On our second day in Vegas we planned to go and have a look at the rest of the strip and were going to go out early to avoid some of the midday heat, but after taking care of some admin, including changing our flights, it was about 11am before we got going. We walked a LOT – all the way up to Excalibur, with the obligatory stops at casinos along the way. Most of the casinos are tacky and nothing much to look at and it gets old very quickly – as well as bloody far to walk if you want to have a look at all of them! We had a look at Caesar’s Palace, Bellagio, Planet Hollywood, MGM Grand, New York New York and Excalibur, before turning around and starting the walk back! By this point I was whinging like a small child about my sore feet and we hadn’t sat down at all. We also walked through Coke World, which fascinated me and I’m still gutted I didn’t do the coke tasting where they give you samples of different coke drinks from around the world, complete with a set of notes like at a wine tasting!
On the way back to the hotel we popped into the Flamingo, Linq and Harrah’s, and finally sat down to try my first White Castle burger, along with a couple of $1 beers from the Casino Royale. I had a double cheese slider and it was actually pretty good, though very oily and made me feel a bit queasy for the rest of the day! We eventually made it back to the hotel where I could rest my poor feet – walking 20,000 steps in 40+ degrees is no joke! In the evening we went to try out the Treasure Island buffet as they give you a 2-for-1 voucher, and they also do an all-you-can-drink deal for $12.50 so of course we had to partake in that as well! The food on the buffet was pretty good and even Brian found enough to eat and we stayed there for quite a while, as I can eat a LOT when I pace myself. The highlight of the meal was definitely the candy floss, even though I had to wrestle a small child for the last remaining one! After the day’s long and hot walk we agreed to take the next day easy…
Brian got up early (as usual) and got us a couple of chairs by the pool as soon as it opened. I wasn’t quite ready to lounge around the pool yet and caught up on some blog posts and web surfing before eventually heading to the pool, getting a Starbucks on the way. It was pretty warm out already and as soon as the sun came round to where I was sitting I was back up to the room again – I really am not a great fan of excessive heat! Brian stayed out a while longer but eventually came back as well and we just chilled in the room. The previous day we spotted a couple of places I wanted to try for dinner, though one of them, Hash House a go go, didn’t have anything on the menu what Brian fancied, even though it came highly recommended. We decided to eat at Guy Fieri’s Vegas Kitchen & Bar instead. We had a couple of beers in our room and then walked up to the Linq and there was a massive queue at the restaurant but I insisted on putting our names on the list. They said there was a 30-45 minute wait and they weren’t taking telephone numbers to call you when your table is ready, which is daft! I walked around the restaurant to see what it looks like (and to shamelessly ogle people’s food) when I spotted a couple of empty seats at the bar – straight away I got Brian and we grabbed them, cutting down our wait time to zero! Turns out you can eat at the bar and we got our order in quickly while sitting back on some very comfy leather chairs. When the food came it was BIG and good. We both had burgers, Brian’s was plain cheese and they got the order spot on. I had the famous Bacon Mac-n-Cheese burger which was massive but also very good. Both came with their signature fries, about 3-4 different shapes and flavourings which was very good as well. To be honest, the patty wasn’t the best and I thought it was under-seasoned, but the combinations and fries made them worth the effort and we walked out very happy!
We walked on to go and see the fountains at the Bellagio and of course the streets were heaving again. I was surprised over our time there to see how many people go there with small children as you generally don’t associate Vegas with family holidays, but I suppose some of the hotels are quite child friendly with their pools and entertainment. The fountain show was great, though over very quickly and we walked back to the hotel where we walked around the casino, watching people play for a while before going to bed. Vegas is quite a strange place and as we were there during the early part of the week we didn’t see too many big parties of people, though they started arriving on Thursday, which was our last day. We never stayed our very late either and took it quite easy (apart from a couple of looong walks) so didn’t experience the nightlife or drunk people so I suppose we may have missed out on a lot, but I quite enjoyed the place! It helped that we had a really nice room with amazing beds and when you’re up on the 14th floor you are totally isolated and in a nice little cocoon, away from the heat and throngs of people. It was kind of strange being in the room where it was absolutely tranquil and quiet, and a couple of minutes away there’s the madness of the casinos and boiling temperatures on the streets packed with people. For us it was a nice getaway and a mini-holiday and it was very relaxing in the end. Below I’ve tried to give an idea of what Vegas looks like during the day, vs what it looks like in the evening – totally different worlds!
Biltong and Burger 