The Dry Heat Expedition (Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Disneyland)--UPDATE 6/12 (KSC and DTD)

[franandaj]

I know I’ve made myself an easy target with the number of burger joints we patronize, but that’s how we roll. We’re not the most adventurous eaters in the world. Actually, we like to make fun of frou-frou gourmet stuff. And when you have a family as large as ours, you can’t afford to eat steak entrees every night, anyway. Sandwiches get a lot of play because they’re usually the cheapest items on the menu.

Also, I really love burgers.

No need to explain this, it's burgers!

[Anyway, we pile out of the car and turn the corner, and already there’s a bad sign: people waiting outside. I curse the rental car company, not for the first time on this particular afternoon. The restaurant is actually fairly small, and popular due to its TV exposure. The hostess tells us it’s a 40-45 minute wait. Baby Drew is getting grumpy and wants to eat. Julie tries to tell him it’s a 40-45 minute wait, but Drew doesn’t want to hear it.

Yup! Anything that's been on Triple D, you can expect a wait, at least the places I've been to that aren't in the middle of nowhere, and some that are in the middle of nowhere!

5:54 p.m.—I can’t find the stupid hotel.

5:57 p.m.—Seriously. I should have seen it by now. I think I’ve driven too far down this road. I’m turning around.

6:08 p.m.—It’s got to be here somewhere.

6:17 p.m.—Ok, I’ve been up and down the street and it’s nowhere to be found. My time’s almost up. I guess I’ll have to head back to the restaurant and admit defeat. We’ll dig out the map and directions and figure it out from there. I’ll just turn around on this cross street here.

6:18 p.m.—THERE’S the stupid hotel. It’s down that way on the cross street. I missed one turn. I knew I didn’t need directions! Still, time’s up. I’d better get back to Julie.

You know at least you were able to accomplish that with no witnesses. My luck we would be driving back and forth with Fran screaming, "Why didn't you get a REAL map? Screw the internet, screw your GPS, Maps are the only thing that work."

Ooops.....sorry, I guess my trip is spilling over.

“It’s been awful,” she says. “Drew keeps getting distracted with all the noise out here. The kids keep whining about how hungry they are. I just want to sit down and eat.” She’s still shooting daggers with her eyes. I am informed later that this condition is known as being “hangry”.

I will have to remember that word, it may get me out of deeper trouble!

Sarah’s first order of business was to take off her orthopedic brace. She was recently diagnosed with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and as a result has to wear a brace for 20 hours a day. She typically gets 4 hours of blessed relief in the afternoon, but due to the flight she had been wearing it for longer than usual and needed the break. So she took it off and placed it under the table.

I'm sorry to hear this, is it something that they think she will grow out of using the brace or a challenge she will face lifelong, or do they even have any speculation at this point?

You can be as adventurous as you want with the menu. You can order a standard hamburger or go all the way up to getting one with foie gras. It’s a little pricy—most burgers were between $10-$15 apiece, including the kids menu (they got fries with theirs, while it was extra for us). Julie and I tried to cut costs a bit by sharing an order of salt & pepper garlic fries. They had a side of pineapple ketchup, which I just had to try. It was heavenly.

We also tried to cut costs by sticking with water. Not only did we find it important on this trip to stay hydrated in the dry desert air, but staying away from sodas saved us about $15 a pop every time we had dinner..

That's definitely a good savings when you add it up over the trip and much more healthy as well!

For my burger, I ordered the “Miyagi-san burger”, because I figured anything named after the guy who taught Daniel-san the Crane Technique had to be good. This burger featured wagyu beef, chili mayo, a fried egg (Julie: “Do they put a fried egg on everything here?” Answer: yes), furikake (whatever that is), crispy fried onion rings, and (insert chorus) caramelized bacon..

According to Wikipedia:

Furikake (振り掛け / ふりかけ?) is a dry Japanese seasoning[1] meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate. Other flavorful ingredients such as katsuobushi (sometimes indicated on the package as bonito), or okaka (bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce and dried again), freeze-dried salmon particles, shiso, egg, powdered miso, vegetables, etc., are often added to the mix.

So much for you not eating seafood!

It was massive.

And it was really good. I don’t think I’d ever had bacon with caramelized brown sugar on it before, but that was fantastic.

Other than the fried egg, it looks fine, I can't deal with the idea of egg on my burger. Caramelized bacon! Yum! Insert that picture of Homer drooling here!

Everyone seemed to enjoy their food. Since we were in the Japanese restaurant, there were chopsticks at every table. Dave decided to give them a shot. Obviously he was also inspired by Mr. Miyagi, remembering his immortal words: Man who eat french fry with chopstick accomplish anything.

Cute!

7:08 p.m.—we check into the Wyngate by Wyndham of Henderson, NV. The desk clerk promptly informs us that although we reserved a standard room, there are none available. Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?

Score!

7:30 p.m.—After unloading some bags, we picked up the girls and Drew from Target. And Sarah promptly informed us that she had left her brace back at Bachi Burger.

Sigh.

So we pile the groceries into the van and head once more down the highway, making this my third separate trip to the restaurant.

8:12 p.m.— The boys are all excited to show off the suite to the girls, but they seem less than impressed upon entering. Maybe we’re all tired. Soon everyone is getting ready for bed. We set up the pop-tent for Drew while he nurses one more time, and pretty soon it’s lights-out.

11:20 p.m.—Drew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him.

1:47 a.m.—Drew starts to fuss. I grumble and go give him his binky to calm him down. It seems to work.

2:29 a.m—Drew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him. Somebody forgot to inform Drew that we are on vacation now.

