April 2007 we made a trip to Las Vegas for our anniversary. Since this was
our non-cruise vacation year, and we were taking a break from Disneyland. We
figured we would go to Las Vegas and catch a few shows.
April 2007 we made a trip to Las Vegas for our anniversary. Since this was
our non-cruise vacation year, and we were taking a break from Disneyland. We
figured we would go to Las Vegas and catch a few shows.
We decided it might be fun (and cheaper) to drive to Las Vegas. Since it would be about 530+ miles from our house to the Las Vegas Hilton where we were staying. We thought we would stop by the Los Angeles area and do a few things we have not done in the past. Most of the time we drive to Disneyland and back and do not venture out much beyond that. This also let us break the drive into hunks of under 400 miles or a lot less.
It turned out that
the Maverick/Comet forum
that Tony likes to read had some posts about the all fords show being held at
Knotts Berry Farm the weekend
prior to our being in Las Vegas. So we figured we would go to that and check
our KBF after the show. Here is a slide show from
that day (THIS CAN TAKE SOME TIME TO DOWNLOAD). We also
found a great place to eat. It was called
Hof's Hut on Knott Avenue in Buena Park.
The next day was wide open with no plans. Cheryl was checking out the various pamphlets in the hotel lobby and found some $2.00 off coupons for the Los Angeles Zoo. So that is what we did. We always enjoy the zoo when we go and this was our first trip to this zoo. With the discount coupon it was only $8.00 each to get in, free parking and even the food and drinks were priced at a reasonable level. Needless to say this was/is one of the best values for the money. The zoo is real nice and takes a few hours to see it all. We would recommend it to anyone looking for a great way to spend the day and save a few bucks in the process. Here is a slide show of some of the photos we took (THIS CAN TAKE SOME TIME TO DOWNLOAD).
On the way back to the hotel near KBF we made a quick trip to Downtown Disney . It is an open air mall of shopping and eating located between Disneyland, California Adventure and the Disney hotels. This stop did not make it a 100% Disney free trip but they do have a couple of shops that we always enjoy. We had enough time to see what we wanted and leave before our 3 free hours of parking were up.
The next morning after a quick stop by the
Hilo Hatties not far from
Disneyland to check out the latest in
BBQ shirts, we headed to Las Vegas.
It was about 265 miles to Las Vegas from where we started out the day. Not a bad
drive at all. It was the first time we have driven I-15 across the desert. Tony
enjoyed the drive and was nicely surprised at how scenic it was. We did not
expect the big changes in elevation that we encountered and had many more hills
then one would expect when crossing the desert so close to Death Valley.
Just as we were exiting I-15 into Las Vegas, we had our only car problem of the entire trip. When Tony signaled to exit the freeway, we got that very fast clicking noise telling us that one of the lights had burned out. It turned out that the bulb for the right rear turn signal was out. Other then that we did 1393.3 miles from home to home without any other problems and got just shy 28 MPG in the Mystique.
The day after our anniversary we had tickets to see "O"-Cirque Du Soleil at the Bellagio. This is the Cirque Du Soleil that has a water theme. The stage changes from a pool to a hard surface and back during the show. We had front row seats and were close enough to get a few splashes of water on us. Cheryl saw this show a few years ago with her mother. It was Tony's first time to see it. It was a fantastic show and well worth the money. The way the show room is set up they even have a snack bar for drinks and popcorn. We would highly recommend this show. They would not allow cameras in this show, I guess the flashes could cause the performers to be distracted and take a bad fall.
We had to make our way down the strip to the Bellagio to pick up
our tickets at least 2 hours before the show. We took off late morning by jumping on the
monorail from the Hilton to
the stop for the Bellagio. Got our tickets, had some lunch and jumped back on
the monorail to the stop for the Tropicana
to catch a few exhibits.
We caught both the
Titanic artifacts exhibit
and the Bodies exhibit.
Both were very interesting. The Titanic had a bunch of stuff brought up from the
ocean floor as well as recreations of some of the rooms and decks. The Bodies
was just plane unbelievable. It is real human bodies that have been treated in
such a way that they can be shown in the open air. Neither exhibit would allow
you to bring in a camera.
After the two exhibits, we took the Monorail back to the Hilton to relax before going back to the Bellagio
for the "O" show.
Then on Sunday, we got an early start and headed home. We left our hotel about 6:00 AM and was home about 12:30 that afternoon. Ready for a rest after our vacation.