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Off Strip Las Vegas Experience

Last weekend Tim and I took a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas. We wanted to get away but also didn't want to break the bank. Both of us needed to get a long run in on the Sunday and we didn't want to stay up all night drinking and gambling. Why go to Vegas then? Because of the weather of course! Fall is starting to set in here in Vancouuver and Vegas is still 40C.
We flew out of Bellingham, Washington airport (about 30 mins south of Vancouver) on a 9:30pm flight with Allegiant Air. The border line up on Friday night was about 35mins long. We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our flight. There is NO food at the airport at this time so eat on the way down. The flight for the two of us return was around $450US. Parking at the airport is $9US/day.
We arrived in Vegas around midnight and caught a cab to the Renaissance Las Vegas. Tim booked this hotel on Priceline for $65US/night. The hotel is off the strip right beside the Las Vegas Convention Center near the Wynn/Encore properties. Once we checked in we immediately went down the bar (pictured below) for a Bombay and Tonic. Because I hadn't drank for most of 2009, one drink was enough for me making me a cheap date.

We didn't get to enjoy the pool area until after our 21km run on Sunday morning. The pool area was closed on Saturday night for a private party. There were more than enough patio chairs and comfortable couches to lounge on.
Saturday night was a real treat. Strange how things work out sometimes. We had no plans for Saturday night and planned a casual dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. When we arrived back at our room to freshen up for dinner, we received a tweet from TriBug007.
Coincidentally, her and her husband were in town on vacation with a group of friends too! She had two EXTRA TICKETS to CHER that night and wanted to know if we would like to join them!! I am not a huge Cher fan and had no intention of see the show but I could not pass up the opportunity that was presented. The show was AMAZING and Cher was FABULOUS. That woman can still sing and looks younger than me.
Another great find and benefit of staying off the strip was The Bagel Cafe. This great Jewish bakery and cafe is in the Summerlin area and is MUST DO. I had the Ruben sandwich with potato salad and fries. I would suggest you split this since it is really big enough for two. Of course I ordered one to myself and ate most of it. We loved this place so much we went there on Saturday AND Sunday for lunch.
Our return flight to Bellingham was around 7:30pm. We were at home and in bed by 11:30pm Sunday night. Neither of us took a day off work and we had a great time!








Comments

Jamie said…
Free tickets a la twitter?! Too cool, no matter who it is for.
September 29, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Big Daddy Diesel said…
Ahhh vacation time, hope you had some great R&R
September 30, 2009 at 5:04 AM
Ultradad said…
My wife and I took the whole family to Vegas is August. We too flew from Bellingham and did the hour and a half thing. Old Bellingham has some great coffee shops. Vegas was very cheap to get to and surprisingly there is a ton of things to do for kids
October 2, 2009 at 6:12 AM
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