Vegas, Baby

This is a chance for me to take my two kids, 13 and 15, to see Cirque du Soleil and Heart. Since it has to be in Vegas - we might as well see everything we can on the way, right? I think there's too much on Tues..maybe I should save monument Valley for that day instead and skip window rock and hopi this trip..? that part is not yet set in stone...

So far Outstanding! We left a day early to spend an afternoon in Ouray, which is beautiful...we saw just enough to want to spend a couple of days there. Mesa Verde was incredible. The kids loved it! Driving through Monument Valley between Mesa Verde and the North Rim IS the way to go. It was incredible. We didn't stop, except to take pics off the side of the road, but that just broke up the length of the day's drive. The North Rim was a perfect stopover, except the "gourmet restaurant" left a little to be desired for the price...next time we'll hit the bar & grill. Vegas was not as impressive as I would have hoped...Expedia, I discovered, does not provide the kind of room you reserve, which meant that my two teenage kids and I got to share one queen bed. Lesson learned. The people at the Best Western Mardi Gras were nice, though. The people at the Hilton were not. The Star Trek museum was fun, though. The Monorail is kinda cool. There is a two hour wait for the Gondola ride at the Venetian, so we passed. Lunch at Emeril's Delmonico was worth it. Cirque Du Soleil's LOVE was magical! It is worth a non-gambler and her 2 kids putting up with the rest of vegas just to see that show. Heart was also incredible! --even if we had to put up with the rude employees at the Hilton. The kids and I were tired enough that one more day just at the hotel to watch tv and hang by the pool might have been a good idea...oh well...as it is, we're doing pretty well, and we got a couple of hours down time Sunday before Heart. So far we've averaged $200 p/day for gas, food and stuff not counting rooms and show tickets. Today we head out - try to catch the Guinness museum on the way, stop at Hoover Dam, and end up on the South Rim. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow...just know that we'll do the 5 minute stop at 4-corners and end up in Durango. I guess we'll see....