Friday, Day #15

The day started out pretty slow since the kids had gotten to bed so late the night before. While the kids slept, Steve and I did some research. We called downstairs to find out that they didn’t have any room to extend another night. We started checking out options for other hotels and found a great rate at the MGM Grand. We decided, based on their five pools, lazy river and three hot tubs that it was the winner! Steve went ahead and booked the room.

Meanwhile, we got the kids up and told them that they could take a quick swim before we left the hotel, which they did. Steve took a few things to the car while I took the kids to the pool. The pool was surprisingly small for that size of a hotel, and at 9am it was already crowded. We didn’t stay long.

After a few quick showers, we finished packing the car and headed out. Steve did mention to us at this time that when we were at the pool, he had tried to take a quarter and play a slot machine. But he stood there just staring at the machine, not able to figure it out. He said he walked around with this quarter for awhile completely baffled. Pathetic. Guess they knew they weren’t going to make any more money on us.

We finally got going around 10 and everyone was very hungry, so we stopped at an IHop for breakfast. While eating, we told the kids the good news! They were thrilled to stay another day. We ate as quickly as we could so that we could get to Hoover Dam and back before it got too late.

Fortunately, we were at the Dam early enough that it was crowded, but not too bad. We crossed the dam, parked (found free parking…passed up the $7 option…woo hoo!) and walked to the center of the dam for a few photos. It was 103 degrees. The kids just kept mumbling “five pools, a lazy river, three hot tubs.” It became their mantra.

We got back to the car as quickly as possible, and headed back into Vegas. We were parked, checked in and to our room by 2:30. We were in the pool by 3. We didn’t leave until 6. It was that nice.

After showers, we headed down to the Rainforest Café (which is another restaurant in the hotel) and had a nice dinner. It was nice to not have to leave the hotel at all. We had no desire to walk down the hot hot strip again that night. There were other cool things at other hotels we could have seen, but it was nice to just take it easy in one place. At one point during dinner, I checked the weather for Bryce Canyon on my blackberry (the place at which we should have been camping that night) and noticed there was a flash flood advisory. It’s nice when you realize just what a good decision you have made when you alter plans. After dinner, the kids went to the arcade and spent some of their money, then we all headed back upstairs.

The kids got Pete to bed and Steve and I headed back downstairs for some ‘adult time.’ It was nice. Both Steve and I had only been to Vegas once when we were kids, and we both remember wanting to just play the stupid slot machine once but not being allowed to. Since Steve had already attempted to play a slot earlier in the day and had failed, we decided that we would both go in together and figure this out.

We took our money ($10!!) and attempted a machine. We probably looked pathetic, but soon enough we had figured it all out. We could have it take our money very quickly in the $5 slots, or quite slowly in the 1 cent slots. We decided for the middle ground and played the 25 cent slots. At one point Steve broke even, but by the end we had each lost $5 and were pretty much done. We sat at one of the many bars and watched people go by while making up stories about their lives. We then watched a few of the craps tables (is that where that word comes from?), had absolutely no idea what was going on, but cheered with everyone else when appropriate.

We headed back to the room (it had probably been a whopping 30 whole minutes that we were gone) and retired. The whole thing was pretty funny as I think about it now. When you log onto some of the hotel’s websites they want you to tell them what you are: The Connoisseur, The Player, The Professional, The Party Goer or The Escapist. I guess they should add an option for: The Clueless Parent Who Really Only Cares About the Pool. But that would be too long a title…