The wife unit and are headed to vegas because it was a cheap get-away.
We're going to see Cirque and plan to eat at some decent restaurants.
I don't gamble and the whole place seems like it's going to be far too "peopley" for my tastes.
Anyone got any recommendations?
Old Vegas on Fremont street is fun for everybody. Not sure when you’re going but SEMA is happening soon. Its worth doing once.
If you have more time and get bored with Vegas , blast down to the Grand Canyon in a day.
Hang at the hotel and enjoy the pool.
Hit the buffet at Aria and Ceasar’s Palace.
Ride the huge Ferris Wheel at night.
There’s a great aquarium at Mandalay Bay
Head to the Hoover dam and Grand Canyon. Maybe even book a Jeep or airplane excursion.
Head to the fountain and people watch.
Book a driving experience at LVMS? Tour the Shelby and other auto museums?
Rent a stupidly expensive exotic and go out to the canyons and have some fun?
In reply to Trans_Maro :
Rent a car & got out to the Techatticup mine about an hour outside the city. While there, drive another 12-miles to the Colorado river at the end of the road. You’ll also drive past the dry lakebed where they shoot many car commercials & music vids too.
I rented a Corvette and drove to the valley of fire state park. It was beautiful, though the ac didn’t do anything with the top down at 107 degrees.
We hit Lake Mead and Hoover Dam on day, then the Grand Canyon the following day. We stayed in Arizona the night between Hoover Dam and the Rand Canyon. It’s a long haul straight from Vegas. We don’t gamble but it was amusing to walk around the casinos in the middle of the night and watch people lose their minds gambling away college funds and such.
Hoover Dam is about 45 minutes - skip the tours and rent a car.
Grand Canyon is a 4-5 hour haul each way FYI.
I hit the junkyards.
Budget 3 hours and visit the mob museum.
+1 on the Hoover Dam, really spectacular place. Tons of shows on the strip, comedy, singers, etc. Some are pricey, see if you can find the discount ticket place but watch out for time share ticket places. If you go to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, go check out Sedona. Will want to make this a multi day trip, too far for one day from Vegas. People watching almost anywhere can be entertaining. The Bellagio fountains are fun to watch, especially at night.
Oh! I almost forgot: Go up to Red Rocks; it's absolutely beautiful. You can just do a drive-through on their loop or you can check out their nature center and do some hiking. It's a little ways away from the strip, but worth the drive.
Absolutely go to Shelby American if you've ever liked one of their cars. Not a huge tour but the people running it know the history inside and out.
Thanks for the tips guys!
I like the rental car idea, we may do that.
I might hit up the Shelby museum. Never been a fan of Mustangs or the man himself but we did restore CSX2524 a couple years ago. Might be fun.
-edit- Odd, they claim to have CSX2000 which would be interesting because I got a very close look at that car a couple years ago and watched it sell for goofy money. I wonder if their car really is CSX2000. The real one is in pretty rough shape and very different from "production" Cobras.
Whenever I get stuck going to Vegas I always go to guitar center. It is usually a better way to blow money than the casino's.
In reply to imgon :
We spent the night in Sedona before going to the Grand Canyon. It’s absolutely beautiful out there.
We did a bus trip to the skywalk at the grand canyon... I'd definitely do it again.
https://www.grandcanyonwest.com/skywalk--eagle-point.htm
Hoover dam is worth a visit and the view down from the bridge above the dam is amazing too.
Unfortunately the dam people who oversee the dam tour saw fit to close parts of the attraction to do some dam maintenance.
As a result, if I go on the dam tour I'll not be able to see some of the best dam places in the facility.
I'd hate to spend that much dam money and miss out on half the dam tour because some dam official closed parts of it.
I think the dam bridge is open.
Here's the entirely too long response I wrote one of the last few times this question was posted:
The The Auto Collections at the Linq, I was there around this time last year, I never thought I'd ever see an RS200 in real life, and I saw 3 the same day, an Evo and a pair of Homologations, they're all for sale even. They have an XJ220 and an 037 Stradale, as well as a lot of other cars you're average Big 3 fan wouldn't give a second look, but well worth the $13 admission for your typical GRMer.
I've made 2 different 4-5 night trips in the last 3 years, I don't enjoy gambling. First trip I made ~$33 last a really long time at black jack and slots, but that's as much gambling as I did. Second trip I didn't gamble at all.
We've seen several shows and ate at a lot of places.
