Vegas is one of those destinations I love to hate. It’s everything I intentionally avoid when booking travel but somehow can’t help but enjoy upon arrival. Las Vegas has the perfect combination of vices to suit any palette and I seriously cannot imagine staying for more than a weekend, or visiting more than once a decade. That being said I just made my second visit to this town at age thirty-one, almost exactly ten years after ringing in my twenty first birthday in this city of debauchery.

EXPERIENCE

Vegas has a little bit of everything and all the shows imaginable. We chose to focus our girls’ weekend around pool time since our hotel was so lovely and it was our last shot at sunny skies before settling in for an Ohio winter. We spent our days laying poolside consuming $16 cocktails and soaking up the desert sun. On Saturday morning of this trip, we ventured to the Neon Sign Museum Boneyard. Since I was traveling with a group of women that are designers, we really enjoyed learning about the neon sign making process and the custom typefaces of Vegas through the historic eras.

Before visiting, note that tours are mandatory at the museum and that is it a very, very hot place to slowly walk an outdoor museum. While in town we also visited Old Vegas. The boulevard captures the seedier side of the town and makes for an entertaining and cheaper evening than exploring the strip. Because the modern hotels on the strip are so massive, it is quite challenging to “bar hop”, we found this much easier to do in Old Vegas. If we had more time, we would have caught a show or checked out some dancing clubs, but given the state in which we arrived after a long week of work meetings, the pool the perfect place for us to waste away forty eight hours.

STAY

It’s no surprise there are endless options at all price points to choose from while in Vegas. We really enjoyed our two nights at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. I’d consider checking out the Aria next trip or even the Wynn.

EAT

We hit a few great spots on this visit. We loved eating at L.A. hotspot Eggslut in our hotel for breakfast. For dinner one evening we checked out Giata’s self named restaurant. The next evening we did great Spanish style tapas in the Aria at a place called Julian Serrano. I’m sure there are endless possibilities of choices for all tastes in Vegas, though I did not do enough research to provide a thoughtful list. Many of the television celebrity chef’s have restaurants here. Prices are high, but consider this part of the Vegas experience.

We had a quick but great trip. If out this way again, I’d love to work in a trip to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam or Lake Mead. I have heard really great things about whitewater rafting the Colorado River and Havasu Falls which are within a days drive as well.