2007 Summer Vacation

Tuesday, July, 3
Driving to Chicago O'Hare
Flying to Dallas & Las Vegas

We left our house, for Chicago's O'Hare airport, at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Our flight is scheduled to depart at 4:30 p.m. Chicago time. We are flying American Airlines from Chicago, to Dallas, to Las Vegas; not by choice, but by Frequent Flier Mile ticket availability!

We drove through the Skyway McDonald's for lunch. We weren't sure what to expect at O'Hare, with the recent car bombing at the airport in Scotland, and the foiled attempt in London last week. On the radio, while driving to Chicago, we heard that ALL European British Airways flights had been cancelled for today.

We drove the red Dodge Grand Caravan to Chicago since we have not sold it yet. We parked at a place called Park N Jet. The shuttle was there when we were unloading the van, and promptly dropped us off right in front of the American terminal.

The check-in line at O'Hare went quickly because we all had carry-on baggage, and followed the 3 oz. Ziploc bag rule for liquids. Eric was pulled aside because of his walking cast. They used a swab on his cast probably to check for explosives. Eric broke his left ankle 11 days ago while playing basketball at a neighbor's house.

Because we got to the airport early, we checked to see if we could catch an earlier flight, which we did! We all even got to sit near each other. The flight has been great until now ... we are circling Dallas for 30 minutes waiting for a thunderstorm to pass; so I've decided to begin this summer's travel journal :)

We've just been told that the weather has cleared. Now we are waiting for traffic! We finally landed in Dallas about 8:30 p.m., after an hour of holding.

We're all pretty hungry since they don't serve food on the airplane any longer. As soon as we step into the airport, we see a Texas barbecue! The food was sooo yummy!! Maybe the connection wasn't such a bad idea ;)

Our flight to Vegas was delayed, so we shopped at Fossil. Tom and Eric both got new leather wallets!

After landing in Vegas, we stood in a "long" line to be shuttled to our rental car. It was a cool 98 degrees! We rented a gold, Dodge minivan.

We soon arrived at our hotel, the Paris. All in all, we got to our room at 4 a.m. Eastern time ... a.k.a. 1 a.m. Vegas time. To put it mildly, everyone was grumpy and tired, after a long day of travel.

Wednesday, the Fourth of July!
Las Vegas

Eric manages to subtly wake up the whole room at 8 a.m. Vegas time!

It was shortly before 1 p.m. by the time we all showered, and left the room. We were all parched and famished! We decided we were hungry enough to eat at the Paris Buffet. The Buffet was fabulous! The desserts were even better!!

We were tempted by our hunger to get something quicker to eat, since the line wrapped around three times. A man from Argentina who was ahead of us in line, had been to the buffet before, and told us how good it was; so we decided to wait.

Eric's walking cast, and crutches, has been a conversation starter at most every place we've gone to; hence the conversation with the man from Argentina.

After lunch, we walked around Paris, and did a little shopping. The Paris shops lead into Bally's. While I shopped, Tom and the boys went to the Arcade at Bally's. I told Kevin where I was going (so far, my favorite -- the $20 store!). Tom tried calling my cell phone twice, but I didn't hear it! He eventually found me ... still in the $20 store!

Eric wanted to feel what the outside 120 degree heat felt like, since we have only been indoors today. I think he is a glutton for punishment :)

We walked over to the Bellagio, and happened to see the end of the outdoor fountain show.

We walked through the Conservatory. It had the most gorgeous, long-stem roses!

We are heading over to Caesar's Palace next. We have continued on our shopping spree, with LOTS of looking, but little buying :) Currently, the boys are in Houdini's Magic Shop with Tom. I think Kevin is picking out a card-type magic set, usually his favorite kind. Eric is interested in a coin magic set.

While the boys were in the magic shop, I stopped at a Natural Color makeup counter. I let the gal sell me a mineral powder concealer, but held off on the foundation.

After Caesar's Palace, we had dinner at Margaritaville. We then headed back to our hotel, Paris. I took a nap, while Tom and the boys watched Myth Busters. After a while, Tom went down to the casino, played craps, and came back with $100! It's been another late night for all of us.