Thanksgiving in Vegas

We decided to go non-traditional for Thanksgiving this year. Since this was our first time spending the holiday away from our families, the thought of having Thanksgiving alone in the Airstream was a little sad. So we decided to go to Las Vegas and spend it with about a million other people. We arrived on Wednesday and parked for free behind the Paris Hotel & Casino. It’s not an official overnight parking lot, but it’s a pretty well known stop for RVers on the Internet. We arrived to find 8-10 other rigs already in the parking lot.

Our spot in the line up of RVs

We spent two days wandering around and taking in the views.

Vegas by day: Paris hotel & Casino, cool skyscrapers, the New York skyline, The Grand Canal, Nice landscaping at the Wynn

Taking a break in the shade

Vegas by night: Lighted palms, fountains at the Bellagio, the Cosmopolitan, Palm trees and lights in front of Planet Hollywood

Colored tree at the Venetian, Volcano eruption at the Mirage, Winter scene at the Venetian, “ice” skating

In between taking in the sights we also got to hang out with some fellow Airstreamers. Leigh and Brian of the Aluminarium blog are staying here in Vegas for the month and suggested a meet up while we were in town. We’ve been following their blog since long before we began our travels so it was almost like we already knew them. It was great to meet them in person and talk all things Airstream and life on the road. As it turns out they are also planning on heading out to Lake Mead sometime this weekend so hopefully we can spend more time getting to know them.

Leigh and Brian

For our Thanksgiving meal we went buffet style. It seemed the thing to do since this is the one day of the year when you’re practically expected to pig out. After some research we decided on the Wicked Spoon buffet at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino. This is a fairly new hotel and the buffet has gotten rave reviews all around. It also seemed like a great deal at $44 per person. The only drawback to a Vegas Thanksgiving buffet is that you almost always have to wait in line for hours. It turns out we’re not the only one’s who think a buffet on Thanksgiving is a good idea. We expected a 2-3 hour wait, but only ended up waiting an hour and half. I think we must have timed it just right because when we left the line had doubled, or maybe even tripled, in length. We also timed it right because when we got to the pay counter it was still in the brunch window (2:30), but by the time we got seated they were just putting out the dinner items. Which means that we saved money and got dinner for the brunch price of only $33 each!

Waiting in line

So many plates of food

Tim taking a break between plates

Scenes from the Cosmopolitan: Art-o-Mat, Snazzy carpet, Impressive animated art in the lobby, A cool dog

Two days was plenty of time to walk around and see everything we wanted to see. According to Map My Fitness we walked around 17 miles! It was fun to be in the hustle and bustle of the city, but now we’re ready to go back to the peace and solitude of nature for awhile.