Coast-to-Coast Trip Part 3: Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

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Well, hello everyone!

It’s time again for another recap of my coast-to-coast trip! 🙂

Catch up on part 1 here  and part 2 here in case you missed it.

Our next stop…

July 6-9: Orlando, FL  {recap here –> Coast-to-Coast Trip Part 1: Orlando, FL}
July 9-11,14-15: Los Angeles, CA {recap here –> Coast-to-Coast Trip Part 2: Los Angeles, CA}
> July 12-13: Boulder & Las Vegas, NV (& a little bit of Arizona  )
July 16-19: Jackson Hole, WY —> BREATHTAKING!!!
July 20, 26-27: Seattle, WA
July 21-23: Spokane, WA
July 23-25: Vancouver, BC (Canada)

Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

On our 3rd day in LA, my hubby’s aunt and uncle took us for a road trip to Las Vegas!

Before heading to Las Vegas, we dropped by Boulder first to check out Hoover Dam! It was about a 45-minute drive from Las Vegas.

On the way, we passed by Lake Mead which offered some lovely views from the road.

We didn’t go on the Hoover Dam tours due to time constraint. I’m sure it would be awesome to know more about the history and to see what’s underground. The tour lets you go underground and walk thru the whole power plant. Sounds pretty interesting.

I was in awe of this enormous bypass that connected both sides of the canyon. It was the first thing I saw as we reached the dam.

This was my first real glimpse of the dam. It was really neat. I had only seen this place before in pictures and they don’t do it justice. This thing is massive in person! I felt so small the moment we arrived at this place.

I first heard about this place from my parents when I was still in the Philippines. I was busy in med school and couldn’t join them when they visited. I’ll admit it though, when my parents mentioned about this part of their Vegas trip, I was like, really? A dam? That’s lame.

Well boy was I wrong! The scenery was astounding! I gave myself a bonk in the head for thinking it was nothing. I definitely recommend to include this place on your “must visit” checklist.

I was even able to time travel between Arizona and Nevada. Thank you. LOL!

It was a different time on the Arizona side than it was in Nevada. Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone, while Nevada is in the Pacific Time Zone. To add to the confusion, Arizona does not use Daylight Savings Time. Interesting! 🙂

The rock discoloration indicates the former water level and shows that large quantity of water has been lost in the past couple of decades.

In the pic below, I was wondering there what would happen if you let a rock roll down the dam. I was sooo tempted to do that. LOL!  I was also holding my phone so tight like crazy. I was too scared I’d drop my phone while taking pictures. YIKES!

Another new thing I learned that day, that gigantic bridge, the Hoover Dam Bypass, was only recently completed in 2010. My next thought was – it would be amazing to run a race here. I googled it online that night and found this – Hoover Dam Marathon. Cool!

This place is beautiful. We could just stare at it for ages! It’s amazing!

I was so impressed that a “Hoover Dam selfie” had to be done! LOL! 🙂

We made our way to the Hoover Dam bypass to see what the dam would look like from up there!

This bridge connects Arizona and Nevada.

If you walk towards the middle of the bridge, you get this kind of view (pic below). When the bypass wasn’t built yet, the cars had to wind down the road and cross the dam to get to the other side.

This is definitely a well worth the short trip before heading to Las Vegas. I’m glad we went ’cause we enjoyed the “dam” thing! LOL! 😛

Then, we headed to Las Vegas. It was my first time there along with Tammy and Paul, and my husband’s second time.

Well, what happens in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Vegas because I’m going to share every amazing second we spent in Sin City!

Hoover Dam drained our energy and made us hungry. We first checked out Vegas style buffets for an early dinner.  I’m not a buffet fan but I figured I had to try one in Vegas!

We went to Carnival World Buffet in Rio Hotel. We had to wait for a while to be seated ’cause there was a long line. This buffet place must be one of the best since it seemed popular.

And finally we were in. This buffet place is huge. I’m actually still in the process of recovering from the effects of eating so much from this trip. LOL!

The food was separated by continents and each continent section had specialty food from each part of the world, like Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean,  etc. The food was greasy, fattening, and deep fried. In other words, it was delicious! LOL! I actually enjoyed the farmed crab legs and shrimps the most! There was also huge salad bar and fruit section! Oh, and the desserts and gelato section, that was AMAZINGLY GOOD! The price was $50 per head which was pricey but that was already expected in Vegas.

Even this souvenir mug agrees! 🙂

The buffet restaurant is located inside Rio Hotel. We parked at the roof deck level at one of the parking lots at Rio, which had a beautiful panoramic view of the vegas hotels. Pretty awesome! My hubby’s aunt and uncle said that they would go at this parking lot and watch fireworks on fourth of July. Nice!

After our super-duper stuffed full of delicious food dinner, we hopped in the car and headed to Freemont Street. When we arrived, the Beatles show was on. They say every night on the hour, they play music and have a light show on the ceiling.

It was pretty cool. It felt like you are sort of outdoors and sort of indoors. Since the place was packed, we only stayed for just half an hour and then decided to roam around the Vegas strip.

You probably should think twice going to Vegas in July, unless you enjoy sweating profusely. This city is in the middle of dusty desert and IT WAS SO HOT! And if you’ve never been to Vegas, you don’t realize how much walking is involved! And it’s not just a straight shoot down the street walk. There were lots of stairs, escalators and bridges which resulted in lots of zig-zagging to get to where you want to go.

After a very HOT walk around the strip, we made it to Caesar’s Palace where we spent most of our time.

We spent a lot of time wandering through the stores. They have every expensive store you can imagine here. From Gucci to Celine, YSL, Chanel, Hermes, Christian Louboutin and more! It is definitely a designer lover’s heaven! And it just goes on and on and on!

Then, we headed to the hotel’s casino and played the slot machines.I find the slot machines aren’t as cool as they really look. Haha!

Then we went to Bellagio and hit the roulette tables. My husband and I lost $100 in just two minutes. Gone, right away, and just like that! LOL! I realized I have no luck in gambling. Plus, I found the table games intimidating. I guess that’s how it is when you’re really not a gambler.

After our failed attempt of trying our luck in gambling, we decided to sit, grab some cocktails and relax for a bit.

We stayed so long in the Bellagio Hotel that we missed the fountain show outside. I heard awesome things about it.

We continued to walk some more, hopped across the street (and by ‘hopped across the street,’ I mean took a series of four escalators and multiple pedestrian bridges over 6 lanes of traffic) until we became pretty exhausted and decided to pack it in for the night. We drove back to LA the next day. 🙂

It was really cool to finally go to Vegas. It is definitely like a big adult theme park. Although we really didn’t have much time there, it was still a blast. We actually did a lot in one day!!! 🙂

My husband and I had a fantastic time with Paul and Tammy. They were awesome traveling buddies. We talked about going on another trip together …soon! Yay! Though I didn’t come away with any winnings, I came away with memories that will last a lifetime. 🙂

Well, that’s a wrap for now! I have few more recaps coming! Stay tuned! 🙂

Xoxo, Ja

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