Exploring Vegas in the heat - July is HOT but so are the activities!

Last week I visited Las Vegas for the third time in three years. Each trip has been uniquely different. This time, we opted for the Go City unlimited pass. What a different experience we had.

We saw a show a night including:

• The Rat Pack is Back!

• Paino Man

• Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil at New York-New York (our favorite Cirque show yet!)

• Carpenters Legacy

• Timeshare Perk - Lady Gaga Jazz and Piano (Simply amazing performance)

We also experienced other great attractions including:

• Hop-on Hop-off Big Bus Daytime Tour (great way to get around and learn about the city at the same time)

• High Roller Observation Wheel

• Senor Frogs (food credit - yum!)

• FlyOver: The Ultimate Ride

• Discovering King Tut's Tomb at the Luxor

• Real Bodies at Horseshoe Las Vegas

• Las Vegas Downtown - Fremont St Walking Tour (I LOVE walking tours!)

A 4-day unlimited pass ran about $250 a person, but with a solid plan, we experienced 11 attractions including a premium Cirque show all for about $23 each. We used the Bus to help us save on transportation since we could get down to Fremont Street via the bus. The free trains along the strip also helped get us around. The week we were in Vegas was record breaking temps near 120 degrees so although I love to walk and we ranged from 15k to 25k steps daily, transportation was a must!

In my opinion, walking tours are the best way to get familiar with any city you visit. I did one in LA last month and of course had to do one in Vegas this time. Fremont street has an interesting history and a reputation to match. What I loved the most was that Old Vegas is bringing back some of the history that has since been covered up. Most of the new buildings in Old Vegas are old, just covered up so the history can still be seen. They are even bringing back the old bling - there are 28 old signs as of today back on display such as the Apache Indian and the giant Cowboy.

With all these activities, I had very little desire to gamble, although New York - New York on our last night was good to us. :-) Surprisingly, all three trips have been different and offer great new experiences. There were a lot of kids this time, I mean school is out, but as Lady Gaga said in her show, if you brought your kid to my show tonight, it's not my f**king problem. I would like to keep my kid from the glitz, glamour, and extremes of Vegas until he is old enough to enjoy Vegas for what it is. We had a blast. Until next time Vegas.