Peaceful Provo & Lavish Las Vegas

August 11, 2010 –

This morning we once again packed the car and said our goodbyes to some really great friends who opened their home to us. I know the kids are sad to leave; every time I tried to get Katie ready to go, she kept yelling, “No, not yet!” We stopped on the way out of town to buy gas, and we went through a car wash as well. You should have seen Katie; she laughed and laughed and wanted to go through again. I think it was the highlight of the trip for her. Eventually, we hit the road and drove about an hour south to Provo. For anyone who doesn’t know, Becky and I met while we both attending BYU, and for me at least it was my first time returning to the campus since I graduated (not that we actually attended the graduation ceremony) in 1996.

Now I have to give a little bit of a disclaimer here. From comments that I have made, it seem that some people are under the impression that I do not like BYU. That is not true. This is where I met Becky – my soul mate even if she does roll her eyes at me too often. I have great memories of BYU and Provo hanging out with Becky, Seth, other friends and my two brothers whose own time here overlapped my own. And of no little importance, this is where I went to the best haunted houses around Halloween that I have ever been to. Plus, I truly did love wrestling here under the coaching of Olympic gold medalist Mark Schultz.

The only issue I have with BYU is with their sports program. I no longer consider myself a fan of their sports teams because whole situation was not handled very well when they dropped their wrestling team a couple years after I graduated. So while I love the memories I have of BYU, I do joke with people that since they dropped their wrestling program, I don’t feel the least bit guilty throwing away unopened any Alumni requests for donations to the school. From the looks of the beautiful campus and all the changes they’ve made in the last 14 years, they don’t seem to be missing the contributions of schoolteacher in any case.

So we did the whole drive-around-Provo thing – “Look kids, this was our first apartment after we got married. Look, this is where I lived when I met your mom. This is where she lived. There’s the Brick Oven where I used to get free meals after weighing in for wrestling matches. Alex, take your headphones off and listen to me! This is important stuff! Look, there’s the MTC. There’s the Provo Temple.” All of you who have been back to Provo with your kids know the drill.

We did go on campus as well. Of course, we bought a few souvenirs in the BYU bookstore, ate lunch at the food court in the Wilkinson Center and had ice cream from the BYU Creamery. We took pictures with the Brigham Young statue and commented on how different the library looks. We even showed the kids the bowling alley where Uncle Paul became a bowling hustler and I used to play Ms. Pac Man. Of course, now they have one of those new commemorative combo Ms. Pac Man / Galaga games where the Ms. Pac Man is slowed way down so you might as well be playing Pac Man. Just goes to show that change is not always for the better, and just one other area where the university seems to be slipping. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

After our stroll down memory lane, we got back in the car and drove another five hours south to Provo’s sister city, Las Vegas. I had forgotten that leaving Utah we pass through Arizona for 15 or 20 minutes before getting into Nevada so that makes a total of 7 Western states we visited on the trip, not 6. Of course, we never even got out of the car, but since the canyon you drive through is among the most spectacular views of any I have seen, I’m going to count it anyway.

We got into Vegas at about 9 o’clock – just when the town’s coming to life. I have been here a couple of times, but this is the first time I had arrived after dark. It’s a very impressive sight to see all the lights as you get closer and closer to the city. We are staying at the Stratosphere, and because it’s mid-week I got a screaming deal on the room. Becky and the kids waited in the car while I registered, and the hotel had another deal going on so at check-in I decided to splurge and upgraded us to a suite on the top floor of the main rooms tower – that would be the 24th floor, not the 100+ of the observation tower. I parked the car while Becky and the kids went up to the room, and they were all very surprised that I had upgraded the room (see, I’m not always cheap).

We grabbed something to eat, and then we headed up the huge observation tower that overlooks the whole city. The wait was about a half-hour, but we could go up to the 109th floor observation deck for free because we’re staying at the hotel. The view is very impressive, but it’s a little scary to look down from that height. At the very top of the tower, they have these three insane thrill rides – one of them shoots you up over the tower, and the other two dangling you off the edge of the tower. From the observation deck we were able to see the two that go over the edge of the tower, and we are currently considering whether we want to try any of the rides tomorrow. The only one of the kids who seems really convinced that she wants to do it is Katie who, of course, is the only one too short to go on any of the rides. Oh well, we’ll play it by ear and see what looks fun tomorrow.