Probably the last place you want to go during a global health crisis is Las Vegas. The casinos, the shows, the dining — I can’t imagine any of those experiences being particularly safe right now.
However, if you find yourself passing through Vegas at night, as we did on our recent long weekend trip to hike in Grand Canyon National Park, I would recommend considering a socially distanced and masked outdoor walk around the Strip!
I had never been to Vegas (or even Nevada) before. I don’t gamble, and while I’ve long been curious about the Sin City appeal, it’s simply not made it’s way to the top of our travel list.
The couple hours we spent walking around outside as we were passing through was just the ticket. Brian found us free parking a couple blocks away from the Bellagio, we masked up, and although we didn’t go in anywhere, we had plenty to experience walking up and down the sidewalks.
I really enjoyed seeing everything lit up at night, but my favorite moment was crossing ‘experience the Bellagio Fountain’ off my bucket list. There were very few people out so we had front-row, socially distanced spots along the water to watch the show.
We lucked out that our ‘show’ was an incredible waterworks display that accompanied Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean – a classic! Great music, amazing water features, and a wonderful experience just standing together and taking it all in. For me, it definitely lived up to the hype!
I actually think the experience would have been sub-optimal if it were normal times and we had been crammed along the railing with thousands of other people; a silver lining of visiting when we did.
We did a quick down and back loop of the strip with Brian recalling things that were the same and different from his journey through on his motorcycle many years ago. I was enamored with the Venetian; Brian couldn’t believe there was a White Castle!
I’m sure we will find ourselves in Vegas again someday to catch a show or to kick off a trip to Death Valley. For now, I’m content to have finally experienced Vegas by walking the Strip at night.
Heather's Compass 