The Last Hurrah!

Las Vegas!

You either love it or you hate it. We happen to love it. We also happen to plan one last get-away each year before the kids go back to school. Each time we go we usually stay at a different place… off the strip, because, well, it’s just a little too much… and the pools are better at the outer hotels. And I can’t stand smoke. Or noise. Or crowds.

This trip was full of some good things and some not-so-good things. The drive there and back… not so good. The older I get, the less I can tolerate being in a car for longer than an hour.

We stayed at Tahiti Village - the time share place that you used to hear on the radio all the time. We don’t have a time share, but they also rent rooms as if they were a regular hotel. The only downside is that they won’t come clean your room unless you are there longer than 4 days, but you can change out towels if you get really grossed out. I suppose if you are a neat freak, this place wouldn’t be for you, but with 3 kids… it worked out perfectly.

One of the reasons we chose this place over all the millions of others in Vegas was the fact that they had a really awesome pool AND lazy river. Of course, the lazy river was fun for about an hour… and then we got bored and moved over to the pool area. Much better.

The pool was fun and on Saturday, there was a DJ and some really rockin’ music to swim to. Add the cabana bar and I was in my happy place.

We tend to not try and go back to places over and over because we really do like to try new places. However, one of the places we wanted to take the kids to was a restaurant called Norah’s. This Italian restaurant was found by my husband when we were in Las Vegas last December (without the kids). It was amazing and we knew we wanted to go back. It was just as fabulous the 2nd time as it was the 1st and I highly recommend you go if you’re in the area.

Of course, not all the places we went back to were as fabulous. One of our favorite places had always been Holstein’s at the Cosmopolitan. We had been there several times and they had a mean salmon burger. So when we were making our plans, I tried to make reservations only to find out they no longer took reservations for Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. Well, with 3 kids that wasn’t going to fly with me. We ended up going early on Sunday night (like at 5:30pm) to make sure we could get a seat. Turns out the place was almost empty and we were seated right away. Also turned out that they  no longer had the awesome salmon burger on the menu. Hmmm… can you tell we won’t be going back there again?

One of the other “big” things my husband wanted to do was check out the High Roller. If you haven’t heard about this, it’s a ride, ferris wheel, observation deck, all rolled up in one. It’s the tallest ride in Las Vegas and I have to say I wasn’t 100% sold on it. I don’t like heights… and I don’t like gimmicks. But… we had comped tickets (now THOSE I like) so up we went.

The view from the top was nice… but you can pretty much go to the top of any hotel and see the same view. The “ride” takes about 30 minutes to revolve around and it’s pretty much stable until you get to the top - I have to admit the car shook a little. Maybe most people wouldn’t notice it… but I did and it was a little unsettling. The kids enjoyed it. It’s pretty expensive if you’re paying full price. I wouldn’t do it again.

Of course, the best part of the night was a stop at Ghirardelli’s because nothing says happy vacation quite like a salted caramel sundae.

We bypassed all the big casinos since we had the kids with us… and we’re not big gamblers anyway. If we were there alone, David might have played a few hands of blackjack and I would have hit some of the slots - but every since they replaced the original slot machines with the electronic ones and they don’t take coins anymore… I’m not so enamored with them. I like to hear the ca-ching when I’m cashing out.

One of the new things we were excited to see was Hershey World in the New York, New York Hotel and Casino. Having been a kid and visiting the real Hershey in Pennsylvania, I wanted to take the kids ever since we started hearing about it almost a year ago.

 

I have to say… I was disappointed. Basically this is just a two-story candy store. There isn’t much that is interesting to see. They have a Statue of Liberty and an Empire State Building made out of Hershey bars, but honestly, I’m more impressed seeing those buildings constructed out of legos than chocolate. Sure, you can get Hershey Kisses by the bagful… but you can also just go to Target and buy a bag of the same thing.

So, what does one do when they aren’t having such a good time at Hershey’s? That’s right! You go across the street to Coca-Cola World and get a Coke Float.

 

 

Was the trip worth it? That depends. I don’t think I’ll have any expectations again - Las Vegas is what it is. We’ll still probably go each year, but our enjoyment comes from sitting by the pool, eating ice cream and spending some quality time with the kids. The rest of it… you can keep it.