Ugh! I would say that I hope it gets better, but I know from FB that it doesn't.

 

[Mrs. Knowitall]

Remember how Julie’s superpower is packing luggage? Mine is my sense of direction and photographic memory. I study maps and Google Earth well ahead of time to get an idea of exactly where I’m going.

This is the truth. I've never met anyone who has such a photographic memory for maps. He's not being a "stubborn man" and not asking for directions.....he really knows where he's going.

6:18:30 p.m.—Crap. I’m getting old.

Yup.

Julie’s still trying to nurse a grumpy baby. The kids are sitting on the curb in the parking lot, looking both bored and grumpy. Julie’s giving me some major stinkeye. Uh oh.

“It’s been awful,” she says. “Drew keeps getting distracted with all the noise out here. The kids keep whining about how hungry they are. I just want to sit down and eat.” She’s still shooting daggers with her eyes. I am informed later that this condition is known as being “hangry”.

Again....all of this is true. It turns out that "regular Julie" can get hangry, but "pregnant Julie" and "nursing Julie" get REALLY hangry. It was a rough wait.

So she took it off and placed it under the table.

Again with the ironic foreshadowing....

Julie and I tried to cut costs a bit by sharing an order of salt & pepper garlic fries. They had a side of pineapple ketchup, which I just had to try. It was heavenly.

Yum. Now I want those fries again.

We also tried to cut costs by sticking with water. Not only did we find it important on this trip to stay hydrated in the dry desert air, but staying away from sodas saved us about $15 a pop every time we had dinner.

We set up the pop-tent for Drew while he nurses one more time, and pretty soon it’s lights-out.

Again....there's a mention of the peapod tent thing.

Coming Up Next: One of the best dam engineering achievements known to man!

Yeah, THAT joke's not going to get old....

Does she have to wear a brace for a while?

Does Sarah need to wear a brace for her scoliosis at bedtime too?

I'm sorry to hear this, is it something that they think she will grow out of using the brace or a challenge she will face lifelong, or do they even have any speculation at this point?

I also had scoliosis as a kid - and I still have it. (Sorry, about the crappy genes kid.) Once you have a curve, you always have it. The goal of the brace is to stop it from getting worse as she goes through her major growth spurt. Think of how you would tie a tree when you plant it so that the trunk grows straight and not crooked - same basic principle. She has to wear it until she stops growing....which for girls is about two years after menses starts. She wears it while she sleeps, taking it off for only 4 hours a day. (During this time she can do sports, shower or just lounge around.) (I might also add, she has a better deal than I did....I had to wear mine 23 hours a day!) The curve causes her no pain now, but left untreated, it could be deforming and causing breathing problems and digestive problems. Right now the brace is the best course of treatment, BUT if it progresses past 50 degrees, they will most likely recommend surgery. This is considered MAJOR surgery and so our prayer is that the brace would do it's job and that if anything, her curve would improve. So that's the story.

 

[Leshaface]

I also had scoliosis as a kid - and I still have it. (Sorry, about the crappy genes kid.) Once you have a curve, you always have it. The goal of the brace is to stop it from getting worse as she goes through her major growth spurt. Think of how you would tie a tree when you plant it so that the trunk grows straight and not crooked - same basic principle. She has to wear it until she stops growing....which for girls is about two years after menses starts. She wears it while she sleeps, taking it off for only 4 hours a day. (During this time she can do sports, shower or just lounge around.) (I might also add, she has a better deal than I did....I had to wear mine 23 hours a day!) The curve causes her no pain now, but left untreated, it could be deforming and causing breathing problems and digestive problems. Right now the brace is the best course of treatment, BUT if it progresses past 50 degrees, they will most likely recommend surgery. This is considered MAJOR surgery and so our prayer is that the brace would do it's job and that if anything, her curve would improve. So that's the story.

Oh geez 23 hours? Yikes, I couldn't imagine that. Hopefully there will be no major surgery for her and the brace does what it's supposed to

 

[MNtwinsplus1mom]

(The size of my family was not the issue—I may have conveniently forgotten a child or two when searching for room rates.)

I'll have to remember that one. At Disney it is tough to do that, but with other places we should try that for our upcoming road trip.

I’d love to say I came up with a magic way to pay for it with ease, but Julie wouldn’t let me sell my least favorite kid. Spoilsport.

Ha!

12:10 p.m.—First time on an airplane!

Okay, that is just adorable! He's never going to do anything wrong.

The “fasten seat belts” light was on and Julie wasn’t 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 wouldn’t recommend sitting in seat 25B.

There is no end to Mrs. Knowitall's talents! Wow.

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.

I think that's very funny. I may rip that off.

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 had now graduated high school in my absence.

I had to read that sentence twice. Funny! I can't believe how long it took to get the minivan. That is insane.

It was a brand new Chrysler Town & Country. Nice van, but slightly smaller than our Honda Odyssey.

We also drive a Honda Odyssey thumbsup2) and rented Chrysler Town & Country on our last trip. The kids loved it.

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.

Eeew! Run far, run fast! Good job escaping.

 

[MNtwinsplus1mom]

Remember how Julie’s superpower is packing luggage? Mine is my sense of direction and photographic memory. I study maps and Google Earth well ahead of time to get an idea of exactly where I’m going. So I know exactly which street I’m looking for as we travel. We find the exit and our destination in short order.

You're the perfect team. I can see why your family enjoys traveling so much.

She’s still shooting daggers with her eyes. I am informed later that this condition is known as being “hangry”.

Great new word! This is a very educational trip report.

