Something that is a bit of a hobby for my boyfriend Joseph is collecting hotel points and airline miles. I love that he does this because it means going on various ‘staycation’ around the area, and it insentivizes him to take us places locally that we wouldn’t otherwise go. For example, the Lake Tahoe trip was planned because he needed to complete a Hyatt promotion. More recently, we made several trips back-to-back out to Indio for another Hyatt challenge.
The most recent promo has something to do with IHG hotels. I don’t quite remember what exactly it is (he’s always rambling about one promotion or another), but this promo took us out to the Las Vegas area for one night’s stay.
OKAY, we didn’t exactly stay in Vegas. Rather, we stayed about fifteen minutes outside of Vegas to a city called Henderson. It is there that a Holiday Inn Express was located.
Did we visit Vegas once we we were in the area? Nope.
To be honest, it was a rather boring ‘Vegas’ trip. There was no gambling, no night clubbing, no fancy restaurants. Instead, our road trip to Vegas included plenty of fast food dining, HGTV marathon, a ridiculous pizza call, and a slow ride back.
Out in the South (of the US), there seems to be a chain burger joint called Steak and Shake that is quite popular. Kind of like the In-N-Out of California. I’ve only visited once, on the state border of Nevada and California, in an outdated casino. It seems like the franchise has expanded since then because we saw another one on California soil while we drove out to Nevada.
I had been dreaming about their burgers since I had my first one last year, and this meal did not disappoint. Uuuugh, so good. Their fries are reminiscent of McDonald’s and their shakes are so much better than In-N-Out’s, imo.
We drove off once more, stopping at the outlet shop on the state border. Nevada Outlet Center, I think it’s called. Dunno. It’s the outlet by the rollercoaster-barn-casino.
WOW is that outlet such a sad excuse for an outlet. There were a handful of stores that was good – Gap, Banana Republic, Kate Spade (though tiny), and a couple of others.
But honestly, don’t bother coming here if you’re planning to go to Vegas. Just go to their outlet shops.
My small bladder means we have to stop constantly for restroom stops. Whoops.
At a random gas station on our way to the hotel, there was a Dairy Queen. I could not resist a sip of Orange Julius but hooooly hell is it way overpriced. This rinky-dinky drink is nearly SIX BUCKS! Highway robbery, I tell you! (Normally I get the large drink for $5. This places charges $8 for a large).
Henderson is an interesting city, or rather, it’s not. It’s nothing like the Strip of Vegas. It’s very flat, full of suburban houses that look just like its neighbor. There are shopping centers, and the roads are sooo wide. But it seems to have a well thought out landscape. The landlines are integrated very well into the cityscape (very different than LA), and there are various art projects scattered around that beautifies the city.
Finally, we get to the hotel. Nothing special as it’s just a Holiday Inn Express.
I was so tired from the long car ride that, even though it was only 4:30, the bed was the only place I wanted to spend the rest of the night. HGTV became my best friend – a marathon of Property Brothers and Property Virgins.
Then at 6:30, we ordered some Papa John’s Pizza. I thought this would be a good eat-in food, and there was a coupon in the hotel for $12 for any size. Plus, it’s been ages since I’ve had some of their delicious pizza.
After he placed the order, Joseph said it was the weirdest phone call he’s ever had. The guy on the phone kept saying ‘hold on’ and disappearing, and after way too long of a conversation (a lot of it was idle waiting), the guy said the pizza would be getting to our room in an hour and a half.
AN HOUR AND A HALF.
WTH…… This is so not normal.
But we said okay and waited patiently for our pizza.
An hour and a half passes, and we call back. Apparently, the pizza is en-route but they only put in the order half an hour ago. They were “too busy” to put in the order at the time that we called. So to make it convenient for them, they put the order in an hour after we called. How is this a thing?!?
The next day, we were out first thing in the morning, wanting to beat the traffic back to LA. There have been horror stories where Sunday trips take a whopping eight hours. Yikes.
A quick stop at Steak and Shake for lunch and another stop at Barstow outlet, we made it back to LA in good time.
Lol, I know this post is definitely not what you’d expect for a Vegas trip. Teeeechnically, it’s not a Vegas trip. However, I’m positive the next time we go to that area, it’s going to be more about the Strip than the outer rims of Vegas, haha. Hope I didn’t bore you too much! Haha.
I’d love to hear some suggestions on what to do in Vegas for next time, though – restaurants, attractions, etc.
