This year is my champagne birthday. For those who may not be familiar with the term, it means I turned 30 on the 30th of March. My friends and I went to Vegas to celebrate.
Our flight took off from Trudeau airport just before 7pm on the 28th and landed around 9:45pm local time at McCarran International, just south of the Vegas Strip. The flight was a bit turbulent and felt a lot longer than it was. During our descent, the cabin lights went out which made quite a few passengers nervous; I know I was. However, all was well and we landed without incident. That first night, we just went to our hotel and got settled.
The next morning, we started our day off at the Hard Rock Cafe for brunch and spent most of the day wandering the strip. We saw a beautiful fountain show at the Wynn. It was a lot to take in.
We made a pit stop at Senor Frogs for lunch then headed to the LINQ to go on the High Roller Ferris Wheel. The views were spectacular. It is definitely a must do if you’re headed that way.
After little gambling at Harrah’s (I won by the way) and then a bit more exploring of the strip, we headed back to the hotel to change and head out to dinner and a show.
We went to the Rio for dinner and opted for Chippendales because it wouldn’t have been a dirty 30 bday bash without those sexy but classy men with bow ties. Regardless of your tastes, Vegas knows how to entertain a crowd and there are so many shows to choose from. You’ll for sure find something for everyone to enjoy.
On Saturday, my actual birthday, we headed up to Fremont street. We started the day with a french toast brunch and tropical mimosa at Hennessey’s Tavern then went to check out the Neon Museum.
On the way, we happened to pass some student art installations. I was blown away by how talented they are.
The neon museum wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be. It was pretty small and the pathway through it was very narrow making it very difficult to take pictures of the massive signs. It doesn’t help that you’re not allowed to take videos so we had to get a little creative with the angles of our shots. At least we got a student discount.
Back on Fremont St., we stumbled upon Container Park. I love the concept. It’s an entire park built out of shipping containers. There were tons of stores, restaurants, cafes and bars. Claustrophobic or cleithrophobic friends beware; it’s a tight fit. I couldn’t stay in any of the shops for too long.
Then we headed over to Binion’s to take a picture with a million dollars to kill time while waiting for our turn on the Slotzilla Zipline. I was really excited about this. There were two options: the Zipline where you’re in a seated position 77ft in the air and 2 blocks long or the Zoomline where you’re flying superhero style 114ft in the air for 5 blocks. Can you guess which one we did? What a rush!?
We grabbed a shuttle bus down to Mandalay Bay and then walked another 20 mins or so to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign to take pictures. Does the trip even count if you skip this part?
We grabbed another shuttle back up the strip to go to the LINQ promenade and grabbed a Mac N Cheese dog before heading to the Bellagio to check out the fountain show.
Afterwards, we continued down the strip to ride the Big Apple Coaster at New York, New York Hotel & Casino. It boasts being “the world’s first coaster to feature a 180-degree “heartline” twist and dive maneuvre.” It was so much fun!
Then we checked out the M&M store and the Coca Cola store before heading to the Outback Steakhouse for my birthday supper. We had an absolutely fantastic server. A 9oz filet mignon, loaded baked potato and some steamed broccoli later, he brought out an oreo and vanilla ice cream bowl with a candle in it. Thus ending my official bday.
Sunday we were up before dawn to grab our bus tour to the Grand Canyon. There was a bit of confusion at first but with the help of a sweet cab driver and fantastic tour manager we were on our way. By the way, Pete has tons of great stories if you ask. It was a 5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon but worth it. It was definitely a site to see. I was pretty taken aback to see snow in the canyon though. Seeing snow in Arizona was not something I was expecting.
The rest of the drive back was pretty uneventful, although we did get to see the Hoover Dam. We headed back to the hotel to pack up and sleep since our flight was at 10:20am the following day.
It was a fantastic trip. Happy to say I knocked another two things off my bucket list: going to Vegas and seeing the Grand Canyon. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my 30th birthday.
What did you do for your last big birthday?
Let me know in the comments!
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