We came to Vegas because we remember it from our trips here twenty years ago as a fun place, perfect for a family with young kids.
There’s entertainment.
Hiking.
Cozy little out of the way restaurants.
And lots of beautiful places to rest your weary feet.
Yes, Vegas has it all.
Okay, so we actually came here because my mom wanted to visit us, and this was about as cheap and easy a place to visit as we could find. Not to mention she had somehow managed to pass her entire life up to this point without once visiting this All-American institution.
That’s a shot of our bus at the Circus Circus RV Park. My mom stayed in a different hotel, but on the same “block.” Block is a word that takes on an entirely different meaning in Las Vegas. The only other place Ali and I have ever been with blocks this large was Oman. It must be a desert thing. The walk from this viewpoint to our bus took about thirty minutes.
The view from the top of the Stratosphere. Title this one, “The American Dream.”
The kids’ room has blackout curtains, ours does not. It was perpetual daylight for us.
We visited the Neon Boneyard, which was kind of cool. Though if we held a Rules! Rules! Rules! competition, they would definitely be in the running for the blue ribbon.
The tour guide gave us zero room to roam, and she wasn’t afraid to yell to keep all the riffraff in line. You can see what Lowe thought of this development.
And Ouest.
It wasn’t super easy to find good kid friendly fun in Vegas, but we managed a few things. In addition to the above, we also hit up an afternoon magic show. Turned out we all enjoyed it more than the kids, though Ouest has been getting into magic lately, and can perform a couple tricks of her own. I would have liked to hit up the Blue Man Group, or Cirque du Soleil, but despite having about a hundred shows of each per night at different casinos around town, there wasn’t one afternoon performance to be had.
Fortunately, this is Vegas, and there is always a pool in the sun somewhere.
21 Comments on “Vegas, Baby”
Vegas, baby. Blechhhhhh, will never understand the draw of that place. Enjoy your time with Grammy. What happened to her foot? Great photos as always.
Although I can only stand Vegas for 2-3 days max before I start to hate humanity – I do have a soft spot for it’s totally unapologetic excess and attitude. It fascinates me. Neither my husband or I gamble but we did take our daughter (18 now, 10 then) on a trip to Vegas for a soccer tournament hubs was playing in. We had a great time (family time) with her and best of all it was all free! The pirate show at Treasure Island, the erupting volcano, the lions at MGM, the dancing fountains, the flamingos and penguins at Flamingo hotel, the magic carpet ride and King Tut exhibition at the Egyptian casino, the street lights and zipline on Fremont St, etc… All of this stuff happens during the day and she fell in to bed every night (often over her dinner).
P.S. Should’ve also mentioned that I have been reading you guys since I read the book Bumfuzzle years ago (pre-kids) and yours is truly the only blog (except maybe Seth) that I can’t wait to see a new post from! Love following you guys.
Never been to Vegas… Probably never will…
Still, the pictures are awesome as usual.
If you get a chance go to Red Rock Canyon.
Not this girl’s American Dream. Love the picture of the kids and Grammy. Hope her foot is okay.
The big wheel is pricey but a great view at night, and a trip out to red rocks offers a myriad of outdoor fun.
Enjoy.
I was born and raised in Vegas, and lived there over half my life. For native Las Vegans, the Strip is the place you never voluntarily choose to go. You go for work (if you’re one of the unlucky sods who has to work in the salt mines) or to show visiting friends “the town.”
I recognize the place as you describe/photographed it, and it’s a damn shame people keep falling for the lie that the good things to see in Vegas are on the Strip. For a family who likes out of the way places, you didn’t even TRY to go anywhere but the least interesting, and most depressing place to go in all of Vegas: the Strip.
Next time, try Floyd Lamb (or Sunset) park, Red Rocks, Mt Charleston, Valley of Fire, Spring Mt Ranch, Mt Potosi, Lake Mead, thousands of sq acres of BLM land around the city, or I dunno, maybe not camping in a strip casino parking lot that advertises itself as an RV park.
