Brother's 21st Birthday Trip to Vegas

We flew into Las Vegas on Thursday to kick off my brother's 21st birthday trip. Four days of no work, lounging poolside, good food, enjoying some shows, and drinks, drinks, drinks.

But before we get into all the details, did you know they have gambling in the airport? Literally in the terminals.

We stayed at The Mirage, which is almost at the center of the strip next to Caesars Palace. It has a Polynesian theme and of course had the normal pool, casino, buffet, bars, restaurant, shops, and conventions center. The Mirage also is the home of 1OAK (which I learned stands for One Of A Kind) and the Cirque du Soleil Love show.

Because it was my brother's 21st birthday we decided to go big or go home and booked a penthouse suite. It had multiple rooms so we could hang out in the commons areas if we wen't sleeping or wandering the strip. Plus it had a great view at night of the lights of the strip!

 The first night we just wandered the strip after eating some dinner.

Caesars Palace (and a few other casinos) had the coolest shops. Not because of the brands but because of the architecture. They were built to look like you were outside and the ceilings were even painted in a sky pattern. If you were drunk I'm pretty sure you would think you were actually outside. No wonder no one cares what time it is Vegas...it's always daytime if you want it!

We didn't do much shopping but I have never seen so many Tiffany & Co., Chanel, etc in my life. I wish I would have bought myself a keepsake!

The weather in Vegas was really comfortable, so much better than the humidity back east. The days were a dry heat and the nights were super comfortable. Plus there were numerous margarita bars along the strip to help. We stopped at Margarita Bar which provided oodles of choice. Seriously, there so many flavors:

We each got a few flavors and then continued along the strip. Yummy!

During the day we continued to explore the strip. It takes SO LONG to walk from one casino to another because they are so big and there is so much to do and look at while you're there.  Here are a few daytime highlights:

The Paris hotel and casino had a 1/2 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower and Arc du Triomphe.

We also stopped by the Borgata for the fountains. The first performance we saw was set to Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas. So fitting!

We also spent the morning/afternoon lounging poolside. We spent most of the time at the pool at The Mirage but we also stopped briefly at Garden of the Gods Oasis at Caesars Palace.

 I literally felt like Caesar.

We also saw a few shows while we were there. First we saw The Beatles Love which I highly recommend. Even if you aren't a Beatles fan (we all are fans) you will still enjoy the performance.

We also saw Penn & Teller at the Rio. We *almost* made it on stage to help them make an elephant* disappear.     *the elephant was really a cow. Lol.

We also spent a LOT of time eating the delicious food all along the strip. We stopped at the Bacchanal Buffet and gorged ourselves on pretty much every kind of food imaginable, including sushi.

If you're looking for restaurant options on the strip we can recommend:
1. Bacchanal Buffet
2. Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill
3. Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen

There were options for every price point. There were delicious restaurants that ranged from cheap to super expensive. I wish we would have stopped at Nobu but it wasn't in the cards for this visit. Maybe next time.
On Saturday we rented a car and drove out to the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately their elevator was broken and they weren't giving tours but whatever we still could walk around the dam and see the sights.

 You could drive over that bridge....scary! It spans the whole dam (obviously):

Luckily, the tour guides did give a little presentation with information about the dam so we still walked away with some good information.

And lastly, we stopped at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. It was obligatory and they had a tiny parking lot so it was really easy to get to when we were returning from the Hoover Dam.

And here are two bonus photos:

We went to Hershey's Chocolate World and M&Ms World. At M&Ms World there was a mock Nascar M&M car. Car #18 is my favorite Nascar car so that was an added bonus.

And lastly, it wouldn't be Vegas without alcohol....so there is a photo of my now 21 year old brother enjoying our fishbowl drink at Guy Fieri's. So much alcohol.

Overall, Vegas was tons of fun and I can't wait to go back. There was so much to do and we definitely didn't get to all of it.

Have you ever been to Las Vegas? What did you like most? Anything you would recommend?