[USWC Fall Vacation] Day 06/07 : Las Vegas, Nevada

It is time to bid goodbye to my Airbnb in Los Angeles, as we made our way to Las Vegas. It was a 2-hr drive from Los Angeles to Barstow, CA (Our rest stop before continuing to Las Vegas).

Baby drove me to the Outlets at Barstow for some shopping. I had a hearty time shopping at the small town of Barstow. We left around noon after our lunch and reached Las Vegas in the late afternoon.

Las Vegas. Here we come!

After a short drive of about 2-3hours from Barstow, we finally reached the ultimate rich man's playground and entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas!

 We parked our car at the Encore Resort Las Vegas, where we were to have our 2 nights stay!!

We checked into our room, and we got a complimentary upgrade to King Panoramic View from the King Resort which was really spacious and posh, and was equipped with a full range of amenities. The room was amazing, and it had a brilliant view of the MSG Sphere.

The room felt very large and it was nice to have a separate bedroom and living area. By the bed was a tablet that controlled all the essentials such as curtains, lighting and temperature. I found this easy to use and was very handy. I also liked being able to use the USB sockets for charging by the bed. The bed was extremely comfortable. As usual for Las Vegas, there was no coffee machine in the room, but I would be happier if filtered water could be provided.

We took some random photos at the hotel lobby.

It was the F1 race week when we arrived Las Vegas, and the whole city is looking forward to welcome their augural F1 Race to Las Vegas. 

We walked along the strip, and we passed by many resorts which were the 'Paris Las Vegas', 'The Venetian Las Vegas', 'TI Las Vegas Hotel & Casino' and of course, the luxurious 'BELLAGIO' which we had stayed at previously the las time we were here 7 years ago!

It was near dinner time, and night began to fall. The various neon lights came on, and it was very pretty! We walked over to the 'Planet Hollywood' Hotel/Resort Casino, where our plan was to dine at Gordon Ramsey's Burger Restaurant.

Not surprisingly, there was a long line at the restaurant, but we were determined to eat here so we queued up. I'm quite glad we decided to wait as the queue time was not that long. After a decent wait, we were ushered to our seat!

In my entire life, I've never really been a fan of burgers, and would only eat them sparingly. It is therefore, safe to say that this would probably be the best burger I've ever had! We each ordered a gourmet burger to ourselves, and not a crumb was left after the meal! OMG! I could never imagine a burger to actually taste this good! 'BRING ME BACK AGAIN PLS!!'

After our tantalizing dinner, we decided to walk it off by walking back to our hotel via the Strip. It took us 15 minutes of walking, but it was a good choice to do so as it allowed us to admire the lights on the strip while digesting our meal! As an example, if you were to take the Christmas deco and lights at Orchard Road in Singapore during the festive season, multiply that by a factor of a million, you would have a rough idea of what Vegas is like at night!

Good Morning, Vegas!

We had our breakfast at the Tableau which was located at the Wynn Las Vegas. There was even an 'Amuse Bouche' provided to us, which i honestly did not expect for a breakfast! Our breakfast was terrific, and thanks Baby for the lovely treat!

The Encore Resort Las Vegas is part of the Wynn group, and it is located at the North end of the strip. It is next to the Wynn Las Vegas and connected internally. 

We left after our breakfast, and made our way to the Fashion Mall by foot from the Encore Hotel to do some shopping.

On the strip, every hotel had a theme to it! For example, 'Caesar's Palace' was obviously themed after the Roman Empire, and featured many iconic Roman statues and architecture! They even had a mini arena aptly named 'The Coliseum'!

'The Luxor' had an Egyptian theme to it, and the hotel was shaped like a pyramid!

We made our way to the nearest RTC bus stop to take our ride to the 25-foot-tall ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ Sign. We missed it during our last trip, so this time, we wanted to make sure to visit it to cross it off our bucket list!

The ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ Sign is a source of hope and happiness. The feeling to see it, is pure fabulous-ness! This sign has become an iconic landmark on the outskirts of the city!

7 years ago, we regretted that we didn't have enough time to visit Fremont Street, therefore this trip here was done to ensure our visit this time! We took the RTC bus to Fremont Street, where the original Las Vegas Casinos, such as the Golden Nugget, was situated.

Fremont Street is a street in Downtown Las Vegas. It was known as ‘Old Las Vegas’, downtown. It is the original birthplace of the city when it was discovered back in back in 1905. It's the oldest part of 'gambling' in Las Vegas, where all the casino and resort history first began.

It was an eye-opening experience to see the iconic Golden Nugget! It was so prominent all thanks to its bright neon lights.

Fremont Street is a popular place for both locals and visitors, and is a good place to escape from the craziness of the huge resorts on the Las Vegas' Strip. 

Although it’s not quite the sensory overload of the Las Vegas’ Strip, it’s worth exploring. Trust me, the vibe from the Fremont Street Experience is something you won’t find on the Las Vegas' Strip.

We headed back to the main strip via RTC bus, and we had our dinner at the Bacchanal Buffet which is located at the Caesar Palace Hotel. We made our reservations online prior to our trip. Upon reaching, we still had to join the line with the people who had made their advance reservations like us, and it still took us another 20 mins of waiting. In retrospect, it was astute of us to make the reservations as the restaurant turned away all walk-in customers! However, I must stress that the buffet spread was REALLY worth the wait, and I savored every bit of it!

The amount of different cuisines and dishes was an overload on culinary senses! There was so much variety that I had difficulty thinking on what to start on first! After a short deliberation, we set upon the fresh seafood, where snow crabs and prawns were consumed with relish.

I decided to try out the other items on offer while baby was still busy with his first huge plate of snow crab. I'll simplify what I had by roughly listing down what I had which was good. Note:- I had bite sized portions of each so that I could sample more items! There were Roast Beef, Pizzas, Assorted Pastas, Lasagne, Salads. That was just for the European/American cuisine section! There was a Latino section, which had Fish Tacos, Rice with Beans, Tortillas, and much much more! There was even an Asian section, which Baby was delighted with as he had not had Asian food in a while. There was the usual Dim Sum, Fried Rice, Sushi and etc Asian things you would expect in an American eatery.

After our sumptuous dinner, Baby insisted we take a long walk in order to work off our meal and to digest the huge intake properly. The mega casino-hotels and neon lights that surrounded us as we walked along the strip was a real experience.

The next day, we decided to try the restaurant at Jardin which is located at the Encore Resort Tower for our breakfast. I really liked this restaurant as compared to yesterday's breakfast at Tableau. This was a first time of sorts where we had to make reservations for a breakfast meal at our hotel by using the pad device next to our bed! It was a breeze to do so.

Baby ordered the Maine Lobster Benedict, and it was definitely one's money's worth for the amount of food on the plate! I loved how beautifully it was presented. The food quality was great, and the service was also excellent here. 

If I ever do come back to the Encore Resort Las Vegas in future, I'd be sure to eat here again as the food was really good!

After staying for 2 nights in luxury hotel, it was very hard to say goodbye to Vegas! We made a quiet vow to come back again as Vegas fulfilled our entertainment and shopping desires, and we personally rank this city as one of our firm favorites in the US for visiting! The Strip is very decadent and luxurious, and you won't find anywhere else in the world as fun as this! Thank you, Vegas!

We checked out from the Encore Resort Las Vegas at around 1pm to continue our road trip…

Next up, driving from Las Vegas, Nevada back to Anaheim, California for Disneyland! My road trip experience/write up in the United States will be continued soon!