head off walking down the Strip as an initial exploration. We end up at the ‘Venetian’ marvelling at the recreation of Venice inside a hotel.
Emma heads back to the Conrad for a pre-booked massage whilst Alex and I enjoy being serenaded with a soprano rendering of O Sole Mio before heading back for more pool time - this break is as much for Alex as it is for us.
Once the pool is exhausted then it’s time for food and exploring. Just a couple of blocks away (don’t ask me how big a block is, just the American way of stating distance and directions!) we find a Korean BBQ place. The concept is cook your own, so the table had a bbq burner in it, complete with extractor hood, and we order a selection of meats and veg.
With a little guidance from the waiter and some adjoining diners, we cook a great feast and don’t have to worry about cleaning it all up afterwards!
Then it’s off to walk the Strip at night! The neon and bright lights bring the place to life. There is a car rental place with Lamborghini’s and other super cars - just in case you want to burn up and down the strip. The hotels are fantastic with great displays including The Mirage where a volcano erupts three times a night and ducks inhabit their lake.
But the best is the Bellagio. The dancing fountains are awesome! The lake is 1,200 feet by 600 feet, covering 6.5 acres and containing 22 million gallons of water. There are 1,214 fountain nozzles with 16 shooting water up 460 feet and sounding like cannons all choreographed to 24 different musical scores or songs. The whole thing is vastly entertaining and a real spectacle.
We then cross the Strip to marvel at the Eiffel Tower and take a slow walk back to our hotel. It’s quite late, probably approaching midnight when we get back and encounter some other nightlife.
We get stalked by this weirdo who accuses us of keeping Alex out late and then taking him gambling. “You are bad parents and should be locked up.” And he follows us into the resort complex all the time shouting how bad we are and corrupting Alex! Luckily we find the internal security people who quickly intercept him and divert him away.
The next day is another bright and sunny one, but being a Monday the weekenders have left the resort. So we are at the pools early to find the family pool closed for lack of lifeguards. We meet up with some new found pool friends, Agi and Chuck and their son, Levi, whom Alex had been playing with yesterday. Today is a pool day, just to relax. Emma has a haircut booked - but when she gets there and checks the price they want $600 for a cut and colour - slightly overpriced against £70 in Shaldon!! So that was a definite NO!
We all enjoy a whole day lazing beside the pool with lots of conversation, a couple of beers and some food and stacks of water time for Alex. Then it’s time for our family treat.
We head off to the Treasure Island hotel to watch the Cirque De Soleil show Mystere. It was brilliant! Alex was mesmerised and didn’t mind the loud music. The performers were amazing with their sheer agility, strength, balance and daring. There was humour to entertain adults and children and the timing of the aerial acrobats was stunning, even though one trick resulted in the use of the safety net! We came out buzzing from the spectacle and wandered down the strip to watch the Volcano explode and then be seduced by the Bellagio fountains moving to ‘Time to say Goodbye’. We head back to the hotel via an interesting side mall where Alex discovers ‘Lick’, an enormous sweet shop. Trying to prise him out proves impossible until he had some candy! Then it’s find an Uber taxi back to the resort thus avoiding any encounters with strange people, and giving our feet a rest.
Our last day in Las Vegas was an early(ish) rise for some pool time with Levi and Agi before packing up and checking out. We have a 340 mile journey to Yosemite National Park ahead of us but our time in Las Vegas has been great and we all feel refreshed and renewed for more travelling and adventures.
Guy
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