Day 17 – July 15, 2016

St. George, UT – Las Vegas, NV

159 miles/ 2 ¼ hours

Temperature – 118 degrees!

It was a relatively easy drive to Vegas. The highway took us through some pretty mountains. And it was kind of cool how we drove over a hill and then all of a sudden – we could see Vegas in the distance. It’s a huge payoff after miles and miles of nothing. But oh, how I wish I could have seen it in the 1960s and 1970s.

We arrive too early to check in, so we found a place for lunch and then drove to the strip. Very crowded and an assault on the senses. Poor Bear Bear. There’s just so much to see and everything is big and bright. We drove to the famous Las Vegas sign, so we could get our obligatory picture. Rich was not happy about getting out in the heat (we passed a digital thermometer that read 118 degrees). But its Vegas and we had to have the picture. And of course – it’s dry heat. Amazing that it can be so hot, and yet none of us were sweating. I love it.

After check-in, we hit the pool for a little bit. We got ready and headed out for an early dinner, because we had show tickets! On the hotel’s recommendation, after I asked for a decent family restaurant that wouldn’t break the wallet, we ended up at Café Grand Deluxe in The Venetian, which is on the strip. The hotels on the strip (ours is a few blocks off the strip, thank God) are enormous. We entered through the front door of the hotel, and had to walk about mile to get to the restaurant. Of course the restaurants are all located on the other side of the casino. So we had to walk through the smoky casino and were treated to quite a show. Oh boy! Quite the crowd in Vegas.

After dinner we walked across the street to the Mirage for our show. Cirque du Soleil – Love, a tribute to the Beatles. Oh my goodness – hands down the best show I’ve ever seen. And that my friends was the consensus of everyone in the family. It was a big score for me, because even Barrett liked it. Every time I looked at him, he was smiling.

After the show we got to see the Vegas lights for real and the crazy was just starting to get wound up. Time to head back to the hotel, must to the chagrin of Rich, Audrey, and Hunter. I swear, the older I get, to bigger stick in the mud I’ve become. It’s rather sad.

Cammy quote of the day

the kids were talking about were they wanted to live one day. Audrey mentioned that she liked the dry heat and maybe she would move to the dessert. Cammy said, "I'm thinking big baby! I'm moving to L.A.!"