So before I get
started, I would like to take this opportunity for the lack of posts
I have been doing. I am trying to slowly get back into blog writing.
I figured I would start with a trip I took back in March and then
work into my photography postings from there.
So on March
23rd-27th 2013 my sister and I travelled to Las Vegas. Why
Las Vegas? Not only does TV shows and movies make it appear to look
amazing but also because Las Vegas was one of the 5 travel
destinations on my photography list. We flew out around 8:00 on the
23rd. Now because I had never been on a plane before, I
was quite nervous about the flight. It was a 5 hour flight before we
had landed in the city that never sleeps and by this time we were
quite exhausted from the flight, so we decided to go straight to bed.
Time for day 2. We
woke up nice and early and decided to head for breakfast in one of
our hotel's restaurants, Kahuna Ville. The food was so good and the
service was so amazing that we actually went back there a few more
times on our trip. Now it was time to explore. We decided we wanted
to walk the entire strip on our first day of adventures. Little did
we know how far it actually was. Through out our travels of that day,
we visited places such as Cesars Palace, the dancing fountains at the
Bellagio, the malls, The Monte Carlo, New York New York, and the
Luxor. We made good timing in our travels because when we were at the
Luxor, the throne on the show “The Game of Thrones” happened to
be travelling in Las Vegas and was set up at the Luxor. Since they
were offering free photos with the throne, both my sister and I took
advantage of that and had our photos taken sitting on the throne.
After seeing the throne, we continued on to one of the last hotels on
the strip, Mandalay Bay. At Mandalay Bay, we paid money to see the
shark reef. This was probably one of my favourite experiences in
Vegas. I got some really neat pictures of all the different kinds of
fish they had at this aquarium.
On our way back to
our hotel, we stopped at such places like M&M and Coke world.
Once we made it back to our hotel, we ate dinner and decided to check
out the sights of Las Vegas at night. They had a pirate show right
outside our hotel at Treasure Island and a really neat fire and
volcano show outside the Mirage. Vegas at night and Vegas during the
day are two completely different scenes, both of which I grew to
love.
Once day 3 rolled
around, we decided you cant go to Vegas and not see the Grand Canyon.
So the previous day we had booked a day at the Grand Canyon. Starting
first thing in the morning we took a shuttle bus to a small airport
where we got on a small plane and flew to the Grand Canyon. During
this flight, we flew over the Hoover Damn, and beautiful sights worth
taking pictures of. When we arrived at the Grand Canyon we took a
short bus ride to the West Rim where we walked on the Skywalk which
was done by walking on a glass floor over the canyon.
Once we headed
back to our hotel, we bussed it out to Fremont Street to make sure we
got the Fremont experience. This was by far my favourite part of the
trip. If you have ever been to New York City at night with all the
lights, it was like that but 10x better. When at Fremont Street, you
see a long street full of tourists and street acts. We saw such
things as performers on stage, street artists, street musicians,
little shops, old casinos, and much more. What was so amazing at
Fremont Street was that at night time they had a tribute to an artist
and on the ceilings they would play the artists music while playing a
show of objects. While we were there, they gave the tribute to the
band “Heart” and on the screens they had butterflies, flowers and
other little objects moving to the music. It was a really neat
experience because when the music starts, everyone on the street just
stops and looks at the ceiling because they make it different every
time.
On day 4 we wanted
to explore the few hotels we had yet to explore near ours. First up,
was the Mirage Hotel. At the mirage hotel we saw many things
including; the Beatles phone booth, the Beatles lounge and Siegfried
and Roy's secret garden. If you ever go to Vegas, I recommend you pay
the money to go into the garden. Included in the $20.00 we paid, we
had access to see the dolphins swimming around in big tanks and a
variety of cats in their cages. Then because we loved Fremont Street
so much from the previous night, we headed back down there to
experience it all over again during the day. The experience during
the day was so much different from what we had previously been a part
of. There was still street performers but it still did not compare to
the night experience.
After exploring
the rest of the strip we headed to see a Cirque Du Soleil show at
night. Although it was a pricy event to see, it was well worth the
money. The only thing I did not like was that we were not allowed to
have cameras inside the theatre. The pictures I could have got of all
the gymnasts and acrobats would have been the perfect memory.
As our last day in
Vegas came upon us, we thought it was time to do a little shopping,
gambling, and last minute exploring. We started with visiting the
Flmingo Hotel. At this hotel they had a flamingo habitat that was
free and accessible to all tourists for pictures and to walk around
in. After the habitat we thought it was time to shop and experience
what Las Vegas was all about, gambling. Although I did not win
anything big, it was still nice to say I played some blackjack in
Vegas.
After 5 days of
living the Vegas life, I would definitely recommend going there. The
photo opportunity there is amazing. There is a variety of photos you
can take ranging from street photography, landscapes, architecture,
animals and much more. I loved Las Vegas and I can not wait to go
back and experience it all over again.
