We chose the Mandarin Oriental, a non-smoking, non-casino hotel in the center of the Las Vegas strip with a beautiful pool, great restaurant where we got free breakfast every day, and a great bar with a beautiful view. We planned on staying at the hotel pool for most of our days and then just going out for dinner and a show at night.
And we're off! (One day I hope to learn how to take a decent selfie!)
Pictures of our room:
View from our room:
Pool area:
Once we arrived, we got settled and then went over to the Aria for some pizza and our first cocktail of the trip!
Here's to vacation!
Next we went over to the restaurant Beauty & Essex which is owned by celebrity chef Chris Santos from one of my favorite shows, Chopped. You enter through a pawn shop set up which sort of "hides" the restaurant--I guess they want you to know about it to get in!
They had some antique guitars on the wall. Ben gave one a try!
We sat in the bar and had a drink.
We spent the rest of the night at the Cosmopolitan playing some slot machines and video poker and ended the night at the bar in our hotel, the Mandarin Bar.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the pool cafe by the pool. It felt so nice to sit outside in the fresh air. I got avocado toast which was huge and Ben had to help me eat it!
We settled in for a day at the pool. The weather was perfect and in the mornings we could even get in the hot tub.
I bought this sunhat for the trip and I love it. I could stay out in the sun so much longer with it on. It will come in handy for all of our vacations!
We got hungry around 1:00 so we went next door to Bobby Flay's Burger Palace for a delicious burger, fries and a shake.
We went back to the Cosmopolitan for some slots and video poker and then decided to go back to Beauty & Essex for dinner this time. Everything we had was really good.
After all of last night's drinking, I just had a mocktail.
After dinner, I wanted to go over to the Bellagio and see the conservatory and a fountain show. The conservatory display was so pretty all lit up at night!
Then we went outside to see the Bellagio Fountains.
Waiting for the show.
My favorite view in Las Vegas never gets old!
And neither do the fountains!
The next day we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Mozen, and then were back at the pool for more lounging.
We skipped lunch today after our big breakfast but we did go over to Bellagio because I had a BOGO gelato at Cafe Gelato. So we had gelato for lunch but hey, we're on vacation!
After "lunch," I wanted to play my favorite machine Kitty Glitter! I won $78, woo hoo! That's a big win for low rollers like us!
We went back to the hotel to change for our dinner at Hell's Kitchen, the restaurant made famous by the show starring Gordon Ramsay. But first we went back to Bellagio for a pre-dinner cocktail at one of my favorite lounges, Hyde.
The lounge has a direct view of the fountains. I only took one picture though since I have so many already.
I had Ben take my picture outside the restaurant.
For dinner I got the set menu which was scallops, the signature beef wellington and sticky toffee pudding dessert. It was all ok, but definitely not the best meal we've had in Vegas.
We walked around the strip and played some video poker before calling it a night.
The next day was our last full day which we spent mostly at the pool.
The water was finally warm enough for me to get in!
For lunch we got more pizza and played a few more games before getting ready for dinner and our show. We were eating at Charlie Palmer at the Four Seasons and then seeing the MJOne show at Mandalay Bay.
Dinner was delicious--much better than Hell's Kitchen the night before!
Then it was off to the show! This was on what would have been Michael Jackson's 60th birthday. Everyone was all dressed up and we even saw Paris Jackson and her boyfriend sitting just two rows in front of us.
Then we went back to the Mandarin Bar for a last drink and to talk about our trip!
My second favorite view of the Las Vegas strip is the one from the Mandarin Bar.
The next morning we had our last breakfast and then checked out and said goodbye to Las Vegas until next year!
Ben and I planned a last-minute vacation to Maui for our nine-year anniversary in November. Time to start planning the next one!
