Adventures in Vegas: Downtown Container Park

Yes, yes, I know…I started this blog to talk about running and other related adventures in fitness.  Well, I just haven’t done much of that this week.  So, the end result is another post that has approximately zero to do with sweating (because I've been freezing my toes off in Vegas) and everything to do with an exciting spot in downtown Las Vegas that everyone should try to visit:  The Downtown Container Park.

When I first read that the Downtown Project was developing a little district made completely out of shipping containers, I was skeptical.  I worked around shipping containers when I worked as a chemist for a food ingredients company and I was quite perplexed on how you could make this:

via wikicommons

look like something in which a person would want to shop, let alone eat.  Well, my skepticism has been completely allayed after visiting the container park a couple of times last week.  

...so swanky!

The grand opening was on Thursday, but I was headed to Memphis so wasn't able to attend.  Fortunately, they had a soft opening earlier and I was able to stop by on Wednesday.  I actually went twice on Wednesday.  Once for lunch at Big Ern's BBQ and then again to browse a couple of the adorable boutiques.  The food was awesome.  The boutiques were even better.

The first place I stopped was this adorable accessories boutique called GabyOlivia.  I am in love with everything in this shop.  I ended up with this amazing scarf (made by a local Vegas artist) and this adorable Nevada necklace.  I feel like I can never have too many scarves and I needed the necklace because I got weirdly sentimental about how my time in Las Vegas will come to a close in about 8 months.  

I'm definitely going back soon, especially for this amazing handcuffs necklace (which I should have taken a picture of, but didn't).  I highly recommend this boutique - the accessories were cute and affordable and the staff was fantastic!

There were lots of other shops and restaurants that I either didn't have time to visit or that weren't quite open yet, so rest assured, I'll be stopping by again in the near future and, of course, telling you every detail (whether you want me to or not).

Yes, that is a giant praying mantis that sits at the front of the downtown container park.  It is a lovely parting pic, no?

If you live in Vegas or plan on visiting, I highly recommend spending a bit of time in this adorable new spot.  There is even a Swiss Family Robinson style treehouse in the middle in case you have kiddos that want to play out some energy.  I kind of wanted to play in the tree house myself, but thought I needed to act like a grown-up, especially because I was still in my work clothes. =)