Blue Man Group was fun, Jersey Boys was WAY better than I expected, KA was amazing, Bodies: The Exhibition was really interesting and a little creepy. Penn & Teller, and Michael Jackson One, both were really good as well. I'm not much of an MJ fan, but those Cirque folks put on one hell of a show. We went to the aquarium at Mandalay too, I was pretty underwhelmed by it, I recall not feeling I got my monies worth there. I didn't care for Fremont St., the Discovery Chanel show I saw about the LED cover was better than seeing it in person.
Food/Drinks:
Henry (Cosmopolitan) - Good breakfast.
STK (Cosmopolitan) - Awesome steak, get the truffle butter, great lobster mac & cheese. Holds the record for most expensive meal I've ever eaten.
Burger Bar (Mandalay Bay) - Nothing spectacular, great beer selection.
Noodles (Caesars Palace) - Good authentic Asian grub, there were a lot of actual Asian folks eating there, cheapest meal I had in Vegas.
Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab (Forum Shops) - Surf & Turf! King Crab was great, steak was great, Oysters Rockefeller were great, service was outstanding, best waiter I've ever had.
Diablo's (On the Strip near NY-NY) - Came highly recommended, it was typical Tex Mex, nothing phenomenal.
Holstein's (Cosmopolitan) - Best burger I had in Vegas pretty high on the list of all burgers I've had, it's called the "Gold Standard."
Vesper Bar (Cosmopolitan) - conveniently located by the elevator to our room, a little snobby, but I discovered my new favorite mixed drink, Moscow Mule.
Bond (Cosmopolitan) - GoGo dancers, girls swinging from the ceiling, looked fun. There were several empty tables, we sat at one, waitress came and told us it was a 1 bottle & $275 minimum, our jaws on the floor we got up and left quickly.
The Chandelier (Cosmopolitan) - A 3 story bar that IS a chandelier, drinks were nothing special, service sucked, but the bar was neat.
Mon Ami Gabi (Paris) - Great food, steak, muscles, pâté, cheeses, sit on the patio and watch the fountains at the Bellagio.
Hexx Kitchen (Paris) - Decent food, their take on chicken & waffles is a little weird, I wouldn't recommend it. Their complementary chocolate was the bitterest thing I've ever tasted, maybe they didn't like me?
The Grand Wok (MGM) - Only had the Sushi, it was good, but for what I paid, I'd expect better.
Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak (MGM) - Recommended by our concierge at Tropicana, it was good, steak was good, but STK and Joe's are better.
MGM Grand Buffet (MGM Duh?) - Go early or late to miss the crowd, kind of pricey, but everything is, endless mimosas provided with your meal, everything was above average for a buffet, but they don't know how to make gravy, and the chef(s) seemed to want to put chorizo in everything.
Tender Steak & Seafood (Luxor) - Scallops were great, had a cheese platter, you got to pick 3 cheeses from a big list, and it came with quince paste, we didn't know what a quince was, but we liked it.
Well, I got a lot done at work this afternoon.
I've actually been back once since I wrote that.
We saw, The Beatles LOVE, cirque du soleil, it's probably my favorite one yet.
The Rat Pack Is Back, if you like Fank, Dean, and Sammy, these impersonators do a great job. Smaller venue in the Tuscany, seats maybe 100 folks. SWMBO and I were just about the youngest in attendance, but still had fun.
I mentioned Mon Ami Gabi (Paris) above, it's become our favorite Vegas restaurant. We make a point to eat there every visit, some times more than once.
In reply to Trans_Maro :
We didn’t do the actual tour because of the line but walking around on our own taking in the sights was worth the stop. I love Art Deco design so I took dozens of photos of the various details.
Pop over to Henderson & visit the BRE shop. A really cool end destination even if you don't own a Datsun/Nissan.
Grand canyon is quite impressive to see.
But so is death valley, which is closer, and you can drive into death valley to see it.
Look up the atomic testing museum which is in vegas. I thought it was a really cool place to spend a few hours.
You like Pinball? The Pinball Hall of Fame is a great way to waste a few hours and I’d rather dump my money there than at the casino, so many vintage tables.
Counts Customs and Welder Up both have free tours worth checking out.
My wife and I took very carefully staged photos in front of the all the European looking attractions and told our friends we were on a cruise. A lot of them bought it. Other than that, red rock and the Hoover dam, lots of world class shows, and great food. I can recommend the Wynn and their buffet.
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