Vegas, Baby!

We're in Las Vegas now, at M's sister's house. Great view of the mountains.

PrettyGirl was exemplary on the plane. Aside from some squeals of delight, she didn't make a peep and even slept for a good chunk of the five-hour flight. She found the whole thing fascinating, what with all the people to look at and the arm rest next to her seat that seemed to just call out to be fondled by her. A delightful flight for all involved!

Getting through the airport wasn't so great, however. For starters, we ended up running late. Then we had to stop to get some diapers, because we had run completely out and needed some for the flight and the first night in Vegas. Then we had to go to the bank, because we were both pretty much sans cash.

So we ended up at the airport about an hour before our scheduled flight time, which wasn't all that good. After dropping M and PG off with the luggage and a somewhat lenghthy wait at the long-term parking garage for the shuttle bus, we all went through security. That could have gone better.

I went through like a breeze, but the guy checking ID's and boarding passes diverted M and PG to another security station. We later found out this was because she had a driver's license with her maiden name on it, along with a change of address/name card with her married name. Apparently, the guy didn't know that that's how Maryland handles name changes, so he flagged M. And then, they waited until M was at the metal detector to tell her that PG's stroller had to be collapsed and put on the x-ray belt. So she had to deal with that. Finally, I was able to come over and at least collect PG while they ran the wand over M and do whatever else they had to do.

So now we were really late. Luckily, the plane was running late too. Which was a good thing, because we still had to find out if we would be able to take PG's car seat on board. There were extra seats available (we were flying Southwest, so extra seats could be anywhere we wanted, assuming someone wasn't already sitting in them,) but we did have to get a tag for the stroller, so we had to go through all that. And then we decided that, since we had hardly eaten all day, we should probably get something to eat. So I rushed off to the McDonald's down the concourse, and ended up getting back with only a few minutes to spare before our turn to get on the plane came up.

Oh yeah, our turn to get on the plane was not among the pre-boards, as we assumed. Unaccompanied minors can pre-board, but babies with grownups have to wait until the "A" group has boarded. We had dragged our heels a bit on getting our boarding passes, so we had "B" group passes, which meant we had to wait until then. If at all possible, I'm going to make sure we get "A" passes for the trip back.

So the actual flight went well, and then we were in Vegas. Not surprisingly, there were slot machines right there by the gate. And massive banners advertising all the Vegas shows all over the airport. I didn't like the airport much. It was a bit tacky. And the parking garage was chaotic as hell.

So that's the trip so far. We're going up to the mountains today for a sleigh ride. I hope to get many pictures. And movies, since my dad and brother got us a camcorder for Christmas.