Happy Birthday to me.
We were off to Vegas this morning, not for my birthday, it was actually my Christmas present from Jason this past year, just happened that our departure date was today.
We stayed at the Four Points last night - they have the best bedding, beds, pillows - all of it.
I could have stayed in that bed all day.
Too bad we had to get up at 4:30 though.
Our flight is at 7:40 so we wanted to be at the airport 2 hours before seeing as it is an international flight.
We used Park 2 Go this time to park the car.
It's our first time using them.
It's like a valet parking service and so far, so good.
We got to the airport and through security in pleny of time.
We just got coffees and sat at the gate until boarding.
It was super quiet in the airport this morning.
We flew with Swoop this time.
Jason got us seats right in the first row which was nice, we had plenty of leg room.
It was a nice, smooth flight, all went well.
Some of the strip from the air.
Coming in for a landing.
Looks like it's shaping up to be a nice day here.
Welcome to Las Vegas.
We had to wait a bit for our luggage to show up on the carousel - it was a bit slow.
Then we headed out to get in the line for the shuttle bus over to the car rental and it was ridiculously long.
There was a bus leaving just as we got in the line then we waited a half an hour and not one other bus showed up.
We figured we were at least about three buses away from the front of the line so instead of waiting any longer, we decided to get a car over to the car rental place.
We rented with Dollar this time and the line up there was huge too.
I don't know why it always takes so long for car rentals?
Jason couldn't find his drivers licence and mine expired today so the girl almost didn't give it to us.
I did go get mine renewed before we left and they gave me a renewal slip until my real one comes in the mail and luckily another agent at the rental counter said that would work.
We eventually made it through then headed out to pick up our vehicle and ended up having to wait in a line up again.
They were washing vehicles as they were being returned so we just had to wait until they had an SUV for us.
So that was another 20 - 30 minute wait.
We landed in Vegas at 10 and when we were finally leaving with our rental car, it was over 2.5 hours later.
That's about the same time as the flight over here.
Kind of frustrating but not much one can do about it so we just happy to finally be on our way.
We decided to get something to eat first thing, Jason found this place called Blueberry Hill that looked good so we went there.
It looks a bit overcast in the picture but it was very warm out so we changed in the parking lot to flip flops and short sleeves.
The menu - It was giant and had TONS of options.
That just makes it so much harder for me to chose.
It seemed like a nice family restaurant - it was really busy too.
So happy to be here in Vegas!
It's always exciting at the beginning of a vacation - you have the whole adventure ahead of you.
Breakfast!
I ordered the Four Cheese pancakes with fruit.
I thought it would be cream cheesy but it ended up being more like a ricotta.
It was good but it was a lot and I could only manage to eat half.
There was a little dish on my plate that I thought was filled with extra cheese filling so I took a big bite of it and it ended up being whipped butter.
Ha ha.
I got a side of bacon too because I'm a bacon fiend.
It was delicous bacon.
Jason had the heuvos rancheros - he usually does if it is an option.
He really liked it.
After we finished eating, we headed over to the Strat which is where we are going to be staying this time.
We thought we had gotten an early check in, turns out we didn't.
It's kind of a lottery thing - you sign up for it but you might not get it - they only charge you for it if you do.
They have a new pay system in their parking garage - they just installed it last week apparently so we needed our licence plate for the front desk.
We didn't have to pay for parking since we were hotel guests but the system has a lot of bugs in it so far - it doesn't really work like it is supposed to.
We checked in anway and since we couldn't get into a room yet, we left our bags with the concierge and headed out for a walk.
The Arts District is right next to the Strat pretty much so we headed that way.
These dice and Vegas showgirls are just across the street from the Strat on the way downtown.
Just some of the sights on our walk.
Love these old signs.
Cool dragon.
More showgirls by the Arts District.
Lots of cool graffiti/murals.
Murals in the Arts District.
The eagle painted on this building was huge.
I love murals.
The art styles were so varied too.
Love the trees.
More artwork.
Looking back towards the Strat.
Don't let that cloudy sky fool you - the weather was lovely.
Great spot to take a selfie.
The Arts District was full of art - how fitting.
The Arts District is still kind of small, mainly just this one street, but hopefully it catches on and grows.
