A Trip to Sin City

As the holidays are in full swing, and school comes to its half-way point, I am starting to brainstorm ideas for where I could go on my next vacation. For Spring break last year I convinced my mom to take me to Las Vegas, Nevada.

I assume the first Vegas attraction to catch my eye was the Madame Tussauds Museum. I had heard about the latest Michael Jackson wax figure installation in the London museum, and quickly went online to see if there were any MJ statues in the U.S. As of today, there are only two other Michael Jackson Madame Tussaud wax figures--one in Vegas, and one in Hollywood, California. I was disappointed when I arrived, discovering that the figure in Vegas was not that realistic, and the look dated back to perhaps 2003.

Looking for further amusement, mom and I took a dip into the realms of magic. We got to meet legendary magicians Penn & Teller, and see some of the white tigers (among other animals) at the Sigfried and Roy animal habitat at The Mirage hotel. Bummer we did not see Cirque du Soleil: LOVE, The Beatles tribute.

For dinner one night, mom and I dined at the Rainforest Cafe inside the MGM (one of the world's biggest hotels--over 6000 rooms!), which was quite the "interesting" experience. Inside the cafe, there were articulate designs of a rainforest: branches, trees, bugs, animals, and the like. The starry sky rested above, with a thunder and lightning show every several minutes, that I must admit: was distracting to the diners, but quite neat.

Around every 20 minutes on the strip, by "Paris" (a famous attraction, replica of The Eiffel Tower), a fountain show at The Bellagio hotel goes on for about three long minutes set to beautiful classical music. Mom and I couldn't miss it. Gaining some other variety, we did also do the traditional act of splurging our wallet and eating in a high-end buffet, and got to walk through numerous hotels (such as Caesar's Palace), viewing the frighteningly high Donnie & Marie, and Cher billboards. I got pretty excited when I saw the outside view of Caesar's Palace with a sign advertising Celine Dion's tour in the spring of next year. I may just have to come back.

All in all: Vegas is a wonderful vacation spot, for the young and the old, buuuut... you may not want to stay more than a weekend. It gets boring. Quickly.