When I was writing up the last update last Sunday, I got a big time itch for traveling. Sure, I was just talking about my brother taking my other brother and his two boys up north for some cabin camping for a few days... but it got me really wanting to travel.
I knew the get together between A and E and I was going to be delayed longer than I wanted to wait. A had mentioned he was busy this month and next month, so the earliest would be July. Normally, not a big deal to wait six weeks, but I want to travel NOW. E had mentioned that if A couldn't get together, we could always hook up for a long weekend somewhere. We just hadn't discussed it further since we were waiting on A for more details on his availability.
The first step for me was poking A and asking if he had any more specific dates. I dangled that if he wasn't available for weeks or months, that I could just drive down for a visit. When he responded, he immediately went into welcoming me down for a trip. I took it as an unsaid thing that he didn't have more availability soon. I tried for the weekend of June 1st, but he has a company picnic that weekend, so we bumped it up closer. Memorial Day weekend. It's perfect as he can even take the Friday off beforehand and have a four day weekend! YAY!
There isn't much more to plan on a trip like this. I'll leave Wednesday, arrive at his place on Thursday, stay Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and leave for back home on Tuesday. Easy Peasy. The one thing I focused in on was the actual path. I'm heading from Mid Michigan to just north of Dallas, Texas. The basic route is to take I-94 East to just past Chicago where it's a toll road for a bit. Exit onto I-55 South to St. Louis where I'll pick up I-44 West. Sometime while on I-44, I'll stop for the night just before Springfield. The next morning I get back on I-44 West. Once it hits Oklahoma it turns into a toll road. I'm only on the toll road for like 40 miles before I move onto US 69 south. There are a couple other US highways involved, but that takes me roughly where I need to go. This route is considerably and consistently faster and more pleasant to drive than the Google maps alternative which is to head down to Memphis, then through Arkansas and Texas from the east.
There are two parts of the suggested route that I have a problem with. The first is Chicago. Damn, those highways are just damned congested and frankly almost all of the drivers there are assholes. I should know, I was one for a while myself. So, I avoid that by dipping south into Indiana via I-69 South to Indianapolis, then take I-70 to St. Louis. I still get on I-44 in St. Louis and finish the journey the same way. But the US 69 highway (and others) just sucks. Without 'exiting' off of the 'highway' it will at various times change from a limited access, 75mph highway to a 45mph stop light having city street. And it's not once or twice, it changes many times. There just isn't time to sit back and let the road take over as I'm constantly looking for the next point where the speed slows down or speeds up.
So, this time I'm going to extend my trip a bit. By about an hour. But it should be an easy hour, and make the last four hours of the trip surprisingly relaxing.
It hit me though, while planning my trip back, that I was basically half way to Los Angeles. E had said that if A couldn't get together with all of us beforehand, E and I should get a long weekend together. So... why not do that as well as the trip down to visit A? So, I contacted E to see if he's interested and mentioned that I'd be coming from the greater Dallas area, meaning anything north or west of that would be fine by me. Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles... anything really.
E immediately hit on Las Vegas. I haven't ever been there as an adult. As I've complained about before, I was there when I was twenty years old. As a 20 year old, it sucks because much of the city is cordoned off to those 21 and older. I don't exactly want to gamble all that much, but its been my thought for a long time that if you go to Vegas and don't gamble a bit, you can still have a great time. Between the shows, the sites, and the sites nearby, we can easily fill up a long weekend.
I paused here and did offer the warning.... migraines do not mix well with the sites and sounds of Las Vegas. If I have a severe migraine, it doesn't matter where I am. It will ruin a vacation day. But if it's just moderate, I can push through at most places. I could go to a quiet bar or a restaurant or a museum with a moderate migraine. Sure, I wouldn't have as good of a time as if I didn't have the migraine, but I at least wouldn't prevent my travel mates from enjoying their time. But Vegas? Yeah, I'm betting that a moderate migraine will be too much to deal with there.
But its still worth trying.
