Las Vegas, Nevada

Told you this was going to be a big one. Anyway, this past weekend I was out in Vegas. And it was AWESOME. Here's a little bit about how it went.

We took an Uber to JFK Wednesday morning. What made this trip particularly special was that this was my first time flying in fifteen years. The last time I was on a plane it was in 2010 and I was going out to Utah. I went a little crazy documenting everything I could about the plane and our flight information, so be prepared for that. Anyway, our flight was pretty good! I had the window seat, so I got to see the country pass by from 35,000 feet up. I found out how small airplane bathrooms really were. The in-flight entertainment screen thing was interesting. These desfinitely didn't exist like this back when I flew last. They had a real-time 3D touchscreen map of the country, and showed where the plane was. There was also a few different applets for streaming services, games, and live TV.

     

What's the deal with...at least it's Delta flavored.

  

After arriving in Las Vegas, I stepped out of the airport feeling the warm high-50s weather. I quickly shed my winter jacket and we got in our rental car to go to our hotel. The song "Beautiful Day" by U2 was playing over the radio, and that felt pretty appropriate.

The weather was perfect the whole trip. A serious contrast to New York's single digit January days. We stayed at this hotel called Santa Fe Station. A genuine Las Vegas hotel complete with lots of cigarette smoke and rows and rows of casino games. The view from my room wasn't anything to write home about, but this was the first hotel so far on this trip that has ice AND vending!

     

Now here are the fun pictures. On our first night out, we decided to take in a show. We went to see a BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon show which was awesome. I used to watch the show and matches years ago, and getting to actually see a match live at the same arena as the series was really cool. I also learned that the bots are WAY bigger than I originally thought. The one that really got me was Mammoth, which is around six feet tall.

     

We visited the Las Vegas Sphere that night too. It was definitley a sphere. They were projecting patterns of planets and emojis on it. I wonder what it looks like on the inside. At the end of the trip, we had to get In-N-Out Burger. It was good, but I think it's a little overhyped. It was still great to try it.

     

...which leads right to pictures from our last day! Before we headed back out to New York, we had a few hours in the morning to walk around and explore the strip. Again, weather was perfect, and we got to see a whole lot. The initial excitement of flying had pretty much worn off on the return trip. But it was still nice. Flying over NYC at night was really cool. It was kind of a blur getting off the plane and through JFK at night. It was close to midnight, and I was exhausted. The song "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" by Vampire Weekend played though my head the whole time. We rushed to get an Uber, and made it out of there.

     

And that was Vegas! This trip was a lot of fun and I'd love to come back one day.