Sarah’s first order of business was to take off her orthopedic brace. She was recently diagnosed with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and as a result has to wear a brace for 20 hours a day. She typically gets 4 hours of blessed relief in the afternoon, but due to the flight she had been wearing it for longer than usual and needed the break. So she took it off and placed it under the table.

Oh, I am sorry to hear this... It sounds uncomfortable.... What a blessing that Julie can relate and be encouraging, since she has been through it. That would make a huge difference for your daughter, I would I think. And so important to do all you can to try to avoid further problems and possible surgery. (I hope it was not an issue on rides at Disneyland?)

For my burger, I ordered the “Miyagi-san burger”, because I figured anything named after the guy who taught Daniel-san the Crane Technique had to be good. This burger featured wagyu beef, chili mayo, a fried egg (Julie: “Do they put a fried egg on everything here?” Answer: yes), furikake (whatever that is), crispy fried onion rings, and (insert chorus) caramelized bacon.

Mmmm! Caramelized bacon... Caramelized anything has to be good.

The desk clerk promptly informs us that although we reserved a standard room, there are none available. Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?

7:08:15 p.m.—Vacation Mojo is back!

SCORE!

 

[Dugette]

Julie’s packing skills are amazing!

Sounds like you got something like what we travel with (Kidco Peapod). Definitely convenient for travel – folds small and very light. We've gotten a lot of use out of ours.

Drew looks so happy to be on his first airplane ride!

Wow, Julie also has impressive airplane diaper-changing skills! I have been insanely lucky to not have to change a poopy diaper in flight thus far (4 RT flights).

Ugh, doesn’t sound like any of you had a pleasant pre-dinner experience.

Wow, that is quite a burger!

Yay for a room upgrade!

Yep, that nighttime routine of Drew’s sounds very familiar from last year.

Looking forward to more of your adventure!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

I study maps and Google Earth well ahead of time to get an idea of exactly where I’m going. So I know exactly which street I’m looking for as we travel.

You mean to tell me that there are folks who don’t do this?

5:36 p.m.—Everyone ready? We’re eating at a burger joint.

Pfbbbtt… Pa-lease, tell me the next time y’all don’t eat at a burger joint.
(oh and good call by the way)

This place is actually a little different. It’s an Asian spin on a burger joint called Bachi Burger. We’d seen it featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives a while back and noted it as a place to try if we ever happened to be in Las Vegas.

Interesting menu…
Interesting indeed.

Also, I really love burgers.

Mmmmmm… ground cow.

The hostess tells us it’s a 40-45 minute wait.

The Triple-D Effect in action. Nearly as effective as the Colbert Bump.

There’s a good burger joint in Columbia that now suffers that same effect.
Truth be told though, that’s about the average wait for most of the “nicer” chain establishments around where I live. For example, the wait at one of your favorites: “Cheesecake Factory”, in Charlotte is rarely less than 90 min. Which also explains why I avoid the “nicer” places and try hunt down the dives.

Baby Drew is getting grumpy and wants to eat. Julie tries to tell him it’s a 40-45 minute wait, but Drew doesn’t want to hear it.

A stubborn infant… Imagine that.

I ask the kids if they want to wait with Mommy or come along with me.

Hummm… stay where there is a potential for food, or go off with dad to get a good look at all the nothing. Tough one there (from their perspective at least).

The result of a lack of experience there. Riding around beats sitting in a parking lot, and offers up the potential for being able to watch dad foul something up, and then continually reminding him of said foul-up, but logic of that caliber is generally lost on a hungry young’en.

It’s shocking how fast Dad drops in his kids’ eyes from being the Coolest and Most Fun Person Ever to Total Dweeb.

You should have an expert understanding of this by now.
And you get to go through it for a fourth time in the future.

5:54 p.m.—I can’t find the stupid hotel.

See… They missed out
Aren’t you glad they didn’t come along now?

6:18:30 p.m.—Crap. I’m getting old.

News Flash!!!
If it helps at all, you’ll never be older than me (something I regularly tell my DW).

So you got that going for you.

Julie’s giving me some major stinkeye. Uh oh…
…I am informed later that this condition is known as being “hangry”.

That’s a common word down this way.
Surprised you hadn’t encountered it yet.

Sarah’s first order of business was to take off her orthopedic brace. She was recently diagnosed with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and as a result has to wear a brace for 20 hours a day. She typically gets 4 hours of blessed relief in the afternoon, but due to the flight she had been wearing it for longer than usual and needed the break.

Did not know this. Sorry to hear about it. That’s tough on a young’en. May it correct as much of the problem as possible and in as short a time as necessary.

One of my friends back in when I was young enough to be in school did several years in a full cast from shoulders to waist for the same reason. It only came off when they needed to change to another one for growth or condition reasons. At least this one does come off from time to time.

So she took it off and placed it under the table.

Trip number three… I can see it from here.

We also tried to cut costs by sticking with water. Not only did we find it important on this trip to stay hydrated in the dry desert air, but staying away from sodas saved us about $15 a pop every time we had dinner.

That is actually an excellent plan.

For my burger, I ordered the “Miyagi-san burger”,

That one looks interesting. I’d have probably gone for the “Black and Green” myself, but still a good choice.

7:08 p.m.—we check into the Wyngate by Wyndham of Henderson, NV. The desk clerk promptly informs us that although we reserved a standard room, there are none available. Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?

7:08:15 p.m.—Vacation Mojo is back!

There’s a win. The last time a hotel fouled up my reservation, I got put into a smaller room. You did much better here.

Sarah promptly informed us that she had left her brace back at Bachi Burger.

