Road Trip- Phase 1: From Hell To Sin City

I left Shepherd Pool last week only to have 122 degrees pop up on my car thermometer. Time to leave the place I affectionately refer to as hell this time of year. We loaded up the kids and filled our jug with Sonic ice and hit the road. Our strategy this trip was to enjoy the journey and the destination, rather than try to make good time on our trek to Utah. This strategy necessitated an over night stay in Vegas. It's been years since Wes and I have paid more than half price for a hotel. I hate to brag, but we are pretty much priceline.com experts by now. We have it down and work the system quite well.

Case and point, we bid $38 for a four star hotel in Vegas and earned ourselves a stay at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. When we arrived, the hotel was selling out quickly. Because we were only staying one night, they offered us a free upgrade to a suite. I was thinking that maybe that meant a microwave and sink or something. Well the "or something" turned out to be two huge rooms, a fridge, a sink and bar area, two 42 inch plasma TVs, a jacuzzi tub and yet another TV in one of the bathrooms, and plenty of down feathers and granite finishes everywhere. This was unlike any hotel I had ever stayed in and the kids quickly thought maybe this should be our new house. I couldn't argue considering it costs less than our daily mortgage amount.


The kids were falling over tired, but we couldn't resist taking them for a walk along Freemont Street to experience the lights, and people and music. It did not disappoint as they were mesmerized by the music videos playing on the huge city block long canopy, the spray paint artist and all the shops and people.

It's hard to top the room and Freemont Street at night, but we hadn't seen the Golden Nugget swimming pool yet...

This pool has a 200,000 gallon shark and fish tank in the middle of it so you can swim up and watch the sea life. Sea World has nothing on this place. It's unbelievable.

The kids contemplate entering the waters. Sophie is a bit nervous and refuses to look at the camera because someone has to be on the look out for the sharks.

And as if the shark tank wasn't over the top enough, they also have a three-story slide that shoots right through the middle of the shark tank. It's hard to tell, but that is DB coming down the slide. I'm afraid the bar has been raised for hotels. The next Days Inn we stay at the kids will want to know where the shark tanks are. Unfortunately for Golden Nugget, they lost their bet on us pulling our weight to pay for all these amenities. I will admit that the slot machines did lure into their trap, but only to the tune of a single dollar at the nickel slots. For the record, I was up to $2.80 at one point but due to my novice gambling skills, I couldn't figure how to cash out and was too embarrassed to go up to the counter to ask how to collect my meager winnings. So I guess we paid $39 for the room. Suckers!

Stay tuned for our next stop: Utah on Pioneer Day! How's that for contrast.