Our First Pre-Family Vacation

Here we are taking our proto-child on family vacation! Today we flew from our home to Seattle, WA then to Las Vegas, NV. Upon our arrival in Las Vegas we had a 50-minute wait to get the rental car I’d reserved (they tried to give us 2 different cars, one which reeked of cigarette smoke and the other was a gas-guzzler – no thanks when gas is $4 a gallon). I stubbornly refused to accept the cars they offered as they both were inferior to what I’d reserved. Plus I’m a Gold member and they are supposed to guarantee the vehicle is what you’ve reserved.

I had a moment of weakness where I almost caved – not wanting to hang around the car-rental place all day – but then magically the car I’d reserved appeared so we could go.

Both becoming-a-mother and becoming-a-baby behaved themselves well. Though I think becoming-a-mom wanted to throttle me at one point – she was feeling a bit nauseous and tired from the flight.

We did a quick stop at the store to pick up a styrofoam cooler, some yogurt, sandwich meats and fruit, then we were off down the freeway heading towards Zion National Park in Utah.

After a few hours of driving we decided to stop for the night in Mesquite, a town right on the Nevada side of the Utah border. Predictably it had several large hotels and casinos which were startlingly busy – guess all those straight-laced Utans headed across the border for their fix of gambling and vice for the weekend.