Vegas: Dive-in movie at the Boulevard Pool

Visiting Las Vegas in the summer season seems like the right thing to do for most visitors, as with the kids out of school it's easier to send them off to grandma's or drag them along for a family vacation, and after a hard slog of work the previous half of the year it's certainly about time for a well-deserved rest. Whether you can escape for only a couple of days or weeks at a time, Vegas in the summer is one happening place to be. It's definitely the busy time for the city, outside of major party holidays like Halloween and New Year's Eve... oh, New Year's Eve in Vegas is epic, believe me... but the peak of summer, when the sun hangs high in the sky cascading it's brilliant beams down to bake and sizzle all that summer skin on display is the main peak time to visit Vegas. Naturally, when it's well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (or around 40-ish Celsius) you're going to need ways to cool off. While out walking the strip you'll find a lot of streetside bars and venues blast cooling mists and fans, and there's a lot of air conditioned shops and areas inside the casinos and walkways connecting them to help, but nothing compares (to you) to swimming, dunking yourself heartily and bodily into a crisp, cool pool of glistening water. Never fear, my dears, because Vegas most definitely has you covered in that regard. Whether you're into dancing in the water, to EDM, reggae, R&B, whatever- or would prefer to lean back and relax while watching a movie, options abound. 

On this particular instance, my friend Blaze joined me to dunk our toes in the Boulevard pool at the Cosmopolitan for the Dive-in Movie showing of Ferris Bueller. Having already sipped on some seriously strong drinks from Fat Tuesdays, we were happy to kick back and put our feet up for the movie. We learned the hard way that it pays to get there early, as the Dive-in movie event is very affordable (and free to hotel guests, I believe) so it was very popular. The ideal seating, with waves gently licking your toes, was full-up when we arrived and we found ourselves some of the very laST remaining seating upon a top balcony with an awkward view of the movie screen. These things. We still had a lot of fun and enjoyed the night out and excuse to go swimming in a pool we might not otherwise have ever gone to. The Cosmopolitan itself is one of the newer casinos here in Vegas and one I hadn't been to prior to this evening, so it was a lot of fun for me to explore and I enjoyed spending time with Blaze, who I've known for ages. We went to high school together back in the day, and Ferris Bueller was a fittingly nostalgic film to watch with him. Good times! There's going to be several more movies showing throughout the remaining summer months, so it's definitely worth scoping out if you find yourself overheating and in need of a refreshing but relaxing form of entertainment.  

Vegas: Cosmopolitan and Aria

Given that summertime temperatures in Vegas are regularly soaring well over 105 degrees Fahrenheit (or a cool 40 degrees Celsius), it should come as no surprise that one of our city's largest attractions are the obligatory hotel pools at each resort. There are more pools than there are casinos, by far, as most have multiple places to swim or play with beach and pool clubs running alongside their usual family-friendly offerings all along the Strip, not to mention our suburban waterparks like Cowabunga Bay. Each pool is going to invariably be as unique as the individual casino hosting it, and it's well worth staying at different hotels or paying for a day pass to explore the different offerings available all throughout the city! Another way to keep cool, between relaxing swims, is to explore the nicely air-conditioned interiors of the hotels themselves and dabble in some real or window shopping. There's a lot of connections and bridges making it exceptionally easy to get from one to the next without having to risk traffic, though you might get accosted by a "monk" who demands a donation in exchange for a cheap bracelet or fancy golden card they try to push on you. Don't let them dupe you, though- they aren't allowed to demand money from you, no matter how aggressive they get. They make me really mad and I've shouted obscene things to them in the past when they tried to get hands on. There's a lot of buskers and hecklers out there on the public streets, but they're kept out of casinos due to private property laws and security, so don't worry. 

My good friend Blaze and I found ourselves here to see a movie. Originally Antho had gotten tickets to the event for us to go, but he ended up having to work, so I invited Blaze out in his stead and we had a blast! We spent most of the early evening sipping on Fat Tuesday drinks and exploring the Cosmopolitan and the Aria. I'd never really been to either resort before, so it was a lot of fun to see how extravagant and fancy they are! We'll be going to at least a couple more movies throughout the summer, so hopefully I'll get to make a side quest to try the Secret Pizza restaurant, or Momofuku and Milk Bar. If the inclusion of options like Michelin-star award winner Momofuku don't clue you in, the Cosmopolitan fancies itself one bougie bitch. She's not wrong, mind you. The air is pumped full of a dense rich vanilla scent that made me feel a bit like I was trying to snort vanilla pudding. For someone who's not used to smelling much of anything at all, I found the smell cloying and overwhelming and was really relieved to get up to the roof and into the fresh air.