Day 2: Sunday / NYE

(Missed Day 1? Find it HERE)

The plan today is to hit as much of Downtown as we can (and whatever is open on a Sunday – a holiday weekend, no less).

Lots to see today, so up-n-at-’em, and hoofing it up the Strip.

We stopped in at CIRCUS CIRCUS to catch the free acts, but we were too early – the shows don’t start until 10, and we didn’t feel like waiting.  Circus Circus is in dire need of an upgrade, but it does give you a sense of what Vegas *used* to be like.

Continuing up LV Boulevard, we reached the “Arts District”.  Or maybe I should say planned Arts District, because while they’ve made some progress since our last visit a year or two ago, it still isn’t “there”.  There are a couple galleries scattered about – all were closed, this being the holiday Sunday I mentioned before.  They are on the way, we were assured.

What there IS now, and what’s worth a visit, is the street art & murals. A number were pretty recent, and references the mass shooting back in October ‘17… #vegasstrong appeared several times. Anyway, you can easily spend an hour or two crisscrossing the street grid and alleys, soaking up dozens of hot spots.

We enjoyed this, and stopped for a bite & bev at RICK’s ROLLING SMOKE BBQ joint.  It’s owned by the guys from Pawn Stars, next door – which, btw, was a very busy tourist spot.  The best part about this place is it’s housed in shipping containers.  Sort of.  We’ll leave it at that.

Further up the road, we discovered the Downtown Container Park.  The brainchild of (the late) Tony Hseih of Zappos, it covers some 20,000 sq feet, and is a pretty cool place to catch a snack or drink.  You can come during the day like we did, or visit at night, when the praying mantis sculpture out front gets fired up.  Literally.

The Container Park sits on Fremont Street, which is clearly being developed as Vegas’ answer to  Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Daytona Beach and anywhere else you want to overeat, over-imbibe, pay too much for T-shirts and go ziplining. You think I’m kidding?  You can eat a 4-pound sandwich at the Heart Attack Grill and puke it all over the crowd below while you zip down sensory-overload freakshow that is the Fremont Street Experience.

But play your cards right, and just up the road you’ll find a real treat.  The NEON MUSEUM is a boneyard for some of the most famous of Vegas’ signs, like the Saraha. Your guided tour takes only about an hour, but it’s well worth it.  PRO TIP: make your reservation for the dusk tour.  Earlier, and none of the signs will be lit, later and there won’t be enough light to really see & shoot those adorable selfies.

Back down towards Fremont is the MOB MUSEUM.  I’ve been looking forward to this place since meeting a bunch of their staffers at a museum conference.   Plus, Vegas & Mob… what’s more natural?  I’m lukewarm on this place after our visit.  Maybe we felt rushed, maybe we were already too wiped out from all the walking… but we felt there was too much text, not enough artifacts.  It didn’t really hold our interest, and we left in under an hour.

Oh.  PRO TIP: if you *are* doing both, you can get a combo ticket for Mob and Neon museums and save a few shekels.

By now, were were hungry and thirsty again, and with our NYE party not kicking off until 1030pm, we decided to grab a quick something.  We settled on the Triple George Grill. Seemed overpriced for a couple beers and a beet salad. Whatever, it didn’t wow us, and we likely won’t be back.

Next up – grab our first-ever Lyft (yeah, I know…).  Bonus: everywhere around the Strip you’ll find discount code cards for Lyft and Uber, which purport to save you either a percentage or set dollar amount.  Which was good, because the police were already shutting down LVB for the fireworks show, and traffic sucked.

Back to the room, a quick freshen up and cocktail, and it was time to head up to Vortex at the LINQ for NYE.  This was a lot of fun, and a good spot to see at least 3 of the simultaneous, coordinated fireworks displays launched from 6 (?) different casinos.  Tix for this party were around $200 each, and included open bar, heavy hors d’oeuvres, with DJs and party favors.  You can do it for free on the street, with 300,000 of your new best friends…but how can you go wrong with a rooftop party!?  Alternatively, if you are in the mood for a private party, you can rent one of the High Roller cabins, for something around $2500.

I think we packed it in around 130am, which made New Years Day a little rough.