Captains Log: 19 July 2014.
8:03 a.m.How in the heck are we going to lug all this crap through the airport?
Its been a long road to get to this point. At some point last year, Julie and I had been excited about the possibility of future travels with our three kids. They had reached the age where they were now interested in more than just amusement parks, and Julie was on the cusp of being hired full-time as a teacher, which would provide the income needed to make those trips a reality. The only thing that could possibly have screwed up any of those plans would have been a surprise pregnancy.
and then Drew happened.
Good thing you have the copyright on that title!
Fast-forward to this year, and we had no idea if wed be able to take a vacation or not. Wed embarked on a quest to take our kids to all 50 states. The basic idea was to instill in them a love of exploration, and a desire to learn about different places and different peopletheres much more to life than the comfort of our home. Plus, its fun to meet challenges and cross items off your bucket list. And we cant afford to keep buying them video game consoles anyway.
Anyway, wed made good progress and the kids were about halfway towards our goalSarah had been to 25 states, and David and Scotty had reached 24 (shed been to California on a trip with her grandparents). But wed covered the East Coast and now were faced with the fact that the distances between states are much greater out west. Our family had become accustomed to long drives, but now that we had a new baby, the idea of filling our days with 8-to-12-hour drives was less than appealing. But we also didnt want the older kids to miss out on the chance to see something newwere keenly aware of the way our time with them at home is continually growing short. It didnt seem fair to rob them of these experiences just because we were worried about being tired with an infant. All the baby was going to do in the meantime was eat, sleep and poop. He can do that in any state. Hed just have to come along for the ride.
We tried several iterations of various vacation plans before finally stumbling onto an itinerary that allowed us to do a loop of the American Southwest starting in Las Vegas (thanks to a friend tipping us off to cheaper flights there). We found a way to incorporate several national parks and other sites of interest with only 2 long drives (about 5 hours apiece). Now we were getting somewhere.
The last concern was finding a place to stay near the Grand Canyon. The trip basically hinged on thatyou cant go to the Southwest and not see the Grand Canyon, right? But typically you need to book your lodging several months to a year in advance, especially if you want to stay inside the park and not have to worry about being gouged for in-season rates at the chains just outside the park borders. As I searched for lodging, my fears were proved validthe park lodges were sold out for most dates. (The size of my family was not the issueI may have conveniently forgotten a child or two when searching for room rates.)
Finally, I found 2 nights available and grabbed them immediately. Then I reverse-engineered the entire trip plan, including departure dates, around that point on the calendar. It all worked out in the end. Id love to say I came up with a magic way to pay for it with ease, but Julie wouldnt let me sell my least favorite kid. Spoilsport.
Julies packing skills are legendary, and we would need every ounce of them for this trip. We pared down the list to just the necessities. Once again, shed managed to get all of our clothes into only 2 large duffel bags. Everyone had a carry-on, which gave us more space. But with the baby, we also had to bring along a car seat/base, a stroller, and a place for him to sleep (as we were too cheap to pay crib rental fees at several hotels). Oh, and I was bringing another small itemmy golf clubs. Like I said, just the necessities.
Julie had found a travel crib for infants on Craigslistit was basically a little pop-up tent that folded down nearly flat. So that problem was solved. We got a huge laundry bag to help us carry the car seat and base. And the stroller would be checked at the gate. Somehow we got all of this packed into our minivanwith the doors shut!
10:22 a.m.We arrived at BWI airport with little fanfare. I dropped Julie off at the Southwest terminal. She, Sarah, and Scotty took several of the bags and the baby and waited for me and Dave while we took the van to the long-term parking lot. We took the shuttle back to the terminal and then our family basically took over the check-in line. You may think Im exaggerating. You would be wrong. With several bags, backpacks, the big laundry sack, and a stroller, we looked as though L.L. Bean had vomited all over the terminal floor. I cant tell you what a relief it was to drop off the big suitcases, watch the scale max out at 49.1 lbs/bag, and then let the baggage crews take over from there. Thank goodness Southwest still doesnt charge bag fees. Meanwhile, Drew busied himself by eating the tray on his stroller.
12:10 p.m.First time on an airplane!
Just look at that angelic face; he is too stinkin' cute for his own good.
12:45 p.m.We had no problems with boarding and the plane took off on time. Lunch was an overpriced Arbys at the airport that we scarfed down at the gate (naturally, the farthest from the terminal) while the A group boarded the plane. So far, no problems with the baby and the pressure changes on the airplane. He even fell asleep on Julies lap.
3:11 p.m.Drew has taken turns being held by Julie and me, and taken a couple of naps. After his latest nap, he looked up at Julie, smiled, and pooped. The fasten seat belts light was on and Julie wasnt sure the airplane bathroom had a changing table anyway, so she summoned her Mommy Ninja Skillz and change his diaper right there in her seat. She did an amazing job of keeping things contained, and wiped down her table to make sure everything was nice and clean. But just in case, I wouldnt recommend sitting in seat 25B.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...your wife is super woman--she can do anything!
3:15 p.m.Dave asks to use the bathroom. We eventually ignore the seat belt sign and go.
Why not? Everyone else does.