And there it is; though I suspect that specific mistake won’t be happening again for the rest of this trip.

11:20 p.m.—Drew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him.

1:47 a.m.—Drew starts to fuss. I grumble and go give him his binky to calm him down. It seems to work.

2:29 a.m—Drew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him. Somebody forgot to inform Drew that we are on vacation now.

Do not miss that stuff. I love my boy and I only have just the one, but it was just shy of two years before he slept through the night. That was a long stretch of sleep deprivation. On a subconscious level, it might have something to do with us only having just the one as well.

Coming Up Next: One of the best dam engineering achievements known to man!

Hummm…
Let’s see just how many times and in how many ways this bit word play makes its way into the next update. We could start up a pool amongst all your readers. I’m going with thirty-seven.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Wow, what a travel day you guys had! Julie, your packing skills are worthy of a . I am an overpacker to the max.

Mark, I'm sorry but I had to giggle when you were on your quest to find the hotel. Even after you found it, you had no time to stop and unload the van. So sounds like something that would happen to me.

We aren't adventurous eaters either and stick to a lot of burger places when traveling too. Your burger (if I tossed aside the fried egg) looks really really good. Even the kids' burgers look good.

 

[afwdwfan]

I study maps and Google Earth well ahead of time to get an idea of exactly where I’m going. So I know exactly which street I’m looking for as we travel. We find the exit and our destination in short order.

So is this a skill you just finally mastered after your experience in trying to find the food truck in Hawaii? Because I don't remember that one working out quite so smoothly for you.

I know I’ve made myself an easy target with the number of burger joints we patronize, but that’s how we roll

You know me... I'm always in the mood for a good burger.

Also, I really love burgers.

I ask the kids if they want to wait with Mommy or come along with me. As expected, they elect to wait. I can never, ever, convince any of them to come along with me when running an errand. It’s shocking how fast Dad drops in his kids’ eyes from being the Coolest and Most Fun Person Ever to Total Dweeb. I think hanging out with me now ranks somewhere behind visits to the dentist on my kids’ list of desirable activities.

They don't want to be your pack mule. That's your job.

I can’t find the stupid hotel.

Ok, so now it feels more like Hawaii.

Crap. I’m getting old.

You said it...

“It’s been awful,” she says. “Drew keeps getting distracted with all the noise out here. The kids keep whining about how hungry they are. I just want to sit down and eat.” She’s still shooting daggers with her eyes. I am informed later that this condition is known as being “hangry”.

I'm guessing that you didn't choose this time to let her know your mission failed???

They had a side of pineapple ketchup, which I just had to try. It was heavenly.

That sounds... interesting...

Obviously he was also inspired by Mr. Miyagi, remembering his immortal words: Man who eat french fry with chopstick accomplish anything.

For the boys, I guess hanging with Dad beats grocery shopping. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

Take your victories wherever you can find them.

Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?

No, we'll wait.

And Sarah promptly informed us that she had left her brace back at Bachi Burger.

Sounds about right.

So we pile the groceries into the van and head once more down the highway, making this my third separate trip to the restaurant.

So you REALLY don't need a map in that part of Vegas by now.

2:29 a.m—Drew wakes up crying, wanting to eat. Julie grumbles and goes to feed him. Somebody forgot to inform Drew that we are on vacation now.

And the other kids are thrilled with the 2 bedroom upgrade.

This is the truth. I've never met anyone who has such a photographic memory for maps. He's not being a "stubborn man" and not asking for directions.....he really knows where he's going.

Well, the man works as a DOT engineer. He should have a pretty good understanding and knowledge of how traffic flows.

Yeah, THAT joke's not going to get old....

That joke never gets old!

I also had scoliosis as a kid - and I still have it. (Sorry, about the crappy genes kid.) Once you have a curve, you always have it. The goal of the brace is to stop it from getting worse as she goes through her major growth spurt. Think of how you would tie a tree when you plant it so that the trunk grows straight and not crooked - same basic principle. She has to wear it until she stops growing....which for girls is about two years after menses starts. She wears it while she sleeps, taking it off for only 4 hours a day. (During this time she can do sports, shower or just lounge around.) (I might also add, she has a better deal than I did....I had to wear mine 23 hours a day!) The curve causes her no pain now, but left untreated, it could be deforming and causing breathing problems and digestive problems. Right now the brace is the best course of treatment, BUT if it progresses past 50 degrees, they will most likely recommend surgery. This is considered MAJOR surgery and so our prayer is that the brace would do it's job and that if anything, her curve would improve. So that's the story.

Yuck. I definitely hope she doesn't need to have the surgery to correct it. Hopefully the brace, as inconvenient as it may be, helps.

 

[KelleyK75]

Your photographic memory for maps would save a lot of time not having to listen to the GPS. I wish I had one of those.

I love watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I don't specifically remember this restaurant but it looks really good. The wait time doesn't sound fun but at least you had good food.

I hope Sarah's scoliosis improves. And thank goodness you were able to retrieve the brace back.

Yay for your Vacation Mojo!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Pfft. Babies, wish they would comprende quicker

Seriously. Buncha whiners.

Is it sad when your not even 2 year old son is like this with DH?! Didn't know it started out that young.

Well, it actually goes like this: for the first 3 or 4 years of life, Mommy is #1. Period. End of discussion. Then, around age 4, the kid discovers that Mommy always says no, and Daddy is the fun one. So Dad gets a magical run till about age 10 or so where he can do no wrong. Then suddenly, without warning, the kid decides that both parents are seriously lame and the less time with them, the better.

