Desert and Dessert

Since we've been doing so much of Jonathan's "thing" on the weekends lately, he told me I was in charge of planning Saturday and could do whatever I wanted. So I got online and searched and searched for the best "family" things to do in Vegas. And the conclusion I came to?? Doesn't exist. Here was the list again and again: eat at the Rainforest Cafe at MGM Grand (tried that), Shark Reef (been there), Mt. Charleston (done that), and the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory Tour and Cactus Garden. We'll try that!

We headed for some dessert and a little desert. Apparently Ethel M. Chocolates is a subsidiary of the Mars Corporation-- when Mr. Mars retired he wanted to just do a company focused on fine chocolates, so created Ethel M.

The "factory" was in Henderson (I will put factory in quotations because really, it was about as much of a factory as what you see at your neighborhood Krispy Kremes. A few conveyor belts, a few workers standing around, and a little chocolate coin to sample at the end). The entire tour took us maybe 5 minutes. And guess what! If you spent $35 in the gift store, you got a free chocolate bar. Wohoo!! I certainly wasn't expecting Hershey World, but this was kind of a bust.

Luckily there was a free cactus botanical garden next door. There were all sorts of different cacti, and it was decorated with Christmas lights.


By this point the chocolate coin had only wetted my children's voracious appetites so we decided to head down the Strip and see if we could dig something up.

Lucy LOVE/HATES these blue guys. Every time we see their picture on a taxi she freaks out and says, "I wanna see those guys!!" But when we found this she would NOT go near them.

Admiring the gondolas and canals in the Venetian.

Checking out the pirate ship in front of Treasure Island. We couldn't really find anything family friendly (aka affordable) in the casinos so we decided to head back home for lunch. I think I get an A for effort, but I think next weekend we'll be heading for the hills again.