Las Vegas to Los Angeles Adventure

We traveled to Las Vegas to see Aerosmith on their Deuces Are Wild residency and while we were there, we decided to take a bonus Las Vegas to Los Angeles adventure for a day. In Vegas we took in all the sights of the strip including hotels, restaurants and attractions. The highlights were Raiding the Rock Vault and Gordon Ramsay’s Burger. In LA, we took a 7 hour tour that showed us all the sites including Santa Monica Pier, Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive and Hollywood.

Transportation

For our Las Vegas to Los Angeles adventure, we flew from CVG to LAS on American Airlines. If you fly on American and have T-Mobile service, check your flight because there is a good possibility you could have one free hour of WiFi and unlimited texting.

While in Vegas, we mostly took an Uber to get around, we also used the bus system one day which is the best way to get up and down the strip. You can buy a 24 hour pass for $8.00 and go anywhere the bus goes including Downtown and Fremont Street.

A nice thing about Las Vegas is that it is in close proximity to a lot of other tourist destinations. In the past, we have taken tours of Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. This year, we chose to take a Las Vegas to Los Angeles adventure. There are lots of tours that will take you from Las Vegas to LA by bus. You spend five hours driving there and five hours driving back with only a few hours to experience LA. We found a roundtrip flight from Las Vegas to LA for about $100. The flight left at 6AM and our return flight was 8PM. Since it’s only about a 40 minute flight, that left lots of time to explore. We pre-booked a seven hour tour with Hollywood City Tours. We took an Uber from LAX to the tour office and had extra time to stop for breakfast. When our tour was over, we just took an Uber back to LAX and were back in Vegas in no time.

Accommodations

For this adventure, we decided to stay on the Strip at Mandalay Bay. We liked the location of this hotel at the top of the Strip and that it also offers a tram to Luxor and Excalibur making it easy to get to the rest of the Strip.

We had a deluxe, king-size room with a view of the Strip. The room was very modern and clean and more than just a hotel room. Our bathroom had two sinks, a large walk-in shower and large soaking tub.

While there is obviously a huge casino, there are also lots of shops, restaurants, a spa and beach/pool area. When we got back from our busy day in LA, we found a relaxing day at the pool was the perfect way to recharge. There is a wave pool, lazy river as well as several pools and hot tubs. We never felt like it was too crowded. Throughout the day there were plenty of servers walking around to provide food and beverages. Private cabanas are also available for rent if that is something you would like to do.

Food, food and more food

Every time we go to Vegas, we enjoy the brunch buffet at Mandalay Bay’s Bayside Buffet. We were very excited when our flight arrived just in time for us to make it to the brunch buffet. After a long day of traveling and airport food, we were definitely ready! If you’ve ever eaten at a buffet in Vegas, you know they are something special and the brunch buffet at Mandalay is our favorite. Just about anything you can think of is on the buffet. From salads and breads, french toast, omelets, tacos, rice, steak and carved turkey to all kinds of seafood. And the desserts…let’s just say I had more than one plate. 🙂 If you are ever in Vegas on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, check out the brunch buffet at Mandalay Bay.

Our Las Vegas to Los Angeles adventure tour in LA included lunch at The Grove. This is an area of shops, groceries, produce and a massive food court. There were so many options from which to choose, we had a hard time deciding. With only an hour for our stop, we had to choose quickly so we tried Deano’s Pizza. We both got the meatball sub and shared some fries. It was very good and much better than just your average food court meal. We had a little bit of time left for shopping and got our Hollywood picture frame. Every new place we visit, we get a picture frame and put our favorite picture from our trip in it. I don’t know exactly how many frames we have, but we have a bookcase full.

One of our friends told us about Gordon Ramsay Burger and told us we needed to try it. We looked at the menu before-hand and knew there were a lot of things we wanted to try so we shared just about everything. We started with the onion rings which came with chipotle ketchup and cheddar ranch dip that was amazing. Then we got the Backyard Burger and Truffle Parmesan fries (these are both in the above picture.) I can honestly say, that was the best burger and fries I have ever had, and I have had A LOT! We finished with an Oreo Creme Brulee shake and chocolate Creme Brulee shake (there was no way I was going to share this.) Oh my goodness. I don’t think the word “shake” did those justice. If you ever get the chance, eat at Gordon Ramsay Burger!

Before the Aerosmith concert, we decided to try Eataly in the Park MGM. This was basically an Italian food court. You could get anything from pizza, pasta, meats and cheeses to wine and dessert. We got a real Italian pizza made with sauce, mozzarella and basil, and also got ravioli and gelato. I wanted to try a meat and cheese tray but I was just too full. This was such a neat place and idea. I wish we had had another day to go back. We’ll add it to the list for next time!

Activities

Being the vinyl collectors we are, we wanted to check out a place called On The Record at Park MGM. Normally, this is a club where vinyl is featured and you can even shop from a selection of vinyl records. It just so happened on the night we went, they were having the official Aerosmith after-party featuring Rev Run of Run DMC. As you recall, Run DMC and Aerosmith collaborated in the 80’s on the song “Walk This Way.” We haven’t been “clubbing” in a long time and maybe even felt our age a little bit. We had a great time and felt young for a night.

With just 45 minutes of sleep after our night of “clubbing,” we made our way to McCarran Airport to head out to our adventure in LA. In just a short flight, we were ready to take LA by storm. We made our way to Hollywood City Tours and boarded a nice, roomy bus with about 15 other tourists for our seven hour tour. The company also offers shorter tours. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable as he drove us to all the different locations. We drove down Sunset Strip and saw iconic music venues like Rainbow, Whisky A Go Go and The Viper Room. We then headed through Beverly Hills toward Santa Monica Pier where we had an hour to look around and explore the pier and beach. Then we headed to The Grove for lunch and after that made our way to Rodeo Drive. We spent about an hour there looking at all the shops, watching the exotic cars drive by and even got to check out the Beverly Wilshire Hotel where Pretty Woman was filmed. After having our fill of window shopping, we made our way to Griffith Observatory. As we drove up, we saw Steven Spielberg’s house which was featured in the Iron Man movies as Tony Stark’s house. The view from the Observatory is known for being amazing and it did not disappoint. We had awesome views of the Hollywood sign, LA and the snow-covered mountains. We ended our tour on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We saw the stars from some of our favorite celebrities like Bob Hope, Jim Henson, Ingrid Bergman, BB King and Jimi Hendrix. We also saw the Dolby Theater where the Academy Awards are held and the stars walk the red carpet. Then we had just enough time to stop at the Hard Rock Cafe and get my t-shirt that I like to collect.

The last time we were in Vegas, we checked out a show called Raiding the Rock Vault and we enjoyed it so much we made sure to see it again this time also. In case you are not familiar with Raiding the Rock Vault it is classic rock songs played by musicians from well-known bands. You even get a chance to meet the performers after the show. For a full review from The Music Room click on this link:
http://themusicroom.me/raiding-the-rock-vault-a-rockin-time-in-vegas/

The purpose of our Las Vegas to Los Angeles adventure was to see Aerosmith on their Deuces Are Wild residency at Park MGM. There is so much to say about the evening and the show. A full review from The Music Room is available here:
http://themusicroom.me/aerosmith-deuces-are-wild-in-las-vegas-4-8-19/ But for now, we can tell you it was worth making the trip and is a night we will never forget. Experiences like this, are why we are doing what we are doing here at The Music Room Adventures. Experiences won’t come to you. Get out and make your dreams a reality!