August 30, 2021
Travel continued from Summer Travels and Favorite Summer Salads post…
Before summer came to an end, Kevin and I squeezed in a quick vacation to Las Vegas and three national parks which make up the Grand Staircase. We had planned the summer vacation a few months beforehand and was excited to finally be able to go see some of the natural wonders throughout the United States.
On Sunday, Kevin and I boarded our early morning flight from Ohio to Vegas. The flight was a direct flight and lasted just under four hours. We both immediately browsed through the selection of movies to catch up on ones we would have liked to see in theaters. The moment we landed in Vegas, we headed straight for the shuttle to take us to our hotel. When the shuttle pulled up to our hotel, Park MGM, we hopped off and headed straight to Target across the street to get enough bottled water to last us the entire week. We then proceeded to pop into Eataly for lunch. Kevin ordered fettuccini Bolognese and I went straight for the Margherita pizza. We savored the lovely pasta and pizza before heading to check in. The moment after we checked in, we dropped off our bags and went to explore the strip. We took a stroll up and down the strip in and out of as many hotels as our feet can manage. When our legs finally gave out, we stopped by Din Tai Fong for dinner. We did end up making a last-minute reservation for dinner at night just to make sure we could get seats at Din Tai Fong for dinner. For Kevin, he had to get his fix of soup dumplings.
The next day, we had to wake up super early for our trip to the Grand Canyon. We hopped onto our tour bus and headed straight through Route 66 on our way to the Grand Canyon. The bus ride had multiple stops, which made the time fly by a lot quicker than we had anticipated. We had initially stopped by at a local gas station for a quick break, then Seligman for a photo op with the Route 66 sign, and finally to our final destination of Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon was absolutely breathtaking. The photos do not do justice to the breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon. We opted to explore the trails on our own for a couple hours. Luckily, we didn’t see a lot of people exploring the park on the day we visited and were able to take plenty of photos to capture the moment. After a few hours, our bus rounded us up and brought us back to Vegas. Of course, we stopped for dinner at a nearby fast-food restaurant before making our way back to the strip.
Tuesday was a lighter day for us. We rested a bit in the morning, grabbed some breakfast sandwiches at Eggslut inside the Cosmopolitan hotel, and then made our way to Area15 to finally see the Omega Mart. Omega Mart was definitely on my list of attractions to see in Vegas for some time now. The entrance into Omega Mart seemed as if we were entering into a bizarre supermarket. As we wandered through the store, we came across multiple doorways which led us to other art installations built within the store. Strolling through each of the doorways was the best part – we never knew where the doorways would lead to. Suddenly, the name made perfect sense – Omega Mart was really a front for Mega Art! Ingenious! A couple hours later, we hopped into an Uber and headed back to the strip. We got dropped off at Caesar’s Palace, strolled around the shops at bit, and made our way to our dinner reservations at Nobu. Kevin had been wanting to try omakase forever. Our trip to Vegas was the perfect time to finally try it. Kevin ordered the signature omakase. I opted for the vegetarian one. Kevin absolutely loved the selection of courses prepared by the chef. I could not stop raving about the selection of vegetarian dishes curated by the chef. The tofu and mushroom dishes were my favorite dishes, but every single dish I had was amazing. Once dinner ended, we relished on the food experience as we hopped onto the tram from Bellagio back to Park MGM for the evening.
When Wednesday arrived, we had to head out super early for our trip to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, the two other national parks which formed the Grand Staircase along with the Grand Canyon. Our hilarious bus tour operator/tour guide drove us through inclement weather on our way to view the stunning formations of the Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. We were both so in awe as we looked up and down to see some of the most marvelous natural wonders. The bus ride didn’t feel too bad as the tour operator did make multiple stops along the way. This tour involved more time on the bus with lots of stops along the way. Between the visits to the two parks, our bus tour stopped at a local restaurant, Ruby’s Inn, for lunch. The rainy weather did end up cutting into part of our tour and we headed back to Vegas a bit earlier than we had anticipated. Still, the visits to the two national parks were unforgettable.
Thursday was reserved for a more relaxed day to enjoy the strip one last time before we departed for Ohio the next day. We explored the strip a bit more during the day. When evening arrived, we headed for dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Bar and Grill and then headed to the Jabbawockeez theater for our show at 7:00 p.m. As we watched the show, we thought back to our first visit to Vegas nearly six years ago. At the time, we saw Jabbawockeez at the Luxor. This time, the show had moved to MGM Grand. The atmosphere of the crowd along with the routine from the dancers made the show all the more enjoyable. When the show ended, we knew our trip to Vegas was over. We walked back to our hotel after the show and reflected on the wonderful memories we had created throughout our trip to Vegas. The next day, we caught an early flight back to Ohio.
