We spent a lovely few days in Las Vegas last week for a work conference and extended by one day to get a cheaper flight and take advantage of our time there to have a little fun. We stayed at the M Resort for most of the week which is about 10 miles south of the strip but it has lots of restaurant options, a beautiful pool and a casino. It was awesome having Justin travel with me because we got a little relaxation time to not worry about housing and where in the USA our belongings are.

We checked out Friday and checked into the Flamingo for 24 hours to have some fun. We checked out the Neon Museum (which I will share more photos from later) and then walked 30,000 steps in and out of 90% of the casinos on Las Vegas Blvd plus an hour on Fremont Street. It was a blast and we were exhausted as we rolled our stuff onto our 8 AM flight Saturday.

Here were some of the highlights:

The warm, dry desert air and all the palm trees (even if they aren’t native there.) It’s nice to have a total change of scenery.

All the colors in the casinos and hotels. We visited a few new ones. This was the Aria lobby and it was one of my favorites.

The Neon Museum was one of the coolest things I’ve done in Vegas. I took so many pictures so I’ll share more later, but you should definitely make the trip to this place if you are there.

The Flamingo wasn’t the most glamorous hotel there, but with a giant fight that weekend, the prices were sky high and I enjoyed staying in the vicinity of my spirit animals.

I have no idea how these got so out of order, but this was the view from the M. We had a front row view of the sunrise every morning and I loved it. Any time I have a mountain view, I’m so happy.

The sunsets weren’t so bad either.

I swear, we didn’t have any fun.

I love the downtown area. It feels a little less expensive. The light show at night is pretty awesome, but we opted for a daytime adventure since it is near the Neon Museum. Plus, I found some French toast covered in ricotta cheese, blackberry jam and chives and it was amazing.

They were switching over the conservatory display at the Bellagio, but I never miss a chance to stop in there when I’m in town. This fall display looks amazing and it wasn’t even close to being done. Also, the ceiling below… I just love it.

The Flamingo has tons of history and is one of the older hotels still around on the strip, but the pink tinted windows makes it stand out.

We enjoyed some beautiful evening weather at the Beer Park at Paris. We tried a few new awesome beers and watched drunk bachelorette parties play giant Jenga. It was absolutely hilarious.

The lights of Vegas definitely feel different at 32 than they did at 21, but I was surprised how much fun we had. I had kind of written it off prior to going for work, but now I’m plotting out what other kinds of desert adventures we could have.

Have you been to Las Vegas recently? What was your favorite casino? We had that discussion at length and couldn’t decide between Aria, Paris and New York, New York.