Week 3 - Las Vegas

December 27 - January 2 2015

December 28 we moved to South Point Hotel for five days as there wasn't any timeshare available.
Click here for photos of a mural depicting the LV skyline.

Since we had to be out of the condo at 10 AM we picked up our friends and took them to Fry's a gigantic electronics store to browse around.
Driving along the Strip to pick them up.

It looks like a huge one armed bandit and all the parts move. Note the stacks of silver coin around the entrance. No photos allowed inside. But suffice it to say that it is huge.

Then we went to the south end factory outlets. We had lunch at South Point, clam chowder for everyone. Checked in and went to Ethel M's chocolate factory and cactus garden.

Dinner was at South Point in the Italian restaurant.

December 29 after picking up lattes and a bear claw at Seattle's Finest Coffee we headed over to the Clark County Museum to see their Heritage St. It turned out to be a lovely museum outlining the history of Nevada from prehistoric times.

Heritage St. houses were decorated for the holidays. Check back later in the week for lots of photos of the museum and houses.
Click here for photos of the wedding chapel.

We picked up our friends and stopped into the Burlington Coat Factory, we didn't last long as it was full of junk.

Our next destination was the LV Speedway for their Glittering Lights display.  It took about thirty minutes to get there and we snapped some photos as we drove the length of Las Vegas Blvd.

Those sparkly purple lights just below the red spire is actually heart pounding rides! Click here for descriptions.

We then headed to Fremont St. for dinner. We parked our car at the Downtown Grand and had a drink to validate our parking chit. This is the Art Bar ceiling.

It was really cold out and the guys ending up buying sweatshirts to wear under their jackets. 

We stopped into the Banger Brewery thinking we could get dinner. No.

We decided on pizza.

December 30 we headed to the factory outlets and started with breakfast at Dunking Donuts and a croissant donut.

Fortified, we hit the stores. John bought three pairs of Kenneth Cole pants, two pairs of Greg Norman shorts and two GN golf shirts. I snagged a pair of beige sandals, two t-shirts and a Nautica lounge wear set. Lunch was Asian in the food court.
For dinner we went to the Japanese in the hotel, food was excellent but the service sucked.

This is what we woke to on New Year's Eve, a very rare occurrence in Vegas.
We saw a bride and groom getting photos at the LV Sign, he had his toque on with his black suit!

This didn't last long but the skies remained mostly grey for the day.

We went to the Gordon Biersch brewery for a delicious lunch with our friends.

 Garlic fries!

We brought the new year in with bread, cheese, pate and wine tucked up in our hotel room. While our friends watched the fireworks from their room at the Flamingo. We had seen the fireworks in 2013 so didn't feel the need to venture out into the freezing cold this year.

January 1, 2015 started with blue skies and sunshine and Starbucks and no real plans. I did see a woman in Starbucks with her mink coat and platform flip flops.
Not knowing what we wanted to do we got in the car and drove down the Strip waiting for inspiration.

A line up outside the Pawn Stars store.

Inspiration!!

 I'll be posting more of these murals in the coming weeks.

Just another work day.

What a difference a day makes! Soaking up some rays!

Mexican for dinner at the hotel.

January 2 we checked out of the hotel and checked into the Grandview for three weeks. The agent, Katie did a great job of getting our reservations set up including two nights that we didn't have a reservation.
Our friends were under the weather on Friday so we headed out on our own since it was only noon and out condo wasn't available.

I had read about Goodsprings and the Pioneer Saloon. We headed south on I-15 about fifteen miles to exit 12 just before Primm. Traffic was backed up at Primm so it was going to be a long drive to California for all these cars.

 Heading towards Goodsprings.

I will do a separate post on the Pioneer Saloon because it deserves it!

Back to pick up our condo keys and there is major confusion at the desk, it seems, Anna, gave our rooms away. After an annoying thirty minute wait we were assigned our condo, on the sixth floor not the original tenth.