10 Day California Coast Road Trip | Day 1: Las Vegas, Nevada

Overview: Flying from Chicago O’Hare airport to Las Vegas, Nevada. Walking the “Strip”, seeing Bellagio Water Show and eating dinner at the “Sugar Factory”.

Our family LOVES to travel. It’s something that both my husband and I grew up doing with our families…and have prioritized it with our kiddos. While we have driven to all of the past states we’ve visited, this time, we flew and rented a car and drove 1,400 miles for a fun filled 10 day trip!

Day 1: Las Vegas, Nevada

We flew out of Chicago O’Hare airport to Las Vegas International Airport – and of course had to snap a photo in front of our favorite baseball team’s logo! Go Cubs!

Boarded on the plane and excited to fly! We have driven (total classic road trip style) to the other 44 states that they kids have been to. Nevada and California are the first states we flown to that they haven’t visited before.

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First time in Nevada for the kiddos and myself! I hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that I hadn’t been in Nevada before. I was thinking it was one of the Four Corner states, which I had visited as a kid, but it isn’t! So, this was my first time in Nevada as well…the kids and I are officially tied for visiting 46 states! (Clayton had 49 by the time he was 14!)

The airport was loaded with gambling type machines. These machines were actually in our gate right when we exited the plane.

My husband picked the kiddos and I got picked up at the airport, as he had already been in Las Vegas for work. We headed to The Platinum Hotel & Spa (which the kids loved!) and then headed out for a special dinner.

Our hotel was just off the “Strip”, so we walked to our dinner reservations at “Sugar Factory“. We had heard about this restaurant from several YouTube videos, so we figured the kids would be excited! Everyone ordered very interesting and fun looking items…but…truth be told, the food and drinks looked way better than they actually tasted. But, who doesn’t want to eat colorful burgers or a drink a smoking drink? It was worth the experience!

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel, stopping at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino to watch their water show along the way.

One evening in Las Vegas was totally enough for our family. Unfortunately, we were all very uncomfortable walking the “Strip”. On almost every corner, there were multiple people handing out “business cards” to everyone who walked by. Disgustingly, they were images of completely naked women. It was terrible. While no one attempted to hand any to our kids (thankfully), unfortunately the ground was littered with the cards due to people discarding them…so despite our best efforts to block our kids from those wildly inappropriate images, they were everywhere.

The kids were more than ecstatic to leave Las Vegas the next day and head to state #46, California!!