Viva Las Vegas

Since Onions can't leave the country during his immigration process, I thought it would be nice to go to somewhere warm for the week between Christmas and New Years.  Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  Well, I was completely wrong on the warm as we were in long underwear and jackets the entire week!  But Vegas was FUN.

We only stayed a day and a half (that's really all you need!)  But the best part of the Strip is just walking it and seeing all the hotels. We stayed at the Luxor.

We walked ALL the way down to Treasure Island to see the Pirate Show.....but then I looked online and Wikipedia told me the show has closed.  WHY?

The iconic theme resorts are still there, but there are SO many new hotels.  I didn't know they could squeeze more in.

The Venetian is new since I've been to Vegas.

But the highlight is still the Bellagio.  The fountain shows are spectacular.

I have always heard about the conservatory, but this glass ceiling in the lobby is pretty spectacular upon entrance!

The conservatory was a Christmas theme.  I wasn't really paying attention until about halfway through fighting the crowds I realized that all the sculptures were made of FLOWERS! 

The worlds largest chocolate fountain....who knew?

The "ferris" wheel at The Linq, another new hotel.

Our first night, I got tickets to one of the Cirque de Soleil shows.  Parts of it were great, some, meh, the Chinese acrobats do it better.

But the best part is Onions' English is getting good enough that he is getting jokes and understanding innuendo.  I caught him laughing at some pretty challenging jokes.

Las Vegas?  Have to have the buffet.  Turns out Onions can scan the Chinese websites and reviews to find out information about the best of everything.  He found that the buffet at the ARIA (another new hotel) is the best.  So, be proud of my pictures.  Note ALL seafood, no carbs or vegetables here on plate 1.

Ok, now we have some meat on plate 2.

Onions commented on America being the "land of plenty" because were this buffet were in China there would be a "grab all you can" ethos whereas here, the buffet was ALWAYS full and the piles of crab and seafood was always full.

Ok, so plate three had a little rice....I wanted to soak up the paella juice.

Sunday?  Vegas?  Of course, it's time to watch football.  So, I parked myself down and watched the Seahawks lose to the Rams. Yuck.

Onions then decided we wanted to head to a spa.  Turns out what we wanted wasn't massages, he found that Caesar's Palace has the best pool/sauna/hot tub set up.  We spent three hours, soaking, showering and sweating.

Here we are all, cleaned and ready for the next part of our trip!

On our return to Las Vegas before flying out, we had a couple hours so we went to the Las Vegas Container Park.

It's an area where they've turned old shipping containers into a commercial and arts district.  I thought it would be more of a place where people lived, like IN shipping containers.

Oh, and the final tally on the 20 minutes of blackjack I played?  Down $18.  Turns out, I can scratch the gambling itch within about 5 minutes of sitting down.