Las Vegas 2015 - Day 2 [Part 1]

A couple years ago, W went to Disney World in Orlando and tried Earl of Sandwich. He came back and raved about their awesome and affordable sandwiches to me. Naturally, I had to try it out too when I found out that there was one inside the Miracle Mile shops of Planet Hollywood.

 

I ordered the Hawaiian BBQ which consisted of grilled chicken, ham, swiss cheese, pineapple, and barbeque sauce.

The juicy and sweet pineapple went really well with the grilled chicken and salty ham. This was a very good hot sandwich, yum!

W went for The Original 1762. With roasted beef, cheddar and horseradish sauce, it was savoury, melty, and meaty with a bit of kick. Just as delicious but of course, I liked my sandwich more!

After our quick brunch, we hopped back in our car and drove out the Valley of Fire State Park. Located about a 1 hour drive away, northeast of Las Vegas, this state park featured red sandstone formations, large and small, created by the shifting sand dunes since the age of the dinosaurs!

Up close or from afar, the fire-y redness of the sandstone really stood out against the blue sky. So beautiful! I was just full of awe and felt so inspired by nature.

One of the many different red sandstone formations was the beehive. There was even a little cave-like hole that was large enough for me to duck into and hide from the scorching hot desert sun =__="

 

Just off Mouse's Tank Road, into Fire Canyon Road, another view point was Fire Canyon and Silica Dome. Even from far away, you could see the different coloured striations in the rock. Standing at the top looking down into the dessert valley, with the hot wind blowing against my skin, and just listening to the quietness of the surroundings, I was so mesmerized by the moment. Buuut, after a couple minutes, I couldn't stand the blazing sun beating down and me and crawled back into my air conditioned car LOL...

After spending a couple hours at the Valley of Fire, we left for our next destination: Red Rock Canyon. This conservation area was closer to Las Vegas than Valley of Fire, just a 30 minute drive from The Strip. It, too, also boasted a scenic drive where one could see the natural red sandstone peaks and rock formations.

Red Rock Canyon was smaller in size compared to Valley of Fire and there were not as many rock formations either. Coming straight from Valley of Fire, we were not that amazed or wowed by Red Rock Canyon. If you could only go to either one as a day trip, I would totally recommend Valley of Fire.

There were lots of different trails all along the scenic loop. Although we didn't hike on any of them, we did stop and walked to the site of a former limestone quarry. Left behind were these large slabs of limestone, cut like marshmallows and strewn about. If it wasn't so hot outside it would be pretty cool to climb about here!

After completing the scenic loop at Red Rock Canyon, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and have dinner with Bobby Flay....I mean, AT Bobby Flay's restaurant!

Las Vegas 2015 - Day 1

Even though Las Vegas is not one of the most "must-go" travel destinations, W and I always love visiting Sin City because of the short plane ride away and relatively cheap vacation packages that are available.

 

We planned a trip for the end of summer so we could experience the warmth and sunshine a little longer.



 

The first thing we did after we picked up our rental car was to go to the closest In-n-Out Burger and have lunch! Not only was it the cheapest meal we had during the whole trip, their burgers and fries were so so so good... We miss In n' Out so much!!



 

This time, we stayed at Montel Carlo because of its relatively central location and because I really wanted to float around their lazy river on the pool deck! The warm (not scorching hot) temperature was perfect for lying around the pool and dipping in the water.

Because I played the My Vegas Slots game pretty religiously for the past year, I racked up enough points to earn a prize: a 2-for-1 dinner buffet at Aria!! Yay!! The last time W and I went to Vegas, we stayed at Aria but their buffet restaurant was still under renovation so we didn't get the chance to try it out. We sort of had high expectations because Aria itself was such a nice hotel.

Not to say that Aria's buffet was bad, it was just a little underwhelming with their selections. We were surprised to see so much crayfish in the seafood section. I don't think we saw much crayfish at any of the buffets we visited the last time we were in Vegas.

They looked appealing but seemed too much of a hassle to eat haha...

There was a curry station with jasmine rice and naan bread.

There was a baked potato bar too! You could either pick the pre-dressed ones, or add your own toppings to a plain baked potato.

One of our plates: prime rib roast, chilled snow crab legs, clams, sushi, salad etc...

The dessert station was kind of disappointing for me. There were the usual staples like cheesecake, carrot cake, lemon meringue pie, chocolate mousse cake, cookies, and there were some other interesting items like Banana Foster, cannoli and panna cotta. However, it just seemed like there weren't enough selections to wow my senses.

 

Their ice cream station looked pretty cool and futuristic though! The strawberry sorbet was refreshing while the Thai milk tea ice cream was full of fragrant and floral tea flavours! Really surprising and delicious!!

After having dinner, we decided to hit the sack as we had a jam-packed day tomorrow. This definitely was not going to be a relaxing vacation like I had originally wanted it to be =___=