Turning 21 in Las Vegas: Day Two (12/7/13)
After the late night of festivities we all slept in till about 10:30. My Aunt Maggie and cousins Mandy & Ellie wanted to go to "Old Town" and also go by the rodeo crafts event, so they headed off on their adventure, just them. The rest of us had a complimentary buffet with the package my Daddy got us for our hotel room and we decided we wanted to use it for brunch. So we got ready and headed down with the plan to have our meal and then head out to see the other casinos and tourist spots around Vegas. The buffet was absolutely huge and we had a combination of breakfast foods and almost every different kind of lunch food there could be to choose from. We enjoyed our meal and then went up to the rooms to grab jackets before we headed outside to walk down the strip to check out the other casinos. We found an exit from the lobby of the Monte Carlo and made our way outside. What we did not realize at the time was that it was going to be extremely cold & windy outside and that we were exiting the hotel in the back and would be walking all the way around our hotel in order to make it to the strip. We did manage to get pictures of the New York, New York and the Monte Carlo due to our little mistake but we froze and got blown all over the sidewalk in the process. Fun fact: My cousins and aunt, who weren't with us at this point, later informed us that the tram we used to get from the Aria to the Bellagio also ran from the Monte Carlo to the Aria. We could've avoided walking outside all together! Oh well, we had lots of laughs on that walk :)
(I pulled out my camera to take a picture of the NY, NY and got this unexpected selfie with the wind destroying my hair)
(The New York, New York & Vegas Statue of Liberty)
(The Monte Carlo & Aria)
(The Aria & Inside the Aria Casino)
So after walking for what felt like a million years we found the entrance to the Aria casino. We has decided that we would gamble $5 at each casino we went to so we found some slot machines and I managed to turn my $5 into $10. Now my mother has the philosophy that you play a slot machine until all of your money is gone, regardless of how much to manage to turn your money into. I on the other hand think that method is absurd and with cash out as soon as I have doubled my amount of money, if not sooner. So after I got to $10 I cashed out and figured I could use that money to gamble at the next casino. We walked a round a bit and looked at the cool decor of the hotel & casino but after a bit of time we got bored and decided to find the tram to move on to the shopping area. We located it after some extensive exploration and rode to the beautiful Shops at Crystals.
(The Christmas decoration inside of The Shops at Crystals)
(Tiffany's Christmas Tree & Stairs inside The Shops at Crystals )
(My Mama & Me with the Christmas Tree in The Shops at Crystals)
We took a ton of pictures at the shopping area because the Christmas decorations were simply gorgeous, not to mention the architecture of the building and shops themselves. The majority of the shops were more high scale than we were willing to actual purchase anything from but we had a nice time looking through the windows and wondering around. The decorations really were amazing and we ended up being very happy with being there in December so that we got a chance to see them. Once we had seen everything we relocated the tram and hopped on to head over to the Bellagio. I was probably most excited for Bellagio out of the places we went, I had wanted to stay here as well. I am not sure where I got the idea in my mind that it was the place to be but that was my impression of it before I even stepped foot inside. I was not disappointed. The decorations were on a completely different level and so grand. I really enjoyed walking around and looking at it all. It was one of the more crowded places we went though and I got a tad claustrophobic while walking around taking pictures. I also managed to lose the group multiple times and lets just say there was no service for me to even call them and find them. Pan to me wondering around Las Vegas completely lost and all alone. Poor Jordan. But we always found each other again and we made of way through the decorated area and into the casino so we could gamble.
(The Christmas decorations inside of the Bellagio)
(The Christmas decorations inside of the Bellagio)
(The Christmas decorations & Artwork inside of the Bellagio)
We just found some slot machines and I managed to lose my $10. My cousin Valerie did a little better though and I'm pretty sure she doubled her money. You never know what will happen when you go with the slots! Once we were done with that we decided to make our way outside so that we could see the fountains. We had absolutely no idea where they were or when they had shows but we wondered around and asked random people questions until we found them. We made it outside to and asked a staff member when the shows happened, she replied every half hour. It was 2 minutes till and so the running ensued to make sure we caught the show and wouldn't have to wait around for 30 minuted waiting. We made it just in time and the show was lovely, even if we did freeze while watching it. We also had a lovely view of Paris Las Vegas while we waited for the fountains and it almost felt like I was in France (which is where my best friend was at the time, well she was in Italy but she had just visited Paris!).
