50 for 50: 2013

YEAR: 2013

AGE: Turned 43 on Nov. 6

LOCATION: SLC, Ramona Avenue

CUBS' RECORD: 66-96

SONGS I LIKED: "Some Nights" by Fun.; "King and Lionheart" by Of Monsters and Men; "Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities; "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke; "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk; "Royals" by Lorde

TV SHOWS I WATCHED: "Arrested Development"; "How I Met Your Mother"

MOVIES I SAW: "Oz the Great and Powerful"; "42"; "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

CONCERTS I EXPERIENCED: Michael Franti; Old Crow Medicine Show

I've written about vacations over the past week, but I feel I must write about a 2013 trip when we took the boys to the most magical place on Earth.

Disneyland? No, and we already had taken the boys there in 2010. Our destination for this vacation was a few hours north ...

Vegas, baby!

Salt Lake City schools used to schedule a five-day fall break (which included two weekend days). We usually didn't go anyplace for this break because I would be working, but a couple years we went to Moab. I'm not sure what inspired us to get a little more ambitious in 2013, but I managed get the weekend off at the newspaper and clear my freelancing slate of tasks -- and we planned a trip to Nevada.

Michael became interested in the Titanic in fourth grade, and Ben loved dolphins -- and we could see both in Las Vegas. We found a deal online for tickets to the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor, the Siegfried and Roy dolphin and white tiger sanctuary at Treasure Island, and the indoor amusement park at Circus Circus. Using Hilton Honors points, we got a good deal at the Hampton across the expressway from the Excalibur, and the walk over to catch the train to the Luxor was a snap

We went to the Titanic exhibit the first day there, and also saw a little bit of the Luxor sports experience (but we didn't pay to go into the real experience -- though I did buy a Bears winter hat I still wear today). Hungry, we decided to walk down to Planet Hollywood's mall and find a restaurant. The walk was a little longer than I remembered, particularly with a tired and hungry 9- and 7-year-old. We passed Mike Tyson in the mall, then found a sports bar, where the food was a smidge overpriced (Vegas, baby ...) and Ben flirted with the waitress. 

The next day, we rode the monorail to Treasure Island and saw the dolphins and tigers, then ate a good but also overpriced meal. Later, we went to the amusement park, which was fun, but the boys suddenly developed cold feet to go on the more intense rides. Lori rode an upside-down roller coaster by herself just to prove a point to them, but they didn't budge. I'm blanking on where we went to dinner that night -- I thought at some point we went to the In 'n' Out burger kitty corner to the hotel, but we had burgers for lunch that day. No matter -- the second day in Vegas was as fun as the first.

The next morning, before leaving the Sin City, we went to the Coca-Cola store and tried sodas from all over the world. Our trip to Nevada wasn't over, however -- our next stop was Ely.

Lori had found a haunted train run by a historic railway in Ely, and we thought it would be fun. We booked tickets and a hotel room beforehand. After getting lunch at a Costa Vida, we embarked on what might have been the loneliest, most desolate long drive of my life through the eastern/middle of Nevada. The drive included 200 miles through desert and mountains (but not really impressive mountains) and three small towns at most. We listened to an audio book of Beezus and Ramona, read by Stockard Channing, that didn't help pass the time.

Arriving in Ely felt like a blessing. We checked into the hotel, got dinner at a Chinese restaurant, bundled up, and headed for the train. The ride itself was neat, but the audio system was terrible, and some loud, probably drunk adults didn't help us figure out what spookiness was coming over the speakers. 

The next morning, we weren't quite ready to go home, despite the long and eventually chilly Saturday. The railway had a deal that you could get a discounted ride the next day, which we took advantage of in the Sunday morning sun. I don't want to say that was my favorite part of the trip, but it was the most serene part of it. Once it ended, we drove up to Wendover listening to Superfudge, then across the salt flats and back home.

Despite the long drive and the cold train and the crowded Strip and the overpriced food, our vacation to Nevada, especially Vegas, was one of my favorite short trips (fewer than four days). We learned the value of not staying at a casino with kids, which we'd apply for every basketball tournament Michael would play in Vegas over the subsequent years. We figured out how to balance expensive meals with eating cheaply -- another good trick that came in handy the rest of the decade. And we let the boys experience something gaudy and fantastic. Every child vacation experience shouldn't be Disneyland -- on occasion, something completely nuts (yet done safely) is good for kids and families. They loved Titanic and tigers and dolphins and trains and even the long drive.

On that first night, after the long walk and Mike Tyson and Ben flirting with the waitress whose other job might have been stripper (that's my boy!), we took a cab back to the hotel rather than attempt another long walk. By 2013, Lori and I were already experts on when to push forward on vacation and when take the path of least resistance. And there's nothing better than finishing off a vacation day totally exhausted from fun.