The most perfect word

I can't take credit for "hangry". Jill used it in a response to me sometime last year, and then I heard Tina Fey use it in a commercial. I didn't know it was a thing.

Aw man that stinks. Does she have to wear a brace for a while?

Yeah, through puberty. I see my wife chimed in on this.

Goo! The menu looks ridiculous.

Certainly out of the ordinary!

Anything with a fried egg is brilliant in my book

I don't understand all the hate for eggs, either. I love 'em.

#drooling

Major score!

King-sized beds, too!

This is one thing I do not miss. 10 months of this was too much. I believe this condition is called 'Tangry'.

ANY amount of that is too much!

This is just not turning into a good travel day for you guys at all.

A little bit of a rough start, but we recovered.

Poor baby Drew was all off whack with the time change and needed to eat NOW!

I think he's like that all the time!

The kids didn't want to go with you? I can't say that I blame them. I'd rather wait for food than go on a ride trying to find our hotel.

See, I'd rather keep moving. Nothing is worse than sitting in a line with no clue how long you'll be there.

HANGRY! I love it.

Who knew?

Does Sarah need to wear a brace for her scoliosis at bedtime too?

Yeah, poor kid. She always looks forward to those 4 hours of relief every day.

And why am I not surprised at a burger joint? My son is on this "fried egg" on top of his burger kick. Seriously grosses me out.

It's an egg. It's not like we were putting fried worms on there.

The food does all look appetizing though (minus the egg).

It certainly was yummy!

Glad you finally found your hotel and got some sleep...well until Baby Drew woke up anyway.[/QUOTE]

Sleep? What's that?

Ok- I am totally stealing "hangry" !

Steal away! I stole it, too.

The burger joint looks awesome! Great upgrade on the room. I hope it is a sign of vacation mojo!

Well, we didn't get any more upgrades after that. But things worked out well for the most part.

That burger looks like its right up your alley. That has Captain Oblivious written all over it!

Mostly because it's a burger, right?

Even the kids burgers looks pretty darn good. I'm not a huge burger fan but those burgers are drool worthy!

They were huge! And they'd better be since they charged $10 for a kids' meal.

Oy to the wait and to not finding the hotel promptly. Oh yeah - and the brace under the table could potentially present a problem down the road. Glad it wasn't lost.

At least we only made that mistake once!

Score on the 2 BR room! That's awesome! How long are you staying there.

It was just the one night. You know us--we never seem to be in one place for very long!

Poor Drew. Poor Julie. I remember the Facebook post after that night. I hope it gets better!

Uh, well...by "better", you mean "about the same", right?

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Captain’s Log: 19 July 2014.
4:35 p.m.—No, that’s 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 driver’s 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 didn’t 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 had 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.

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 we’d done it before we headed to dinner.

Captain’s Log: 19 July 2014 (cont.)7:08 p.m.—we check into the Wyngate by Wyndham of Henderson, NV. The desk clerk promptly informs us that although we reserved a standard room, there are none available. Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?

7:08:15 p.m.—Vacation Mojo is back!

Karma!

And for the record,

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

No need to explain this, it's burgers!

Great! So nobody will make fun of me anymore.

Yup! Anything that's been on Triple D, you can expect a wait, at least the places I've been to that aren't in the middle of nowhere, and some that are in the middle of nowhere!

I had originally thought we'd get there around 4:00 p.m. I bet that would have helped. Anyway, we have another Triple D experience coming up. The wait wasn't as bad there.

You know at least you were able to accomplish that with no witnesses. My luck we would be driving back and forth with Fran screaming, "Why didn't you get a REAL map? Screw the internet, screw your GPS, Maps are the only thing that work."

Ooops.....sorry, I guess my trip is spilling over.

The GPS is fun. One, it's cool to play with technology, and two, I have both Homer Simpson and Darth Vader voices for it.

I will have to remember that word, it may get me out of deeper trouble!

Seems to be a popular one!

I'm sorry to hear this, is it something that they think she will grow out of using the brace or a challenge she will face lifelong, or do they even have any speculation at this point?

Julie summed it up pretty well. Basically we have to hope it "trains" her spine to grow properly and then hope it's good when she's done growing.

That's definitely a good savings when you add it up over the trip and much more healthy as well!

I have to admit, I broke down a couple of times when I really needed the caffeine. But with the heat and dry air, the water was always refreshing.

According to Wikipedia:

Furikake (振り掛け / ふりかけ?) is a dry Japanese seasoning[1] meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate. Other flavorful ingredients such as katsuobushi (sometimes indicated on the package as bonito), or okaka (bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce and dried again), freeze-dried salmon particles, shiso, egg, powdered miso, vegetables, etc., are often added to the mix.

So much for you not eating seafood!

This is the way to get me to eat seafood--chop it up into microscopic pieces, dry it out, and then lightly sprinkle in onto a burger where it's overwhelmed by everything else.

I suppose calling it "furikake" does sound more exotic than "dried seaweed and salmon bits."

Other than the fried egg, it looks fine, I can't deal with the idea of egg on my burger. Caramelized bacon! Yum! Insert that picture of Homer drooling here!

Ask and ye shall receive:

Cute!

Score!

...oh, wait.

That's better.

Ugh! I would say that I hope it gets better, but I know from FB that it doesn't.

Sleep deprivation sucks.

This is the truth. I've never met anyone who has such a photographic memory for maps. He's not being a "stubborn man" and not asking for directions.....he really knows where he's going.

And it's in writing!

Yup.

Again....all of this is true. It turns out that "regular Julie" can get hangry, but "pregnant Julie" and "nursing Julie" get REALLY hangry. It was a rough wait.