(The Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas & the fountains at the Bellagio)
The fountains finished and we went back inside to try and find our way to Caesars Palace. I was excited for this stop because I was desperate to say Hangover quotes the whole time I was there. During our period of being lost within the Bellagio we stumbled across a gelato bar. I had never had gelato before a begged my Mama to let us stop, it being my birthday weekend I got my way, and I got to try two different favors, Dulce de leche and tiramissu. It was wonderful! After we had wasted some time there we continued on our journey to make it out of the Bellagio. While we were walking there Mandy, Ellie & Aunt Maggie called us and asked if we wanted to meet up for dinner. After some debate Mandy (who was our Vegas expert) suggested we go to the Cheesecake Factory because it was in Caesars Palace and I had never been there before. By the time we picked a place for dinner we had almost located the entrance to Caesars Palace, it was extremely difficult to locate it from the Bellagio. We must have had to stop to ask where we were ten times. When we finally made it there and were standing in the lobby in front of the check in desk that was in the Hangover I got to say what I had wanted to say since we had booked the trip, "A: You probably get this a lot, this isn't the real Caesars Palace is it? R: What do you mean? A: Did Caesar live here? R: Umm no. A: I didn't think so." and I busted out laughing because I just think I am the funniest person I've ever met. This annoyed my Mama of course because I was causing a scene but I truly could not help myself. I just found the whole situation hilarious. So after we had made it through to the casino we decided to locate The Cheesecake Factory and then just gamble near it so that when the rest of our party arrived it would be simple to find them. This seemed like a brilliant plan, until finding The Cheesecake Factory turned out to the even more difficult than it had been to find Caesars Palace. It took us about 30 minutes to make our way to the part of the hotel it was located in and we settled at some slot machines to wait for everyone else. My Mama turned $5 into $50 and we cashed it out to pay for dinner with it. It was very exciting, so much so that Mama even let me take a photo of her with her winnings (see below), which is very rare. We decided that we better actually go into the area where the restaurant was supposed to be located and see where it was, so we walked through the grand archway into the section of the hotel and suddenly realized that just like everything else about this place it was massive and never ending. We had to walk all the way through and to the back of this portion to find the restaurant and the exhaustion from the day mixed with the hunger caused all of us to get a bit frazzled while walking there. We all thought we would be late to meeting the other group and the vibe in the air was just pure frustration. We finally got there and it was perfect timing. We got on the wait list to be seated and watched a show that was being put on outside of the restaurant while we waited.
(Mama with her winnings in Caesars Palace & My cousin Valerie and I waiting for dinner in Caesars Palace)
When we were seated I was absolutely floored by how gorgeous The Cheesecake Factory was. I had no idea it was so nice and it felt like a lovely place to have a group birthday dinner. I ordered a drink that is now one of my favorites and always makes me look forward to going to Cheesecake, a Georgia Peach which is so yummy and really pretty as well. I settled on Fettucine Alfredo with chicken for my meal and while we waited my cousin Valerie and I ventured to find a restroom. We hd to go upstairs where there is a private event room to find one and we ran into a bride in the restroom who had just gotten married and was having her reception there in the event room. She looked lovely and it was so fun getting to congratulate her. Our food got delivered not long after we returned and it was one of the best I've ever had. Our waiter was so sweet and brought me a piece of cake with some ice cream for my birthday. I couldn't eat any of it because I was so fun but I thought it was such a sweet gesture. I know that the Cheesecake Factory can be expensive but it is now one of my favorite places to go! When we left we realize we had not gotten a group photo the whole trip so we asked this sweet couple to take one for us, I think it turned out nice :)
(My birthday cake & pretty/delicious Georgia Peach at the Cheesecake Factory in Caesars Palace)
(The whole Vegas gang, back row left to right: Mandy, Valeria, Me, Aunt Maggie
front row left to right: Aunt Sylvia, Ellie, Mama in Caesars Palace)
