Spring Break 2010

Our first vacation in a few years happened to coincide with spring break. So, even though none of us were actually out on spring break, we're going to label our trip such because it fits.

You might be wondering why we chose Las Vegas as our destination. Several months - may have been over a year - ago Amber and I sat in on a time-share presentation that offered a free trip to hear their pitch. We originally chose St. George, with the intention of taking the kids. However, as time went on we learned that the award company offered very meager packages to St. George and many more perks for America's playground. With prospect of receiving more freebies we moved our destination a few hours south of Utah's dixie land to Nevada. Still, the plan was to experience the trip as a family.

In the months leading up to our expedition I took on a second programming job, performing some contract work with a company called Logicalis in Seattle. The work was challenging and fun, but the schedule was brutal. In addition to my full-time day job at the university I was adding an additional 30 hours a week programming late into the night and on weekends. It was during one of these coding spells that I felt enormous gratitude for Amber's support in my added employment. Thinking of ways I could make it up to her, the thought of secretly arranging childcare for the trip and then traveling as a couple felt like the way to go.

To help with childcare I contacted Ambers sister Stacy, whose daughter Sienna is close to Ashley in age, and my sister Julia, who doesn't have any kids as small as Andrew and thus I thought would be a good fit. Both agreed to help, although my sister Jenna eventually convinced Julia to take Andrew. I never knew my kids were so popular.

Our hotel reservations put us in Vegas during the non-peak time of the week - Tuesday through Thursday. We were already in Orem the weekend prior for the Easter holiday, so we spent time with family on Monday before we headed south. Monday night I met up with some friends in Salt Lake to attend an amazing rock show of a british band called Muse. It was the most amazing concert I've ever seen. I was already a fan of the music, but the attention to detail in the production was astounding.

Jenna's family graciously let us crash in their basement on Monday night. This worked out doubly well as they live about a mile from the venue where I attended the show and they were going to be taking Andrew in the morning. Already sleeping there simplified our departure immensely. After packing up and leaving Andrew with Jenna we traveled down to Utah county to leave Ashley with Stacy. Both drop offs were executed flawlessly and we were on the road to Nevada in no time.

The first stop on our trip was the In-N-Out Burger in St. George, which is conveniently located next to the outlet malls. Following the consumption of the tasty burgers we made our way around the various outlets, making sure that we weren't missing out on any killer sales. It turns out that we weren't, so our stay in Dixie was short.

Upon our arrival in America's Playground we checked into the Riviera, located on the older end of the Strip across from Circus Circus. The rooms were pleasant, however the rest of the hotel was a little dated. This didn't matter too much as most of our time was spent exploring all the different places along Las Vegas Blvd. Our vacation package included some gift certificates to Planet Hollywood at Caesar's Palace. Finding the restaurant was a little tricky, as you might imagine. There are two commercial structures that are designed to keep you captive: shopping malls and casinos. So, when a casino, Caesar's Palace, designs a shopping mall finding your way around such a building can be maddening. After correcting ourselves from taking a few wrong turns we eventually found the place and were able to sit down to dinner.

Our only full day in the city started with sleeping in late - thanks to no kids - and going for a six mile run. This brings up the topic as to why we chose to go on vacation while in the middle of training for a race. We're not exactly sure, but whenever we head out on a trip together in the future - probably in another seven or eight years - we don't plan on going while preparing for any kind of race.

With the mid-day run we didn't get out to see anything until well into the afternoon. To save some time we drove down to the south end of the Strip and parked at the MGM Grand so we could see everything on that end of town without taking the 2.5 mile walk. After hitting up ESPN Zone - one of my personal favorite stops of the trip - for lunch, we headed over to M&M World before deciding that we wanted to see a show. Following several recommendations we chose to see the Cirque du Soleil perform "O" at the Bellagio. Cirque du Soleil is a company known for mind blowing acrobatics. This particular show was set mostly around water scenes. The stage for the theater was particularly impressive as the floor moved in several places. At one moment the water on stage was deep enough for a performer to take a 50-foot dive off a trapeze. Then, a minute later the same pool would be shallow enough for other performers to be running across the surface.

The one drawback to the show was the fact that we decided rather late to attend and the performance was sold out a few days in advance. We took the gamble of waiting for over an hour in the standby line - observing how people played poker in the next room while we waited. When show time approached the usher tried to get rid of the single seats first. Faced with the prospect of not getting in at all we took the chance and accepted to sit on opposite sides of the theater. Once we got inside it was a little disappointing to find each of our rows half-full at best, meaning if we would have waited for seats that were together we would have most certainly gotten into the show.

Thursday began with another lazy morning, followed by a run. This one was only three miles, and I think we may have fudged even that. While packing the car, after checking out of the Riviera, Amber decided she wanted to take our chances on the slot machines with the change in our car. After pulling the lever a few times on a penny slot I struck pay dirt - winning 400 credits. This meant I could pull the lever 400 more times, or walk away with $4.00 cash. I chose the later, and do believe I spent it all in one place.

Returning to our kids was an entertaining event. While away we had been told that Ashley and Sienna declared one of the days that they spent together as, "the best day ever!" Ashley was so tuckered from three fun filled days with her cousins that she barely opened her eyes when we took her out to the car. The next morning we arrived at Jenna's house only to have Andrew collapse and cry at the first sight of us. He was clutching a cereal bowl, and thought that since we arrived he would loose the chance at some more cereal. We made sure the boy had his fill before hitting the road for a final time to return to Logan.