Birthday Celebration in Vegas!

Happy Birthday Nathan!! What could be a better way to celebrate than a weekend in Vegas?!

This year we finally had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas together and we convinced our friends Brad and Kelsie to join us. While we have driven through Vegas plenty of times and technically speaking Nathan and I have been to Fremont Street at the same time for my 21st birthday. However, it wasn’t an “us” trip and I don’t remember it 😬 (sorry Mom!)… so I don’t count it. 😜

So this year we did the full Vegas experience; Fremont Street, the Strip, shows, and drinks all weekend!

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Table of Contents

• Day 1 (Friday) – Travel, Fremont, and the Strip
• Day 2 (Saturday) – The Strip
• Day 3 (Sunday) – Hofbrauhaus, Travel

Day 1 (Friday) – Travel, Fremont, and the Strip

Thankfully we were able to take off work on Friday we beat traffic out of Phoenix for the weekend, but we weren’t in a rush. The drive was nice and easy, plus you can’t go wrong with great music, friends, and snacks!

We made it to our home away from home at the Luxor around 2 and had plenty of time to get settled and explore before heading to Fremont Street.

Being a Hilton girly, it was fascinating to stay at a legit Vegas hotel and casino.

For one, it is a maze! Without Nathan’s superpower of navigation, I would have been lost and stuck forever.

Two, they are so big! The Luxor isn’t even the biggest hotel at 4,407 rooms (The Venetian has over 7,000! 😳)

Three, the Luxor has the added uniqueness of being a pyramid. This meant that we didn’t use normal elevators they were “inclinators” taking you sideways at a 39-degree angle! It took us a bit to figure out why things didn’t feel quite right when taking it.

The first stop was dinner at Park on Fremont (website here), which was just funky! The designs and artwork in this place were just trippy! Sadly I didn’t get pictures but it’s worth a stop just to see the weird art, animals, and wallpaper. The food was good, and while I still had a lot of trouble with my weird diet on this trip the staff was super nice and as accomodating as they could be.

After that, it was time for Fremont Street! The light show was so much fun! We didn’t really stop anywhere and it was still a little early for it to get too crazy, but we had a good time seeing the different images on the roof.

Once we were done with Fremont, it felt a little silly to end our evening at 8pm. So we went back to Luxor to start exploring Luxor, Excalibur, and New York New York.

The integrated walkways between hotels are super convenient because it turned out to be a cold weekend and looking cute while wearing a jacket is not always easy. 😉

Being Vegas we had to stop by a boozy slushie stand and get some big drinks!

Though we found out later that these were the “small” tubes, I can’t imagine drinking the really big ones… they were almost as tall as I was!

We also decided it would be a great idea to get Shanda’s first shot. 🤣🤦‍♀️

A “shot” turned out to be more like a “triple” and I wasn’t about to sip it for the rest of the night so I am proud to say I downed it!

I am also so very happy that I was not in high school or college doing that because good friends are supportive of downing water to get rid of that terrible taste! 🤣

Our exploring took us to New York New York, which has the wonderful Hershey World! It was amazing and we will absolutely have to come back when I can have chocolate again (hopefully). They had Brownie sandwiches, like a cookie sandwich with frosting but with two brownies, and a Reese’s on top!

The different themes within the hotels were also a ton of fun, and that was across the whole weekend. You really felt like you were in a mini New York or Rome as you walked through the shops.

By this time we were feeling GREAT 😉, so of course junk food is the only answer. Johnny Rockets has diet-approved fries so I was happy! We also tried the Jack Daniels Watermelon Punch which was actually really good and I don’t usually like the premixed drinks.

After food helped sober us up a bit, we were ready to head to bed so we could enjoy a packed Saturday exploring the rest of the Strip. Spoiler… I think we only saw about 25% of what there is to do, but we made a great effort!

Also, yay adulthood! I am very proud of us for maintaining a perfect level of loose and fun without getting sick or making bad decisions.