And whatever happens, it will be my fault.

Again with the ironic foreshadowing....

Not ironic, just annoying.

Yum. Now I want those fries again.

Mmmm...pineapple ketchup...

Again....there's a mention of the peapod tent thing.

Sure worked great on that first night, huh?

Yeah, THAT joke's not going to get old....

It never gets old! What are you talking about?

I also had scoliosis as a kid - and I still have it. (Sorry, about the crappy genes kid.) Once you have a curve, you always have it. The goal of the brace is to stop it from getting worse as she goes through her major growth spurt. Think of how you would tie a tree when you plant it so that the trunk grows straight and not crooked - same basic principle. She has to wear it until she stops growing....which for girls is about two years after menses starts. She wears it while she sleeps, taking it off for only 4 hours a day. (During this time she can do sports, shower or just lounge around.) (I might also add, she has a better deal than I did....I had to wear mine 23 hours a day!) The curve causes her no pain now, but left untreated, it could be deforming and causing breathing problems and digestive problems. Right now the brace is the best course of treatment, BUT if it progresses past 50 degrees, they will most likely recommend surgery. This is considered MAJOR surgery and so our prayer is that the brace would do it's job and that if anything, her curve would improve. So that's the story.

Surgery would be awful. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Oh geez 23 hours? Yikes, I couldn't imagine that. Hopefully there will be no major surgery for her and the brace does what it's supposed to

Let's hope it all works out!

I'll have to remember that one. At Disney it is tough to do that, but with other places we should try that for our upcoming road trip.

Yeah, I can't pull it off at Disney since everyone needs their own park admission. Which is why my one big complaint about Disney is the lack of cheap places to stay with larger families. Even the Art of Animation Resort says its "Value" family suites are $300/night.

Most regular hotels will often times only allow you to reserve 1 room for 2 adults, 2 kids. Any more and they either make you reserve the Presidential Suite or 2 rooms. Since I can't afford either, I just pretend I have 2 kids. They don't mind putting a sleeping bag on the floor. I have found that calling the hotel directly will work at times--the staff at the hotel is usually more accommodating for extra people than the website. But that's not always the case, or they may just send you to the central reservations office which doesn't help. In the end, no one has ever batted an eye when I bring my family in. Although they usually wait in the car while I check in. It's not a perfect system, but what can you do?

Okay, that is just adorable! He's never going to do anything wrong.

I'm just as bald and fat as he is, but I never get away with anything. Sigh.

There is no end to Mrs. Knowitall's talents! Wow.

Truer words were never spoken.

I think that's very funny. I may rip that off.

Go for it! I rip off all of my best material.

I had to read that sentence twice. Funny! I can't believe how long it took to get the minivan. That is insane.

Moses got the people out of Egypt faster.

We also drive a Honda Odyssey thumbsup2) and rented Chrysler Town & Country on our last trip. The kids loved it.

Ours is a 2006 Odyssey, so it's getting up there in years. Runs just fine, though.

Eeew! Run far, run fast! Good job escaping.

I think we've seen enough of Vegas.

You're the perfect team. I can see why your family enjoys traveling so much.

We like to think so. Check in on us again after a few more days of sleep deprivation.

Great new word! This is a very educational trip report.

Uh oh. I'd better put some more fart jokes in here.

Oh, I am sorry to hear this... It sounds uncomfortable.... What a blessing that Julie can relate and be encouraging, since she has been through it. That would make a huge difference for your daughter, I would I think. And so important to do all you can to try to avoid further problems and possible surgery. (I hope it was not an issue on rides at Disneyland?)

We'll take it one day at a time and hopefully it'll turn out ok. And (spoiler alert) we gave her a 1-day brace holiday at Disneyland. We figured one day out of it wasn't going to kill her, especially if she had to wear it for the next 2+ years.

Mmmm! Caramelized bacon... Caramelized anything has to be good.

Maybe...

SCORE!

Julie’s packing skills are amazing!

Sounds like you got something like what we travel with (Kidco Peapod). Definitely convenient for travel – folds small and very light. We've gotten a lot of use out of ours.

Sounds like the same thing! We have some more issues with it, but I think they have more to do with the kid using it.

Drew looks so happy to be on his first airplane ride!

You know, he did really well on the plane.

Wow, Julie also has impressive airplane diaper-changing skills! I have been insanely lucky to not have to change a poopy diaper in flight thus far (4 RT flights).

Impressive. We figured it was inevitable with a 4.5-hour flight.

Ugh, doesn’t sound like any of you had a pleasant pre-dinner experience.

We survived.

Wow, that is quite a burger!

Yay for a room upgrade!

Yep, that nighttime routine of Drew’s sounds very familiar from last year.

Does it ever end?

 

[glennbo123]

Our maps and GPS are still packed away somewhere in our bags in the back, but I’m not worried. Remember how Julie’s superpower is packing luggage? Mine is my sense of direction and photographic memory. I study maps and Google Earth well ahead of time to get an idea of exactly where I’m going. So I know exactly which street I’m looking for as we travel.

Oh, I bet that'll come in real handy when you're looking for your hotel.

We’re eating at a burger joint.

I know, it’s a bit of a shock to me as well. And yet, here we are.

This place is actually a little different.

Excuse me, don't you say that before every burger joint chapter in an Oblivious trip report?

The hostess tells us it’s a 40-45 minute wait. Baby Drew is getting grumpy and wants to eat. Julie tries to tell him it’s a 40-45 minute wait, but Drew doesn’t want to hear it.

