Hey friends and fam.

If you were following me on instagram (@mari_delosreyes), you may have noticed that I was in Vegas… AGAIN!!! D and I were in Vegas last weekend to celebrate a friend’s Dirty Thirty. We went club hopping, saw LOVE, ate some pizza, toured a cactus garden, bought some cigars, relaxed by the pool, had a spa date, etc… Though we didn’t gamble (much), we did do a lot. In particular, eating! Eating is my favorite thing to do in Vegas!!!!

Here’s the run down of our weekend.

• Arrived Thursday evening.
• Spa appointments Friday morning.
• VIP Club Crawl Friday evening.
• Cigar shop, chocolate factory and cactus garden, and secret pizza on Saturday.
• Dinner at Portofino, followed by LOVE by Cirque du Soleil on Saturday evening.
• Red Rock Canyon Conservation area on Sunday.
• Dim Sum brunch at KJ Dim Sum and Seafood on Sunday.
• Dinner at Burgr on Sunday evening.
• Fly back to DC Monday morning!

The Highlights:

• The Spa at Lakeside 2.0 – The spa is off the Strip, which means one main thing – it’s not overpriced. I booked our spa appointments (a couple’s package) a week beforehand. Unbeknownst to me, they were having a special so I got an even better deal on the package!!! But don’t think this place is good because it’s cheaper than the hotel spas. It’s great because the massages were awesome as well. Both of our therapists worked really hard to smooth out our knots!
• Don Vicente Cigar Company – In Downtown Las Vegas, there’s a little cigar shop that rolls their own cigars. We stopped by to pick up a few with the suggestions of the guys in the store. Friendly crowd and without the judgment most cigar shops give you. We’re new aficionados and they were helpful to point out a few items we’d enjoy!
• Ethel M. Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden – Nearby the airport, there’s a chocolate factory and cactus garden. It’s weird, it’s quirky, and it’s pretty awesome. You take a self-guided tour of the factory and outside you’re able to see the vast amount of cacti Mr. Forrest Mars, Sr. accumulated over the years. (Yeah, Mars, as in the Mars candy corporation!)
• Secret Pizza at the Cosmopolitan Hotel – There are no signs, but you just have to follow your nose. Up on the third floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, an autograph hotel of Marriott International, is a corridor that leads you to a small pizza shop. It’s $5/slice and $7 for a beer. If you’re looking for something quick and easy, this is the spot.
• Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area – Tired of the strip? Need to do something a bit more active? Take a trip out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It’s a 30 minute drive and when you arrive, blue skies for miles. The views are gorgeous and the hiking trails are amazing. Just make sure to go early because it’ll get super hot later in the day, especially during the summer time.

That’s that.

I’m slowly reviewing the spots we visited on Yelp. So if you’re a fan of reading reviews on any of the things I’ve mentioned, head on over to Yelp and check out what other people have to say about the spots mentioned above!

‘Til the next time.
– E