Hello hello! So ever since Jeremy and I started dating we have always gone down to Vegas for March Madness. It has turned in to a fun tradition of ours that we look forward to every year. The timing is perfect for us, we are always ready for a vacation around this time! Heck, we are ALWAYS ready for a vacation ;) Anyways, so this year we were a little late planning our trip, so we ended up going at the end of March when it was Final Four. Since the Final Four was down in Phoenix this year and has been on Jeremy's bucket list to go watch the Final Four live we decided to add that in to our trip as well!
We have drove down to Vegas every year, and yes that trip gets worse and worse everyyyyy yearrrrrr. Jeremy I think hit his limit this year with how many hours he can be in a car. (Next year we WILL be flying down...mark my words!) After getting off to a late start that Monday, we ended up getting to Vegas on Tuesday. I actually highly recommend visiting Las Vegas during the week if you can! Prices are much more affordable, and there are still most of the same shows that are going on and events throughout the weekdays. If you want more people around and a big party scene, the weekend would definitely be more packed.
We try and stay at a different hotel each year although Mandalay Bay is a favorite of ours. We stayed at The Linq this time which is at the opposite end of Mandalay Bay. I've never stayed down this way but Jeremy had; it was a lot of fun! You are right next to the Flamingo, across the street from The Mirage and just right in all the action. Definitely a great location! The casino was not as big as others but did not disappoint! We ended up playing Blackjack one night for about 3 hours in O'Shea's, an old casino that is inside The Linq. We had a blast :) The pool is also super nice with lots of lounge chairs! We only ended up going there once since the second day it was closed due to a gnarly wind storm! Boo. We got upgraded to a Junior Suite while staying there which obviously was a lot nicer than our room we loved it! The regular rooms aren't bad at all, we just like a lot of space! I would recommend staying at The Linq for sure!
Vegas is known for all of their incredible shows so we always go to at least one. In the past we've gone to a Circ de Soleil show which never disappoints! Some are better than others but they are still so amazing and entertaining. We've seen most of the Circ shows so we decided to attend the Variety Show, which is a mixture of tricks, Circ-like acts, comedy and lots of other stuff! We also attended the Mat Franco magic show which was new. Both were very entertaining and a lot of fun! The Variety Show was at Planet Hollywood and Mat Franco was at The Linq.
Another thing Jeremy and I look forward to while down in Vegas is the food! Duh, right? Vegas has A TON of different options for food! The first night we wanted something quick but yummy so we tried Wahlburgers. The food was good for sure but just average. A great place to grab something easy and quick which is nice! It was also open late even on a Tuesday, I think we were there at midnight? You lose track of time in Vegas ;) The next day before one of our shows we ate at Holstein's Shakes & Buns in the Cosmopolitan. OH. MY. GOOOOOOODNESS. This place is BEYOND delicious! If you want a unique gourmet burger with extremely decked out alcoholic milkshakes (they call them bam-boozled shakes!) this place is for you! Seriously the best meal I had all trip, not even kidding. My mouth is watering as I'm typing right now it was honestly that good. The burger I got had thousand island dressing, potato chips and cheddar cheese on it. Simple yet PACKED with flavor! Oh my gosh. With my burger I got the Cookies & Cream shake, which had whipped cream vodka, oreo & chocolate chip cookies, a homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, dark and white chocolate crunchies, vanilla frosting and oreo crumbs. JUST LOOK AT THAT PICTURE!!! If you guys are in Vegas I HIGHLY recommend eating here!
Last time I was in Vegas I heard about a an ATM machine that spat out cupcakes!! I didn't get the chance to find it then so this year I was determined to track it down. Luckily for me it was in the shops that were right next to our hotel! The shops are called The Promenade if you are ever down there. The store that owns the ATM machine is called Sprinkles and has a ton of yummy treats. Everything from ice cream to cookies and cupcakes. The ATM machine is right outside the store and is adorably pink, you can't miss it. They had 8 different flavors to choose from and was as fulfilling as I expected it to be! :)
On our last night we had a fancier dinner at Paris at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. The menu is french themed of course and so yummy! Jeremy had the most delicious melt-in-your-mouth chicken and I had the duck. To get to the restaurant you take an elevator up like 20 stories up, I swear. We were pretty high up haha! The view was amazing with a 180 degree look over the Bellagio fountains and half of the strip. It was a beautiful way to wrap up in Vegas.
We said "until next time" to Vegas on Friday and headed down to Phoenix to kick off our Final Four weekend. A bunch of Jeremy's oldest friends made the trip to Phoenix as well so it was great to see all of them again! Most we hadn't seen since our wedding 7 months ago so it was a mini-reunion for them. The games started on Saturday so we went to bed somewhat early on Friday to brace ourselves for a full day of basketball! The games were held at the University of Phoenix stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play. It was HUGE. Almost all the seats in the arena were filled, it was insane. We of course were rooting for Gonzaga, and it's safe to say we lost our voices that day! They won and were off to the championship!
Since they made the championship game and we were already down in Phoenix, we decided to stay a day longer and make the game. Even though they ended up losing it was still so worth it and so much fun! Besides going to the games we went to TopGolf on Sunday night, which if you haven't tried I recommend doing so. Its basically just a big driving range with games you can play. They have delicious drinks and food too, so that doesn't hurt ;) We left for home Tuesday and had to stay in Salt Lake that night. We thought we could tough it out and just do the whole 19 hours in one trip but noooooope. That drive home is BRU-TAL. We got home Wednesday evening and just crashed, haha we were so tired.
Although the driving was excruciating at times, we enjoyed ourselves so much and the trip was a great little vacay for us. We got to unwind and relax, enjoy some 80 degree weather and check something off our bucket list, that's a win-win-win right? :) After typing all this up I almost think I should do a Las Vegas post! We've gone 4 times now and I just feel like we've experienced so much down there! Hmmm...?
Anyways! Enjoy the pics, I'll be happy to hear if anyone reads this entire post, haha I know it was kind of a long one! Our trip was full of lots of fun stuff I didn't want to leave too much out!
xo,