Las Vegas!! the return.....

We just returned from a week in Las Vegas!! I had previously mentioned that we decided to go back there and once again stay at the Bellagio and we did not regret it.  

 I was very much looking forward to seeing what they  had done with the CityCenter that was under construction when I was there in 2009.  Well, now it's all finished and its amazing!! Its an entire city block located between the Bellagio and the MonteCarlo hotels.  The largest hotel of four found in city center is the ARIA. Everything there, from the building architecture to the last piece of furniture is contemporary and has such a modern feel!  The other three hotels are the Cosmopolitan, the Mandarin hotel and the Vdara.  We only walked through the Cosmopolitan and it also had a really great vibe.  Here are a few pictures of the trip - 

Red Rock Canyon

  

Old Vegas - a tad bit sketchy

Aria Hotel @ City Center - 

We also did a few different things this time around just to spice it up.  We booked the most amazing tour of the Red Rock Canyon.  I wanted to go see the desert but didn't want it to be an all day event.  While I'm not taking anything away from the Grand Canyon (I'm sure its incredible), I just did not want to spend 12-14 hours exploring it.  Anyhow, we booked with Pink Jeep Tours through Vegas.com and had an excellent experience!! The unique thing about the Pink Jeep Tours is that their vehicles are specially customized for off-roading!! So, it's only of the only tour companies that can take you where no one else is going for some of the most incredible pictures!!! The tour guide was so friendly an knowledgeable and the whole thing only took 4 hours hotel to hotel.  


Another new activity we booked for this time around is the Vegas Strip Limo Tour.  This was was also fun and we were looking forward to it as a way to actually see the whole strip and to make a quick stop in old Vegas.  The only thing I can say against the tour company, BellTrans, is that we had to drink our champagne in plastic cups.... Not that big of a deal really, but the champagne itself was almost warm so I felt like the plastic cups made it taste even worse.  Overall, we had a great time in the tour.  The guide was funny and friendly and everything seemed to go off without a hitch.  By the way, not impressed with Old Vegas. We also did make a stop at the Volcano show at Mirage and that was big thumbs down for me.


Las Vegas is always a great place to visit! There is so much to do there for everyone.  Once again we had a great experience, went to eat at some amazing restaurants and just had plain old fun! Some stand outs for us as far as restaurants are the Prime Steakhouse at Bellagio, Julian Serrano at ARIA and FIAMMA'S at MGM.  Oh and we didn't too bad at the BlackJack tables either... ;)