We came across Good Pie.
So we decided to get a couple slices.
I had a Special slice - it had lumps of ricotta on it and I added hot honey.
It was good.
Jason had the Margarita slice.
I really liked the crust a lot.
We had a lemon-coconut drink with it and it was actually quite tasty and refreshing.
After our pizza, we walked around a bit more just checking out the murals.
They had told us they would text us when a room was ready so we were just kind of waiting for that.
Cute kitties.
A more detailed mural.
Looks like a cool spot to hang out.
There was even some metal flowers.
This was on the outside of a boxing place.
Artistic Iron.
I think this was a place that you could go in and tour.
There was some really cool metal art installations in their parking lot.
I love the patchwork effect on this dinosaur.
Watch out Jason!!!
Some smaller pieces too but still just as cool.
Lots going on on this building.
Yoda and little baby Yoday - I guess he's really Grogu but I will never stop calling him Baby Yoda.
Another very detailed mural.
I saw a bunch of awesome purses in this shop window so I had to go in and check them out.
The phone purses are so neat.
I'm a big Strawberry Shortcake fan and thought these were super cute.
I considered buying one but in the end didn't.
It was a roller skating place and they had all these roller skates on display.
I liked the artwork they had on the walls in the shop.
More artwork.
Another mural.
3pm came and went and we still didn't get a text but since 3 pm is check in time anyway, we decided to just head back to the hotel.
When we got there, they said our room was ready - I wish they'd let us know!
Anyway - we haed to our room.
We were in room 120 on the 23rd floor.
They sent us to the North Tower elevator which was quite a ways away then when we got there, it was closed so we had to turn around and go back to the central elevator.
Not that big of a deal really but we were lugging around a pile of luggage with us.
I unpacked and got ready to go for a run.
I figured there would be a bunch of people out and about on the strip at this time of day so I didn't want to go out there and run.
So instead, Jason and I went and checked out the hotel gym.
I wanted to run my 1 mile and decided to do it there.
Jason lifted a few weights then headed outside for a run.
I ended up running 2.5 miles and felt good about that.
Workout complete.
We had a pretty good view from up on the 23rd floor.
We couldn't see the rest of the strip but we could see over to the mountains.
After we showered, we decided to head for a walk down the strip.
We thought we might go to Fly Over Vegas but we never made it that far.
We stopped in Cosmopolitan to have something to eat in the food court.
I got something for myself at Lardo's.
Jason wanted to try the Nashville Hot Chicken at Nellies - the line up was super long when we were here last time so he skipped it.
There was a line up again today but not as long so he decided to wait.
After a half hour of waiting though, the line still hadn't really moved so he left the line up and decided to get something else.
He got this wrap at Momofuku which is where I'd eaten last time we were here and it was delicious.
I got the Brooklyn Buster and Dirty fries at Lardo.
I'd had the fries last time we were here and they were fantatic - these were different fries though than what we'd had last time and I didn't like them as much.
In fact, I liked what Jason got way more than what I'd gotten.
We were lucky to find a booth to eat in - it was fairly busy there.
Moi.
After we ate, we decided to keep going down the strip a bit.
Aria is a sister to the strip and they have an Aoki Pizza there we thought we could knock off the list tonight as well.
Some of the sights of the Vegas Strip on the way.
Alwyas so much traffic.
There is a mall between Cosmopolitan and Aria so we had to walk through that.
I've never been in the Aria before - it had all these bubbles suspended in the lobby.
I didn't notice it at first but there is actually a a big bubble blower there so they are meant to be bubbles.
It looks really cool.
There was even a giant bottle of bubbles.
Neat looking club we passed by.
We found the food court and Pizzaoki.
They only had a few options.
We just shared a Mic Drop and it was actually pretty decent.
We did a little gambling while we were there - I found the piggie machines that I like.
I lost right away but Jason was doing well so I watched him a bit.
We started walking back to the Strat and I was looking forward to a nice walk but the top front of my thighs and hips were vere sore.
I was very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain and I just knew there was no way I was going to make it.
So we stopped in at Cosmopolitan and hailed a cab.
All in all it was a pretty good first day.
Now to get up and do it all again tomorrow!
That's all for today, until next time, be happy!
