This blog post is coming to you from the road somewhere between Vegas and Salt Lake City (honestly, we’re in the middle of nowhere right now!), using Nicole’s phone and some skilled lap-based typing technique.

The hotel and restaurants
We splurged a little and got a pretty nice room in the Aria (because it was our anniversary part of the trip) and it was gorgeous – comfortable, impeccably clean, with fantastic service and wonderful amenities. Of course, being Vegas, we didn’t spend much time there!

There was SO much to do between the restaurants, shows, shopping and (of course) gambling (although we did hardly any of that). You could eat at a different 5-star restaurant every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a month and still not have gone to every restaurant there. (We’re honestly not sure we’re exaggerating there. It was nuts.) Our favourite was a steakhouse that served the best steak either of us have ever eaten. All were cooked on a wood fire stove and while we thought that would be a gimmick, it turns out it totally wasn’t – spectacular.

Same with the shows – there were so many on and in planning the trip we found it pretty hard to pick. But, while many were tempting, we decided the Cirque du Soleil shows were probably more our style than the magic shows and concerts.

Kà and Michael Jackson ONE
These were two very different Cirque du Soleil shows. Kà has spectacular sets and effects and was a much bigger show in terms of production, set design, costumes etc. (We read somewhere that it was $160 million to put the show together, which with a huge moving stage makes sense.)

Michael Jackson ONE on the other hand, had a simple stage and just a few cool set pieces (like a trampoline set where the performers jumped from crazy heights and landed clear across the stage – nuts!).

Kà is story-based and has an underlying martial arts (kind of) theme. Michael Jackson ONE is, of course, much more focussed on the music and had more dance-type sections.

Going into Vegas, we’d only booked Kà, thinking the martial arts theme would be cool. And it was, but not quite as cool as we’d hoped. There were certainly some spectacular and beautiful moments, but it wasn’t as breathtaking as expected.

With one night free at the end of our stay, and because we both love Michael Jackson’s music (Kurt in particular), we decided to book Michael Jackson ONE. And it was so, so worth it. The show wasn’t as polished as Kà (which in some ways made it feel more real, almost), but there were moments that gave us goosebumps and others that left us speechless. Would definitely recommend this show.

The Strip
Can’t go to Vegas without walking down the famous Las Vegas Strip. While the Strip is constantly changing (with new hotels and restaurants being added and updates happening gradually in the older hotels), there are certainly some constants: big lights, heaps of loud and… interesting people, and lots of impressive buildings, free shows (the Bellagio fountain, street performers, etc) and shops.

Helicopter ride
This, sadly, was not something we would recommend. While it was certainly an experience, overall we felt it was just too expensive for what we received. When they say fly over Hoover Dam, we kinda hoped we would maybe hover there for a minute. But no, they literally meant “fly over”. As in, it you could see it through the window on one side for about 30 seconds (and that’s us being generous).

Add to that the fact that our helicopter broke down (just a sensor glitch, so no actual danger, but we weren’t allowed to fly with it), leaving us stranded in the desert for over an hour with no shade while they flew a second helicopter out to collect us and finish the tour and honestly… not worth it.

To be fair, the pilot was great, the helicopter itself was comfortable, air conditioned (while it was in the air at least) and the short lunch in the Grand Canyon was quite nice. While the Grand Canyon was certainly grand, it wasn’t quite the sort of scenery we tend to find beautiful – but that’s just our personal preference.

Shopping
Nicole… found the Sketchers outlet. We have a bag for shoes now 🙂

Oh and Kurt bought some stuff too, including a new suitcase (it was much needed, and allowed for Nicole’s run-over shoe-case).

The drive out of Vegas…
… is happening as we type. As mentioned at the start, this blog post is coming to you from the road, as we drive from Vegas up to Salt Lake City. We’ll be staying in Salt Lake City tonight on our way to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow. While we’ve had a heap of fun in Vegas, we’re really looking forward to some quiet, no pedestrian traffic jams and getting out of this crazy heat!