Las Vegas with kids? Totally do-able!
We recently took to the roads for Thanksgiving to journey to Las Vegas, Nevada to visit friends who had moved there recently. Our kids massively missed their friend and I was looking forward to an adventure.
Boy, did we get an adventure!
First, we left on Thanksgiving day. All was well......Until.....it wasn't. There was a massive winter storm that decided to happen that day. Highways closed and we ended up getting stuck in Bakersfield right at the bottom of the Tehachapi Pass due to parked traffic and a closed highway from the snow, accidents and dangerous conditions.
We enjoyed dinner at Denny's that night instead of a nice home cooked turkey dinner.
But at least we were all safe and together.
---Note to self: Don't travel on holidays-----
We finished the trek the next day and made a stop in Baker, California.
They have the giant thermometer there which read a cool temp of 54 degrees. MUCH HOTTER IN THE SUMMER, cold in the winter-Thank Goodness!
They also have the Alien Jerky store which was SO COOL. Great photo ops. there with flying saucers and lots of aliens. Grab some Alien Jerky for the road trip-it's YUMMY! They are expanding it to be an alien themed hotel as well which we look forward to staying at in the future.
On the way into Nevada, there is a bunch of stuff to see and do. Make time to get a few stops in!
While in Nevada, we stayed at the Marriott's Grand Chateau which is right off the main strip.
It's VERY family friendly and they have an activities room just like a typical time share would have with a Xbox, board games, air hockey and Foosball.
They had a great activity schedule as well. We enjoyed the photo op with Santa and then decorated cookies and stockings. They had scavenger hunts, build a bear making, holiday movie night with gingerbread house making. So much to do just at the hotel!
Everything in the marketplace here is very pricey though! Be prepared with your own food and water.
The room was nice and big with a kitchen, living room, laundry, and big TUB.The kids always love bathing in the giant bath tubs. I love big hotel rooms like that because I don't have to worry about my kids and their noise levels. 3 boys make a lot of noise, okay!
We had planned to do so much on the strip, but it was super busy out there and my husband wasn't exactly comfortable with our boys being exposed to the woman with just nipple tassels on in broad daylight. So, we spent the day in Boulder City, Nevada where the Hoover Dam is.
I always love a history lesson. It's maybe a 40 min drive form the strip, not too bad. $10 parking and you can walk across the outer rim of the Dam.
(We didn't pay for the tours because access into the visitor;s center was another $10 per person!)
Instead, we went to the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum-which is free admission for all. And it was kid friendly. They took the passport sheet to get their stamps throughout the museum and answer the questions on the back. I loved that we were still able to learn about life in the city and for the workers when the Dam was being built...for free!
We stopped to eat at a cute little restaurant and then visited another alien store along with an antique shop.
Boulder City has a ton of museums and cute little shops.
They have the Boulder Railroad Museum but we didn't get a chance to stop there.
Instead, we ran into Tom Devlin's Monster Museum! SO FLIPPIN' RAD! It was cool for my kids because they have a weird soft spot in their hearts for Michael Meyers and Freddy.
The walk through admission is $15 a person. But it was worth it because the monster recreations were sick! It wasn't scary. Displayed in a classy manner but makes you want to post all the pictures and make people jealous because it's so cool. Definitely recommend making a quick stop here.
Next trip, we hope to spend more time on the strip. I wanted to take the kids to M&M World or Hershey World. And we want to check out all the hotels on the strip and enjoy the views they have to offer.
There is just SO MUCH to do in and around Las Vegas.
Here's a list of some more fun, kid-friendly activities to look into.
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