With Garth Brooks ending his residency at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace, I wanted to see him live before his tour ended. Sylvia had seen him many years ago during a tour that passed through San Antonio, but I had always heard how great his live shows were. And they weren't lying!

Since we were going to his show at Caesar's Palace, I reserved a room at that hotel for convenience. THAT HOTEL WAS HUGE! It took us 14 minutes to walk from our room to the Colosseum forum.

The decor of the hotel was beautiful, though.

The first day there, we decided to eat a little upscale at Gordon Ramsay's Bar and Grill!

We ordered the Beef Wellington (something neither I nor Sylvia had ever eaten) with potatoes and carrots, the Caesar's salad, and the toffee sticky pudding. Of course, instead of wine, we ordered the Spiced Pear drinks, which were delicious and STRONG!! After a long day of travel and libations, it was time to head to the room and rest!


The next morning was a special surprise for Sylvia. She said that she had never seen the Grand Canyon, so what better way to see it than in a helicopter ride (which she also had never taken) over the Grand Canyon. The first picture is the Grand Canyon from our plane as we were approaching Las Vegas! The middle picture is Sylvia waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the helicopter pad!

Our pilot, Jimmy, had been flying helicopters for 12 years now. He was funny and entertaining as he pointed out a number of things during our flight, including a passover of Hoover Dam and Lake Meade created by damming up the Colorado River.

In addition to flying over the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, the pilot then landed on the floor of the Canyon where we enjoyed a snack meal and some Champagne. It was a beautiful clear, cool morning... just perfect for a trip like this! The scenery was amazing! In one picture, our pilot is feeding one of the chipmunks that came up to the table for some of our food.



Interesting fact: It is estimated that the whole canyon was completely underwater 7 times in the history of it's formation. Also, all of the grooves and valleys were etched & eroded over 6 million years by the then raging Colorado River!

On the way back to the airbase, the pilot then took us through the downtown Las Vegas strip. We flew from the downtown Freemont Street area all the way down the 'strip'. Note the Statosphere in the first picture!

The last picture of the MGM Grand shows you just how close we got to some of the buildings.

We finished the flight by early afternoon. Not having eaten anything at that point except some champagne, we decided to visit the restaurant, Fletcha Cantina. Before our trip, I had read that Mark Wahlberg opened this restaurant in Las Vegas where he and his family reside. The food was delicious. Unfortunately, with the huge appetizer that we ordered containing nachos, quesadillas, flautas, avocado and cheese, we couldn't finish it all and much of it eventually went wasted. And, NO! , we didn't bump into Mark Wahlberg during our meal!

After a hearty meal, we took off for a museum that Sylvia had read about, the Arte Museum located at the Shops of Crystals on the strip. It was one of those immersive exhibitions where the images fill the whole room! A static picture really doesn't do it justice. There is a short video at the bottom of this page, however!

Then, after the Arte Museum and before the last item on our bucket list for the day, THE HIGH-ROLLER ferris wheel, Sylvia just had to visit her dispensary for some CBD/THC gummies! That's where Planet 13 came in!


As the sun was going down and the early evening was approaching, we went to the High-Roller! We missed it on our last trip due to lack of time, but made time this trip! To be honest, after seening everything from a helicopter, the High-Roller was less impressive. But one thing we did get a good look at was the Sphere, one of the newest additions to Las Vegas!

Note the changing patterns and colors of the Sphere which was huge!


With the helicopter ride, the Arte Museum, Planet 13, the High-Roller and a big dinner at Fletcha's Cantina, we were worn out and headed back to the hotel room. By that time, the hours had slipped by and it was around 9 p.m., way past MY bedtime!

We slept in late and decided at that point to visit some of the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace while we were waiting for the Garth Brooks show later that evening! We stopped in the Americano Bar and Grill and found out that they serve breakfast until 3 p.m. Not only that, the restaurant is open 24 hours a day, so we even made plans to stop there after the show ended later that evening!

We stumbled upon a 'show' that we had seen before. It was entitled THE SINKING OF ATLANTIS! The animatronics of the 'statues' was a little dated, but it was interesting to see.


Of course, we had to take pictures next to a variety of statues that adorned the place. Here I am with a statue of Joe Louis and Julius Caesar!

And finally, there was the concert! I believe Garth Brooks was a born entertainer! For the next two hours the man did not let up. He played a number of his own country hits as well as hits by some of his favorite artists!

Through it all, he told background stories and anecdotes. The whole experience was even greater than I had expected! And when he 'appeared' to be finished, he came back and did a few more songs including a rousing rendition of "Friends in Low Places" that literally brought the house to it's feet!

Well, we knew on the way back to the room that our long-awaited trip to Las Vegas was coming to an end. But, you can't go to Las Vegas without at least trying some gambling. I have to say though that I probably lost more than I won. Sylvia had better luck on the slots than I did and won about $90. Just a cherry on top of a great time that we had on our second trip to Las Vegas!

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