Hey Guys!
The day after Christmas, my hubby and I flew out to Vegas for some much needed R&R ….but first, a trip to the ER on Christmas Day!
I thought I was coming down with the flu and the only thing open on Christmas is the ER…so, that’s where we headed around 7 pm. I was tested for the flu & for strep and thankfully, both were negative!
After leaving with a mask to wear on the plane & a prescription for ibuprofen, we headed home to finish up packing! (By the way, my Christmas gift from the ER was a $1200 bill!!)
Me wearing my mask on the plane! 🙂
Our flight out of Nashville left around 6:30 am on Dec. 26th. We arrived in Vegas around 9:30 am.
We always take the earliest flight out when we go anywhere. I don’t like having my first day wasted on flying. When we arrive early enough, that still leaves us most of the day to do a few things.
However, since we had to get up at 2:30 am and be at the airport by 4 am, we were exhausted by the time we arrived to Vegas but we pressed on & stuck with our itinerary!
We just weren’t sure how busy the airport would be the day after Christmas so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. Turns out, it wasn’t busy at all!
I love taking pictures from the plane …I’m always so amazed by the landscape! It’s a must that I have a window seat when I fly!
After landing, we claimed our luggage and picked up our rental car then headed to our first stop on the itinerary, the Seven Magic Mountains.
The Seven Magic Mountains is a desert art installation featuring seven painted boulder totems that stand up to 35 ft high and were created by artist Ugo Rondimone.
The art installation is located approximately 20 mins from the Vegas Strip & the airport.
Once we arrived, we were surprised by how busy it was considering it was the day after Christmas and not to mention it was 11 am…why weren’t these people still in bed?! 😉
It was also very windy & cold!
The colorful totems really stood out against the desert landscape
It was hard to get a good shot with all the people around….some of them were taking selfie photo shoots…..so annoying!
The totems were really cool & I, of course, took tons of pics! 😉
I thought this nearby cloud over the mountains was so wild looking!
After leaving here, we headed towards the Mojave National Preserve.
I obviously didn’t research well enough because we didn’t see much to do here…actually, we didn’t see anything to do here. It was nothing but desert with nothing around.
However, the park is 1.6 million acres and we only drove a short distance. 😉
As we were driving, we came across a tiny town called Nipton.
Read reviews here.
Nipton is a former mining town with a population of 20 & sits in the far eastern part of San Bernardino County near the Nevada border.
The town was about a 40 min drive from the Seven Magic Mountains & an hr from the strip.
We later learned that the entire town was purchased in 2017 by American Green, a company that cultivates and sells marijuana. The company apparently has plans to turn the 80 acre town into a marijuana-themed resort destination.
Read more here
It was definitely a unique & quirky town! We decided to stop and check it out.
We parked at the Nipton Trading Post….the store had knick knacks, souvenirs and a few drinks and snacks.
The one souvenir we always buy when we’re on a trip is a coffee cup! I can’t tell you how many we have now! We spotted one in the trading post so we had to get it to add to our collection!
After leaving the store, we walked around the small town. They had a hotel and a cafe. We had wanted to try the cafe out for lunch but sadly, it was closed.
They also had eco friendly cabins and tee pees you could rent!
And a few funky art installations 
After leaving Tipton, we decided to call it a day and headed to our condo.
Since we never stay on the strip, I found a condo on VRBO at the Montelago Resort in Henderson.
It was located about 30 mins from the Vegas Strip. We aren’t fans of the strip so we try to stay away from that area.
Our first stop, after checking in, was the small grocery store found on the property, called Seasons.
We picked up a few snacks, water & ordered deli sandwiches for dinner since we were too tired to go out.
They were soooo good!
We then headed over to our condo…it was really nice!
The view from our balcony
A peek inside the condo
Thanks for reading!
Read Day 2 here, Day 3 here and Day 4 here.
You can read about our day at the Valley of Fire State Park here