Tag Archives: Vacation

Fire It Up

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I just started reading some of my Vegas Blog Posts.  My biggest takeaway was that I hadn’t written anything in this blog since November of 2015.  What I didn’t understand about this process when I first thought of having a Vegas travel blog was that I would have to actually go to Las Vegas periodically to actually have anything to write, and that there wouldn’t just be an unlimited amount of stories and pictures from previous trips to sustain a travel blog.  I also felt a bit sad when I didn’t have a Vegas trip planned in the foreseeable future, which also made my not want to write in this blog.  So from November 2015 to February 2018, and why am I suddenly writing in this blog again?

Vegas Baby!  Just got back from a 9 day trip.  My longest ever!  How do you survive 9 days in Vegas you ask?  Comfy sneakers man…. comfy sneakers.  Control your drinking, because you can’t possibly control your eating.  I honestly stored enough food that I could easily hibernate for the rest of the winter.  It was a family trip though.  I had a 5 year old with me, and that limits the shenanigans somewhat.

I have a few new blog topics about a few new things I saw and did.  Should sustain this poor blog for a few months.  I’ll just leave you with a few random highlights, thoughts, pics and teasers.

  • Spent a couple of nights in Boulder City for the Dam Short Film Festival where I had a short film selected to play there.  That’s worthy of it’s own blog so stay tuned.
  • Just because it’s winter in the Desert, and the temperatures are below 20 degrees (or 70 if you do Farenheit), don’t think that it’s not still incredibly dry there.  Drink lots of water and bring lots of body lotion.  You need that lotion dude!
  • Downtown is coming up a bit since the last time I was there.  The hipsters have opened some restaurants, and you know how that goes.  Just don’t expect to take a cab to Fremont street at 1:30 am and have it not be toothless and gritty.  Still though, the surrounding area is coming up a bit.
  • Stayed at another time-share property.  Best one yet.  That’s worthy of it’s own blog too for you time share owners, or prospective time-share owners.  I mean don’t buy a time-share property just for Vegas trips…..  but if you need to burn a week every couple of years and don’t know where to go, Vegas has you covered.
  • The food was good as per usual.  Got to eat in a few new places as well as a few familiar ones.  Broke the vacation rule of not eating in the same place twice so my wife could go to IN-N-OUT Burger on the first and last day of the trip.  Probably should have had Gordon Ramsey’s Fish and Chips that day, but I was teetering on the brink of having a heart attack if I had another greasy meal (LOL, I know the fries at IN-N-OUT, but still, Fish & Chips is a double whammy).
  • My 5 year old had a good time too, and says it was best vacation ever.  He’s been to Vegas more times than most of you, but he rated it over Jamaica and Hawaii.  Still he’s 5.  He probably doesn’t remember Hawaii that well.  People always ask me what you do with a 5 year old in Vegas.  That’s probably worthy of it’s own blog too.

 

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Vegas Baby (Literally)!

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Is Las Vegas a ‘baby-friendly’ town you ask?  It really depends on the baby.  There’s not a lot that a baby can do in Vegas other than be a baby.  They would do that at home anyways, so does location really matter?

My wife and I decided to go to Las Vegas when my son was 3 months old.  I was just looking through some of the pics feeling a bit nostalgic about the trip.  I’m not going to lie and say that it was my best Vegas trip ever, but if I had a choice between being there with a 3 month old right now, or here typing, I’d do the trip again in a heartbeat.  We were at a stage where we were mentally and physically exhausted.  We needed to get out-of-town for a bit.  My wife had heard tales of babies flying for free, and wanted to test this out.  She was on maternity leave, and was going to have to sit around at home anyways.  Why not sit around in Las Vegas.  It was January after all, and in Toronto that means you can’t (or shouldn’t) be taking a baby out in a stroller.  In Vegas, January is perfect spring weather by our standards.  There’s no snow, and while you still have to bundle your baby up a bit, you can get away with a light jacket.  Perfect for pushing a stroller around.  There are times of the year where Vegas would be way too hot for a baby.  I also like January because it’s low season, and there’s great hotel/flight deals to be had.

There were some crappy elements to this, but there seemed to be a silver lining for every cloud.  We couldn’t really go to too many nice restaurants.  Mostly buffets, and casual places in case our baby lost his mind in the middle of our meal.  We were also forced to eat dinner at about 5pm which meant we never had to wait for a table.  We stayed at the Cosmopolitan in a gorgeous room, but they didn’t have a crib there.  Which is understandable as babies are not their target market.  Our son wasn’t sleep trained yet anyways, so having him in our bed was no great setback at the time.  We had to take turns gambling, because babies aren’t old enough to gamble, and a security guard will kick you out if you try to pull a stroller up to a slot machine.  This way we could only lose money half as fast.

Between my son, and my sister-in-law’s kids, I’ve been on 4 or 5 baby-vacations.  Even if you go to the most kid friendly places (Orlando), I’ve learned that there are always compromises to be made as a parent.  Naps, feeding, diapers, bedtimes happen whether you’re at home, at an appropriate baby spot, or Las Vegas, so you might as well go to Las Vegas, and take that compromise vacation, and just be happy that you’re not stuck at home.  Grab a Beer and a Pina Colada, stick them in the stroller cup-holders, and go enjoy the strip.  It won’t be like your bachelor party, but you can definitely have a good time!

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