The final of my 3 posts about Vegas. Post one was Hotels. Post two was food. This is the post that talks about things to see and do. DH and I are not big gamblers so we were looking more to experience other things in Vegas.
Some of our favorites are:
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Freemont Street. We have visited both during the day and at night. The night experience is definitely better. You can buy a bus ticket for the bus that runs up and down the strip and they will go here. At night the ceiling is alive with lights, music and pictures. We found everything down here to cost less than being on the strip.
On the strip - make sure to stop by the Bellagio Fountains. Every 15-30 minutes the music will start up and the fountains will dance in sync with the music. It's fun to watch and you just can't help but smile like a little kid watching a magic trick. Someday I would like to stay at the Bellagio to see this out my window. :) You can also get a good view of the fountains by eating on the patio of the hotel across the street - the Paris.
While you are at the Bellagio - take a look inside. In 2010 - they had a garden feature. All the flowers that you see were placed into little pots and lined up in the formations seen. Access like the flower pot, large bugs, mushrooms etc were added as well. Very pretty and impressive to see the work put into doing this. Even better than visiting by day - is visiting at night...
In the Aria hotel, try to take a quick peek at the World's Largest Chocolate Fountain.
At the MGM end of the strip, near the Aria is the M&M store and the Coke store. Both are really fun to walk around in and span multiple levels. At the coke store you can pay about $16 and get 2 large platters of soda samples from around the world. Be careful about the Italian clear soda - we watched a number of people nearly spit theirs out. It's...strong...almost like gasoline!!
From the Vegas strip you are only a short drive away from the West Rim of the Grand Canyon - home to the Skywalk. The drive there is quite pretty with the moutains, cactuses and Joshua trees. The road there is paved most of the way but there are a few miles of unpaved road. If you are used to driving on unpaved roads anywhere this one is about the same and not terrible like some of the reviews I've read. It IS very dusty though - bring water to drink! I think if you drove it in the rain - it would be a very slippery road but when it's dry it's just fine and very scenic if you like local flora and fauna.
Once you park you are directed to get tickets and buses arrive every few minutes to take you to a viewpoint. The viewpoint below was actually at the second viewpoint and was spectacular.
Halfway between the strip and the grand canyon is the Hoover Dam. In the photo below you can see the beginning of the bridge they are building to span the canyon below. This picture was taken in late 2008 but by April 2010 - they had almost completely crossed the canyon.
This is a picture of Lake Mead - you pass this not far out of Las Vegas on the way to the Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon.
Back to the strip. The picture below is taken at the Mirage at night. They have a volcano outside the hotel that goes off at timed intervals throughout the evening. This picture was taken in 2007. It has been renovated since but in our last trip in 2010 - we never did get the time to go see it again.
At the Venetian they have a wax museum and everyone told us that if was one of those don't miss things. To be honest, we weren't impressed with it and didn't think it was worth our money. Within the Venetian they do have live statures and mini shows.
The MGM has lions inside the hotel which was interesting to see.
As for shopping we visited a few malls: The Fashion Show Mall near Treasure Island (we liked this one although it is somewhat confusing to navigate), the Outlet Mall near the car rental place past the MGM (we really liked some of the stores here), the Open Air Mall (DH liked this one but I was meh) and another one who name escapes me but since neither of us liked it - I don't suppose it matters.
