As if the Real Estate Staging Conference isn't reason enough to go to Vegas, there are other things that you can do while you're there as well. If you've been sitting on the fence about whether or not to attend the RESA Staging Conference in 2012, hopefully this post will help to talk you into joining 'all the cool kids' next year :-)
My Sister-in-law came with me to Vegas so we decided to also turn it into a mini vacation while we were there, so we booked 7 nights at Treasure Island.
I'm not much of a gambler, but I did make my obligatory "donation" of $25.00 to the slot machines. That snippet of entertainment lasted all of 8 minutes, which still left a lot of time to fill. But let me tell you, it isn't hard to fill your time in Vegas.
The conference ran from Sunday evening through to Tuesday afternoon. I've already written a post about that. Click here if you want to check it out. You may recognize a few people from Active Rain.
Here are some of the other highlights from our trip:
We arrived on the Friday before the start of the conference, immediately changed into our flip flops and hit the strip running flopping (well okay, maybe we flopped a little later in the day). With the time change of 3 hours, we were pretty exhausted by late evening. We did a little shopping and then went to La Cave Restaurant in the Wynn Hotel for an early dinner and called it a night.
If you get the chance to go there, make sure you reserve a seat on their outdoor patio overlooking the pool. You may even have a few friends stop by:
We decided to do a helicopter excursion to the Grand Canyon. For me, next to being at the convention, this was one of the highlights of the trip and an experience that I will never forget. There are various package deals available. You'll see kiosks set up all over the place. We booked through the kiosk right outside of Treasure Island. We were picked up Saturday afternoon at our hotel and driven out to the Boulder Airport which is approximately 25 minutes away. From there, we flew by helicopter past Hoover Dam and on to the canyon. The flight was approximately 40 minutes.
There were 6 of us in total on the flight. The seating is arranged based on weight distribution, so you aren't allowed to select your seat. However, we lucked out and were given the two seats up front. I had the "window seat" so I probably ended up with the second best view. Our pilot, Wylie the Flyin' Hawaiian, had the best view and do you know what? That was totally okay with me. I kind of liked that he had the best view :-)
Here are some photos from the flight, but believe me, the photos just don't do it justice. The view from up there was totally breathtaking. I literally can't find the words to describe it.
Hoover Dam:
Aerial Views of the Grand Canyon:
We decided to pay the extra for an excursion that included landing right in the canyon. We were served lunch and our choice of champagne, wine or beer while taking in the amazing scenery. We stayed there for about 35 minutes, but I could have stayed there all day. It was so peaceful. We were warned to be careful and not go too far, because there are rattle snakes around the area that sun themselves during the day on the rocks. Apparently, you only have 15 minutes to receive the anti-venom if you're bitten by this particular type of rattler. I'm no mathematician, but I figured out pretty quickly that the flight back to Boulder wouldn't get me to help in time, so I only ventured out into the scrub for a few quick pictures. Oh, and if you're afraid of snakes, don't let that put you off going on the excursion. I'm terrified of snakes, but believe me, once I was out there I was so awestruck by my surroundings that the fear of running up against one of them disappeared really quickly - but I still kept on my guard though.
Our flight was booked through a company called Serenity Helicopters and the name said it all. Serenity is the only helicopter company with landing rights on a secluded ledge. All of the other companies land one level down from where we were, which means that helicopters are constantly landing and taking off down there - so much for bliss. Besides, from our vantage point, I think we had the better view.
Here are a few photos from the ledge:
On the flight back to Boulder, we had to stop at the "gas station" to refuel. I say gas station in quotation marks because the station was just a huge fuel tank out in the middle of nowhere. We were allowed to disembark there as well and have a look around and take photos:
It was an absolutely incredible journey that will stay with me for a very long time.
That night we had dinner at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Check out the Chandelier Bar:
If you're into shows, then Vegas is definitely the place for you. We went to see Cher one night with my good friend Sally Weatherley. After the show we went to Olive's Restaurant at the Bellagio and had a fantastic table out on the patio to watch the fountain show.
We also went to see Cirque du Soleil's 'O' while we were in Vegas. The last couple of times I was there, I tried to get tickets but it was sold out. This time, we booked our tickets ahead of time from Toronto. It was an amazing show.
For those of you that have seen the TV show Pawn Stars, we even went and checked out their pawn shop. I googled the address in advance, so when we went to the taxi stand and the bellman asked where we were going, I quietly gave him the address. Obviously we weren't the first to go there, because he yelled out to the driver "Take them to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop". Oh well, so much for being discrete :-). Unfortunately, they weren't going to be filming until later in the day, so we didn't get to see the boys. The best I could do was a picture on the wall of Chumlee!
I'm not going to ramble on about every place we ate at, but here are a few other restaurant suggestions for next year besides the two I've already mentioned: Lavo (Palazzo Hotel), Holsteins (Cosmopolitan Hotel) and Mon Ami Gabi (Paris Hotel).
As you can see, there is SO much to see and do in Vegas; I've barely scratched the surface. Plan to stay a few extra days if you can when you come to the conference next year.
Looking forward to meeting you next year!
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