Well heck no. He doesn't need no "hostess".

So, I climb into the minivan alone and set off on the short drive to the hotel, relying once again on my superb navigational skills.

This is so sweet that we get to see your superpowers in action.

5:54 p.m.—I can’t find the stupid hotel.

5:57 p.m.—Seriously. I should have seen it by now. I think I’ve driven too far down this road. I’m turning around.

6:08 p.m.—It’s got to be here somewhere.

Wait a minute...did you say that you were looking for Disney's Hilton Head Resort Beach House, or a hotel in Las Vegas?

Julie’s giving me some major stinkeye. Uh oh.

Man, they're good at multitasking. Nursing and major stinkeye.

Sarah’s first order of business was to take off her orthopedic brace. She was recently diagnosed with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and as a result has to wear a brace for 20 hours a day. She typically gets 4 hours of blessed relief in the afternoon, but due to the flight she had been wearing it for longer than usual and needed the break. So she took it off and placed it under the table.

First, sorry to hear that about Sarah. I hope that she'll be able to correct it with the brace.

And secondly, well, cue the ominously foreboding music.

The desk clerk promptly informs us that although we reserved a standard room, there are none available. Would we care for a 2-bedroom suite instead?

7:08:15 p.m.—Vacation Mojo is back!

Suite! I mean, sweet!

And Sarah promptly informed us that she had left her brace back at Bachi Burger.

Sigh.

So we pile the groceries into the van and head once more down the highway, making this my third separate trip to the restaurant.

"Hello , it's me again."

Coming Up Next: One of the best dam engineering achievements known to man!

Ooo, ooo, pick me! Pick me!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

You mean to tell me that there are folks who don’t do this?

I think Google Earth is one of the greatest inventions known to man.

Pfbbbtt… Pa-lease, tell me the next time y’all don’t eat at a burger joint.
(oh and good call by the way)

Even we have to change it up now and then.

Interesting menu…
Interesting indeed.

Interesting good, or interesting bad?

Mmmmmm… ground cow.

The Triple-D Effect in action. Nearly as effective as the Colbert Bump.

There’s a good burger joint in Columbia that now suffers that same effect.
Truth be told though, that’s about the average wait for most of the “nicer” chain establishments around where I live. For example, the wait at one of your favorites: “Cheesecake Factory”, in Charlotte is rarely less than 90 min. Which also explains why I avoid the “nicer” places and try hunt down the dives.

And why we often try to eat at odd times during the day. We're not above starving ourselves at lunchtime so we can eat an early dinner and beat the crowds.

A stubborn infant… Imagine that.

When we found out we were expecting, we prayed for a low-maintenance baby. God laughed at us.

Hummm… stay where there is a potential for food, or go off with dad to get a good look at all the nothing. Tough one there (from their perspective at least).

The result of a lack of experience there. Riding around beats sitting in a parking lot, and offers up the potential for being able to watch dad foul something up, and then continually reminding him of said foul-up, but logic of that caliber is generally lost on a hungry young’en.

I'm sure they'll figure that out soon. It didn't take long before they were "bored" in the parking lot.

You should have an expert understanding of this by now.
And you get to go through it for a fourth time in the future.

Yay?

See… They missed out
Aren’t you glad they didn’t come along now?

Maybe they could have helped me spot the place!

News Flash!!!
If it helps at all, you’ll never be older than me (something I regularly tell my DW).

So you got that going for you.

Gunga-galunga. Anyway, the next step is to learn to write things down.

That’s a common word down this way.
Surprised you hadn’t encountered it yet.

Like I said, it's always interesting to encounter different dialects in the same country.

Did not know this. Sorry to hear about it. That’s tough on a young’en. May it correct as much of the problem as possible and in as short a time as necessary.

One of my friends back in when I was young enough to be in school did several years in a full cast from shoulders to waist for the same reason. It only came off when they needed to change to another one for growth or condition reasons. At least this one does come off from time to time.

Full cast?! I'm thankful that Julie has been through this and knows what to expect. And Sarah is a tough cookie. She just rolls with the punches.

Trip number three… I can see it from here.

That is actually an excellent plan.

These $3.00 sodas add up in a hurry!

That one looks interesting. I’d have probably gone for the “Black and Green” myself, but still a good choice.

Thanks. Too much spinach and fungus on that other one for me.

There’s a win. The last time a hotel fouled up my reservation, I got put into a smaller room. You did much better here.

It was nice to finally get a win on the day!

And there it is; though I suspect that specific mistake won’t be happening again for the rest of this trip.

I tell my kids that I won't get angry over a mistake. I will get angry over a mistake that gets repeated time and time again.

Do not miss that stuff. I love my boy and I only have just the one, but it was just shy of two years before he slept through the night. That was a long stretch of sleep deprivation. On a subconscious level, it might have something to do with us only having just the one as well.

That's understandable. I understand why sleep deprivation is used as torture.

Hummm…
Let’s see just how many times and in how many ways this bit word play makes its way into the next update. We could start up a pool amongst all your readers. I’m going with thirty-seven.

That low, huh? Julie and Sarah actually tried to keep count throughout the day, too.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Wow, what a travel day you guys had! Julie, your packing skills are worthy of a . I am an overpacker to the max.

She's good! And it's necessary when you have to cram 6 people and all of your bags into one vehicle.

Mark, I'm sorry but I had to giggle when you were on your quest to find the hotel. Even after you found it, you had no time to stop and unload the van. So sounds like something that would happen to me.

I hope you giggled! I don't want to have done all that suffering for nothing.

