This trip was Ben and I with Nick and his new wife Kate, who went with us on my 50th birthday cruise last April. I guess she decided Ben and I were good travel companions--lucky for us because Kate is tons of fun to vacation with!
Vegas baby!
We decided to spend four nights at the Golden Nugget and stay downtown for our entire trip. We like downtown because it is easy to walk around and get to places, plus any games we play will give us much more fun for our money.
I like the Golden Nugget Rush Tower rooms, they are just as nice as many on the Strip.
We even had a "strip" view!
When we arrived, we headed to the Arts District for brunch at a place called Esther's Kitchen. They couldn't seat us right away, so Kate did some window shopping at an antique store and Ben and I had a drink with Nick out on the patio at a place called Rebar. The weather was gorgeous our entire trip!
Here's to another great vacation!
At brunch, we ordered the Kitchen's famous sourdough bread and butter--which meant we were already stuffed when our food arrived!
We walked off our food by walking to a bar called Frankie's Tiki Room, an old tiki bar that is pretty well-known in Vegas and a place we had not been to.
There are so many cool murals downtown--I found one and asked Kate to take our picture.
Nick and Kate are building a tiki bar in their backyard, so Nick wanted to go to several tiki bars so that they could shop for tiki glasses to add to their collection.This wasn't our favorite place but we were glad to try it.
We got a text our room was ready so we went back over to the hotel to check in. After that, we went and had a burger for dinner and then a cocktail at the Downtown Cocktail Room. Kate and I love to take artsy photos of our drinks!
Walking through downtown:
We ended the night doing a little gambling at the Four Queens where we had a few wins thanks to Kate picking the machines--they would be the only wins of the trip!
The next morning, we had brunch at a place called Atomic Kitchen which is a restaurant next to the oldest bar downtown, Atomic Liquor. Brunch was yummy, we all enjoyed it.
More cool murals!
We took a tour of the Neon Museum where you can see the old famous Vegas neon signs. There was a Tim Burton exhibit there also which was cool. Tim Burton's designs were interspersed throughout the display of neon signs and it was fun to try and find them hidden among the displays.
They had the sign from the Beetlejuice movie on display.
After the tour, we took a Lyft over to the Golden Tiki in Chinatown, another tiki bar we had been to before that has really yummy tiki drinks, even some that they will flame at the table.
The newlyweds!
The door from the restaurant to the bar is not marked but thanks to Eater, I knew about it!
The bar was really pretty with comfortable seating.
I got a Passionflower Margarita. They were out of the edible flowers so the waitress put a slice of fruit on top. This drink was sooo sweet and delicious.
We got a some tacos for a snack which were tasty.
For dinner, we went to a ramen place in Chinatown. You could see the workers rolling the noodles by hand.
After dinner, we went to our last tiki bar of the trip, Tiki di Amore. This bar was just ok, not one we would go back to. It is next to Casa di Amore, a famous local Las Vegas Italian restaurant.
Then it was back to the hotel for some video poker until we were ready for bed!
The next day, we started with breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, EAT. There was a short wait, so we walked over to the Donut Bar for some donuts to tide us over. I got the creme brulee donut which was yummy!
After breakfast, Nick and Kate needed to pick up a few things so Ben and I went over to the D so I could play my favorite game, Sigma Derby, which is an old horse racing game that you play with quarters. I didn't win this time but it was still fun.
We met back up with Nick and Kate and went over to the Mob Museum which has a hidden bar in the basement.
You even need a password to get in!
This place was fun and the drinks were great. It had many old posters and artifacts from the 1920's.
Kate decided she wanted to do the Mob Museum tour which Ben and I have done before. So Nick, Ben and I went and played some video poker at the Downtown Grand while Kate did her tour. We really liked this casino and said we might like to stay at the hotel on a future downtown visit.
We met back up with Kate and went to one of our favorite places, Evel Pie for some pizza.
This is always one of my favorite meals in Vegas!
Then it was a few more bars....
...and some video poker at the Grand and Four Queens. Four to the Royal Flush--soooo close!!
Tuesday was our last full day and we planned to go to happy hour at the Stratosphere and go to our favorite bar, Skybar, at the Waldorf, the place we always go on our last night.
We all had Chik Fil A and Starbucks for breakfast and walked around downtown a little.
Breakfast of champions!
More cool art.
We decided to start our day on the strip and took a cab over to the Wynn hotel since Kate had never seen it. It's a very pretty hotel with lots of flowers that remind me of the Bellagio.
It was a beautiful day so we sat out on the patio at Parasol Down and had a fancy cocktail--one of my favorite things to do in Vegas!
From Wynn, we were able to walk to the next place on our list, the Peppermill. On the way, we passed a taco place that smelled soooo good! But none of us were hungry yet. So we continued to the Peppermill for drinks and an appetizer. Kate ended up going back for a delicious taco later--I was bummed we didn't go and will definitely try it next time.
Kate wanted to do some shopping so she said she would meet us at the Stratosphere where we were going for happy hour at Level 107 lounge.
Since now it was just the three of us, we ordered a self-driving car from Lyft. It's not really "self driving" in the sense that there were already two people in the car! The "driver" and a guy that explains what the car is doing as we go along.
The boys played some VP at the Strat while waiting for Kate.
We went up to Level 107 and had a glass of wine and some appetizers and then went outside at sunset to see the 360 degree view of Las Vegas.
If you buy a drink and an appetizer during happy hour, you are allowed to then go up to the observation deck for free. This is always a fun thing to do and Kate really enjoyed it.
Then it was over to the strip to Skybar where I had reserved a table. These are always my favorite drinks of the trip with my favorite view in Vegas!
After dinner at Mesa Grill, Kate and Nick went back to the hotel and Ben and I went over to the Bellagio, a hotel I have to visit every trip. Sadly, the Bellagio had removed my favorite slot machine. So we went and saw the Conservatory briefly and then left.
The Conservatory had a Chinese New Year thing going on which wasn't my favorite but I took a few pictures.
My only view of the fountains this trip was from the Lyft!
On our last day, Kate needed to visit a store we don't have in Texas, so we went over to the Fashion Show Mall. I saw there was an Earl of Sandwich at the mall and went to get a sandwich before the flight. This is one of the best sandwiches I've ever had!
Then it was off to the airport for our flight home. It was another great trip with great friends! We will all be traveling to Maui in November and are looking forward to another fun vacation together. Time to plan the next one!
