First night in Las Vegas, Nevada

I couldn't believe it. I was going to Las Vegas! I wasn't quite sure what to expect since it was my first time there.

I finished packing by Monday since my flight was on Tuesday. I was going to get there a few hours later after Chen since I decided to go to Vegas a few months after she booked her ticket I had to book mines separately. I had to take 2 flights to get to Las Vegas, which was kind of annoying. My first flight departed at SMF at 6:25pm and my ending flight arrived in Las Vegas at 9:30pm.

 The first thing I see when I walked out of Las Vegas was a slot machine. I thought that was cool for an airport. I knew I was definitely in Las Vegas then.

 When I first arrived in Las Vegas, I took the shuttle to the hotel. There were shuttle options, but the first thing I saw when I walked out of the doors was the Showtime shuttle and did not notice the Supershuttle to my right. The shuttle was very fast and the shuttle stopped at my hotel first.

When I arrived at the hotel, I met with Chen and we went to go eat at Earl's Sandwich place. It was one of the places I researched and I was interested in dining there. I liked my sandwich. I thought that it was good and it was enough food for me that night. I think I could have fit in dessert though.

After eating, me and Chen explored the strip a bit. I thought that the strip looked very pretty at night. I love looking at tall buildings and different bright colored lights.

I wanted to get the Paris souvenir cup that night because I didn't want to carry it around in the morning. I immediately noticed the bar that I was able to get the Eiffel tower cup, as well as the Paris porcelain cup. I decided to get the Paris porcelain cup because I found it more unique. I got it with the drink inside. but I didn't like it too much and dumped it all out.

I thought that the Paris hotel was very nice. It was beautifully designed and I appreciated the Paris replicas and other designs of the hotel. After exploring the Paris hotel, we decided to head back to get enough rest for the next day. I was quite excited to explore more of the strip.

Las Vegas Souvenirs

When I knew I was going to go to Las Vegas, I knew I had to bring souvenirs back. Most of my friends would most likely not have a chance to go to Las Vegas in the future, so I wanted to at least bring a piece of it back for them. 

I certainly didn't know much about Las Vegas until I traveled there, but I did know about some popular souvenirs. Among the popular ones were keychain, shot glasses or cups, and dice. And, yes, I purchased all of those and more.

When I was in high school, I went to Pismo Beach in San Luis Obispo, CA. While I was there, I had the opportunity to shop for souvenirs. One of the items I decided to purchase was a t-shirt for my dad. My dad wore the t-shirt so much, it wore off. So, I know that a Las Vegas t-shirt for him is a must. Emily requested for a t-shirt so I had to get her one as well. Also, I thought a t-shirt would be a perfect souvenir for my friend.

I did end up getting the t-shirts at shops near my hotel. I bought two of the shirts at the small local store that advertised shirts "4 for $9.99". I was interested in that deal, but there wasn't that many selection of shirts I wanted there. But, I did end up getting 2 shirts for my brother and my friend for $2.99 each. I did see any girl shirts there for sale, so I decided to purchase Emily's shirt at ABC stores. 

Before heading to Las Vegas, I wanted to do some research of some must get souvenirs and glass or cups were among one of the items on the list. I wanted to get a unique cup to bring back home with me, but also one that wasn't a gigantic size or that expensive either. I found out about the cups at the Paris hotel, so I wanted to get one of those. There's a cup that's a see through Eiffel tower and there's also a Paris porcelain cup. I decided to get the Paris porcelain cup because it was more unique. I got the cup with a drink, but the drink wasn't good, so I dumped all of it out.

One of the souvenirs from Las Vegas that I really wanted to get was a shot glass. More specifically, I wanted a shot glass that had text relating to girls having fun, such as "girls night out". I tried looking for one of those shot glasses at Bonanza, but couldn't find the type I was looking for though. There were many other selections I could have chose from at Bonanza and I got 2 there. I did end up getting the type of shot glass I wanted at a small local store. I wanted a shot glass specifically for myself, but I got 2 extra, so I think I might end up giving those two to my friends. 

While I was at Bonanza, I also looked for other gifts besides shot glasses. Bonanza considers itself as the "world's largest gift shop," so I explored and tried to get something out of the box while I was there. I ended up getting some keychains, so I can easily give those to a few friends. I also got 2 small bells there that includes a rotating dice, which I thought was pretty cool. I think my favorite idea that I purchased there was a small decorative glass case.

There's the Hershey's store in Las Vegas, as well as Coca-Cola and M&M. I thought that there was a good possibility that I would get a souvenir at one of those spots. I didn't want to buy chocolate though because it would melt and Las Vegas is pretty hot. There were cool chocolate souvenirs I saw though, like the biggest Hershey's bar, statue of liberty chocolate, and different flavored chocolates at the candy stores. When me and Chen browsed through Coca-Cola, we noticed a spot that we can go and take pictures with the polar bear. There's a photographer there that will take a picture with a phone and another photographer taking photos you can purchase upstairs. I ended up getting pictures from both my phone, as well as purchasing additional photos.

Before leaving Las Vegas, Chen wanted to get a gift to Natalie, so we tried browsing through the candy shops, but decided to get something for her at ABC stores. At that time, I thought I wasn't going to get anymore souvenirs. But, then, Chen pointed out the dice, which is like signature. I ended up purchasing 2 of them. Then, I noticed some glass figures of planes, heels, and cars and they were just so cute. I bought the plane. I thought I was going to stop there then I noticed really cute wine toppers. I purchased 2 of them. One of them was a glass figure of cards and the other was a skull. I thought they were very cute and unique.