While we were heading out of Caesars Palace we stopped at a few shops, including H&M because I wanted to get a Christmas jumper (as all of my favorite British You-tubers say, or sweater here in the USA!). They unfortunately were out of them, but a few people from the group found some nice things and I got a sweater that was on sale for $3 that is now one of my favorites. We went our separate ways from there. Mama, me, Aunt Sylvia and Val left Ellie, Mandy and Aunt Maggie at the H&M, we even said our goodbyes here because the other group had an earlier flight so we knew we wouldn't be seeing them again. My group made our way outside and found the taxi line. Now this is the moment of the trip where we made the biggest mistake possible. We looked at the long line and decided that we would be better off walking back over to the Bellagio and taking the tram back to the Monte Carlo. We made this decision with no regard to the fact that we had been on our feet all day and was drained of energy after our heavy meals. So we spent the next 30 minutes trying to get from Caesar's Palace, back through the Bellagio and to the tram station. By the time we got there we were all on the verge of tears from how badly our feet hurt but also could not stop laughing at the stupidity of our decision to walk. The other group had been smart enough to wait for a taxi and had texted me that they were back at the hotel before we had even made it to the tram! We couldn't have been more angry with ourselves. Even though our feet were destroyed we did make it back to the hotel of course and after making a pit stop in the room we headed back down to the casino to have a nice time on our last night. We returned to the bar we had been to the night before and had a few drinks.
(At the bar in the Monte Carlo, in my new H&M sweater, with my yummy drinks!)
We gambled a bit and then decided that we should probably head back to the rooms so that we could wake up in the morning for our flight home. While we walked back to the elevators though we decided that despite the fact that we had had an extremely large dinner we were all hungry. We all ordered chicken from the restaurant in the food court that Aunt Sylvia had gone with the night before and pigged out back in our rooms. I still stand by the statement that it was the best chicken tenders I have ever had. I dream of them to this day! If you are ever in Las Vegas look up Original Chicken Tender, trust me, its worth it :) After we finished our food we all went to bed because we knew we had en early morning ahead.
The next morning we got up, packed up our rooms and check out of the hotel. We took a bus to the airport and went through security. The Vegas airport has one of those X-ray machines where you stand in it and they scan you, I was terrified of the entire concept and absolutely hated every second of it but I survived and while we waited at our gate I made my Mama come find the Starbucks with me where I finally found my "Where Are You" collection Las Vegas mug (I had looked at every Starbucks we had passed). It's a lovely addition to my collection and I'm so glad that I had happened to want coffee that morning :)
(The view from the flight back home)
Our flight home went smoothly and after driving my Mama to my cousin Ellie's house so I could pick up my car I drove back to Yoakum so I could watch my sister in the morning. So after about seven hours of traveling I made it back home and got to tell my Daddy all about my amazing birthday weekend in Las Vegas. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed getting to be with my family to celebrate such a big moment in my life. I loved being in Las Vegas, but that was my real present so thank you for coming along for the ride with me!
(I pulled out my camera to take a picture of the NY, NY and got this unexpected selfie with the wind destroying my hair)
(The New York, New York & Vegas Statue of Liberty)
(The Monte Carlo & Aria)
So after walking for what felt like a million years we found the entrance to the Aria casino. We has decided that we would gamble $5 at each casino we went to so we found some slot machines and I managed to turn my $5 into $10. Now my mother has the philosophy that you play a slot machine until all of your money is gone, regardless of how much to manage to turn your money into. I on the other hand think that method is absurd and with cash out as soon as I have doubled my amount of money, if not sooner. So after I got to $10 I cashed out and figured I could use that money to gamble at the next casino. We walked a round a bit and looked at the cool decor of the hotel & casino but after a bit of time we got bored and decided to find the tram to move on to the shopping area. We located it after some extensive exploration and rode to the beautiful Shops at Crystals.