Wow. Not sure if your comment was supposed to or not, but it came across as just a wee bit angry. Next time we’re in Vegas I’ll e-mail you ahead of time to have our plans cleared so we don’t have to have this little scene again.
I’ll take the tract houses and gaudy casinos over some of those places you stay in Mexico. I’m sure they are nice to visit, but no way would I ever want to live there. Depressing!
I’d even move to Vegas if it weren’t for the lack of trees, and the four months of 100 degree weather each year. Those tract houses are half the price of the same thing here in Sacramento.
Are you serious, or does somebody pay you to dump on Mexico repeatedly? The only posts I’ve seen from you are dumping on Mexico, and this isn’t even about Mexico. It’s about Las Vegas. They aren’t even in Mexico anymore. You hate Mexico. Or you are paid to dump on Mexico. We get it. Ok, so move on.
Mate …. y’all just gotta get in to Geocaching …… you coulda got quite a few more caches whilst there. There was 1 just round the corner from you at the Circus Circus carpark on Sth Las Vega Blvd, another just up the road 3 or 4 hundred feet, 1 at the lookout tower, another beside the Sahara and yet another at the Museum of Neon. And it aint just for kids …. there are plenty that require an adult brain to solve the puzzles to give the locations. No need for a dedicated GPS as most of those fancy phones the kids have these days have GPS and Geocaching Apps all writ for them (apparently). Git r Dun. Muzza.
We don’t have a phone either. 🙂
You are not making this easy kiddo ….. What about getting on to Ebay, Craigslist or even a nearby pornbroker to get one. 2nd hand they are cheap as chips and come with all the cords n stuff. Never get one of those big screen, talking all knowing, fill up your dashboard nagging wife types tho …. hell will be filled with them telling blokes what to do and how to get there. Get a simple handheld one like an older Garmin Etrex. Who cares if it get busted or wet … it was only 40 bucks. Totally understand the no phone thing…. I have separate camera, phone, GPS, computer …. its nice n simple like me and if I dont want to take a phone someplace I can still take my camera ect. One day you will discover Geocaching, it adds a new go slow n stop a while reason for all road trips.
On the way to Valley of Fire up North Shore Road there is a cache called better than Walmart … this is the owners description”The cache is in a free camping area. Some RVer’s stay in Wal-Mart Parking lots as they travel. When we arrived here we said this is “better than Wal-Mart’s parking lot”. This is a great area to explore and be sure to see the Valley of Fire State Park while you are here. The cache is midway between Overton and Valley of Fire State Park and Hwy #169. The cache is in a new ammo container. We put lots of goodies inside so it’s quite full. You can park at N36 28.840 W114 27.201
Additional Hints (Encrypt)
Don’t go streight to me, go around. Go up stream look near the bush on the left.” Sounds like a nice spot for a parkup … and there is about a dozen others on the VOF highway that runs through to Freeway 15.
Seriously. Maybe it’s fun and all, but we really have no shortage of things to do on a day to day basis. Ali and I don’t have to spend a lot of time thinking, “Gee, how can we entertain the kids today?”
I get it – the point was to see Mom and you got to do that and she got a grandbaby fix! We don’t care for LV either and never stop in the city – we go on at least a little ways. But your object was a family visit and I can see where you would choose that. I had to fly to Charleston when we were traveling and I decided that Vegas would work well and my husband waited in Boulder City, just south of LV, for me to return. Glad you had a good time with Mom!!
If you have a chance, take a look at Valley of Fire. I have passed by that Park so many times, and I finally checked it out on the way home from Antelope Canyon. It is worth h a stop, the kids can have some fun climbing the rocks, and it is quite beautiful as well!!
We were on our way there when they got two days of rain. Didn’t look like a place we wanted to be when it raining. Next time.
Wow. Some strong opinions today.
I actually kind of like Vegas. It doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. Well except for those years when they tried to pass off as a “family destination”. We saw the Blue Man Group and we’ve seen several Cirque de Soleil shows. All awesome. Not something I can do for more than a couple of days at a time, but entertaining while we are there every few years. Then get out and head to Valley of Fire or east into one of the Utah National Parks.