The Odyssey in the Desert – Part 1
I’ve always heard that the desert is a place to go to get clarity. It’s a place that is quiet, beautiful, and lends itself to introspection. After all, didn’t Jesus go to the desert to pray for 40 days? And the Israelites wandered the Sinai desert for 40 years, looking for the promised land, right? Well, this trip, wasn’t ANYTHING like all that. Join us for a winter’s odyssey in the desert where we take 6 young 20 somethings for their first trip to the land of holy rollers, I mean, HIGH rollers in Las Vegas.
So…why Vegas?
I’m sure some folks are wondering why we would take our youngest to Las Vegas for his 21st birthday. After all, Vegas is the sort of trip you take with your friends, whom you swear to secrecy after engaging in some highly questionable, not necessarily legal, shenanigans. Well, you’d have to know a little about Connor.
The youngest of 4 outspoken children, Connor learned at a very young age to have his own voice. He always had his own sense of style and he had BIG plans for his life. One of these plans included going to a casino when he was finally 21 and winning. Big.
As somewhat responsible parental units, we tried to explain to him that the odds of this happening were not good. However Connor’s belief persisted and so we decided it would be best to take him ourselves, so he could see what gambling was really like. (Or what it’s really like with your parents who drove you, bank rolled you, and would make sure you got home at a decent hour.)
Thus a plan was hatched. We would take Connor to Las Vegas and to make sure it wasn’t too awkward, we invited his girlfriend, and his sister, Claire, and Claire’s best friend, Lydia, and Lydia’s boyfriend, Jonny, and then just to round out the group, another friend of Claire’s, Mary. Sure we tried to get other adults to join us…but in the end, it was us and 6 20 somethings, heading to the land of “let it ride”. God help us!
Where to Stay?
As we began to plan for the trip, we looked at hotels off Fremont Street since you can usually get very good deals there. Of course we would need like, 4 rooms, or a suite that could accommodate our entire group (originally slated to be 13). So even at only $70 per room per night, it was going to cost us a pretty penny. Then it occurred to us…if we’re in one room and the kids are in the other, what’s to stop them from gambling all night? I mean, once alcohol’s involved most people aren’t known for their best decision making abilities.
With this in mind, we opted for a VRBO about 10 minutes from the strip and Fremont. That way, we could drive to the gambling and we could also spend time doing other things. There were a lot of options in the area, but we decided to pretend that we were ballers and get a big home with lots of amenities.
This home had 5 bedrooms and could easily sleep 15.
It also had:
- a hot tub
- heated pool
- tennis court
- basket ball court
- pool house
- a game room with a pool table and darts
- a poker room
- outdoor eating and cooking spaces
- and a giant kitchen.
The Game Plan
To make their travel as smooth as possible, we decided that Stephen and I would serve as the advance team. We would get to Las Vegas 4 hours before the rest of the crew to get the giant rental vehicle, open the house and make sure it was ready for guests, get $700 worth of groceries for the week, and get the decorations up.
The Flight that almost wasn’t
Mission minded, we arrived at Detroit Metro Airport well ahead of the 2 hour window advised for domestic flights. As is our custom, we stopped in at Delta’s lounge and spent a little time with our favorite bartender, Stephanie. Here we are with our first mimosas of the day.
When started to pack up, one of the other loungers let us know that they were on the same flight to Las Vegas as we were and that the departure was delayed about an hour. Since there is no grand glory in standing by the gate waiting for a boarding call, we sat back down and got another mimosa and some chocolate chip cookies to go.
About 20 minutes before time to board, we headed to the gate and saw a huge line of humans waiting to go in. Since we had assigned seats and no carry-on luggage, we thought we would have time for a quick bathroom break. Well, here’s a little bit of wisdom we learned:
Travel Tip
If your plane has been delayed, know that the gate agent will close the doors as soon as possible to get the flight out. This may happen even if you’re checked in and you told them that you were just running to the bathroom.
Love – the Travel Oracle
Aren’t you glad you read these articles so you can learn this helpful information in advance of your next adventure?? As we ran back to gate agent yelling “wait, wait”, we saw them close the doors. The agent who was still there told us that once the doors were closed, there was no chance of us getting on the plane.
Cue stress reaction.
Our Salvation
With no hope of getting on the plane, I sat down at the gate and began to look for other flights to Las Vegas. The next one was the same flight the kids were on. This would just mean that they would have to go with us to the rental car place and to open our rental home. Decorating and grocery shopping would just have to be done later. It wasn’t ideal, but it was do-able.
And then, we saw her.
It was the pilot walking up to the gate. Since they had to open the doors to let her on, all the rest of us who were left at the gate got to go on the plane too. Below, you will see the beautiful cookies we ate in celebration.
The Mad-Dashing
We thought we had a good plan to get everything accomplished before the rest of the crew arrived. In the end, we had to forego lunch and we had to divide and conquer in order to get everything done. Stephen went to the airport to get the kids, while I stayed behind to unload groceries and put up the fun decorations.
Was it worth it?
Seeing their faces when they arrived was worth ALL the hustle. Connor loved the decorations and everyone split up to do their own tours of our homestead for the week. It wasn’t long before everyone was changed and enjoying their first day of vacation.
Sweet Endings
The sun went down and Stephen went back to the airport to get our last guest. I fired up the enormous grill and made 24 assorted hamburgers and hot dogs, along with 2 pounds of seasoned French fries.
We adjourned to the game rooms and had a little fun before bed. Between the travel and time change, we all called it night well before midnight Las Vegas time.
But wait…there’s more
The kids were especially eager to get to bed because the next day was slated to start to be EPIC. It would start early with skydiving at 9am and wouldn’t end until Connor turned 21 at the stroke of midnight. Be sure to join us next week as we unpack the Odyssey in the Desert – Part 2, the Mat Franco Experience!!
Join our Tribe
If you haven’t done so already, consider joining us at the Travel Oracle. Not only do we give you fun updates on adventures, we have:
- City Guides to help you find the best places to eat, drink and recreate on your next adventure
- Race reports and running advice
- Home and Pet sitting services
- Trip planning and travel advice
- A fun weekly newsletter, curated with content just for our subscribers
And the cost?? How about free? I like free. So check us out or follow us on Instagram for a peek at what we’re up to in real time. Until next week!!