We took a ton of pictures at the shopping area because the Christmas decorations were simply gorgeous, not to mention the architecture of the building and shops themselves. The majority of the shops were more high scale than we were willing to actual purchase anything from but we had a nice time looking through the windows and wondering around. The decorations really were amazing and we ended up being very happy with being there in December so that we got a chance to see them. Once we had seen everything we relocated the tram and hopped on to head over to the Bellagio. I was probably most excited for Bellagio out of the places we went, I had wanted to stay here as well. I am not sure where I got the idea in my mind that it was the place to be but that was my impression of it before I even stepped foot inside. I was not disappointed. The decorations were on a completely different level and so grand. I really enjoyed walking around and looking at it all. It was one of the more crowded places we went though and I got a tad claustrophobic while walking around taking pictures. I also managed to lose the group multiple times and lets just say there was no service for me to even call them and find them. Pan to me wondering around Las Vegas completely lost and all alone. Poor Jordan. But we always found each other again and we made of way through the decorated area and into the casino so we could gamble.
We just found some slot machines and I managed to lose my $10. My cousin Valerie did a little better though and I'm pretty sure she doubled her money. You never know what will happen when you go with the slots! Once we were done with that we decided to make our way outside so that we could see the fountains. We had absolutely no idea where they were or when they had shows but we wondered around and asked random people questions until we found them. We made it outside to and asked a staff member when the shows happened, she replied every half hour. It was 2 minutes till and so the running ensued to make sure we caught the show and wouldn't have to wait around for 30 minuted waiting. We made it just in time and the show was lovely, even if we did freeze while watching it. We also had a lovely view of Paris Las Vegas while we waited for the fountains and it almost felt like I was in France (which is where my best friend was at the time, well she was in Italy but she had just visited Paris!).
The fountains finished and we went back inside to try and find our way to Caesars Palace. I was excited for this stop because I was desperate to say Hangover quotes the whole time I was there. During our period of being lost within the Bellagio we stumbled across a gelato bar. I had never had gelato before a begged my Mama to let us stop, it being my birthday weekend I got my way, and I got to try two different favors, Dulce de leche and tiramissu. It was wonderful! After we had wasted some time there we continued on our journey to make it out of the Bellagio. While we were walking there Mandy, Ellie & Aunt Maggie called us and asked if we wanted to meet up for dinner. After some debate Mandy (who was our Vegas expert) suggested we go to the Cheesecake Factory because it was in Caesars Palace and I had never been there before. By the time we picked a place for dinner we had almost located the entrance to Caesars Palace, it was extremely difficult to locate it from the Bellagio. We must have had to stop to ask where we were ten times. When we finally made it there and were standing in the lobby in front of the check in desk that was in the Hangover I got to say what I had wanted to say since we had booked the trip, "A: You probably get this a lot, this isn't the real Caesars Palace is it? R: What do you mean? A: Did Caesar live here? R: Umm no. A: I didn't think so." and I busted out laughing because I just think I am the funniest person I've ever met. This annoyed my Mama of course because I was causing a scene but I truly could not help myself. I just found the whole situation hilarious. So after we had made it through to the casino we decided to locate The Cheesecake Factory and then just gamble near it so that when the rest of our party arrived it would be simple to find them. This seemed like a brilliant plan, until finding The Cheesecake Factory turned out to the even more difficult than it had been to find Caesars Palace. It took us about 30 minutes to make our way to the part of the hotel it was located in and we settled at some slot machines to wait for everyone else. My Mama turned $5 into $50 and we cashed it out to pay for dinner with it. It was very exciting, so much so that Mama even let me take a photo of her with her winnings (see below), which is very rare. We decided that we better actually go into the area where the restaurant was supposed to be located and see where it was, so we walked through the grand archway into the section of the hotel and suddenly realized that just like everything else about this place it was massive and never ending. We had to walk all the way through and to the back of this portion to find the restaurant and the exhaustion from the day mixed with the hunger caused all of us to get a bit frazzled while walking there. We all thought we would be late to meeting the other group and the vibe in the air was just pure frustration. We finally got there and it was perfect timing. We got on the wait list to be seated and watched a show that was being put on outside of the restaurant while we waited.
