On Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early at 6am. (I'll go ahead and tell you that our bodies never adjusted to the time change, so we woke up early every day and went to sleep early, too. I think if we had made ourselves stay up the first night we may have been able to get into a new routine, but we just weren't there long enough to truly adjust.) We walked down to the lower level of the resort to grab breakfast at Bouchon Bakery before we went exploring. What we discovered was that the Venetian and Palazzo are two hotels in one connected resort, so you really can't tell when you leave one and enter the other. If doesn't matter which tower you're staying in, your room key gives you access to all of the pools, casinos, and restaurants throughout the resort. The bottom level has multiple restaurants, two casinos, a few shops, and two lobbies. The second level was home to Grand Canal Shoppes and food court which was as big as a free standing mall back home. The third level was where the multiple pools, bars, and spas were located. Then there are the towers of suites that grace each end. Also attached to the resort is the Sands Expo Center where the Orgill Hardware show was located. It was so nice to be able to walk to and from the market without having to actually go outside!
After we walked all through the resort, we spent several hours at the market talking to different vendors and grabbing packets from the ones we were most interested in. We also spent a lot of time in the mock stores that were set up getting a lot of good ideas for our own store. After a late lunch in the canteen, Connor met with some Orgill executives to discuss branding and online commerce, while I went back up to our room for a quick nap.
After a long day and 20,000 steps, we were ready for dinner. A quick search led us to Black Tap on the first level. It had great reviews and an awesome Instagram account, so we decided to try it for ourselves. There was a waiting list, but since we sat outside we were taken straight to our table. If you can stand the heat, I would suggest sitting on the patio because you can watch all of the people walking up and down the strip! We each ordered a burger and a gourmet milkshake. We could have easily shared both items. The food was delicious, the shakes were beautiful and worth their expense, and we left feeling very content! Another quick walk around the hotel , and we were ready to call it a night. We spent the evening going through all of the catalogs and deals from the show, and made a plan of who we wanted to order from the next day.
Friday was our final full day in Vegas, so we wanted to make the most of it. We rose early, grabbed a quick breakfast at ILLY near the hotel lobby, and made our way out to the strip. I had researched online about the best ways to travel the strip, and everyone said to ride the public buses. We purchased a day pass for each of us at the kiosk at the bus stop. When the bus arrived we showed our pass to the transit police and grabbed a seat. What would have taken us an hour to walk, we were able to ride in about 20 minutes. Before arriving in Vegas I thought we would be able to walk the strip in it's entirety, but we quickly realized that it is much longer than it appears on TV!
We decided to ride it all the way to the top of the line and jumped off at Mandalay Bay. From there we walked to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign to take some photos. There was a nice man there offering to take photos of families for tips, so if you're planning a trip I recommend taking some cash with you. He took about 20 pictures of us on my phone and camera and I'm so glad he was there to help! There was a line to get up to the sign, but we only waited for ten minutes.
Another great thing about riding the bus is that you get to see all of the beautiful resorts and things like the Eiffel Tower and New York skyline. We rode back down to the Fashion Show Mall to window shop before walking through our neighbor hotel The Wynn. Walking through this resort felt like entering a Taylor Swift music video circa 2012; incredibly romantic with hot air balloons and a carousel made of flowers. It was breathtaking.
By the time we made our way back to the Venetian, it was time for lunch. We quickly ate at the Grand Canal food court before returning to the hardware show. By now we were well informed and were ready to shop. We placed a few orders, met with our South Carolina representative again, and closed out our account for the market. We left feeling inspired and excited for the new products! Big things are happening at Burdette Hardware, and I can't wait to share more over the next few months.
After we finished up at the market we had about an hour to kill before we needed to get ready for dinner. We decided to
check out the pools and enjoy some time of relaxation. There are many pools at the Venetian, so we were able to find one that wasn't too crowded. Oversized chairs and a cabana bar made for a great way to spend the afternoon!
For dinner we walked across the street to Gilley's Saloon which is under Treasure Island. We were lured in by the possibility of some sweet tea, but sadly found that it was bottled and flavored with lemon. Better than nothing, I guess. The cowboy atmosphere was pretty cool and we were able to watch some good line dancing while we ate. Sufficiently stuffed, we walked down the strip at sunset to see the Bellagio fountains and the volcano erupt at the Mirage. Both of these attractions are free and worth the walk! We loved seeing the strip at night, and walked through the lobby of all the neighboring hotels for a peak inside.
We flew home on Saturday morning. The flight home is about an hour shorter than the trip there, but because of the time difference it was still an all day affair. The sun was setting when we landed in Greenville, but we were just happy to be back in our time zone.