In June of 2023, my fiancé Kevin and I set out on a 2-week road trip through 14 different states, you can read more about that crazy adventure in a post I’ll be coming out with soon.
About a week into the trip and after 28 hours of driving we had made it to Las Vegas, Nevada. We planned to stay in Vegas for 3 days, 2 nights as it was both of our first times being there and I had wanted to go to Vegas for a long time. Here’s how we spent 3 days in Vegas.
We got into Vegas around 2:30 and our check-in wasn’t till 3 so we first stopped at the Hoover Dam.
It costs about $30 for a ticket to take a tour and we felt like seeing it from the bridge was good enough for us since it wasn’t something we were super interested in seeing more of. We parked by the highway at the Boulder Bridge Parking lot close by and took a short walk on the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge for a great view. It was very windy and hot.
After the Hoover Dam, we checked into our hotel which was just off the strip. We stayed at the Mardi Gras Hotel & Casino. Because we had our car with us, we were fine staying off the strip since it was easy for us to drive everywhere we were going. We booked the Mardi Gras Hotel because it was a little cheaper than other hotels that are on the strip and we were only planning on being there for sleeping, it also had no resort fees unlike most hotels you’ll find on the strip.
We showered and got ready for our first night in Vegas. Now it was 8 pm and we headed out to Freemont Street. If you’re going to Vegas I without a doubt recommend going to Freemont Street. It’s filled with pretty lights, music, casinos, bars, buskers, and all-around Vegas excitement.
Since I’m Canadian, we had to stop for drinks at Bar Canada where we both got the Red Oak. Then we spent the rest of the night walking around Freemont Street, stopping at a few bars and casinos (we walked away with 10 cents), watched a few street performers and headed back to our hotel for the night.
Day 2 - Exploring Vegas
Waking up in Vegas, we had a great view of the Sphere outside our room, which unfortunately wasn’t being used yet. We headed to the strip, starting at the Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood.
Finding parking near the strip was a little tricky because there was a lot of construction when we went, but we could park at the parkade at Planet Hollywood!
Our first stop was, of course, Starbucks and then we checked out some of the stores. I wanted to get drinks at Ocean One later in the day but the line was super long all day so we ended up not going. Ocean One has an amazing 3-for-1 drink special so if you get the chance to go you should do it.
After walking around the shops we stepped outside and walked down the street to the Taco Bell Cantina for a quick lunch and drinks. The Taco Bell Cantina was something I wanted to check out and I’m glad we did. You can order any drink and add shots of tequila, they even have 32 oz yard drinks you can order but I just went with a regular 16 oz Baja Blast twisted freeze with tequila.
There’s an upstairs with a dance floor and a cool lounge area where they also host weddings!
After Taco Bell we walked around the strip stopped in at a few hotels and stopped to take some pictures before visiting the Bellagio. The Bellagio is an iconic hotel that hosts the Fountains of Bellagio show every night (which we unfortunately forgot to visit). Inside the Bellagio, they have a free conservatory with displays that change every season. It was very cool to see!
Next, we walked around some more, taking in the sights the strip has to offer, we stopped at I
Love Sugar which serves super unique food and candy cocktails, stopped into a few more hotels and saw the High Roller which we were too chicken to go on.
After we walked on the strip we went back to the car to head to Area 15! This was one of the main things I wanted to see in Vegas and I’m so glad we did. Area 15 is about a 7-minute drive from the strip but I recommend going. It’s a super immersive art exhibit broken up into a couple of different experiences. There’s a bar and arcade, excellent VR experiences, axe throwing, zip lining, and a bunch of super cool psychedelic art installations and experiences to walk through. The part I was looking forward to the most was Omega Mart.
This might be my favourite thing we did in Vegas and I would do it again. Omega Mart is a unique and immersive art installation and interactive experience. It’s like an escape room times a hundred.
Omega Mart is not a traditional grocery store but rather an otherworldly and surreal environment that blurs the lines between art and entertainment. Inside Omega Mart, you’ll encounter a whimsical and visually stunning space filled with unexpected surprises, secret passages, and mind-bending art installations. The entire experience is designed to engage visitors in a surreal journey that challenges their perceptions and stimulates their imagination. With unique products you can actually buy, hidden doors like through fridges, a bunch of rooms to find and explore and a huge backstory to learn about this is a super immersive experience you could spend hours exploring. We spent 3 hours there and still probably haven’t seen it all.
After the great experience at Area 15 and Omega Mart, we went to visit The Claw which is a claw machine arcade, it was very busy and a small room so we didn’t stay for long. If you want to visit The Claw it’s probably best to go right at opening.
Next, we stopped for a quick supper at Jack in the Box since neither of us had had it before, and then went to the Pinball Hall of Fame.
The Pinball Hall of Fame is a unique and nostalgic attraction dedicated to preserving and showcasing vintage pinball machines. The atmosphere is vibrant and filled with the nostalgic charm of flashing lights, ringing bells, and the unmistakable clatter of pinballs in play. It’s 10,000 square feet of pinball machines making it the world’s largest pinball collection. We played pinball here for about an hour and had a lot of fun. It was interesting seeing some unique machines made for different bands and movies. It was also a very inexpensive experience!
After the Pinball Hall of Fame, we headed back up to our hotel room to get ready for our next outing. Since we’re in Vegas we had to see a show! It was a tough decision figuring out what show we wanted to go to. If we were in Vegas for longer I think we would’ve gone to a lot more but we decided on seeing Mystére by Cirque Du Soleil. This was Kevin’s first time seeing a Cirque Du Soleil show and my first time seeing Mystére, it was a great show filled with comedy, amazing acrobatics, and jaw-dropping moments.
Day 3 - Time to continue the road trip!
After our full day in Vegas, we were pretty exhausted and ready to start our drive to California. We checked out of the hotel, and stopped at a gas station that had this Las Vegas sign we took a quick picture at since we didn’t get one at the actual sign. Then stopped at the Seven Magic Mountains art installation and continued our road trip through the Mojave Desert and into Los Angeles. If you’re interested in hearing about the rest of our road trip I’ll be posting about the full trip soon!
