Vegas, Baby!

When Bill and I were spry and unencumbered by younglings (not to mention stifled by BYU's absolutely mind-numbing sterility) we enjoyed road-tripping to Las Vegas. Palm Trees, sunshine, free shows, cheap hotel rooms and inexpensive all you can eat buffets drew us in and spoke to us-promising adventure and freedom. (Though, we seemed to always pay for those buffets in many other unmentionable ways.) Now that we have our two munchkins, the place, for us, has lost it's once beautiful neon glow- replaced by the filth and seediness that is the actual Vegas. Romney walked around town pointing to various posters and advertisements and simply called out-- "inappropriate". Can't really argue- the place is entirely inappropriate for an 8 year old and a 12 year old.
All that being said, it is the perfect little-over-half-way-there stop on the way to Southern California. Big bonus, my sister Andrea lives there, and we get to see her once a year on our way to our Christmas Vacation Destination. We booked a condo, which fit our "not-a-casino" criteria to have a nice overnighter and visit with my sister.


We hooked up with Andrea to enjoy a nice evening of good Japanese food, a trip to Borders for the boys to spend the gift cards she gave them on some super-fun books, and a tour of both the Luxor and Excalibur Casinos. The boys really wanted to see the inside of the pyramid and castle. What kid wouldn't? though meant for adults, the outsides are designed in such a way that kids are drawn to them like moths to flame.


The boys really loved walking around the outside of the buildings, but once inside couldn't stand the smoke and noise and smells that come standard in those aging edifices. We snuck on the incline-elevator at the Luxor (much to the chagrin of our super-rule-follower-with-no-excuses-or-excpetions, William) and zoomed up to the 30th floor. Our boundary-pushing-at-all-costs-until-I-cross-the-liner, Romney, was in heaven. Feeling like he was a super spy on a mission to infiltrate the secure area of the "guest floors". Once we had let them play a carnival game at Excalibur we realized it was almost midnight Utah time and time to hurry back to the safety of our condo to rest up for the travels of the next day.