We aren't adventurous eaters either and stick to a lot of burger places when traveling too. Your burger (if I tossed aside the fried egg) looks really really good. Even the kids' burgers look good.

There sure are a lot of eggs going to waste in this group. Amazing that nobody seems to mind the dried seaweed and fish bits.

So is this a skill you just finally mastered after your experience in trying to find the food truck in Hawaii? Because I don't remember that one working out quite so smoothly for you.

Well, Mr. Smarty-Pants, if you recall, I issued a disclaimer on finding your way around Hawaii. Remember Rule #1 of Driving In Hawaii: You can't get there from here.

You know me... I'm always in the mood for a good burger.

So am I! Hey, you hungry?

They don't want to be your pack mule. That's your job.

These kids need to start pulling their own weight around here.

Ok, so now it feels more like Hawaii.

You said it...

Speak up, son! I'm an old man, you know.

I'm guessing that you didn't choose this time to let her know your mission failed???

Well, I was going to tell her and all that, but--SQUIRREL!

That sounds... interesting...

I'm telling you, pineapple makes everything better.

Take your victories wherever you can find them.

They are few and far between.

No, we'll wait.

Seriously. Like I was going to reject it.

Sounds about right.

So you REALLY don't need a map in that part of Vegas by now.

Pretty sure I could find my way blindfolded at this point.

And the other kids are thrilled with the 2 bedroom upgrade.

Exactly! I don't know how they manage to sleep through it.

Well, the man works as a DOT engineer. He should have a pretty good understanding and knowledge of how traffic flows.

Also, maps are a guy thing.

That joke never gets old!

I agree! It's a total Dad joke.

Yuck. I definitely hope she doesn't need to have the surgery to correct it. Hopefully the brace, as inconvenient as it may be, helps.

Thanks! We all hope it works out!

Your photographic memory for maps would save a lot of time not having to listen to the GPS. I wish I had one of those.

I have a GPS too, because technology.

I love watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I don't specifically remember this restaurant but it looks really good. The wait time doesn't sound fun but at least you had good food.

I've seen worse in terms of waits. And yes, the food was very good.

I hope Sarah's scoliosis improves. And thank goodness you were able to retrieve the brace back.

Time will tell. It would have been worse without the brace!

Yay for your Vacation Mojo!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Karma!

And for the record,

Now we know. And knowing is half the battle.

Oh, I bet that'll come in real handy when you're looking for your hotel.

Exactly. I see my set-ups are becoming more transparent.

Excuse me, don't you say that before every burger joint chapter in an Oblivious trip report?

Oh, hush. But yes, you're probably right.

Well heck no. He doesn't need no "hostess".

Drew is not interested in your "niceties".

This is so sweet that we get to see your superpowers in action.

I think there was kryptonite in the glove compartment.

Wait a minute...did you say that you were looking for Disney's Hilton Head Resort Beach House, or a hotel in Las Vegas?

Between the two of us, there's a lesson here. I'm sure of it. But hopefully it isn't, "read the directions."

Man, they're good at multitasking. Nursing and major stinkeye.

Never underestimate the power of Mom.

First, sorry to hear that about Sarah. I hope that she'll be able to correct it with the brace.

And secondly, well, cue the ominously foreboding music.

and

Suite! I mean, sweet!

"Hello , it's me again."

Ever get that feeling of deja vu?

Ooo, ooo, pick me! Pick me!

All engineering geeks are welcome!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Interesting good, or interesting bad?

Interesting good. There’s some odd stuff floating around there but I’d hit the place if the opportunity availed itself. Like several others, I ain’t so sure about fried eggs on burgers, but I may need to give it a chance. It’s the fried part that troubles me. I’m rather fond of steak and eggs so long as the eggs are scrambled or in omelet form… egg whites by themselves are nasty but maybe the other elements of the sandwich will drown that fact out.

And why we often try to eat at odd times during the day. We're not above starving ourselves at lunchtime so we can eat an early dinner and beat the crowds.

Nice job on the frugality part of the equation, but that behavior is also a precursor and warning sign toward habitually showing up for the Early Bird Special.

I guess you are getting old.

When we found out we were expecting, we prayed for a low-maintenance baby. God laughed at us.

Yah, God laughs at us silly folk right often, don’t he?
That you even considered asking…
Now that has me laughing.

Yay?

No, no… it written: “YAY!”
Remember, you actually have wonderful young’ens that will all grow up to be mortified by you.

Our mission as dads is to ensure that there’s good reason for that sense of impending social ostracism and outright embarrassment to exist in the first place. Challenge accepted!

That low, huh? Julie and Sarah actually tried to keep count throughout the day, too.

How long were y’all there?
Obviously I’ve underestimated your other super-power of running a joke into the ground.
So are we talking a generally more colossal range, say like 173, or are we streaking ever skyward toward the more herculean realms near something like 764?

 

[Poolrat]

The wonderful packing skills of Julie are truly amazing.

You survived a long plane ride with a baby!!!!! Awesome. Even with the diaper change.

slot machines in the airport yup nice first impression.

Very brave to drive down the strip. Sorry to hear about he eternal wait for the rental van. I am sure being a bit hungry did not help.

Now your search for the hotel was not in vain. Probably if you did find earlier and could check in would have had the room you booked. By getting to know the area a bit you got a great room and a straight shot from dinner to the hotel.

Eh Having to go back for the back brace just got that out of the way early.


Burgers, burgers, hey I like burgers and those looked good. Not sure about he sprinkled fish guts on my burger but the fried egg I could do.

Ahh the interrupted sleep. Babies are for the young that's for sure.

Now get on with the dam update!!!!!