Vik's Vegas

Hey there! China Lights lantern festival ran for six weeks between 19 January to 25 February at Craig Ranch Park here in Las Vegas. I'd fully recommend this event - it travels the country and hopefully will come back to Vegas again next year as it'd be great to see it again. There were over 39 lanterns on display - from tiny to huge - all so intricate and fantastically colorful - a really wonderful spectacle to see.  Here's some of the pictures I took.

Well hello dear readers whoever and wherever you are :) Today's review is of the Stratosphere here in Las Vegas. The Strat (as I like to call it) is the landmark you'll see wherever you are on the strip, you can almost always see it - when we are travelling somewhere or coming home, I always like to say "hey, I can see the Strat" cos the majority of the time, you can! One of the first bonuses about the Strat is the free parking  - always good.  Inside is nice and quite modern - clean but a little dark and smoky at times.  The sportsbook is very small - there is minimal seating but they do have one.  They also have a very small poker room too - we walked by and saw that it was exceptionally busy (likely due to it's size) and there was actually queue to get in to play. Gaming floor featured a nice amount of slots - pretty decent variety of old and new, just your standard really.  The décor inside was nice but as mentioned before, could be a little dark.  Food

Hello there!  It's been a while but here's a fun review with one for the Stratosphere to follow later in the week. Last weekend we decided to re-do the Tastes of the World trays at the coca cola store on the strip - always amusing I can tell you ... in my opinion, one of them should be banned.  In Mr G's opinion ... well, all the words I'm writing next to the reviews are his.  So, without further ado ... here's Mr G's opinions on the different coca cola products from across the world! Tray 1 Inca Kola - tastes like cheap coca cola and irn bru Kuat Guarana - a cross between ginger ale and apple juice Stoney Tangwizii - lemon popsicles Vegitabeta - very meh, tastes like a bland tropical punch Sparletta Sparberry - original tizer - in color and flavor Fanta Melon Frosty - honeydew soda Smart Watermelon - NO FLAVOR AT ALL Fanta Pineapple - just as it says ... pineapple soda Tray 2 Lift Manzana - feint apple flavor Fanta Kolita - liquid Kola Kubes

One word - sportsbook. This is what the Westgate prides itself on. The largest one in the world in fact. Westgate is football central. If you want somewhere to watch the games with a fun crowd, go to the Westgate. When we visited back in October last year, we got to the Superbook (as it likes to call itself) about an hour before kick off for the days' NFL games - could we find a seat in there? Nope. And there's 400 seats available too ... But not to fear! The International Theatre is opened up and it has plenty more seating - they're actually holding a Super Bowl viewing party in there this weekend - it's $100 per person however it's all you can eat and drink with reserved seating. Really quite a bargain to be honest! Anyhoo, back to the casino. It's small but modern and as I notice with all the casinos we visit, it's very visually pleasing. New, clean and a good selection of old and new slots. The Westgate does have a poker room - it'

You lucky lucky people! You get a bonus review today ... whilst I'm in the mood to type, you're getting a little insight into Black Tap Burgers and Craft Beers. It was my Birthday a week or so ago and Mr G took me to Black Tap for a birthday treat - again, it's another burger place and I promise, we eat things other than burgers it just so happened that I'd seen this place was opening in the Venetian and their milkshakes are apparently to die for. They weren't wrong. The food, to be honest, was an afterthought - we were there for the CrazyShake. And crazy it was. As it was my birthday I had to get The Cake Shake - yes, it comes with a huge slice of funfetti birthday cake on the top, yes, ON THE TOP! Mr G went Brooklyn Blackout and opted for the chocolate flavoring with accompanying chocolate brownies stuck in the top of it. Here's the pics ... The Cake Shake does claim that it's flavor is cake batter but to me it was just vanilla - this doesn't m

SLS Las Vegas .... Sweet Luxurious Stay. It's beautiful, it's clean, it's modern and has a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. It's a little farther up the strip than you might wish to wander but it's so worth a visit. It's grounds are well kept and the space alien out front, well, he's just awesome. The casino and sportsbook are both small in the SLS, but they're nice and modern - the sportsbook is a William Hill one and on it's counter, one of the cool parts of it's décor are stickers and decals for many many sports teams - football, hockey, baseball ... it's a neat little addition and quite eye catching and unusual. Speaking of nicely decorated, whilst I didn't go in it, the SLS has an awesome looking outdoor pool with the Foxtail bar. Again the décor around it is in a silver and modern style and one of the corners features a huge silver duck ... Despite the size of the SLS, it does have several places to eat and drink.