2:30 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time)Touchdown at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. I noted to the kids that we had now traveled back in time. Not sure why they don't think that joke is funny anymore. As we disembarked, Las Vegas immediately lived down to its reputation by offering us the chance to play the slots before we even got to the baggage claim. Im sure we didnt need our vacation food money anyway.
Yep...that's Vegas for you! Get the tourist money right away.
4:35 p.m.No, thats not a misprint. We just got our rental van. Grabbing our baggage was not a problem. Lugging it all outside and across the street to catch the shuttle was, well, a little bit of a problem, but not terrible. I can still see the look on the bus drivers face as he saw our whole family dragging bags to his bus.
Las Vegas has a dedicated off-site rental car center that houses all of the rental companies under one roof, just a few miles from the airport. You take a shuttle there to pick up your car. I had made a reservation with Budget via Costco several months before (and it was a good thing too, because the price I got was half the going rate for minivans). I got in line with a few people in front of me.
It didnt take long for the folks behind the counter to indulge in every one of my pet peeves in these situations. We had the guy who was a buddy of the customer renting the car, so they were hanging out engaging in small talk as the minutes crept by, not even bothering to work on the rental transaction. We had the employee who was studying his computer monitor intently, not bothering to actually serve a customer or even acknowledging the line of people waiting. And then, my favorites, the two people who finished serving their customers and then immediately got up and disappeared to the back room.
My vacation beard grew at least an inch. Julie sent Sarah on a reconnaissance mission to find out what was taking me so long, and all I could do was shrug. Finally, my turn came up, and I began the yearly vacation ritual of declining the extra insurance or pre-buying their gas at $11.00/gallon, etc. The agent called to the garage to get the van ready.
We waited. And waited some more.
I pulled up War & Peace on my iPad and read it cover-to-cover.
You do have a van, right? I asked. I was only half-joking.
Yeah, they were just washing it, the guy said.
At long last, we finally got word that the van was ready. I took the keys and went to gather the rest of the family and our bags, stopping only to pick up a gift for Sarah, as she now graduated high school in my absence. Fortunately, we had no other problems. At least until we tried to pack our bags into the minivan.
I would be writing a letter and giving them a piece of my mind on that one!
It was a brand new Chrysler Town & Country. Nice van, but slightly smaller than our Honda Odyssey. It took two tries to find the right Tetris configuration of bags and stroller to get the rear door to close, and even then, I had to give it an extra shove or two. But it closed! We decided to take a quick drive down the Strip in downtown Vegas, just to say wed done it before we headed to dinner.
I had no doubt you'd figure it out...you are an engineer after all, aren't you?
4:38 p.m.Spotted many stores selling SMOG along the road. No clue what this means, but I had no idea smog was an entrepreneurial opportunity.
Hmmmm...not sure what that is myself.
4:45 p.m.We are on the Strip.
4:46 p.m.None of us had ever seen Vegas before, and the randomness of the various casinos and other sights was amusing. First, we saw the famous sign welcoming us to town. We thought about stopping, but the hordes of people made us reconsider. We went with a quickie photo from a moving minivan instead.
In all the years we have gone there, we have never stopped to have our picture there.
Then, in a matter of 3 minutes, we went from Egypt
To New York
To Paris.
Yep, you see it all in a few blocks.
I had considered stopping to watch the famous Bellagio fountain show, and it was actually mid-performance when we drove by. As you probably know, this show is free to anyone who wants to watch, and the fountains are all intricately choreographed to dance along to music. I rolled down my window and discovered that this particular performance was set along to the Celine Dion song from Titanic. So I rolled up my window and we drove on.
You can watch it without all the other people stepping on you, falling on you, etc....by just watching Oceans 11.
The entire Strip was absolutely mobbed with people. Traffic was stop-and-go, and pedestrians lined the streets everywhere as far as we could see. The deeper we crawled into town, the more ads we could see for the, shall we say, less savory aspects of town. It was glitz and glamour haphazardly mixed with seedy clubs and signs we didnt want to explain to the kids. Times Square meets Myrtle Beach. We decided wed seen enough and headed out of town.
It was madness when we were there a week ago. We made the mistake of cutting through the MGM Hotel where Lady Gaga was appearing. I kid you not...it took us 30 minutes to get from one end of the hotel to the other. UGH! And the people on the strip...I have NEVER seen it so crowded. And the people have definitely gotten a little stranger since the last time I was there 12 years ago. I could tell you a story, but this is a family board.
Coming Up Next: I somehow manage to make 3 separate trips to the same restaurant.
Cynthia! Glad you made it over here. Job #1 for you is to finish strong in that half-marathon! 
Just realized you started the new report, Mark. How exciting! 
Can't wait to read more and learn some things that will help when our family someday gets out to that part of the country for a road trip. So glad you crazy people tackled this ambitious trip, so we all get to enjoy it vicariously!
I just can't imagine Smog Check locations taking up valuable real estate on the strip. I don't know about Nevada, but in California cars need to have a special emissions device installed to control smog generation. Most cars sold off the lot already have them installed, but if you buy an out of state car, you need to have it added.
No argument here.
