On Monday, March 22nd, it was our last full day in Las Vegas. Tyler was working, so we were on our own for a day of some Vegas sightseeing.
There is a new hotel complex on the strip called, City Center and Dennis and I were anxious to check it out. We had heard a lot about the Aria Hotel which is part of City Center. We had wanted to stay there instead of Planet Hollywood but they were sold out for the weekend that we were there. We decided we would walk over (it was right across the street from Planet Hollywood) and see if we could find a place to eat.
This is the crowd of people checking into the Aria Hotel on a Monday morning at 11:00.
The complex that makes up City Center consists of five buildings. A few of the buildings are still under construction. The end result will look like this:
We walked around the shopping plaza of the Aria before we went looking for a place to eat….and only did window shopping.
They have very high end stores hence the reason we only “window” shopped.
We found a cafe to eat brunch at. It was interesting to see how some of the newer hotels are going high tech. As you know, at most restaurants, menus are posted in the doorway for a preview. At the cafe in the Aria, their menu is a big computer screen that you can scroll through the menu items by choosing the category then scroll through the screen by dragging your finger across the screen. It was pretty neat!
What a wonderful restaurant. From the white linen table cloths, to the yummy food, to the view out the huge expanse of windows, to the exceptional service. Definitely a place we would go back to again.
We walked the strip for a little while, stopping at all the tacky gift shops and just enjoying the beautiful weather. It was sunny and 78 degrees….a dream come true for me.
We went back to the hotel and decided to get some shorts on and head down to the pool that we had been admiring from our room the past few days. A margarita by the pool sounded like a good way to finish off the afternoon.
Looking up at the tower. Our room is right up there on the 23rd floor!
I will pre-warn you that this is where the ONLY complaint of our trip comes in.
See that smile on Dennis’ face? He is faking it! We bought two of these margarita's out at the pool bar. Two plastic cups and $20 later we were complaining. These were the worst drinks we have ever experienced. We drank about four sips and left them on the table. They were extremely “boozy” and not iced like a margarita at all, they were more like a slush. They did not use real strawberries, just a fake syrup. So I am warning everyone now; if you ever stay at PH do not order drinks at the bar by the pool!
Dennis decided to go up to our room and get two nice cold beers from our refrigerator and we would sit in the huge, beautiful lobby looking at the big windows that overlooked the pool area. It was a great idea…so relaxing!
Our plan was to go out to dinner that last night with Tyler, Heather, and Heather’s parents, Cindy and Brian. We always try to see Cindy and Brian at least once while we are in town. They are great people. They have great personalities, are very down to earth, and easy to spend time with. But most importantly, I would say that they are very good to Tyler. I am very happy and fortunate to know that they like Tyler so much. I know that I have said this before but as my kids have gotten older it is just a good lesson to live by; Treat Logen/Tyler’s girlfriends as I would expect her parents to treat them. We had a great meal together and we sure appreciate Brian and Cindy taking time out to have a dinner with us.
After dinner, Tyler and Heather, took Dennis and I to the Pinball Hall of Fame. Tyler has bragged about the Pinball Hall of Fame for quite a while now. He took Logen there when Logen flew to Vegas last October. I have to admit I was a little skeptical about how fun this would be but decided to give it a shot. This pinball place is owned and operated by a gentleman that apparently is a self made millionaire from the video game industry, when it hit really big in the 1980’s. Now he runs this place, fixes all his own games and donates all net proceeds to charity. There are machines in there, in mint condition, from the 1950’s to current.
What a blast we had……
I played the Gilligan Island pinball game.
I did not take a picture of my really high score—over 8 million—Tyler said that was a better score than he had ever got, and he is a pro! :)
After a couple hours, we took Tyler and Heather back to his car and proceeded back to the strip for a last few late hours of Vegas fun.
On Tuesday, we were up bright and early to bring Tyler coffee and donuts to work, say our goodbyes and head to the airport for our flight home. I hate saying bye to Tyler, but hopefully he will be able to come for a visit to Boise in a couple of months.
What a fabulous vacation. I am so appreciative of the time that Dennis and I had together. Thanks for the memories, honey!
With Love,
Tina