When we were seated I was absolutely floored by how gorgeous The Cheesecake Factory was. I had no idea it was so nice and it felt like a lovely place to have a group birthday dinner. I ordered a drink that is now one of my favorites and always makes me look forward to going to Cheesecake, a Georgia Peach which is so yummy and really pretty as well. I settled on Fettucine Alfredo with chicken for my meal and while we waited my cousin Valerie and I ventured to find a restroom. We hd to go upstairs where there is a private event room to find one and we ran into a bride in the restroom who had just gotten married and was having her reception there in the event room. She looked lovely and it was so fun getting to congratulate her. Our food got delivered not long after we returned and it was one of the best I've ever had. Our waiter was so sweet and brought me a piece of cake with some ice cream for my birthday. I couldn't eat any of it because I was so fun but I thought it was such a sweet gesture. I know that the Cheesecake Factory can be expensive but it is now one of my favorite places to go! When we left we realize we had not gotten a group photo the whole trip so we asked this sweet couple to take one for us, I think it turned out nice :)
(My birthday cake & pretty/delicious Georgia Peach at the Cheesecake Factory in Caesars Palace)
front row left to right: Aunt Sylvia, Ellie, Mama in Caesars Palace)
While we were heading out of Caesars Palace we stopped at a few shops, including H&M because I wanted to get a Christmas jumper (as all of my favorite British You-tubers say, or sweater here in the USA!). They unfortunately were out of them, but a few people from the group found some nice things and I got a sweater that was on sale for $3 that is now one of my favorites. We went our separate ways from there. Mama, me, Aunt Sylvia and Val left Ellie, Mandy and Aunt Maggie at the H&M, we even said our goodbyes here because the other group had an earlier flight so we knew we wouldn't be seeing them again. My group made our way outside and found the taxi line. Now this is the moment of the trip where we made the biggest mistake possible. We looked at the long line and decided that we would be better off walking back over to the Bellagio and taking the tram back to the Monte Carlo. We made this decision with no regard to the fact that we had been on our feet all day and was drained of energy after our heavy meals. So we spent the next 30 minutes trying to get from Caesar's Palace, back through the Bellagio and to the tram station. By the time we got there we were all on the verge of tears from how badly our feet hurt but also could not stop laughing at the stupidity of our decision to walk. The other group had been smart enough to wait for a taxi and had texted me that they were back at the hotel before we had even made it to the tram! We couldn't have been more angry with ourselves. Even though our feet were destroyed we did make it back to the hotel of course and after making a pit stop in the room we headed back down to the casino to have a nice time on our last night. We returned to the bar we had been to the night before and had a few drinks.
We gambled a bit and then decided that we should probably head back to the rooms so that we could wake up in the morning for our flight home. While we walked back to the elevators though we decided that despite the fact that we had had an extremely large dinner we were all hungry. We all ordered chicken from the restaurant in the food court that Aunt Sylvia had gone with the night before and pigged out back in our rooms. I still stand by the statement that it was the best chicken tenders I have ever had. I dream of them to this day! If you are ever in Las Vegas look up Original Chicken Tender, trust me, its worth it :) After we finished our food we all went to bed because we knew we had en early morning ahead.
The next morning we got up, packed up our rooms and check out of the hotel. We took a bus to the airport and went through security. The Vegas airport has one of those X-ray machines where you stand in it and they scan you, I was terrified of the entire concept and absolutely hated every second of it but I survived and while we waited at our gate I made my Mama come find the Starbucks with me where I finally found my "Where Are You" collection Las Vegas mug (I had looked at every Starbucks we had passed). It's a lovely addition to my collection and I'm so glad that I had happened to want coffee that morning :)
Our flight home went smoothly and after driving my Mama to my cousin Ellie's house so I could pick up my car I drove back to Yoakum so I could watch my sister in the morning. So after about seven hours of traveling I made it back home and got to tell my Daddy all about my amazing birthday weekend in Las Vegas. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed getting to be with my family to celebrate such a big moment in my life. I loved being in Las Vegas, but that was my real present so thank you for coming along for the ride with me!
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