Free on the Strip (part 1)

One of my mom’s favorite things to do in Las Vegas is to see the Bellagio garden because she loves to seek out the colorful beauty in the desert wherever she can find it. Whenever she sees a different flower, she always tries to see if she remembers the name of it before looking it up. They have small signs everywhere that tell you the names of the plants and other educational tidbits of information.

We try to go at least 2 or 3 times a year because they change it every season. We have seen it decorated for Christmas, changed for Chinese New Year, and then changed for the Spring. We have gone again in the Summer, but it usually was not much different from the Spring the few times we have been there. Sometimes, we see several of the same decorations that we have seen before, just displayed a little differently. But this time, it was a completely new scene that we had never seen before.

The indoor garden was decorated as if it was all underwater. My daughter and her cousin told us the theme was “Finding Nemo” because there was a sunken ship with a scuba diver dressed in black, and in the giant walk-through aquarium we found all the different kinds of fish that were the characters in the movie, such as Nemo, Dory, Gill, Bubbles, and Deb. There was also a huge sea turtle covered in flowers that reminded us of Crush. 

There were enormous jelly fish hanging from the glass ceiling that reminded us of the scene when Marlin and Dory were surrounded and scared. I loved all of the colorful hydrangea underneath the seahorses made of shells and flower petals.

There was a giant blue whale with huge kind eyes that reminded us of the whale that brought Marlin and Dory to Sydney, Australia where Nemo was. I thought it was made out of cabbage, but my mom corrected me and said it was covered in “hen and chicks.” 

My daughter was sad that she didn’t see Squirt anywhere, but she also stated that there were no sharks or “bad guys” either, which made it very cheerful and family friendly.

Seeing all of this makes us even more excited for the new movie “Finding Dory.” 

In the back corner lies a giant picture frame that is always filled with a different artistic scene made entirely out of flowers. They usually have the original painting next to the frame along with information about the artist and/or the painting itself. But this time, it was a promotion for their new restaurant. 

In addition to the garden inside, there is a spectacular fountain show choreographed to music located outside in front of the hotel which you absolutely must see. If you happen to stop by when it is not showing, just stand there and wait a few minutes and it will start back up again. It is definitely worth the wait.

There’s many more free things to do on the Strip, so stay tuned!