DAY 142 : November 26/22 Saturday. Sam's Town Las Vegas, Nevada

Woke up around 6am again. Jonathan and I went for a walk around the rv park to try and figure out what the next couple of weeks would look like as we wind down our trip. Back at the rig, we made french toast and then donned the swim suits for some pool time at our Sam's Town RV park pool and hot tub. Kids found a hot pink air mattress floatie left behind in the pool and had a good ol' time wrestling and jumping on it.

 

After a great pool session and showers, we had some lunch and called an Uber to come pick us up and drive us over to the Las Vegas strip to explore. First hotel we looked at was Treasure Island. They no longer have the old "pirates vs sirens" show like way back when Jonathan and I visited vegas in our dating days. 

Checked out the Venetian as well, which was more interesting for sure. We perused the various shops, had a respectably priced burrito meal at the food court there, and the kids spent some of their allowance money they've been stock piling to buy themselves LED flashy display ball caps. Very Vegas. Super fun. 

In the Venetian shops we stopped in some stores and the kids were super intrigued by a fancy gemstone store. When we walked in, we reminded the kids NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING in the store, lol. Jonathan chatted with the lovely woman working there about an elaborate carved dragon sculpture. She was very "Las Vegas-ey" in her glittery outfit and make up. She was quite fascinated by our trip and was soooo lovely and warm with our family, especially the kids. Oliver was so interested in the various stones and sculptures and was perfectly sweet and charming in his little way. She was enamoured with him, and before we were going to leave the shop, she called him aside and asked him which was his favourite stone in the bins. She let him pick one out and then got a little satchel for it and the corresponding information card and gave it to him as a gift. She then asked Amelia (who was very shy) and Meems picked one out without really knowing what was coming. She was pleasantly surprised when the lady gave it to her with the special bag and info card. Very sweet. We had such a lovely experience there. As we and the kids thanked her profusely when we were leaving, I commented to Jonathan that I should have asked for a photo with her, she was so sweet (and unique!).  We turned around and asked if she'd mind having her photo taken and she was DELIGHTED! :). photo below. xx

We walked the strip to PARIS hotel and came across Bumblebee from the Transformers and had a photo op (for a "tip"). They had a great group of super heros with awesome costumes. Spiderman was chatting on his cell phone, lol, and waved to us. We wandered around, enjoying the sights and giving the kids a taste of Vegas. Our plan was to see Paris, then hit the Bellagio to view the fountains as it got dark and then get an Uber back to Sam's Town before things really "lit up" on the strip. haha. Kids definitely saw their fair share of funny outfits wandering the strip. Girls in their fancy showgirl outfits posing for photos, which made the kids giggle. 

After Paris, we walked over to the Aria and I tried to locate the cool art gallery I'd visited with Eleanor many years prior. They had these awesome massive sculptures made of old motorcycle parts and scrap metal. I tracked down the gallery, but they didn't have the sculptures there. Other cool funky art though. Kids were tired by then and so we headed over to the Bellagio to finish up the Las Vegas Boulevard experience with the fountains at 5:30pm. 

Pulled out the Canucks toque for a photo op... we heard from my brother that the Canucks were playing in Vegas tonight! as we were texting him, a guy with an 80's logo Canucks jersey walked by us probably on the way to the game. Fun. We "whooped" our support as he and his buddies walked by. 

We managed to get a great viewing spot to watch the Bellagio Fountains "dance" to the music before calling our Uber at 6:30pm to take us home to our little RV back at Sam's Town.

Back at Sam's Town, Jonathan decided to go to the Casino there and watch the Canucks/Vegas hockey game on TV and play a bit of black jack and have a drink. I took kiddos over with him and we skipped the casino (lol) and hit up the Cinema to walk Strange World and eat popcorn. We had the movie theatre to ourselves!

We found this restaurant poster ad very funny... we walk by it to get to our RV park from Sam's Town casino. The Angry Butchers. Kids posed their best copy-cat pose. Lots of giggles. Back at the RV the kids did some lego and hung out before bed.

Jonathan made his way home eventually after and enjoyable time at the casino ($20 blackjack was a little steeeeeeeep!!! eek) and some good banter with the bartender about the Canucks beating the Vegas Knights, and also having his credit card not work to pay up his tab. It all worked out with his usual Jonathan charm ;-)