I'm very happy with the souvenirs that I purchased. I purchased some classic gifts, as well as some unique souvenirs. There's some that I think are so cute, I don't ever want to give away. I gave some of the souvenirs away and my friends and family members were happy with me gifts, so I'm a happy camper. I think that shopping for souvenirs added to my experience there, which was a good experience. Not to mention, I can also make a huge scrapbook from the 300 photos I took from Las Vegas. Now, I can't wait until the next time I travel again!

Baldwin Beach & First Time Camping in South Lake Tahoe

On Saturday, I went to Lake Tahoe with a friend. I was quite excited since it was my first time in Lake Tahoe. I was supposed to go to Lake Tahoe with a group of my friends around this time, but they never finalized the details so it hasn't happened yet.

So, me and my friend originally planned on leaving Sacramento and head out to Lake Tahoe at 6am. I didn't get out of work until 5:08am though. I decided to just fill up on gas and pick up stuff and leave. I didn't feel tired while driving to #LakeTahoe, but the sun was shining so brightly on my eyes! I couldn't drive very fast since I couldn't see much of the road ahead of me. It took my about 2 hours to drive to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento that morning. There were lots of passing lanes, which I appreciated.

I was amazed by the scenery of Lake Tahoe on the drive to the destinations. I love how the tall height of the trees. I like the mountains. I was terrified at one point when I was driving because I noticed how high we were on the mountain. It was magnificent though. 

Our first destination was Baldwin beach. I knew that I definitely wanted to go to a beach in Lake Tahoe. I researched a few beaches and there were a lot of beautiful beaches. I think I decided #Baldwinbeach because I read that it was more secluded and it seemed closer. I also like the view of the mountain and lake at the same time. 

When we first got to the beach, we noticed a hot air balloon. I thought it was cool, but wished it was closer, so that we would have a better view. I think we were the first ones at the beach that day! The parking lot was completely empty until we showed up.

I also noticed some grills and tables that are just right off the parking lot. Too bad, I didn't get to see anyone use them that day.

I dont know why, but I enjoyed the small walk to the beach. I didn't like the sand as much though.

Since we were the first ones on the beach, we had it all to ourselves for a bit, which was nice. The view far from us looked gloomy, but nice nonetheless.

 There was paddleboats, canoe boats, and other stuff already on the beach when we got there. It wasn't long until staff came to assist those who wanted to rent the boats and other items.

I really like the water at the Baldwin beach. It was clear and clean. The waves weren't too strong. It was cold, but eventually I got used to it. I'm glad that when I first arrived I took a dip in the water.

For lunch, we had burgers, soda, and some chips. I ate 2 burgers and some chips, but I was still kind of hungry, but I was ok for at the moment.

While swimming and looking at the scenery, we notice others starting to come in and participating in water activities. It looked so cool and something fun to do.

I think jet skiing was probably the most fun looking activity.

Lately, I been spending more time on Pinterest and one of my favorite things to look at is things to do and travel. I remembered that I saw a hair flip picture on Pinterest and knew that I just had to do it sometime.

Ah, there's no other feeling that being in nice water. I'm glad that the water wasn't that deep. I'm also glad that there wasn't that many rocks there, which made it easier to put my feet in the sand. I didn't go to far though because I didn't really know how to swim well.

I think around 11 was when the beach started to get really packed and there was people all over the beach. I sort of wanted to walk along the beach, but then again I know that walking on beaches can take a long time from my experience at Limantour Beach in Point Reyes.

 At noon, we decided to leave and look for a walk in camping spot. When we were leaving the Baldwin Beach parking lot, one of the rangers waved at us, which was cool. I also noticed that there was a long line of cars waiting to get in since the parking lot was full and I think that a car only gets to come in once another car leaves.

I haven't ever went camping before, but I wanted to go. We first tried calling places around us. We originally were going to go to Mount Rose, which was over an hour drive from the current spot, but I didn't exactly feeling driving further, so we contacted closer campgrounds. I believe it was DL Bliss Campground that told me that they still had spots open and couldn't sell spots until 12pm, so we drove to there only to find out they were full. The volunteer then suggested that we head to the US Forest Forest which was pretty close and would be able to tell us more about camping places, so we headed there.

When we reached the center, I noticed that there was lots of stuff to do there. There were hiking trails, beaches, and other possible places which I didn't really take the time to explore because I wanted to make sure we had a camping spot.

Now that I think about it, it would have been cool to explore that place. It looked great.

The ranger recommended that we head to Camp Richardson, which was like pretty close. So, we headed there. I stopped at the first #CampRichardson sign I saw and it was actually a horseback riding destination. We then found out that the campground was right after it. That area was where there was the most traffic. In addition, at the area was when I first smelled campfires when I first reached Lake Tahoe.

We were lucky enough to have a camping spot without a reservation. The camping fee was $35, which I found reasonable although I never been camping before. I really liked that there were other people around instead of us because that made me feel safer. Also, I liked that we can drive our cars right at our camping spot and set up from there.

 At nighttime, we lit up a fire with the pit that they had installed in the park and made some s'mores. The s'mores were so delicious and fitting camping.

I was really hoping to see stars, but there was so many trees surrounding us that we didn't get a good view of the stars. We did get to see the moon for a few minutes though until the view was eventually blocked by trees.

It was so cold at night, I really should have brought more blankets and created more layers for comfort. Oh well, at least I know what to next time. I really hope to explore Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, or other destinations soon with friends.

When we came back to Sacramento, the drive was more smooth, especially since the sun wasn't as bright. When we were back in Sacramento, we ate at Bangkok at 12. It was my first time there although I used to frequent the area. The food was delicious. I think I will definitely be back.

 I loved the fried roti with condense milk and coconut ice cream. My friend said that he didnt like curry, but read the reviews of the mango curry and wanted to give it a try. My friend tried the curry and was very happy about it and was glad to know that curry can be so delicious. Ah, now I cant wait for more thai food and fun adventures :).