We looked at hotels and since neither of us are too much into gambling, we wanted something nice but not over the top nice. About $300 a night for a room with two beds. We'd prefer something renovated fairly recently and something that's more adult without being overtly sexualized. Think Rio or Bellagio verses Excalibur or Luxor. A said he had one that he loved to go to, but it was under new management and he'd prefer to try something new. He suggested Aria. I had no problem with Aria until I looked at the prices. I'm betting its just booked up, but a room with two beds went for an average of $1,300 a night. They always go for 'averages' as the prices vary greatly between Thursday and Monday vs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Like a 100% price difference variation.
Anyway, that was WAY more than we wanted to pay. So while E looked around at other properties, I looked for my specialty.... "something different". Every time I think of Vegas, I think of the strip. But I know the downtown area has had a lot of renovation recently. Hell the whole Fremont street has been covered and is a whole 'experience' now. And that's what made me find it. The first new hotel to go up in downtown in 40 years, and the first new construction hotel in Vegas in like 10 years.
Circa.
Almost all casinos in Vegas have a theme. Knights for Excalibur, Roman Empire for Caesars, Italian opulence for Bellagio. Circa's theme is 50s and 60s Las Vegas. Seriously, it's Mid Century Modern Vegas. Yeah Baby! And a double king room there goes for just over what we wanted to spend. It has close parking and is an adult only resort. Noice!
With the hotel out of the way, we started to look at things to do. We know we'll hit up a 'good' restaurant. We're talking about the kind of place that together we'll have a bill around $500. It's opulent, it's bougie, it's over the top... and it's something we get to do a handful of times in our lives. There's only a handful of this kind of restaurant in Michigan, so why miss the opportunity when in Las Vegas when there are a dozen or more of these restaurants.
There's the Sphere. It's new and exciting so we'll hit up a show there. There's the normal big 'take advantage of the Sphere design' type show and there's the Grateful Dead show as well. We might hit both of those. There aren't any classic normal museums, but there is the neon museum that has a bunch of the old Las Vegas neon signs. There is also an Atomic Museum that looks interesting. There's the Hoover Dam and since we'll have my car, that's an easy one. There are a bunch of sexy shows being Vegas, but I found one that truly hits that 'different' button. Not only is Burlesque a subset of these sexy shows, Vegas has so many Burlesque shows that they can support Zombie Burlesque. That sounds sexy and hilarious at the same time.
There were a few other things on the list that were all in the same category. Great if we see them, but no big loss if we don't. But Elijah suggested something that I immediately latched on to, even though it will take practically a full day. Antelope Canyon. I'm not going to link to it or show pictures, as they're easy enough to find online, but it's a wonderfully photograph friendly place that's four hours away from Vegas. For Antelope Canyon alone, I'm bringing my mirrorless camera and even bought a monopod (I lost mine decades ago).
We're going to play most of this by ear. But I'll get to Vegas Thursday and leave on Tuesday. E finally got his flight and he'll come in very late Thursday (1 AM on Friday), then his parents will come to town Tuesday or Wednesday to hang out with him. Then he'll head back home the next Sunday.
For me, the trip now looks like this:
Leave home on Wednesday.
Arrive at A's on Thurday evening.
Stay for the long weekend.
Leave A's Wednesday.
Arrive in Vegas on Thursday.
Hang with E for the long weekend.
Check out of the Hotel Tuesday and start heading back.
Arrive back home either Thursday or Friday.
The final home arrival is a day's variable because it depends if E and I hang out much in Vegas on Tuesday before I start driving home. If I don't start my drive until 4 or 5 PM, then I'll be adding a day. But that's fine by me. If the times are great and we want to keep them going for several more hours, it's worth it. And if the weekend sucked because of migraines but I finally have my head together, then it's worth it to spend a few hours together at the end.
Regardless, it will end up being a 16 or 17 day trip. That's a lot of meds, a lot of clothes, a lot of everything to pack up. I'll have my laptop and four or five days in hotels (not including Vegas) so I might end up writing some of It's a Man's World, but I doubt it.
I'll let you know how the trip goes! Viva Vacations!
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