Take the kids to Vegas?
With my husband working out of town for a living, my boys and I try to tag along when school is out and flights are priced well. Holiday break and a great price on Southwest flights brought us a potentially fun opportunity! To Las Vegas. There’s nothing like being able to travel with your family!
Wait…Vegas is for kids? That’s the destination for convention/ conference goers, bachelor parties, girl’s weekends, and high rollers, right? That has always been my impression. I’ve never had a desire to do what most look forward to in Las Vegas. In fact, I’ve only been a single time before and it was to visit my husband’s good friend. We stayed one night between cities when we traveled with a Broadway National Tour…arrived Monday and left Tuesday. With my husband having lived there before we met, it was not quite the tourist visit. Though we did see Cirque du Soliel’s O from way up high in a tech booth. Awesome, by the way!
Please know that my narrow minded thinking has to do with my ignorance and of all-things-tourist as we were going to be staying on the Strip and would be playing actual tourists. AT NEW YEARS! I have plenty of friends that live a very suburban life in Las Vegas similar to mine in Central Florida. I’m pretty sure they avoid the craziness of The Strip every chance they get.
All that to say, we had a GREAT time!
There were some hiccups along the way like the fact that we were at the Excalibur and it smelled like a wet ashtray. LOL. I viewed it as a teaching moment along with all of the “arcade games” in the lobby. Ha ha! Fortunately, our itinerary included a change in accommodation to the lovely, peaceful, smoke-free, casino-free, Delano Hotel. Ahhhhhhh…………
One of our first excursions was to the Hoover Dam. I highly recommend it! And splurge to go visit the inside of the dam! It’s just massive and such a unique piece of history. We went early and made great time with easy parking. I felt bad for those arriving when we were leaving. Busy!
Another fun trip was to Mount Charleston! The kids saw snow for the first time (Well, Nicholas did when he was 6 months old). Again, the key was to arrive early. We found something to sled ride with and had a super fun time. The wet jeans weren’t fun afterward, but the car was toasty on our return home.
I have to call out another great attraction that we could have visited a few times. The Pinball Hall of Fame! This was so much fun! The location was huge with rows upon rows of pinball machines of all ages! And, for the most part, only a quarter to play! I love that a team of people have a passion for preserving this piece of Americana.
Of course, we made time for the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign! The Bellagio was lusciously decorated for Christmas and the fountain show out front was a good time. We found a great playground/ shopping area at a place created out of retired shipping containers. It’s called the Downtown Container Park. So cool and worth the visit for a change of scenery and a place for the kiddos to stretch their legs. And I took my boys to see $1,000,000 at Binions Gambling Hall. That’s another story for when we have coffee! So funny!
So, don’t hesitate to bring your kiddos along if you have the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas as a family. There’s definitely a lot to do and explore. I’m grateful for these opportunities to expose our boys to life outside of Central Florida regardless of how colorful it may be.
