Recently my boyfriend Tony and I planned a last minute quick, mini weekend vacation to Vegas with another couple and we didn’t just GAMBLE. It can be done people. Granted we stayed for three free nights at Caesar’s Palace because of his gambling habits–which in this case was a good thing!

Caesar’s Palace looks exactly as you can imagine–Gaudy and freezing. They seriously pump oxygen into the rooms to make you stay up and gamble–haha! It’s super big and overwhelmingly awesome. If you’ve been to Vegas you know that you can go a good 12 hours without seeing sunlight. So they add these fake sky ceilings to throw everything off.

A long with the free hotel stay, a limo was included in the package to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel. Our limo was a little on the older side, but that made the experience even better. Our driver was very sweet! He drove us to a liquor store, because I had to have photo documentation of me drinking rose in a limo (obviously…). We met up with our friends and had a surprise that one of my friends was in town as well for work. So we grabbed some food at Smash Burger–which was pretty good. Pictured below is the Grilled Chicken and Avocado Burger I had. So this is proof that casino food isn’t all terrible for you. The fries did surpass the chicken burger though!

The next day we went to the brunch buffet at the Belliagio–AMAZING. It’s definitely a must-do. Here’s a list of other great buffets in Vegas. Crab legs, eggs Benedict, doughnuts, etc. the list goes on. All of your food craving needs can be met in one place for only $79 for two people! Not bad–this doesn’t include bottomless alcoholic drinks–that was extra.

We didn’t immediately start boozing because we were heading to the Hoover Dam. Before we set out on our adventure, we went to the casino at the Wynn which is AMAZING. Our friends we’re staying there and I’m proud to show off their view of the city. We didn’t have much of a view, but our stay was for FREE! So who cares.

We hung out and had some pre-Hoover Dam drinks at the Black Jack tables and saw child-star Patrick Renna AKA the little red headed kid from the Sand Lot, with his catch phrase “You play ball like a girl!” He had his posse with him and I think one of the other guys was in the movie with him and they played blackjack with us–small world.

The Wynn is decked out with flowers, lights and crazy tile design. After sight seeing and gambling with celebrities, we headed to Hoover Dam.

We drove to the iconic Hoover Dam and it was so unreal. To actually understand how big it is–you HAVE to see it. Afterwards we headed to Lake Mead marina which is the lake  and saw all this crazy fish–starving for food and attention. So of course we gave in and fed them. Poor things followed us as we walked down the dock with those eyes–they got us!

After our adventure at Hoover Dam we headed to MGM for Brad Garret’s comedy club show. For those of you who don’t know who that is– (I didn’t until I saw him on stage) he’s Raymond’s older brother, Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond.

His commentary was HILARIOUS. My face hurt from smiling so much. He made a comment about how his career has come to an end since he’s in the basement of the MGM! Everyone died laughing. GO see it.

We walked through the Cosmopolitanism which is another large hotel/casino with this gorgeous bar called the Chandelier Lounge.

Had to stop at Taco Bell that night because the Taco Bell in Vegas sells alcoholic slushies. Yes, I repeat the Vegas Taco Bell sells alcohol! And to top that, as of August 7th, 2017 you can legally get married at that very Taco Bell. We were two weeks too early and missed the opportunity 😉 JK. As everything else in Vegas is over the top with lights and decor, etc.–Taco Bell is as well.

We called it a night because I wanted to check out the pool scene the next day. Which I did! I’m really not into pool parties–not that I’m old or anything (25), but I don’t really want to deal with the whole peeing in the pool situation, long lines to get drinks and no where to sit–especially in Vegas during July. No thanks–I’m good. So Caesar’s Palace has it figured out. They have two pools–the party pool and the semi-normal pool.

I enjoyed a few Pina Colada’s because it was necessary.

And I treated myself and got this adorable hat to shield myself from the sun. I couldn’t find it online so I’ll keep looking and post when I find it!

On our final evening we checked out Fremont Street. It’s known as “Old Vegas”, but it’s still very popular and has all the flashy lights! So we came straight from the pool to meet the guys for dinner and we were just looking for something quick to get our friends to the airport. We didn’t do the zipline across the chaos, but definitely will next time!

We ended up finding what we thought was a dive bar in the basement of the Queen Casino, but was actually a five star restaurant called Hugo’s Cellar. Amazing food and service! When we walked down the stairs from the casino in our beach wear, we didn’t know that we were about to be handed roses. White linen table clothes and butlers in tuxedos were in front of us. We immediately started laughing and went with it. It was pricey, but it was our last night of vacation…so we went for it. We had Hugo’s Hot Rock Specialty for Two. Definitely have to try it. It was a filet of marinated Ahi Tuna, breast of chicken and shrimp on a sizzling granite slab medallions served with a trio of  special dipping sauces. They also have this amazing roll up salad bar where you pick your own toppings along with Grilled Stuffed Portobellos mushrooms and Spinach and Artichoke dip with crab. We were stuffed needless to say! My boyfriend enjoyed a delicious steak so I split all of that with my friend because her husband was on a roll at the blackjack table, haha!

Tony rented a car for us to take our friends to the airport and to take us home the following day. The only cars they had left were the “exotic” cars…so he comes back to get us in a Mercedes C63… LOL. did we have fun in that bad boy. Literally goes from 0-60 in under a second it seems! We of course made the trip to the Vegas sign at night–there was a line so this was as good as I could get it with the time we had.

On our last night we stayed in the hotel and watched the new episode of Game of Thrones, like the true fan I have become because of Tony! I wanted to get up early and see the Seven Magic Mountains before we hit the airport! I knew of these mountains because a few of my friends told me about them on their Vegas trip so I had to go see them myself. The backstory with these mountains is that they are an art installation in Las Vegas by renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone. The installation has been in Vegas for two years and they are seven thirty to thirty-five-foot high “dayglow totems” comprised of painted, locally-sourced boulders. The purpose of these mountains and location is “physically and symbolically mid-way between the natural and the artificial: the natural is expressed by the mountain ranges, desert, and Jean Dry Lake backdrop, and the artificial is expressed by the highway and the constant flow of traffic between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.” This is directly from their website so no one can think I plagiarized or am giving the wrong description! 🙂

They were amazing and are definitely another must see when traveling along Interstate 15 outside of Vegas.

Needless to say there are TONS of things to do in Vegas other than gambling. You can go and do something different every time which is what we plan to do.

Hope this helps when planning your next Vegas trip and I’ll keep you posted on our next adventure 🙂

–Erin