Family-Friendly Fun in Las Vegas, Part 4

This is my fourth post about our travels in Las Vegas, focusing on the best family-friendly activities. I suggest reading the first, second, and third posts from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received free passes for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places we went are free for everyone and paid full price for the rest. What I paid has no bearing on my reviews. If you see any gaps in my narrative, it is because I didn't love a particular activity enough to recommend it, regardless of how much I paid or didn't pay.

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Family-Friendly Travel in Las Vegas, Nevada

When you stay in a hotel room that's all about the view, of course you watch the sunrise. At least in the winter in Las Vegas you do, when the sun rises at 6:45. 

We took our time getting ready, then rode The Deuce to the Mob Museum. I'd really been excited to visit. I'd heard it was outstanding and now I can confirm that it is indeed!

You enter into a line-up for a fun photo op. 

Of course, it's hard to avoid suspicion when you're alone in the line-up. 

The Mob Museum is packed with interesting exhibits about the history and impact of organized crime in the US. 

This is the St. Valentine's Day Massacre wall. Literally, the exact bricks. Displays and a video help explain it all. 

There are three floors of exhibits at the Mob Museum, plus something extra in the bottom level. After completing the one floor, we headed downstairs... 

... down the hallway... 

... and to Receiving at the "Loading Zone." (Spoiler: It's not a loading zone.)

It's a speakeasy! 

We had mocktails and a light lunch there (get the meatballs - yum!). We also enjoyed all of the cool exhibits. (Note: This is the only part of the Mob Museum where people under 21 are not allowed.)

Back to the main exhibits!

There are a number of interactive exhibits at the Mob Museum. In this one, you watch CCTV to try to spot cheating at casino games. I learned that I would be both a terrible cheater and a terrible catcher of cheaters. 

Violence is (obviously) a common theme throughout the Mob Museum. The exhibits are arranged so that graphic photos of murders are all in one area, which you can easily bypass. I appreciate when museums do that. I chose not to take any photos in this area. 

While I have titled this post "Family-Friendly Fun in Las Vegas," this seems like a good time to state that I wouldn't recommend bringing a child younger than 11 to Vegas, unless you are just going to stay in the hotel and swim in the pool. The museums we visited, including the Mob Museum, would be great for most tweens and teens but not for, say, five-year olds. 

There are three Interactive Experiences at the Mob Museum that you can add on to your ticket. These include the Crime Lab (age 11+), the Firearm Simulator Training (age 13+), and Distillery Tasting (age 21+). We opted not to do any of them because of time. 

The gift shop at the Mob Museum is highly unusual (in a good way), in that there are exhibits tucked amongst the items for sale! I don't think I've ever seen that before. 

"I saw nothing at the Mob Museum Las Vegas." Love it. And I love the Mob Museum. 

The Mob Museum is two blocks from Fremont Street Experience, which is where we went next. The neon lights on The Canopy are so cool!

  

Every once in awhile, people fly by on the zipline / zoomline. 

We didn't spend too much time at Fremont Street; it's mostly just shopping and that's not our thing. Besides, it was time to head back to the Bellagio to get ready for dinner. We ate at Scarpetta, once Scott Conant's restaurant. 

We had a view of the Bellagio fountains from our table. 

The food was excellent. I especially loved the bread basket, which featured 5 different breads and three different dips/spreads. 

We also had a beautiful caprese salad, amazing arancini, and a fantastic pappardelle bolognese. 

What a great meal! And what a great day. Tomorrow I'll tell you about our last full day in Las Vegas - we logged over 20,000 steps and packed in a lot of fun.

Family-Friendly Fun in Las Vegas, Part 3

This is my third post about our time trying out the best family-friendly activities in Las Vegas. I suggest reading the first and second posts from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I was given free passes for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places we went are free for everyone and paid full price for the rest. What I paid has no bearing on my reviews. If you see any gaps in my narrative, it is because I didn't love a particular activity enough to recommend it, regardless of how much I paid or didn't pay.

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Celebrating 50 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Steve's birthday celebration continued at the Fontainebleau. 

It is home to the Hall of Excellence, a true hidden treasure. I wish more people knew how incredibly awesome it is!

The Hall of Excellence is filled with rare memorabilia from icons in sports, entertainment, and more. 

Admission includes an outstanding audio tour. Celebrities including Tom Brady, Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey, Snoop Dog, and more narrate the tour. It's great, but there's so much more! Use the device to take a photo of any object on display and you can learn more about that specific item. In many cases, there is video showing that item in use. It's so cool!

  

All the exhibits are beautifully designed and lit.

  

Is there any other place where you can see Oprah's Presidential Medal of Freedom, Muhammed Ali's robe, and Simone Biles' leotard? (Answer: No.) 

  

I loved all the Olympic stuff in particular. It was so interesting hearing the stories behind each artifact and then watching the videos. 

The Trophy Room is spectacular. It's filled with all sorts of trophies and awards recognizing greatness. 

  

I loved seeing the EGOT trophies next to each other. Three different people donated them: Oprah's Emmy, Justin Timberlake's Grammy, Clint Eastwood's Oscar, and Oprah's Tony. 

All of Tom Brady's Super Bowl rings are on display. They are huge and quite a bit more lavish than I expected. This was my favorite. 

This display about athletes who changed the world was another of my favorites at the Hall of Excellence. 

I highly recommend a visit to the Hall of Excellence. Plan to spend several hours, as you're going to want to hear all the stories and learn about the fascinating artifacts on display. 

After the Hall of Excellence, we headed back to our room where we watched the sunset. What a view, both with and without the fountains. 

We changed for dinner, then took the free Aria Express Tram. Very convenient! 

We continued on to the Park MGM, location of the Haus of Gaga. 

There are several dozen displays of dresses, shoes, and accessories worn by Lady Gaga. It's really neat. And completely free to enjoy! Definitely pop in, even if you just spend a few minutes. 

  

One question: How? 

It's hard to believe that anything could make these heels look low, but compared to the previous display they're practically orthopedic.  

It takes a special person to carry off a crystal lobster headdress. 

After an enjoyable visit to the Haus of Gaga, we continued on to the MGM Grand. 

For his birthday dinner, Steve chose Craftsteak.

Steve and I are both fans of Tom Colicchio. We've enjoyed watching him on 22 seasons of Top Chef. For his 49th birthday, I gave Steve Tom's autobiography (affiliate link); it was so cool to follow that up with a visit to Tom's restaurant for his 50th! It's a great book. 

The food was amazing. It was the best steak I've ever had. We paired it with Robuchon potatoes; they were everything we'd hoped for and more. 

It was a meal we're never going to forget. 

  

After dinner, we went back to the Bellagio. The Conservatory wasn't crowded, so I decided to take pictures that captured all the lights. Steve took pictures of me, which I didn't know until we got back home. My hair is getting long again.  

  

What a day! We had so much fun celebrating Steve's birthday together. But the fun wasn't over. Tomorrow I'll tell you what we did on our second full day in Las Vegas.