Saturday, April 24, 2021

We Extended Our Trip and Made it Home Alive

 


This was our bonus day...well, kinda half day because we were originally scheduled to fly out in the afternoon.   Still, we had a whole day to play around with, so we decided to go down further south on the strip and visit New York, New York as well as some of the fun themed stores across from them.  But first...breakfast at Tom's Urban.  I appear to be a French toast addict.


Honestly, we headed here because the crispy chicken and cornbread pancake looked interesting, but I so rarely get  French toast made with challah bread.  I really didn't need all of that maple syrup because that salted caramel glaze was sweet enough.  Yummy!

New York New York is also the home of Hershey's Chocolate World, Las Vegas.  However, those of us living in the Mid-Atlantic are doomed to disappointment.  This is *not* the Chocolate World of my childhood.  


It is bright and shiny and flashy...very Vegas.  However, it is a store.  Those of you who are familiar with Chocolate World in Hershey, PA...this is very much the shopping experience after the tour, but without the food court.  And without the giant cases of Twizzlers for sale...and the option to buy custom chocolates (made with custom molds from Life of the Party candy molds...the company my parents founded).


However, the chocolate Statue of Liberty was new (there was a Twizzlers one too that was actually kind of scary...with a bite taken out of it).


Of course, there was also a Lady Liberty as part of the whole hotel/casino complex...wearing a mask.

There is a mini squashed together skyline of New York City that comprises the hotel, which is kinda cool. 


However, it's really weird to see the Chrysler Building being taller than the Empire State Building...just sayin'.

We then crossed over The Strip and did some shopping...Marshalls, DSW, Ross, Target (a teeny tiny Target) as well as the M&M store and the Coke store (where I got a root beer float!!).  By then, we were tired again, so we sat in the sun to catch the Deuce (which was, surprisingly, running on time).  When we got back to the hotel, we devoured the pool snacks of cheese, crackers, and pretzels, while imbibing more room hard seltzer. 

The plan for our new last night was to visit Freemont Street, which is the original Strip in downtown Las Vegas (the shiny, new strip is in Paradise).  We hopped back on the Deuce and went North to downtown.  From the stop, it was a short ride to insanity.

Not only was it incredibly bright, due to a large LED canopy that scrolled bright scenes and advertisements, it was LOUD.  The music being pumped onto the street was fighting with the street performers.  


The canopy also fought with the lights on the old casinos.  I think it would have been more interesting to see without the sensory overload.


I remember the Golden Nugget from Atlantic City...the first casino I ever gambled in.  Um...legally...sure.    Why they needed more lights is beyond my comprehension.   On top of that, you can zipline under the canopy from one end of the street to another courtesy of Slotzilla.


It was too much for both of us.  We found the closest Uber pickup point and made use of the $20 credit I had as a new user courtesy of our hotel.  Only paid for the tip.   We grabbed dinner in our casino at Cafe Americano, which was ok.   I had a "macaroni and cheese with chicken" which was really chicken alfredo with macaroni noodles with some sundried tomatoes and spinach.  Not bad, but nothing to write home about.  

It was late, and we had to get up early the next morning, so off to bed. 

We got up early and made it to the airport without incident.  First class seats are nice.

We made it to Dallas, where we had a long layover.  We got to our terminal and found there wasn't really anything exciting shopping wise.  We ended up having beers and burgers at the Flying Saucer, where I was very excited to see they had turkey burgers on the menu (which were tasty). 

After many flight delays caused by horrible weather, we took off and got home safely.  There were some lovely clouds in the sky that day....


UPDATE:  I've created a Google photo album with more photos of the trip.  It's a bit out of order right now.  Maybe I'll get in there and change the file names so that they display properly...but don't hold your breath.  Until then...Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment