We arrived in Las Vegas Saturday afternoon and went straight to Xiao Long Dumpling in Chinatown to eat. Great meal! My favorites were the soup dumplings and green beans. We grabbed a few goodies from the Chinese bakery next door before heading to the strip to check in at the Linq. Steve settled in to watch football and Norah and I walked around the Linq Promenade and Caesars before it was time for us to leave for our chocolate tasting at Ethel M Chocolates in Henderson. We had four chocolates to taste and identify (pumpkin spice white chocolate, bananas foster truffle, dark chocolate fudge, and lemon satin cream - all delicious) as we learned about the history of Ethel M chocolates and chocolate making. We were thrilled to learn at the end of our tasting that our certificate allowed us to go to the front of the line at the cactus garden (no small thing since the line was super long). The cactus garden is three acres full of 300 types of plants and for the holidays it is decked out with over a million lights and holiday decorations (they start putting up the lights in August!). We spent over an hour wandering the paths to admire the garden and checking out the chocolate shop. On our way back to the hotel we decided to grab a bite to eat and found Ramen Fukumimi along the way - this was a good spot for some ramen, karaage, and a chasu bowl.

Steve was up early the next morning to go for a long hike at Red Rock Canyon. Norah and I slept in and spent the day checking out the strip. We had lunch at Miznon in Venetian (always a favorite), walked through Wynn, went to the Fashion Mall, and visited the conservatory at the Bellagio. We loved the Nutcracker theme this year. We had a tasty dinner at Lindo Michoacan before taking Norah to the airport for her redeye to North Carolina. She would have a week at the beach with Steve’s family and Steve and I would spend our time in Vegas hiking and eating. A win for everyone!