Day 2 – Saturday

It’s no surprise that we slept in and enjoyed a slow morning after all the excitement of Friday. Food was a big reason to get up and get moving for the day.

A recommendation I came across was Eggslut at the Cosmopolitan (website here), so we had about a 30-minute walk to get over there. This time we got to see the outside of the hotels, and New York New York looks amazing, complete with a mini Brooklyn Bridge.

There was a crazy long line for Eggslut but it was pretty good, and a reasonable price for Vegas! Their truffle hasbrown bites were great, and Kelsie tried their specialty “Slut” breakfast which turned out surprisingly good.

After breakfast, we went to the Bellagio to check out the Conservatory, which was beautiful! While the fountains didn’t start until later in the afternoon we had to come back for our evening show so we got to see those as well!

After the Bellagio, we made our way over to Caesars Palace to see the Atlantis Show and Aquarium.

Now I won’t lie, both were pretty underwhelming. 🤣

I think we all thought that it would be more like the Mandalay Bay Aquarium but it was not. The show was entertaining… as long as you were ok laughing AT it and being slightly concerned about what was happening. The good news is we can say we have been and don’t have to go back.

Next up we walked through the Paris Hotel which also had amazing architecture throughout. Looking up at the mini Effiel Tower is crazy! I can’t wait until we can see it for real.

It was time for a late lunch and we found Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen, and being Triple D fans we had to stop in for a bite! Sadly another boring meal for me and my diet but the group had the trash can nachos that were amazing!!

Once we were full, it was time to head back to the hotel and get changed for the evening activities!

We booked tickets to see “O”, which is Cirque du Soliel in the water! Understandably but sadly, pictures were not allowed during the show so we don’t have much of the show but they were just as impressive as always.

The story was lacking quite a bit though which made it hard to follow but if you focused on the performers you will be in awe! Next time we will check out “Ka” as the storyline is supposed to be really good in that show.

We had a quick pit stop at this point. We had gotten all dressed up for the evening, and were looking amazing! Unfortunately, the new shoes I got were not meant to walk 30 minutes down the strip and then some. So Nathan was amazing and ran to the CVS to grab me some flip-flops and bandaids so we could keep going for the evening. In the meantime we got to enjoy the Bellagio fountain show!

Also, don’t we look amazing!! 😍 I am also just now realizing Nathan and I didn’t get any pictures all dressed up so we will have to fix that on our next adventure.

After the Cirque du Soliel we had tickets to a burlesque show, another first! It was at the Harrah which we hadn’t visited yet which actually had a Giordano’s! Yay, Chicago!

Right next door at the Flamingo they had an In-and-Out too, so after more late-night snacks it was time to head back to the hotel. This time we had the full Vegas night experience getting back to the hotel after 1am! It did not take long at all to fall asleep after a day of non-stop walking and excitement.

Day 3 (Saturday) – Hofbrauhaus, Travel

Of course, the hotels don’t want you to sleep all day, so we begrudgingly got out of bed at 10am to get ready to head out.

One last stop before we left Sin City was the Haufbrauhaus Las Vegas! It was just as amazing as Nathan remembered and wanted and he even got a Colaweizen! (This was his happy sigh 😆)

Plus I couldn’t pass up a pretzel, and I only had to slightly bend my diet rules to eat it… but worth it!

After delicious food we were ready to hit the road! The drive was worse coming back simply because there is just so much traffic on smaller highways that made it a pain, but we made it home safely!

It was a fantastic quick weekend and I am so happy we were able to make this happen so quickly. We will definitely be back, we even have a list of wish list items that will be added to future trips!

Wish List

• Mandalay Bay Aquarium
• Garth Brooks Concert
• Potted Potter
• Blue Man Group
• M&M World
• Ka – Cirque du Soliel
• Treasure Island Pirate Show – If they still do it
• Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile Rainstorm