Roadtrip Day 1: A night in Vegas

I promised to fill you in on my awesome roadtrip from Sacramento to Dallas, right? Well, here it is, photos and all!

After stuffing (and I mean stuffing!) my car with all my stuff, my dad and I set off on our roadtrip. It was a four-day ordeal with the first stop in Las Vegas! Neither of us have been to Las Vegas so we didn't have any idea what to expect. As soon as we entered the city, the thing that stood out the most is the amount of people EVERYWHERE! It was just about sunset and the people were all coming out for the night. Traffic was horrible and there were crowds of people on every sidewalk!

I've been to the Trevi Fountan in Rome and the Vegas version is just about the same size and grandeur!

To make the trip more of an adventure, we didn't have any of our hotels booked, so the first thing we did was look for a Starbucks so that I could hook up my iPad to wifi and book a hotel. After bidding on several hotels on Priceline with no luck, we gave up, parked our car, and went walking along the Vegas strip. Let's just say I was really glad my dad was by my side. There were lots of shady people around, most of which were high, drunk, or both. Little old ladies on street corners were advertising "Girls in 20 minutes." It made my stomach churn. Prostitution was rampant here, completely in the open, and pretty much glamorized.  No wonder it's called Sin City. It made me sick!

The Venetian! Riding a gondola (but in real Venice) is still on my bucket list.

We walked for a while, taking in all the sights around us. All the hotels are themed and very beautiful. We walked into several of the hotels and just looked around. Nightly rates were in the $300 range for most of them - meaning, way out of our price range! My favorite hotel was the Venitian. With gondolas reflecting on the water surrounding the hotel, it had a magical, almost-Disney feel to it. My dad's favorite was the Rome-themed Caesar's Palace. He couldn't help but take pictures of all the tile on the walls and floor. That's my dad!

Selfies are my dad's favorite. Can't you tell??

Welcome to the Palace!

After walking for what seemed like hours, we were finally tired (and hungry!) so we asked around for the best buffet in town. My dad loves buffets and especially seafood ones! We ended up going to the buffet in the Wynn. It wasn't a seafood buffet like we had hoped, but it was still really delicious. For around $30 a pop, we filled our plates with crab legs, oysters (my personal favorite!), meat, sushi, Italian food, and anything else that seemed appealing! It was overwhelming how much food there was! And, don't get me started on the dessert! I wanted to try every kind of cake, gelato and mousse they had! Thank God they had tiny portions so I tried about 2-3 of each! By the end of dinner, we were both stuffed and very satisfied.

Hooking up my iPad right there in the restaurant, we booked a hotel for the night that was about a block from the Strip. Although not as ritzy as the Venetian or Caesar's Palace, the Westin was modern and comfortable.

Overall, Day 1 of the roadtrip was a success! Although Vegas itself was a bit overwhelming for me, and not really a place I'd ever want to visit again, it was cool to see what all the fuss was about.

I was really hoping to see the Bellagio Fountain rendition of Andrea Bocelli's "Time to Say Goodbye," but no such luck! Still beautiful though!